Basics in Biblical Poetry

In Sunday School, my class is working through a 3-week basics of Biblical literary genre. The first Sunday we understood the basics of Biblical Narrative and learned 5 questions we must ask every story in the Bible (I wrote a post on this last week). This past Sunday, we worked together through Biblical poetry and understood the basic differences between stories in the Bible and poems in the Bible. Here are the 3 basics elements from Biblical poetry I taught this past Sunday. 

First, Biblical poetry has a different goal for the reader than Biblical narrative or discourse (I will be writing a post on this genre next week). Biblical discourse uses reason to transform the reader from the mind to the heart to the hands. Biblical narrative leads the reader to imagine and understand truth in the mind through story. Biblical poetry is different, in that it engages the reader not through the mind, but through the emotions (heart). Biblical poetry is an emotional genre, in that it evokes feelings, emotions, desires, passions, and appetites. Biblical poetry engages the heart to transform the mind. This goal of Biblical poetry, is why it is important in the Bible. As story engages the imagination and discourse engages the mind, poetry is going after the heart. The balance of these three genres together, brings transformation to the whole person. 

Second, Biblical poetry is a different type of literature in that it uses different tools. Biblical poetry uses pictures, adjectives, and adverbs to touch the reader. Biblical poetry uses parallelism to repeat the point. Biblical poetry uses metaphors and similes to invoke the heart. Biblical poetry is not as literal as it is figurative. As a reader engages Biblical poetry there are different rules for interpreting the writing. The most basic understanding of Biblical poetry is the sense that poetry is a totally different language and as a result must be understood and interpreted in a totally different way. 

The third basic tool for understanding Biblical poetry is the fact that any good Bible translation formats poetry different than story or discourse. Poems, songs, or prophecies in the Bible have a different type format in Bible translations than a story or teaching. Poetry is not formatted in paragraph form. Poetry is formatted by lines, parallels, and indents. Poetry, in any good Bible translation, will be indented, go line by line down the page, and be broken-up by couplets (2-line pairs) or 3 lines in the Bible. Narrative or discourse in the Bible, is formatted by paragraph and flows like reading a normal book or newspaper. This is a basic understanding of Biblical poetry in how it is formatted, so that the reader can know when they have come to poetry and have left discourse or story. Understanding the basics of type format helps the reader know when they have poetry and must begin to be interpreted differently. 

Understanding these 3 basics of Biblical poetry will help the reader understand and interpret the Bible rightly. We are commanded in God's Word to handle His Word correctly, understand it rightly, and grow in our knowledge of it. To use God's Word correctly in a life of obedience, we must know God's Word correctly. To know God's Word correctly, we must know the basics of the literary genre we are reading. Too many of God's people misinterpret the Bible simply because they do not know the basics of God's Word. These 3 basic tools for Biblical poetry will help us read the Word of God correctly.