The Gray Monk

The Poetry and Wisdom Books
A flight of thoughts on Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.

The use of the word “poetry” conjures up visions of the sort of flowing verse produced by poets such as Donne, Milton, Herbert, and Wesley to mention just a few. Most of us would certainly not associate the word with books such as Job or even Proverbs, yet both of these fall into the category of “poetic” books in the Biblical Canon. In fact, read in the original language, they are closer in style to what we would today call reiterative prose. It could be called “prose with rhythm” – an ancient form of “Rap” perhaps? The rhythm is created by using reiterated phrasing and varying stresses and “beats” in the phrasing of lines. Typically there are three such “beats” to a line (which the translators have struggled to preserve for us – sometimes to the detriment of the original meaning) with a similar pattern in the next line, and each pair of lines forms a couplet.

The writers also seem to have enjoyed little word games and have created acrostics in some passages alongside the usual rhyming of words, plays on words, and the use of assonance to make the verses flow. All of these devices should be seen as secondary to the message of the passage or section, books such as “The Bible Code” notwithstanding! It is here that our reliance on translations inevitably cause us to loose the sense of intimacy that the original hearers and readers would have enjoyed and perhaps still do in Synagogue and household.

Of the five books in this group, Job, Psalms, and Proverbs are classed as poetic because their writers used the “poetic” structures of couplets, accents, and rhythms in their structures.

While Job may challenge our views in many ways, it is unique in both form and style in the Bible. Its author is unknown, as is its date of compilation, and it is unsettling because it raises questions which are not properly answered until the message of the New Testament is read. Why then is it considered to be poetry? Job is poetic in form but it is also part of the “Wisdom” because of its subject matter and the concepts it puts forward. It reads rather like a Norse Saga in structure and in the phrasing of sentences; for example:

Job 30: 1
“But now they mock me, men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to put with my sheep dogs.”

Or verse 3
“Haggard from want and hunger,
they roamed the parched land
in desolate wastelands at night.”

Both the content and the form set this book apart from all the rest of the Old and the New Testament. It is set in the days of the Patriarchs and purports to be the story of a man who is both city dweller and nomad with his wealth in his flocks and his family. The debate between Job and his “friends” or “comforters” is lively and illuminates much that is still troubling us today.

These books represent the flowering of Judaic culture under David and Solomon and the continuing of that growth in the generations that followed. There is ample evidence that they were influenced by the cultures around them; indeed, as more is discovered that illuminates both Babylonian and Egyptian culture, we are better able to see the manner in which precepts are translated by their absorption into informed faith. Solomon’s reputation for wisdom was pre-eminent, but it was built on his patronage of the arts and learning as much as on his own intellect. Sheba was not the only visitor to his capital and court; she was but one of many such eminent people. That the arts and the desire for learning took firm root is evidenced by the continuing of the writings and the ongoing growth of both faith and knowledge in the Jewish peoples long after Solomon’s Kingdom had been swept away.

The Psalms are at one and the same time familiar and yet obscure. Some we love and some we hardly ever read. Mention Psalm 119 and everyone groans – especially the choristers if you fail to mention which sections are to be omitted! Yet here we have a collection as rich as our own heritage of poetry – love songs, laments, both individual and communal, “Royal” psalms for special occasions, and thanksgivings. We all have our favourites – mine are 43, 51, 107 v 23 – 32 in particular, and 121 – but do we ever stop and consider the deeper meaning of them or to explore some of the others? They give expression to almost every human condition and emotion while praising God for His grace in all things. The collection we enjoy covers 150 that are recognized in the Hebrew Canon; there are others but their value is in their expression of individual or communal matters, not necessarily in giving praise to God. And they were written to be sung!

We do know that the collection we have today was finalized sometime before the Maccabean period and they are organized into five “books”. They cover an extended period of writing and although they are all attributed today to David, they are the work of a number of authors, some of whom may well have “amended” earlier versions to include later events. As I suggested in one of my earlier rambles, they may well have been treated like the Gilbert and Sullivan “patter” songs. Be that as it may, the imagery they use is powerful stuff and still speaks across the ages if one is prepared to listen and be open to them.

Proverbs offers us an anthology of “wise sayings” some of them reading almost as classic cliché material. That said, it is much more, because it is in fact more of a text book to be used to teach young men and women the tenets of faith and of decent living by means of short and easily memorized “sayings”. It divides into eight sections, with the first being a general introduction to “wisdom”. It includes an interesting acrostic poem on the “perfect wife” and six “collections” of sayings, at least two of which were authored by Solomon. It is probable that the basic collection of these sayings was started under Solomon and expanded by later generations as they dealt with new concepts and ideas coming in from other nations. It may well be that it started as a text book for scholars coming to learn from the source, as it were, at Solomon’s court. There is a very similar tract known as the “Teaching of Amenemope” in Egypt which is closely paralleled by Proverbs 22: 17 – 23: 14, evidence that there was considerable interchange of ideas going on at this time.

The next book is clearly part of the Wisdom literature. Ecclesiastes is a book of life; life as man sees it, with questions raised by observation followed through to logical conclusions. The author imposes no preconceptions and follows a form popular in the near East for this type of literature. The title is in fact a Greek translation of the Hebrew “Qoheleth”, a title rather than a name which means “Teacher” or “Philosopher”, but can also be “Preacher” or “Speaker”. The author is unknown, but the title suggests that it was someone in an official position and may even be a pseudonym for Solomon himself. Strikingly, the book explores some difficult areas and avoids the modern problem of cynicism and despair, instead leading the reader to understand that God wishes to be included in their lives.

Finally we come to the Song of Solomon, a series of poems on the theme of love between man and woman. Some of the passages explore the intimate nature of love and certainly evokes some powerful imagery. The sequence is of the bride and groom and their relationship. The form is poetic but the content falls within the wisdom genre. There is some thought that it may well have originally been intended for “dramatic” reading or even some sort of “performance”. There is some support for this in the use of a similar set of poems in Syria today which are performed, sung, or acted out at the eight day long wedding feasts. The “Song” draws heavily on nature for its images, and its setting is a pastoral one, leading some scholars to place the bride and groom as shepherd and wife with the King himself as the third party.

At this point I have to confess that I have yet to find modern guides to these books that address them fully and do them full justice. For this note I have used my trusty Lion Handbook to the Bible and some notes from here and there. I am looking for a good book on the Psalms and a recent one on Ecclesiastes would be useful, too. If anyone knows of some recent titles on these I would like to know about them.

This group of books offer some surprises and plenty of food for thought. I hope you enjoy exploring them.

Peace be with you.