Laying a foundation for our study

Many of us have had the experience of reading or telling a story to a child, and saying these words: "Once upon a time..."  Usually, this signals that the story that comes after those words will be fictional; sometimes fanciful. A story - perhaps a fairy tale. We know what to expect.

In the same way, it's important to remember that the Psalms are basically poetry.  It's meant to be different from say, Genesis, where we read of history. It's different from the gospels, which tell of what our Lord and the disciples did. When we read of rivers or trees clapping for joy, or we see the mention of trees singing, we realize that this is poetry. When we read that David said he dissolved his couch with tears, we don't take that literally -- we just accept the truth behind the words -- we realize that he was so overcome with sorrow that he couldn't stop crying.

The Psalms are not just poetry; they are Hebrew poetry, with unique structure and style -- and that might make them a bit unfamiliar to us. After all, how many times have you read or pondered a poem lately? (Grin)

If we look at the pages of our Bibles, we notice that the printing format is virtually identical in the Psalms to the book of Genesis. How would we know that we were reading poetry? The scholars tell us that the translators of the KJV overlooked the poetic structure of the Psalms when they were working on the Old Testament. But before we start bashing the translators, we should remember that Hebrew poetry is much different from the poetry they knew, or that we know today. Our poetry is based on rhyme and rhythm, and Hebrew poetry is very different; it may be that the translators didn't recognize it as such, or that they just didn't know quite how to translate it and show it as poetry. 

In Hebrew poetry, we don't see rhyme or rhythm as we are used to; instead it's the relationship of two lines of poetry that is the heart of the poetic style. This is usually referred to as parallelism. I read one scholar's account that suggested a good analogy was that of stereo sound: the same music coming from two speakers! C. S. Lewis suggested that parallelism was "the practice of saying twice the same thing in different words."

The second line of poetry may clarify the first, or it may actually complete the first line. Sometimes there is a stark contrast between the two lines. All of these are types of parallelism.

The second characteristic of the poetry of the Psalms is that we see "figures of speech." We do not, as we mentioned at the start, approach them in the same way that we approach a book documenting a historical event. Instead, we interpret the expressions in the light of their context and use. How about an example to make things clearer? In Psalm 1, the godly are compared to a tree planted by streams of water, while the wicked are described as chaff, a waste product: the debris of preparing grain for human use. In Psalm 23, the Lord is pictured as a shepherd, caring for us as His sheep. These raise images in the mind of the reader and encourage meditation and thought on the meanings of the verses.

The poetry of the Psalms can be a blessing to us. The words found here are so vivid at times to communicate the deepest feelings of a believer's life. They are not designed simply to inform. They contain the language of experience; the author may be living through times of sorrow or of ecstasy, loneliness or congregational worship. 

Another thing that makes the poetry meaningful is the sacrifice demanded of the author. 

Huh?

Here's what I mean . . . . have you ever tried to write a poem? My dad-in-law liked to sit down and express himself in poetry. He would write something for a birthday or other occasion and include it in a card. One of our family's treasures is a poem that he wrote for his dear wife of sixty-plus years for their anniversary. Each poem that he wrote was an indication that he cared enough to spend time to express his love. Since the Psalms are poems addressed primarily to God, we can consider the time involved by the author in expressing adoration and praise to be yet another form of sacrifice to Him. And I totally believe that He is pleased and delights in this!

The Psalms can speak to us across the ages in spite of any difficulties in translation because of the parallelism and the imagery used in them. Truly they are an invitation to us to "sing the glory of God."

I hope that our studies here will be a blessing.