The first place in this division is given to the poetical books. Before taking up the individual books we present some features of Hebrew poetry, common to all of them and which must be understood in order to a just appreciation of their contents.

I. Its Extent

1. Poetical forms of expression may be found in the very beginning of Hebrew literature and its first specimens show the same critical features as mark the Psalms of David and his successors. In Genesis 4:23, 24 we have the Song of Lamech, and in Genesis 49 the Benediction of the dying Jacob, which possess all the characteristics of the latest forms of Hebrew poetry.

2. The extent of the poetical element in the Old Testament will be seen when we note the fact that five entire books, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Lamentations and the Song of Solomon are written in poetry, while in the historical books many beautiful poems are recorded, e.g., Judges 5 has the Song of Deborah, and in 2 Sam. 1:19 and 3:33 are the Elegies of David. The prophets, too, often express their teaching in poetical form and their words must be so understood before we can adequately comprehend their meaning. Sometimes a complete poem is introduced in the midst of the prophecy, as in Jonah 2:2-9; Isaiah's triumph over Babylon, 14:4-23; and Habakkuk's prayer, Ch. 3. Fully one-third of the Old Testament is expressed in poetical form.

II. Its Tone

1. Hebrew poetry is preeminently subjective and hence we find nothing which corresponds to the modern epic, or narrative, but little of the dramatic, more of the didactic, while the great mass is lyric, which calls for the subjective form of expression in the personal emotions and experiences of the writer.

2. It is also intensely theistic. The idea of a God is assumed and His personal action seen in nature and in the varying fortunes of man, while man attains his highest glory in resignation to the will of God and heartfelt obedience to His commands.

3. It may be also called cosmopolitan. The heartthrob of the ancient Psalmist stirs the heart of man to-day as it did of old. Persons under the utmost diversity of earthly conditions and doctrinal ideas find in the Psalms a common channel for the expression of their loftiest thoughts.

4. More than all else it is profoundly religious. Its chosen themes are God and the soul, the unrest caused by sin and the peace which follows forgiveness; it answers the cry of impotence and ignorance by revealing a God whose loving care satisfies the soul.

III. Its External Form

1. Like the poets of all lands the Hebrew poet makes large use of archaic forms and modes of expression, and loves to introduce words rarely used in ordinary composition.

2. Often, too, we find the poet resorting to special devices calculated to increase the interest of the reader. Such are the Acrostic Psalms 34, 35, in which the first verse begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the second verse with the second letter, and so through the Psalm. Psalm 119 begins the first eight verses with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the second eight verses with the second letter and continues this arrangement until all the letters of the alphabet are employed. The Book of Ecclesiastes presents a remarkable acrostic structure.

3. More characteristic is the pronounced rhythm of the sentence in Hebrew poetry. There is nothing to correspond with our meter as found in the regular sequence of syllables and in each line having a prescribed number of syllables, nor do we find any attempt at the modern rhyme where the last syllables of certain lines are similar in tone. The lines may be longer or shorter, although usually consisting of seven or eight syllables, and their sequence is regulated so that in their utterance a musical cadence is obtained, somewhat like our modern intoning.

4. The most prominent feature of Hebrew poetry is its parallelism. The verse is usually divided into two sections, sometimes into three or more, generally of about the same length, in which the second clause reechoes in some way the thought of the first clause. The different forms of parallelism are thus stated:

(1) Synonymous parallelism, where the second line repeats the thought of the first. Ps. 19:1; Isa. 55:6; Prov. 6:2. This is the most common form of parallelism.

(2) Antithetic parallelism, where the expression of the second line stands opposed to that of the first. Prov. 10:1; Ps. 1:6. This form is very common in the gnomic poetry of the Book of Proverbs.

(3) Synthetic parallelism, where the succeeding lines supplement or complete the first, or stand related to it as cause or consequence. Ps. 2:6; 19:8-11.

These different forms of parallelism are frequently interwoven in the same Psalm. Occasionally the thought is fully expressed in a single line, at other times several are employed. Ps. 46:9; Isa. 1:3. The relation of the lines to each other is often varied, bringing the first and third, second and fourth together, or the first and fourth, second and third. 2 Sam. 3:33, 34. Frequent changes in these combinations give great variety to the poem. In Job 39:19-25 fifteen lines are thus grouped, and in Deut. 33 the Blessing of Moses on Levi has seventeen lines.

5. The Strophe. When several parallelisms have a unity of thought they form a strophe or stanza. This is similar to but not identical with the Greek strophe, where we find a regularly recurring arrangement in the lines of a poem. In the Hebrew the lines may be longer or shorter, few or many, uniform throughout the poem or each line different from the others, Num. 21:27-30, the only demand being that they center around one theme. Often the strophe ends with a refrain or chorus. In Ps. 8 we find two strophes of eight lines each, the first having the refrain at the beginning, the second at the end.

LITERATURE

For a study of Hebrew poetry see Lowth's Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, Herder's Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, Taylor's Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, Briggs' Study of Holy Scripture and his articles on the subject in Hebraica, Vols. HI and IV.