Page 152 - The Poetic Books - Student Text

Personal Note from the Author

(po’em fr. Gr. Poema 1. A composition in verse, characterized by imagination and poetic diction; a piece
of poetry; -- opposed to prose. 2. Any composition marked by qualities ascribed to poetry, as elevation or
244
beauty.)
I have studied the poetical books for myself and used them in the church for forty years. I have taken
Master’s level courses in Job and Psalms and written a Master’s Thesis on the Song of Solomon. I have
preached a sermon series on the major parts of Job and all of Ecclesiastes. I have preached sections of
Psalms, about 2/3 of the book, and most of Proverbs. For all these studies, I began by translating from
Hebrew into English (admittedly without great expertise), read commentaries, and studied specific
words. I have also used all five books in small groups working with the English Bible. To prepare this
series of lessons, I concentrated for many hours on new material in both Psalms and Proverbs. I have
found the poetical books of the Bible to be rich. Like most of the scriptures, hard work is repaid many
times over by God’s good grace in his revelation to us.

Poetry is intense and beautiful in any language. Our common experience of singing, a form of poetry put
to music, resonates deeply within us both emotionally and thoughtfully. The definition for “poem,” as
noted above, comes from the Greek language. The word is found twice in the NT. In Romans 1:20 the
word is translated as the phrase “what has been made.” The entire creation is God’s poem. Humans
should be able to recognize the existence of a personal, all-powerful Creator by looking at the world. The
world, of course, includes humans. Together, all of it, is God’s poem, a marvelous work of beauty. In his
wisdom God has created us to read his poem, delight in his poem, and honor him for his poem. Animals
or insects do not appreciate beauty. They do not build art galleries or write symphonies. They do not
respond with awe for any part of creation or the Creator. This is our privilege.

The second occurrence of “poem” is in Ephesians 2:10 and is usually translated “workmanship” or
“handiwork.” “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.” The reference is to Christians. Believers in Jesus are God’s poem. The
good works of Christians are beautiful expressions reflecting God himself through Jesus. After sin
entered the world, God did not give up on his poem. He wrote with infinitely more beauty through the
life, death, and resurrection of his Son in the lives of his people. They, we, are his poem.

The concept is not unlike Paul’s words to the Corinthians remarking on his relationship to them. “You
yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a
letter from Christ, the results of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,
not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor. 3:2-3).” Both “poem” and “letter” speak
of the beauty and personal imprint of one believer on another in the name of Christ.

Such thoughts seem a fitting conclusion for our study of the poetical books of the OT. God uses his
revelation in poetry to bring us to his Son and become poems ourselves. Beautiful as the expressions of
the OT writers might be, Yahweh’s intention is to make believers in his Son far more beautiful for all

244 Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary 2 ed., s.v. “poem.”
nd
151