Page 106 - Advanced OT Survey Revised
P. 106
Chapter 9: Poetic Books
Connect…
I never really liked poetry in school. Sometimes I could not figure out what the poet was saying. Then,
we learned about iambic pentameter and were supposed to write making sure the last word of each line
rhymed with two lines previous. I would go through the alphabet looking for words that would rhyme
with “time”, and came up with “slime”, so my poems sometimes were quite gooey.
The poetic books do not worry about rhyming words. Instead, the concentrate on how to praise the
Lord! The Poetic books give us a glimpse of Hebrew expression of worship and praise to God and how to
relate with others. They also help us gain wisdom in making life choices. Let’s begin our survey….
Objectives…
1. The student should be able to discuss what the Poetic books are.
2. The student should be able to l discuss the important questions such as: what, when, where,
how.
3. The student should be able to discuss the main message and main divisions of each individual
Poetic book.
4. The student should be able to discuss the applications from the Poetic books.
The Lesson ...
Introduction to the Poetic Books
The five books of Poetry (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon) form a bridge
between the historical books (Genesis-2 Chronicles) and the Prophetic books (Isaiah- Malachi). While
these books do not advance the history of Israel chronologically, they do provide great insights into
worship and praise of God and how to relate personally to Him and others. The time setting for the
Poetic books is during the period of Israel’s United Kingdom under Saul, David and Solomon. The
possible exception is Job which may have been written during the time of Solomon, but which appears
to depict life during the earlier period of the Patriarchs (e.g., Abraham). Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes
are also known as “Wisdom literature” because they contain God’s advice on how to live life wisely. lxxix
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