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Date:         Thu, 7 Jan 1993 21:57:41 EST
From:         "Spawn of a Jewish Carpenter (Cindy Smith)" <cms@DRAGON.COM>
Subject: Re: An essay on poetry in the Bible

Cindy Smith
English 499
Bible as Literature
Term Paper




                  Creation in Poetry of the Bible


        The religious reader of the Bible connects with God through

the text of faith written in the language of faith.  The religious

reader only secondarily connects with God (and perhaps not as well or

as clearly) in the explanation given in the secondary tier of faith,

that is, the language of theology.  Put another way, the original is

always the best commentary.  Theology tends to prefer the absolute and

the definite over the mystery conjured up in the living images of the

Bible's living faith.  In applying dry theology to these texts, we

often overlook the literary genre in which they are written, tending

to obscure the living message, cloak the mystery in seeming

understanding, and trap faith in a web of fixed explanations.  God has

chosen to communicate to us through the medium of poetry, among

others.  The poetical character of creation stories in the Bible is

not immaterial to the message.  The poet transmits his message within

the technique and the message cannot be heard outside of it.  In other

words, theologians must know that matters of belief entail not only

what is said but also, more profoundly, how it is said (Jasper).



        The poetry relating to creation in the Bible occurs within the

context of narrative and this context affects the meaning of the

poetry.  Stories have characters and plots, poems have themes and

depths of meaning.   The poetry of creation must be understood in

terms of the narratives surrounding them.



        A story has certain characteristics:  Character, theme, setting,

conflict, crisis, resolution.  A story is a series of events recorded

in chronological order.  A plot is a series of events deliberately

arranged so as to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional

significance.  A story is everything the reader needs to know to

make coherent sense of the plot.  "Job lost everything and then got it

all back" is a story.  "Job lost everything, because God made a bet

with Satan over Job's faithfulness, before Job got it all back" is a

plot.  "Job lost everything, but no one knew why, until it was

discovered that God was probing Job's faithfulness so God could

theophanize the meaning of human suffering, after which Job got it

all back" becomes a plot with a mystery, a form capable of high

development.  If it is a story, we ask "and then?"  If it is a plot

we ask, "why?"  When nothing happens in a story, if we feel like we

have missed the point, it is because we have failed to see the causal

relationship between what happened before and what will happen next.

To understand the poetry in Job 38-41 we must understand what came

before and anticipate what will happen next.



        What happens before Job's theophany is a series of speeches

designed to explain to us why human beings suffer.  What happens

after Yahweh's speech is Job's restoration.  The explanation given by

Job's comforters is wrong, yet Yahweh does not give an explanation

himself, but merely poetic imagery.  We must understand Yahweh only

through such imagery.



        Characters are presented by appearance, speech, action, and

thought.  Yahweh is primarily revealed through his speech since his

speech is often equivalent to action (cf Gen 1).  His appearance is

either irrelevant or metaphorical.  That Yahweh speaks in poetry is a

clue that we are experiencing Yahweh through speech that is primarily

the design of the human poet who is interpreting Job's theophany.  In

other poetry of the Bible, Yahweh is understood in terms of

descriptions of Yahweh's actions.


        In examining a poem, we must ask five questions:



        1.  Who is speaking?

        2.  To whom is the character speaking?

        3.  What is the character saying?  In what context (setting)?

        4.  In what form?

        5.  What is the structure surrounding the poem?



In Job 38-41:



        1.  Yahweh

        2.  Job

        3.  I made the world, what do you know of the world that you
            question me?

        4.  Poetic dialogue in a theophany in Teman, a land renowned
            for its wisdom, beneath Heaven

        5.  Narrative folktale (also other poetry)


        In Job 38-41, Yahweh is experienced through the words he

speaks.  In other words, while Yahweh is speaking to Job from the

storm, Yahweh makes himself known through the medium of the story

in which he is one of the major characters.  Even with different

names, such as El Shaddai, Elohim, El Elyon, Kurios, and the Power,

Yahweh is recogizably the same character in every story.  Thus, even

with different names, the character of Yahweh is presented by

different storytellers in different ways depending on their point of

view.  We see Yahweh through the eyes of the storyteller and the

storyteller is telling us that we are seeing Yahweh through the words

he speaks (keeping in mind that who is speaking is intimately related

to the person or persons being spoken to).  Our understanding of the

character of Yahweh may be omniscient or limited omniscient inasmuch

as we may know more than Job, for example, but it is clear that our

understanding of who Yahweh is as a character depends completely, at

least in this scene, on who Job thinks Yahweh is.


        I know that you can do all things,
          and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.
        I have dealt with great things that I do not understand;
          things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.
        I had heard of you by word of mouth,
          but now my eye has seen you (42:2-5).


Similarly, our understanding of who Job is as a character depends on

who Yahweh thinks Job is.


        Who is this that obscures divine plans with words of
              ignorance?
        Gird up your loins now, like a man;
          I will question you, and you tell me the answers! (38:2-3)


Point of view becomes crucial to understanding the text at this

point:  Is the tale unfolding from the point of view of

Yahweh or from the point of view of Job or is the point of view

omniscient?  Clearly, the tale unfolds from Job's point of view since

Yahweh appears only in relation to Job (Yahweh does not appear by

himself).



        Stories must have atmosphere in which characters can breathe.

The tone of the storyteller affects atmosphere; is the scene solemn,

humorous, sinister, or wry?  In "Job" the scene is solemn, with the

suffering Job, serious friends, and a serious Yahweh, though touched

by some humor in its use of legal terminology.  It is probable that

the listeners are already very familiar with the story of Job.  The

storyteller's task, then, is to present the story in a meaningful way.

One technique is to use the medium of poetry because poetry has impact,

it is easy to remember, and serves as a powerful image with which the

readers can identify with Job.


        Setting is also crucial.  The scene is set in Uz in

Edom/Teman, a land well known for its wisdom, with Heaven in the

background.  A legendary figure, Job, well known for his

righteousness, is selected as the frame around which the debate about

human suffering occurs.  The author of the story uses dramatic irony

because we, the readers, know something that Job does not, that is,

we know God believes Job to be innocent.  This framework sets the

stage for Yahweh's discourse (Ralph 95).  The theme of Job 38-41,

that God is creator and master of the universe, is the storyteller's

way of showing us the continuing presence of Yahweh in the narrative

throughout Creation and time to the present.


        Where were you when I founded the earth?
          Tell me, if you have understanding.
        Who determined itz size; do you know? (38:4-5)
        ....
        Do you know about the birth of the mountain goats,
          watch for the birthpangs of the hinds,
        Number the months that they must fulfill,
          and fix the time of their bringing forth? (39:1-2)


The answer to the question "why do the innocent suffer" is not given.

Rather, the effect of Yahweh's speech is that, if Job cannot answer

the sublime questions of the universe, from its creation to its

everday management, he cannot possibly resolve the age-old

mystery of the problem of evil (Ryken, ^&Words of Delight\& 351).


        Job 38-41 is a direct-address hymn praising God's creation

and, in dialog, questioning Job's right to challenge God.  Of course,

Yahweh is speaking in this poem.  Psalm 104 is a direct-address hymn

of praise extolling the majesty and chesed (goodness, kindness) of

Yahweh.  It praises both creation and creator.  The character speaking

is an unknown worshipper of Yahweh.  As a praise psalm, it has three

main elements:  exhortation to praise Yahweh, the naming of the one to

whom the poem is addressed, the praise itself.  As lyric poetry, it is

highly emotional, following the flow the speaker's thoughts.  The poem

is organized around a simple contrast:  the omnipotence of God and

how creation cannot be in the absence of God.  This is the poetic

equivalent of plot conflict in a story.  God is necessary for creation

to continue.  The praiser is also intended to be the reader or pray-er

of the poem.  Although the psalm is filled with the speaker's emotions,

we do not look at the speaker, we look at God with the poet.  The

speaker gives testimony to the greatness of God in his creation

(Ryken, WORDS OF DELIGHT).



        Psalm 104 praises creation in nature and its focus is

on God's worthiness to be praised for what he does in the natural

creation.  The strategy of this psalm is to praise the God of nature

rather than nature itself.  Thus, the poem describes the origin of

nature (God created it), how God is present throughout nature in

earth, sky, and sea, and concludes with a prayer for God to endure

forever.



        Psalm 104 praises nature by describing in poetic imagery how

God created nature, how God is clothed in nature, and how God uses

nature to take care of creation.  The purpose of the poem is to show

how God is in complete loving control of nature and how the function

of nature is to serve God.  The implication is that we humans, as

creatures of God's creation, are also part of the natural order, and

hence we also serve God in nature.


        Metaphor and simile embody this poem.  God is clothed in

light, God has spread out the heavens like a tent, God rides the wings

of the wind in his chariot the clouds.  Lightning and wind are

messengers of God.  The miniature creation story in 5-9 is also highly

figurative and imaginative.  The poet describes the creation of the

universe in terms of humans creating ordinary things such as a building.

The poet describes how God covers the sea by comparing it to the way

people cover themselves with clothing.  Creation is pictured as being

in harmony with God.  In 27-30, the poet expresses his God-centered

conception of nature:  nature is not self-sufficient, but is totally

dependent upon God.  The conclusion, unlike other nature poetry, does

not praise nature itself, but rather rejoices in the Creator.



        John 1:1ff is similar to Psalm 104 in that it is a hymn of

praise extolling the majesty and chesed of God.  It praises both

creation and creator.  It is typical of New Testament hymns in that

the encomium is

more theological in nature, focusing on love, faith, grace, and truth,

and is Christocentric.  The poem begins with the expression "In the

beginning," the same expression found in Genesis 1:1.  Again, as in

the psalm, the speaker is an unknown worshipper of Yahweh, but unlike

the psalm, the poet does not address Yahweh, but rather addresses the

worshipping community.  The first stanza uses rhythm and repetition to

establish a mood that will pulsate throughout the poem.  The second

stanza praises Christ by declaring him, like the psalm praises God,

indispensable to creation, especially inasmuch as God created the

world through the Word.  Ryken says, "The rhetorical effect of the

statement depends on antithesis; in fact, the line is an example of

antithetic parallelism.  'All things' is set over against 'not

anything,' and 'through him' against 'without him'" (Ryken, WORDS

OF DELIGHT 301).


 In the third stanza, the poet praises Christ's life-giving quality,

speaking in the highly symbolic language of light and dark.  Again,

the poetic plot is the conflict between light and darkness.  The

symbolic imagery of light is used as metaphor for spiritual truth and

enlightenment.


        The fifth stanza describes the praiseworthy acts of Christ:

his creation of the world and his creating anew the child of God in

redemption.  The powerful imagery of creation and new birth

permeates the passage.



        This fifth stanza is full of contrasts:  Christ is the

true light, in contrast to false lights; Christ made the world, in

contrast to the world's rejection of him; Christ makes those who

accept him children of God, in contrast to those who do not accept

him; and Christ causes believers to be spiritually born of God, in

contrast to being born by natural means.


        Finally, stanza 6 praises the Incarnation of the Word, comparing the

earthly imagery of flesh with the heavenly imagery of grace and truth.

Grace and truth come from Christ, who came from the Father and is ever

in the Father's bosom.  First, Christ is declared superior to Moses,

then Christ is declared indispensable.  The poem begins the narrative

of the life and times of Jesus Christ.  The storyteller chooses to use

poetic imagery to describe who Christ is, that he is worthy of praise

both for who he is and for what he has done, and that because of the

imagery conveyed in this poem, the reader or listener should pay

attention to Jesus as the light of the world from the Father.  In

other words, the poem sets the stage for the rest of the story.  The

poem, therefore, is crucial to understanding the Gospel of John as a

creation narrative in which Jesus Christ gives birth to new life in

his exodus on the cross so that the world and every person in it

becomes a new creation.


        The Johannine view of creation was strongly influenced by

Jewish Wisdom literature.  In the Wisdom literature, God creates

through God's wisdom, which takes on the shape of a human being

with a view to creation (Proverbs 8:22-31).  This tradition laid

the foundations of the Johannine view of creation and Paul's,

both "in him" (Col. 1:16) and "through him" John 1:3.  Christ is

the firstborn of every creature.  Everything was created in him

and in him all things hold together (Col 1:15).  Creation and

salvation inextricably linked in the Incarnate Word.  The work

of redemption is a new creation (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15; Eph 2:10, 15);

not even inanimate nature is excluded from this.  The history of

salvation will be completed with the revelation

of a new heaven and a new earth (2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1, 21:5).  God's

reign over nature is based on the creation seen as a victory (Pss 93;

104) after the example of God's reign over Israel, established in his

victory over Egypt, Israel's oppressor (Ex. 15; Pss. 46; 98).



        The world's consistency is continually threatened by the

powers that were

conquered and tamed at the instant of creation.  The Biblical

tradition of creation, especially expressed in poetry, is an imaginary

way of extending the salvific acts of God in creation to the salvific

acts of God in history.  This is especially poignant in the Song of

the Sea in Exodus where creation language is used to express God's

salvific act of bringing Israel through the Primordial Chaos (in this

case, the Red Sea) to a place which God sorts and orders (at Sinai) in

much the same way God sorted and ordered the things in creation.



        In the New Testament, we find Hebrew poetry written in Greek,

or a Greek imitation of Hebrew poetry.  The poetry is a clue that we

are reading a poetic rendering of authentic teaching, and probably not

a character's (either God's or Jesus's) exact words.  Jesus's exact

words indeed might convey a meaning to the readers that Jesus did not

intend and the Spirit did not want us to misunderstand.  Thus, the

author uses poetry to convey deeper and more satisfying meaning to

the Torah (teaching) of Jesus.



        As religious readers of the Bible, we want to connect with

God.  One of the most powerful means of connecting with God is through

experiencing Biblical poetry.  Poetry is not meant to be read, it is

meant to be experienced, and by experiencing poetry we experience the

living presence of God in a recreation of the theophany.  Theology is

important and definitely has its place, but to experience the true

meaning of the Bible, one must read the poetry and the literature.

Experience does not necessarily imply intellectual understanding, but

does result in powerful feelings and emotions that cannot be recreated

in quite the same way in any other medium.  Only by learning to

experience biblical poetry will we even begin to appreciate (not

necessarily understand, but appreciate) the blessings and the promises

of God.  Who is God?  Who is Jesus?  What does he mean?  Only the poet

knows and we are all poets.



NOTES
_____

1.      It is noteworthy that Yahweh is the only recurring character
        throughout the entire Bible.  Yahweh is present in every
        scene, though his presence isn't always immediately obvious.

2.      The theme of the poem in Gen 35:10-12 is a repeat of the theme
        in Gen 12:2-3 and is the storyteller's way of showing us the
        continuing presence of Yahweh in the narrative from generation
        to generation.

3.      This stanza also utilizes the poetic technique of gradation in
        which the last word of a sentence becomes the first word of the
        next sentence (life, light, darkness).
..flags bold
..flags underline
..center; ^*BIBLIOGRAPHY\*
..bl 1
..list;

Cindy Smith
Term Paper
Bibliography

..le; Paul J. Achtemeier, General Editor, et. al., with the Society of
    Biblical Literature, ^&Harper's Bible Dictionary\&, Harper _& Row,
    Copyright 1985 by The Society of Biblical Literature.

..le; Robert Alter and Frank Kermode, eds., ^&Literary Guide to the Bible\&,
    The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright 1987 by
    Robert Alter and Frank Kermode.

..le; Bernhard W. Anderson, ^&Understanding the Old Testament\&.,
    Prentice-Hall, 1986.

..le; Mathew Black, Gen. Ed. and New Testament editor, and H. H. Rowley,
    Old Testament editor, ^&Peake's Commentary on the Bible\&, Thomas
    Nelson Publishers, 1987.

..le; Lawrence Boadt, ^&Reading the Old Testament:  An Introduction\&,
    Paulist Press, The Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle in
    the State of New York, 1984.

..le; Raymond E. Brown, S.S., Joseph A. Fitmyer, S.J., and Roland E.
    Murphy, O. Carm., eds., ^&The Jerome Biblical Commentary\&,
    Prentice-Hall, 1968.

..le; Mitchell Dahood, S.J., ^&Psalms I, The Anchor Bible (VOL 16)\&,
    Doubleday _& Company, Inc., 1986.

..le; Mitchell Dahood, S.J., ^&Psalms II, The Anchor Bible (VOL 17)\&,
    Doubleday _& Company, Inc., 1986.

..le; Mitchell Dahood, S.J., ^&Psalms III, The Anchor Bible (VOL 17A)\&,
    Doubleday, 1986.

..le; John Drane, ^&Introducing the Old Testament\&, Harper _& Row, 1987.

..le; Charles M. Laymon, ed., ^&The Interpreter's One-volume Commentary on
    the Bible\&, Abingdon Press, 1988.

..le; James L. Mays, General Editor, et. al., with the Society of
    Biblical Literature, ^&Harper's Bible Commentary\&, Harper _& Row,
    Copyright 1988 by the Society of Biblical Literature.

..le; Merrill F. Unger, ^&Unger's Bible Handbook\&, Moody Press, 1967.

..le; \&Henry Wansbrough, General Editor, ^&The New Jerusalem Bible\&,
    Doubleday, 1985.

..end list;

Anchor Bible Series

Robert Alter:  THE WORLD OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE
               THE ART OF BIBLICAL NARRATIVE
               THE ART OF BIBLICAL POETRY
w/Kermode      THE LITERARY GUIDE TO THE BIBLE

Bernard Anderson:  THE UNFOLDING DRAMA OF THE BIBLE

Bernard Anderson:  UNDERSTANDING THE OLD TESTAMENT

Shimon Bar-Efrat:  NARRATIVE ART IN THE BIBLE

Adele Berlin:  POETICS AND INTERPRETATION OF BIBLICAL NARRATIVE

Walter Brueggemann:  THE LAND

Robert B. Coote:  IN THE BEGINNING

Douay Bible

John B. Gabel and Charles B. Wheeler:  THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE

Hermeneia Bible Series

David Jasper:  The Study of Literature and Religion:  An Introduction

Tremper Longman III:  LITERARY APPROACHES TO BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION
                      VOL. 3

Bruce M. Metzger:  A TEXTUAL COMMENTARY ON THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT

The New American Bible for Catholics

New Jerome Biblical Commentary

The New World Dictionary/Concordance to the New American Bible

Margaret Nutting Ralph:  "AND GOD SAID WHAT?"  AN INTRODUCTION TO
                         BIBLICAL LITERARY FORMS FOR BIBLE LOVERS

Leland Ryken:  HOW TO READ THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE ... AND GET
               MORE OUT OF IT

Leland Ryken:  WORDS OF DELIGHT:  A LITERARY INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE

Ferdinand S. Schenck:  THE ORATORY AND POETRY OF THE BIBLE
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