Poetry and the Bible
When was the last time you picked up a book of poetry to read in your spare time? According to the National Archive of Data on Arts and Culture, a little more than a tenth of Americans had done so in 2018. Poetry is not light reading, and on top of that, doesn’t seem very practical, so why engage poetry? Well, for believers, here are some fun facts:
Nearly a third of the Bible is poetry.
Over half of the Old Testament is poetry.
Habakkuk, the book we just studied together, is all poetry.
Why so much poetry in the Bible?
Dr. Richard Belcher, a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, answered, “Poetry speaks to our whole person. It feeds our intellect, it stimulates our imaginations, it addresses our wills, and it touches our emotions. It causes us to slow down and think.”
The Old Testament and gospel stories, along with the pastoral letters, target our wills and intellects well. With our intellects, we grasp the truth of the past, the present, and the future. With our wills, we turn our steps to act according to the truth in ways prescribed for us. Yes, these truths rightly appeal to our emotions and imaginations, but not the way poetry does. God uses poetry, if my seminary professor is correct, to engage more than just these aspects of us.
For example, if you wanted to communicate your love for a significant other, would you compose a list of facts and their corresponding actions? I hope not! You might write a poem or a song, using imagery to communicate more than mere words can say. You also might use the songs or poems of others. While love certainly does not exclude facts and actions, our experience of it runs deeper.
Poetry requires a little more mental and emotional energy because it does not necessarily deal in facts, but in imagery and metaphors. Metaphors communicate much more than the actual words, so imagination and emotion are important tools for understanding poetry. If you are like me, sometimes I come away from reading poetic passages scratching my head, asking, “God, what are you saying?” Because I don’t understand right away, I have to slow down, pray, and think a little more. This is a good place to be.
The poetic form reveals his heart and speaks to ours.
When God speaks to his people through the prophets in books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Micah, and Habakkuk, he communicates more than a list of sins and consequences. He speaks to our whole person with poetic imagery. In this, he reveals his heart and speaks to ours. We see his delight, “I will make them walk by streams of waters, on a straight path in which they will not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn” (Jeremiah 31:9). We can hear his grief, “I have spread out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts” (Isaiah 65:2). We can feel his anguish, “Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will no longer come to You’? Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten me days without number” (Jeremiah 2:31-32). God invites us into these places to experience his delight, to feel his grief, to know his anguish. If we slow down, take time to sit with the imagery, we can sense God’s own emotion, moving us from mere information into the realm of affection through imagination.
Biblical poetry, if we slow down enough to engage it, is an invitation to move beyond knowing about God to truly knowing him.
So if you feel led to beat the national average and pick up a book of poetry this year, I highly recommend the Bible. Slow down and sit with the poetic books* for a while, let God speak to your whole person, and invite you to know more than just about him. It’s a good place to be.
*Poetic books: Job, Psalms, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. Most other books contain poetry, but these hold significant amounts.