ABSTRACT

This module contains and discusses the

history and characteristics of Jewish
literature in Hebrew. Specifically, this
module describes the various genres in
ancient Hebrew literatures. Finally, it
provides some methods in analyzing
Hebrew literary pieces, especially those
MODULE 5 that are found in the Bible.

Jewish Literature

Lesson Outcomes
At the end of this module, the students are expected to have been able to:

1. Identify the various forces – historical, philosophical, political, social, and religious –that have shaped
Jewish literature in Hebrew.
2. Describe the various genres of classical Jewish literature in Hebrew.
3. Summarize the major classical Jewish literary texts.
4. Deduce the major themes of classic Jewish literary texts.
5. Analyze a few classical Jewish literary texts using appropriate literary tools.
 Module 5
JEWISH LITERATURE

Introduction to Jewish Literature

For millennia, Jewish letters have appeared in dozens of languages. The borderlines of Jewish letters—
lingual, national, geographical, and thematic—are not positively defined (Hillel Weiss, et al., 2014).

Perhaps the most prominent feature of Jewish literature is its aterritoriality. Literary critic George Steiner,
preferred the term extraterritorial. The difference is nuanced: aterritorial means outside a territory; extraterritorial
means beyond it. Either way, the terms points to the outsiderness of Jews during their diasporic journey. Unlike,
say, Argentine, French, Egyptian, or any other national literature, the one produced by Jews has no fixed address.
That is because it does not have a specific geographic center; it might pop up anywhere in the globe, as long as
suitable circumstances make it possible for it to thrive. This is not to say that Jews are not grounded in history. Quite
the contrary: Jewish life, like anyone else’s, inevitably responds at the local level to concrete elements. Yet Jews
tend to have a view of history that supersedes whatever homegrown defines them, seeing themselves as travelers
across time and space (Stavans, 2021).

Jewish literature springs from feeling ambivalent in terms of belonging. It is also marked by ceaseless
migration. All this could spell disaster. Yet Jews have turned these elements into a recipe for success. They have
produced a stunning number of masterpieces, constantly redefining what we mean by literature. Indeed, one
barometer to measure not only its health but also its diversity is the sheer number of recipients of the Nobel Prize
for Literature since the award was established in Stockholm in 1895: more than a dozen, including Shmuel Yosef
Agnon writing in Hebrew (1966), Saul Bellow in English (1976), Isaac Bashevis Singer in Yiddish (1978), Elias
Canetti in German (1981), Joseph Brodsky in Russian (1987), Imre Kertész in Hungarian (2002), Patrick Modiano
in French (2014), and Bob Dylan (2017) and Louise Glück (2020) in English (Stavans, 2021).

According to Ratosh (2002), no Jewish literature is—or ever was—completely isolated from any country, any
place. Jewish literature in Germany differs from Jewish literature in Italy. Each of these differs, in turn, from Jewish
literature in Russia, and the same applies to all the remaining Jewish literatures in their respective countries. And
Jewish poetry was written not only in Hebrew but also in Aramaic (by the Kabbalists), Judeo Arabic, Judeo Persian,
Ladino, Italian, German, Russian, English and French and, of course, Yiddish. Jewish literature as a whole is, in
fact, no more than the sum of Jewish literature, country by country.

Approaches for Identifying Jewish Literature (Wirth-Nesher, 2002)

1. Jewish literature is literature written by Jews: This is the simplest but the least satisfactory formula for
identifying Jewish literature. Such a reductive approach, by its indiscriminate inclusiveness and its biological
determinism, begs the question of what constitutes Jewish identity and culture as a matrix for Jewish literary
texts when, since the Enlightenment, every aspect of Jewish identity was called into question.
2. Jewish literature is literature that embodies Jewish themes: Some critics of Jewish literature have
argued that theme determines Jewishness, and have then proposed that such universal topics as conflict
between generations or ethical commitment are signs of Jewish texts. Some have claimed that Jewishness
is measured by religiosity, by what one critic called the “conversion into the essential Jew, achieved by acts
of striving, sacrificing, and suffering for the sake of some fundamental goodness . . . that has been lost and
buried.” Thus, once more, the “essential Jew” is indistinguishable from the essential Christian, or any human
victim ennobled by suffering. The latent moral imperialism implied by such an approach is as dismaying
as its intellectual shabbiness.
3. Jewish literature is literature written in Jewish language: Others have insisted that the text needs to
be written in a Jewish language, as if that were a self-evident criterion. And even if we were to confine
Jewish literature to specific languages, such as Yiddish, Hebrew, and Ladino to name a few obvious
 candidates, where would we place Kafka? Primo Levi? Elie Wiesel? Saul Bellow? Nelly Sachs? Paul
Celan? And would the works of Israeli Arab writers such as Anton Shamas be labeled Jewish literature
simply because they were written in Hebrew? This criterion is altogether too tidy, as it ignores cultural
affiliations that are not always consistent with language choices.
4. Jewish literature is literature that is informed by Jewish imagination and sensibilities: Jewish
literature is marked by a profound consciousness of Jewish history, or, in Robert Alter’s terms, of drawing
upon “literary traditions that are recognizably Jewish.” As this formula contains the definition within the
bounds of literariness, it is attractive and deceptively neat. Yet it poses intriguing questions: Is Agnon’s
evocation of the Bible similar to, say, Philip Roth’s drawing on Kafka, and in turn, Kafka’s drawing on the
Yiddish theater? Benjamin Harshav has suggested a provocative reverse case—that the work of New York
Yiddish poets such as Moyshe Leib Halpern is actually a lost branch of American literature despite the fact
that it is not written in English, because these poets drew on the texts of Whitman and other American
writers and self-consciously placed themselves within an American literary tradition.

For Weiss, et al. (2014), Jewish literature is “that which deals with a representation of the adventures of the
Jewish people as individuals and in communities; both as individuals as well as group and as a nationality in every
possible state.”

The approaches presented above shows the classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
The composite of these traits approaches a contour of a Jewish imagination but not the whole Jewish literary
landscape. Jewish literature, that is universal Jewish literature, does not develop naturally or directly. It is made up
of many separate literatures. Each literature is the fruit of a different country, with a frame of reference specific to it
alone. Each one has an existence in its own right (Ratosh, 2002).

Hebrew, some dialects of Aramaic, some of Alexandrian Greek, some versions of medieval Spanish and
German—these have been the languages of Jewish literature (Hollander, 2002). However, according to the literary
editor Baal-Makhshoves (2002), Jewish literature is one and its name is one. It simply comes before the reader in
two form since it has a double language, Hebrew and Yiddish. From its inception, Jewish literature has nearly
always been a bilingual one. Jews’ linguistic repertoires have two dominant languages, Hebrew and Yiddish, and a
dozen echoes from other foreign languages, but they have only one literature. And therefore the reader who seeks
to become acquainted with the currents of Jewish life, to comprehend the spirit of the Jewish individual and multitude
and how they find expression in Jewish literature, that reader dares not separate Hebrew writers from Yiddish ones.
All Jewish authors are representatives of Jewish literature, all embody a piece of Jewish life in their writing; all of
them are Jewish artists, even though they do not all use both languages to express their artistic motifs.

Others still have argued that Jewish literature is always short-lived, a symptom of incomplete assimilation in the
case of immigrant literature or a lack of self-sufficiency in one language and culture. Transient and anomalous, it is
always aiming for its own extinction.

The discussion above has framed the context of the present modules. Jewish literature is bilingual, it comprises
Hebrew and Yiddish literatures. However, due to consideration of time and space, this module will focus on
discussing literary genres in Jewish Literature written in Hebrew only.
 Lesson 1
INTRODUCTION TO HEBREW LITERATURE

Hebrew was undoubtedly the holy tongue, the language of the culture, thought, and science of the Jews
for generation upon generation, just as Latin was that of the peoples of Europe throughout the Middle Ages (Ratosh,
2002). This lesson is focused on discussing Hebrew literature.

A. Hebrew Literature is a Minority Literature

Hebrew literature has unique sociological interest as the oldest, in some ways most successful, minority
literature. It is a Grand Canyon of civilization, with visible strata of most of the major cultures created over the past
3,000 years. Almost every individual feature of Hebrew literature has some parallel in other literatures. Yet the
peculiar confluence of social and historical circumstances and literary qualities of Hebrew is unique. Its historical
'character' is distinct: as a sacred literature, the archetypal counter-cultural literature of protest (both against non-
Jewish powers and beliefs and also against Jewish rule and practices), the first literature to be banned and its
authors and teachers imprisoned or put to death, the only literature of the ancient world to survive as part of a living
modem culture. As the literature of a minority, Hebrew has had disproportionate influence on the culture of the
majority, to the point of being in a sense a majority culture manqué via Christianity and Islam.

Hebrew is unusual, too, in producing in its earliest phase a body of literature - only a small part of which
has survived as the Bible - universally regarded as aesthetically and morally superior to the majority culture - that
of the Mesopotamian empires - in which it was written. (In each succeeding phase of its development, in contrast,
Hebrew literature is at best equal and for the most part inferior artistically to the finest literature in the dominant
culture - this is especially true of Hebrew in Tsarist Russia.) At the same time, Hebrew has immersed itself
chameleon-like as no other literature has in every major culture in which the Jews lived. Yet it has paradoxically
remained unified, with clear influences in each period from preceding strata. The single binding force in all Hebrew
creativity is the Hebrew Bible (Saenz-Badillos, 1993).

The growth of Hebrew literature in its various social settings is a fruitful area for sociological study. Yet only the
Bible has received close attention by sociologists (Mayes, 1989).

Throughout much of the history of the Jews, Jewish literature was written in languages other than Hebrew.
Very little of this has survived from before the modem period. None was preserved with the reverence and loving
care given to Hebrew. From the late biblical period, Hebrew was not part of the daily speech of the majority of Jews,
even in Palestine. Already by the age of Augustus, prior to the exiles caused by the Roman-Jewish wars, most
Jews lived outside Palestine. They used Hellenistic Greek and Aramaic far more than Hebrew as these were
international languages vital in trade (Lieberman, 1950; Hengel, 1981). Aramaic kept its dominance for the next
thousand years, until well after the Islamic conquest, when Arabic replaced it as the main language used by the
Jews. In Europe by the Middle Ages, Yiddish became their lingua franca and remained so until the Holocaust. Since
the late 19th century, Jews have contributed substantially to virtually every major European literature. Non-Hebrew
Jewish literatures go back over two thousand years. Yet none of these has the moral passion and grandeur of
Hebrew.

None - not even Yiddish – has been as vital to Jewish identity and survival nor has had so long a history as
Hebrew literature. Hebrew is the only common language uniting the socially disparate groups of Ashkenazic
(European) and Sephardic (Oriental) Jews; and this too was an important factor in its survival. Even during its
periods of relative neglect - and these were many - Hebrew was used in prayer and study and regularly
experimented with and kept alive artistically. Its survival as part of Judaism was never in doubt. Hebrew throughout
history has been the single most authentic artistic expression of the Jewish spirit and of the Jewish will to live. If not
for Hebrew, it is possible that the Jews and Judaism might not have survived and that the State of Israel might
never have come into being.
Jewish literature does not now exist—and has not ever existed—in the Hebrew language alone Jewish literature
exists in America today in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English. It also exists in German and in Russian, and existed, at
one time, in Arabic, as well. Hebrew was undoubtedly the holy tongue, the language of the culture, thought, and
science of the Jews for generation upon generation, just as Latin was that of the peoples of Europe throughout the
Middle Ages. But Jewish literature does not exhaust itself in Hebrew, is not bounded by Hebrew, is not
identical to Hebrew literature.

It may help to expand our perspective a little if we recall that Hebrew was once a very noble, international
language, and that in the Middle Ages Hebrew was at times one of the general languages of science—rather than
a Jewish language alone. This was true in medicine, for example, and every doctor worthy of the name might have
been presumed to know Hebrew, as with Latin in our day. We might also remember that in the sixteenth century in
Hungary, not only Jews but learned nobility and other Gentiles were supposed to know Hebrew no less than Latin
and Greek. They even wrote poems in Hebrew as part of the learning process. Therefore, not only is Jewish
literature not limited by Hebrew, but, to be accurate, literature in Hebrew is not exclusively Jewish.

B. Four Peaks of Hewbrew Literature: A Gestalt

From the time of the invention of the alphabet (Hebrew: alephbet) at the start of the first millennium BCE until 1948,
Hebrew literature evolved continually under a string of powerful, doomed empires, each with a leading culture.
These include: Mesopotamia in the biblical age, Rome in the talmudic era, Islamic Spain in the Middle Ages, and
Tsarist Russia in modem times. Hebrew was also written elsewhere, in most countries in which the Jews were
scattered. Yet the bulk of artistic achievement in Hebrew – much of the Bible and Talmud, medieval Hebrew poetry
at its best and the successful transformation of Hebrew into a modem language and literature - was written in or
derives from these empires. Hebrew literature has grown in fits and starts, with more periods of pale imitation,
decline and stagnation than of brilliant achievement. Still, an unusual quantity of the best and most revolutionary
Hebrew literature, with poetry its forte, was compressed into four periods totaling about five hundred years:

l. 75-500 BCE. From the fall of the kingdom of Israel until the restoration of the state of Judah, a large part of the
Bible – notably the prophetic works - was either written or edited. During this time, the Mesopotamian empires which
ruled and annihilated Israel and Judah reached the height of their power. Then they fell apart and vanished.
Although the Judean monarchy ended when the Temple in Jerusalem was burned down in 586 BCE and many
Judeans were exiled by the Babylonians, Hebrew survived both in the diaspora and in Judah after the Judeans
were allowed by Persia to return.

2. 66--200 CE. In the first half of this period, the Jews were crushed in three wars against Rome (66-73, 115-17,
132-5 CE). These were the ultimate, most serious military challenges to Rome within the empire. They were also
the last instances of organized Jewish military resistance prior to 1903, in Tsarist Russia. The destruction of the
Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE was a fatal blow to the priesthood and to centralized worship in Jerusalem.
Synagogues and rabbis took their place, with Roman tolerance, and sermons as well as exegetical discussion -
Midrash- became for many generations the main form of creativity in Hebrew (Bialik and Ravnitsky, 1992). The
legal rulings and sayings of the rabbis, and anecdotes by and about them, were faithfully preserved until they were
written down at a later date. These comprise much of the Mishna (c.200 CE, the basis of Talmudic discussions)
and the halakhic· midrashim (chief of which are the Mekhilta, Sijra and Sijre). All these contain artistry of exceptional
originality, in form and content.

3. 1031-1140. Post-talmudic Hebrew until 1948 was primarily created in the Jewish diaspora, particularly in
Mesopotamia, North America and Europe. While Hebrew poetry was written in practically every part of the diaspora
(Carmi, 1981), the most important body of this poetry appeared during the 'golden age' of Hebrew poetry in Muslim
Spain in the 11th and 12th centuries. This period coincided with the fall of the Umayyad empire and the almost
constant civil wars which followed among the Muslim splinter kingdoms into which the empire degenerated.
Meanwhile, the Christian armies in Northern Spain moved sporadically southwards. Two invasions of North
American Berber tribes around 1090 and 1140 put an end to the Andalusian Jewish community and exiled Hebrew
poetry. The main group of Hebrew poets between the time of Second Isaiah (late 6th century BCE) and Chaim
Nachman Bialik (1873-1934), the leading modern Hebrew poet, lived during this period: Samuel Hanagid, Solomon
ibn Gabirol, Moses ibn Ezra and Judah Halevi.

Influenced decisively by Arabic poetry, these poets brought in many innovations in subject matter and versification.
Though much of their poetry was liturgical they also created the first body of secular poetry in Hebrew.

4.1881-1917. After the Spanish period, Hebrew literature in the diaspora underwent relatively little significant artistic
development until the 19th century, in Tsarist Russia. This does not mean that it is necessarily poor. Hebrew written
in 16th century Ottoman Palestine or 18th century Italy (notably works of Moses Hayyim Luzzatto), for example,
includes works of enduring beauty and charm. It is, nevertheless, largely imitative of the 'golden age' in medieval
Spain. Only after the outbreak of pogroms in Russia until the 1917 revolution did Hebrew grow to become a
significant, if still minor, force in modem literature. The Hebrew revival was based largely in Odessa and led by
Mendele Mocher Sefarim (pen name of S.J. Abramowitz, 1835?-1917) in prose fiction and by Bialik in poetry
(Aberbach, 1988, 1993). These writers were inspired to varying degrees by the rise of Jewish nationalism. They
comprised a movement which, by using the full richness of the Hebrew literary tradition (which at the time it was
still possible for one person to master in a lifetime), transformed Hebrew into a modern literature with Western
European artistic standards. This revolution in Hebrew language and literature became the cultural basis of the new
Palestinian Jewish community and, after 1948, of the State of Israel. Much important Hebrew literature was lost and
much was written between these four exceptionally innovative periods: for example, works included in the
Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha and the Dead Sea Scrolls; in hekhalot poetry and in piyyutim** in Palestine under
Byzantine rule; in Hebrew poetry of medieval France and Germany as well as Christian Spain; in Italy from the
Middle Ages until the 19th century; in 16th century Ottoman Palestine; in the Haskalah (Hebrew: Enlightenment)
literature from the mid-18th century until 1881; in Palestine of the British mandate; and in the United States mainly
prior to 1948. In addition, there is a large body of postMishnaic halakhic and exegetical writings in Hebrew some of
which, in Rashi or Maimonides for example, has artistic merit.
 Lesson 2
GENRES IN HEBREW LITERATURE
“There is a . . . sense in which the Bible, since it is after all literature, cannot properly be read except as
literature; and the different parts of it as the different sorts of literature they are.”
--C. S. Lewis

To reduce a thousand years of literature to one canonical work is unusual. Yet in Jewish studies, the power
of the biblical canon is so great and there is paucity of other notable works in Hebrew literature. Thus, this section
of the module will help you familiarize yourself with the various types of Biblical stories. The types discussed here
are heroic narrative, epic, comedy and tragedy. These subtypes within the general category of narrative have their
own procedures and rules of interpretation.

(Maybe insert discussion on Anthology in Jewish Literature)

A. Types of Biblical Stories

1. Heroic Narrative

The largest branch of narrative is heroic narrative. Hero stories are built around the life and exploits of a
protagonist. Such stories spring from one of the most universal impulses of literature—the desire to embody
accepted norms of behavior or representative struggles in the story of a character whose experience is typical of
people in general.

2. Epic

Epic is a species within the class of heroic narrative. It is long narrative, a hero story on the grand scale. A
single heroic narrative does not rate as an epic because it lacks epic scope. Epic is an encyclopedic form that
includes as much as possible. Northrop Frye calls it “the story of all things.” Epic is so expansive that it sums up a
whole age; one scholar claims that “the supreme role of epic lies in its capacity to focus a society’s self-awareness.”

How to Analyze Old Testament Historical Chronicle

If the historical chronicles of the Old Testament are to be approached as literature, epic is a fruitful rubric
under which to study them. The Book of Joshua, for example, is unified by the motif of Israel’s conquest of Canaan
and its quest to establish itself in the Promised Land, all under the direction of Joshua. The Book of Judges lacks a
unifying hero and is perhaps better viewed as a collection of separate hero stories, though certain features of the
book resemble epic. The story of David is definitely an epic story. David, in fact, is the closest parallel in the Bible
to the epic hero of the Western tradition: he is the warrior who conquers his enemies, the political ruler, and the
representative person of his culture.

Generalization: Although the Pentateuch, the Book of Joshua, the story of David, and the Book of Revelation are
the only full-fledged epics in the Bible, it is also apparent that the Bible as a whole is frequently epic-like. It has the
“feel” of other ancient epic literature. The continuous presence of God as a character in the stories alone would
make it similar to epic literature. The nationalistic tone and focus of the Old Testament lend an epic aura to the
stories and even to the prophecies. The framework of epic literature, therefore, is continuously relevant to the literary
study of biblical narrative, and other epics are more likely to furnish literary parallels than modern novels.

3. Comedy

When speaking of comedy as a type of story, literary critics do not mean a humorous story but rather one
with a certain shape of plot. Comedy is the story of the happy ending. It is usually a U-shaped story that begins in
prosperity, descends into tragedy, and rises again to end happily. The first phase of this pattern is often omitted,
but the upward movement from misery to happiness is essential.
4. Tragedy

Tragedy has held an honored position in literature generally. At the level of plot or action, tragedy is the
story of exceptional calamity. It portrays a movement from prosperity to catastrophe. Because it depicts a change
of fortune, tragedy must be differentiated from pathos, which depicts unmitigated suffering from the very start.
Tragedy focuses on what we most fear and wish to avoid facing—the destructive potential of evil.

Biblical Tragedies

The prototypical biblical tragedy is the story of the Fall in Genesis 3. The great masterpiece of biblical
tragedy is the story of Saul in 1 Samuel. If we keep in mind that tragedy assigns a specific cause to the hero’s
downfall and localizes the beginning of woe at a particular point in the hero’s life, the story of David as narrated in
1 and 2 Samuel adheres to a tragic pattern, since David’s tragic sufferings begin with the Bathsheba/Uriah incident.
The story of Samson (Judg. 13–16) is also a tragedy. Some of the parables of Jesus also enact the tragic pattern.

The Book of Job and the Gospels

In addition to these full-fledged tragedies, there are two major instances of biblical narrative where the definition of
literary tragedy partly fits the story, even though the story as a whole is comic. Because tragedy deals with human
suffering, the Book of Job has repeatedly been discussed in terms of literary tragedy, although the story as a whole
has the U-shaped movement and happy ending of comedy. The same situation is true of the four Gospels: they
conclude with the happy ending of a comic plot, but much of the action before that falls into the pattern of literary
tragedy.
 Lesson 3
CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF BIBLICAL POETRY
Introduction
Next to story, poetry is the most prevalent type of writing in the Bible. Some books of the Bible are entirely
poetic in form: Psalms, Song of Solomon, Proverbs, Lamentations. Many others are mainly poetic: Job, Ecclesiastes
(in which even the prose passages achieve poetic effects), Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, and numerous other prophetic
books. There is no book in the Bible that does not require the ability to interpret poetry to some degree because
every book includes some figurative language. Even the speech of Jesus and the writing in the New Testament
epistles make consistent use of concrete imagery and figures of speech.

A. Characteristics of Biblical Poetry

1. Parallelism

Biblical poetry is not characterized by traditional metric pattern and rhyme. Much of Biblical poetry is
constructed in units of thought, which is commonly called parallelism. Ryken distinguishes four main types of
parallelism: 1) synonymous parallelism consists of repeating an idea more than once in successive lines, using
similar sentence construction (Ps. 47:5); 2) antithetic parallelism, the second line makes the same point as the
first in a contrasting way (Prov. 12:26); 3) climactic parallelism the first part of the first line is repeated as the first
part of the second, but is then completed differently (Ps. 96:7). What Ryken calls (4) synthetic parallelism’ may
not seem like parallelism at all. It is when the second line. expands or completes the thought introduced in the first,
without any form of repetition (Ps. 103:13). Since there is no repetition in structure, this can only be called parallelism
under Ryken’s loose notion of a ‘thought couplet.’

The most significant characteristic of Hebrew poetry is its use of parallelism between the verse segments
(so-called parallelismus membrorum), a style figure likewise found in the literature of Egypt, Ugarit and
Mesopotamia. The phenomenon takes a variety of forms including:

A. Repetitive (synonymous) parallelism: a verse line is formed by two clauses expressing the same idea using
synonymous terminology. See, for example, Ps. 24:1–6:
1
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
2
for he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.
3
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false
and do not swear deceitfully.
5
They will receive blessing from the Lord
and vindication from the God of their salvation.
6
Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Repetitive parallelism is best represented by far in the book of Psalms. It should be noted thereby, however, that
parallelismus membrorum as a whole does not only represent repetition but also progress of thought.

B. Adversative (antithetical) parallelism: an idea is set in sharp relief by placing positive and negative
expressions thereof side by side. See, for example, Ps. 37:16–17:

16
Better is a little that the righteous person has
 than the abundance of many wicked.
17
For the arms of the godless shall be broken,
but the Lord upholds the righteous.

C. Complementary (synthetic) parallelism: In the third instance, the second half of the verse line supplements
the first. See, for example, Ps. 51:16–17:

16
Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing of your deliverance.
17
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

D. Climactic parallelism (“staircase parallelism”): In the fourth instance, the second segment of the verse line
repeats a word or several words from the first. See, for example, Ps. 29:1:

Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

2. ‘Distilled’ language

Another distinguishing feature of biblical poetry is the distilled language by which it is expressed. The
language of Hebrew poetry is concise, terse, and often elliptical. It tends to forgo conjunctions, relative pronouns,
and the direct object marker (Longman 1993: 82). Furthermore it frequently makes use of ellipses, or the omission
of one or more words that are clearly implied but are not supplied. In Hebrew poetry, the ellipsis often takes place
between the first and second of a pair of parallel lines, as is the case in Psalm 98:7: ‘Let the sea resound, and
everything in it,/the world, and all who live in it.’

3. Figurative language

Finally, biblical poetry is marked by its frequent use of figurative language. Figures of speech occur when
a writer, for the sake of vividness, ignores the denotations of words to focus on the connotations, and thus to make
a comparison that is not strictly logical but which may be very evocative. When we read ‘Your hair is like royal
tapestry’ (Song of Sol. 7:5) we are invited not to ponder literal similarities, but rather similarities of connotation. Such
figures of speech abound in biblical poetry, in the form of simile (Ps. 1:3) and metaphor (Song of Sol. 1:15). Conceits,
more elaborate and extended metaphors, also appear, as is the case in Psalm 23. Personification (Prov. 20:1) and
apostrophe, the direct addressing of an absent person or personified thing (Ps. 14:6), are also frequently employed
in biblical poetry

As is the case in the literature of many cultures, the line that distinguishes biblical prose from biblical poetry
is not clear. There are some features of language that are found much more frequently in what are clearly poetry
books such as the Song of Solomon, which may serve to distinguish them from such narrative books as 1 Kings.
Some of these common features of biblical poetry are parallelism, ‘distilled’ language, and figurative language.

B. Types of Biblical Poetry

In the Bible we find such diverse forms as poetic narrative (the Book of Job), poetic satire (much of Old
Testament prophecy), and poetic discourse (parts of the Sermon on the Mount). Mainly, though, poetry implies
various types of short poems, and it is the purpose of this section to describe the leading biblical examples.

Lyric Poetry
What most people mean by “poem” is a lyric poem. A lyric can be defined as a short poem, often intended
to be sung, that expresses the thoughts and especially the feelings of a speaker. Breaking that definition into its
individual parts yields the following anatomy of lyric as a genre.
A. Three-Part Structure:

1. Statement of Theme

The overwhelming majority of lyrics are built on the rule of three-part structure. They begin with a statement
of theme, which is also the idea or emotion or situation to which the poet is responding. Ways of stating the theme
are varied: a description (Ps. 121:1), a situation that is hinted at (Ps. 2:1), an invocation (Ps. 3:1), an address to an
implied human audience (Ps. 107:1), an idea (Ps. 19:1). Regardless of how the theme is stated, it alerts the reader
to what will control the entire poem.

2. Development of the Theme

The main part of any lyric is the development of the controlling theme. There are four ways of doing this,
and many poems combine them:

1. Repetition, in which the controlling emotion or idea is simply restated in different words or images (Ps. 32:1–5).
2. The listing or catalog technique, in which the poet names and perhaps responds to various aspects of the theme
(Ps. 23 or any of the praise psalms).
3. The principle of association, in which the poet branches out from the initial emotion or idea to related ones. A
common pattern in the Psalms is movement from God’s character to his acts, or vice versa. In Psalm 19, the poet
moves from God’s revelation of himself in nature to his revelation in the moral law.
4. Contrast, in which the poet is led to consider the opposite emotion or phenomenon as he develops the main
theme (Ps. 1).

3. Resolution

In the last, brief part of a lyric, the emotion or meditation is resolved into a concluding thought, feeling, or
attitude. Lyrics do not simply end; they are rounded off with a note of finality. In the Psalms this is often a brief
prayer or wish.

B. Psalms
Biblical scholars have identified so many types of psalms, and made so many arbitrary and subtle
distinctions. All of the Psalms are lyrics, and we can do an excellent job with any psalm by using what we know
about poetic language and lyric form. We should also note that classification of the Psalms rests largely on elements
of content or subject matter, not on literary form as such.

1. Lament Psalms

The largest category of psalms is the lament psalm, which can be either private or communal. A lament
psalm consists of the following five elements, which (note well) may appear in any order and which can occur more
than once in a given psalm.

1. An invocation or introductory cry to God, which is sometimes expanded by the addition of epithets (titles) and
often already includes an element of petition.
2. The lament or complaint: a definition of the distress; a description of the crisis; the stimulus that accounts for the
entire lament. Most lament poems are “occasional poems,” arising from a particular occasion in the poet’s life, which
is usually hinted at in the complaint section.
3. Petition or supplication.
4. Statement of confidence in God.
5. Vow to praise God, or simply praise of God. Psalms 10, 35, 38, 51, 74, and 77 are typical lament psalms

2. Praise Psalms

The second major grouping of psalms is the psalms of praise. The psalms of praise, theocentric in
emphasis, direct praise to God. Such poems are the voice of response to the worthiness of God.
The Form of the Praise Psalm

The psalm of praise has a fixed form, just as the lament has. There are three parts.

1. The introduction to praise regularly consists of one or more of the following elements: (a) a call or exhortation to
sing to the Lord, to praise, to exalt; (b) the naming of the person or group to whom the exhortation is directed; (c)
mention of the mode of praise.
2. Development of the praise ordinarily begins with a motivational section or phrase in which the poet gives the
reason for the call to praise. The most important part of any psalm of praise is what follows, namely, the catalog
(listing) of the praiseworthy acts or qualities of God.
3. The conclusion or resolution of the praise ends the poem on a note of finality. It often takes the form of a brief
prayer or wish.

3. Worship Psalms

Worship psalms, also known as songs of Zion, are an important category. They do not have a fixed form
like lament and praise psalms, but they are readily identified by the presence of references to worship in Jerusalem.
Many of these poems also allude to the pilgrimages that were a regular part of Old Testament religious experience.
Worship psalms are among the most beautiful in the Psalter and are well represented by Psalms 27, 42–43, 48, 84,
121, 122, 125, 137.

4. Nature Poems

Nature poems are also a high point of the Psalms. There are five psalms that we can call nature poems—Psalms
8, 19, 29, 104, and 148. They all share common traits: they take some aspect of nature as their subject; they praise
nature for its beauty, power, provision, and so forth; and they describe nature in evocative word-pictures that
awaken our own experiences of nature. The poet in each of these poems does not treat nature as the highest good
but allows nature to become the occasion for praising God, the creator of nature.

B. Love Lyrics

The Bible contains some of the most beautiful love poetry in the world. It appears mainly in the Song of
Solomon. The best way to understand this frequently misinterpreted book is simply to compare it with the love
poetry that one can find in a standard anthology of English poetry.

C. Encomium

One of the most appealing of all lyric forms in the Bible is the encomium. An encomium is a lyric (whether
in poetry or prose) that praises either an abstract quality or a general character type. The conventional formulas in
an encomium are these:

1. An introduction to the topic that will be praised. 4. The indispensable or superior nature of the subject.
2. The distinguished and ancient ancestry of the subject. 5. A conclusion urging the reader to emulate the
3. The praiseworthy acts and/or attributes of the subject. subject.

Activity 1. Let’s Critique not Criticize!

Psalm 23 as Poetry:

Using your knowledge of the structure and content of poetry in general and of Psalm in particular,
based on the discussion above, write a short literary analysis of Psalm 23 (See Appendix) advancing the
thesis that it is poetry just like other else. To able to do so, identify what kind of psalm it is and analyze
accordingly.
 Lesson 4
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HEBREW SHORT STORIES

1. Literary Style

They were composed in a quite distinctive literary style, employing an artistic and elevated prose
containing rhythmic elements which are poetic--a style which German scholars designate Kunstprosa. The
rhythmic elements occur especially in speeches of the protagonists, but are not confined to them; indeed
not all of these stories use speeches in the same proportion. Quite probably, this semipoetic quality was an
aid in remembering the stories, for it is likely that they were carried for a time in oral tradition in this elevated
prose style. When they were written down, their final composers wrote very much what had been carried
orally.

2. Content

In general, the stories combine an interest in rather typical people, even if they are important
people, with an interest in mundane affairs, even when these affairs tum out to be significant on a national
scale.

3. Purpose

These stories have a combination of purposes. They are by design both entertaining and
instructive. Especially important: they look at ordinary events as being the scene of God's subtly providential
activity. Fun and delight, pathos and violence, characterize the human portrayals; combined with the subtle
divine dimension, the total effect is one of joy and seriousness together. The audience for such stories is
"invited" again and again to participate in these moods and thus to learn from the experience of the stories'
protagonists. The characters have a certain typicality and yet a certain individuality. Their examples can
readily be emulated or avoided, and yet they are genuine human beings with distinctive personalities. This
last point is important, for there is a tendency among scholars to claim that the actors in such stories as
ours are painted two-dimensionally and without personality. Sometimes, the moods and emotions are not
very typical, and the audience must be led to identify with them.

4. Artistic Delivery of Message

The hearer or reader, ancient or modern, finds himself delighting in the capacity of the creators of
these stories to do what they are doing extremely well, appreciating not only the message of the story but
also its artistry.

Activity 2. Let’s Critique not Criticize

At the appendix to this module is the story of Ruth, which is considered as one of the famous
Biblical texts that may be considered a short story. After reading it and its sample analysis, look for another
Hebrew short story from the Bible and analyze it by looking into the four characteristics discussed above.
 Lesson 5
THE GOSPELS AND THE PARABLES AS LITERATURE
A. The Gospels as Literature

1. Traditional Approaches to the Gospels

Biblical scholarship on the Gospels has been preoccupied with questions of historical authenticity,
theological content, relation to the religious milieu of the first century church, literary precedents or models,
and stages of oral transmission that can be traced backward to a primitive original from the written form in
which we currently find the Gospels.

2. A Literary Approach to the Gospels

A literary approach substitutes an entirely different agenda of interests that are complementary to
the traditional questions and that have been unjustifiably neglected. A literary approach begins with the
conviction that the Gospels are first of all stories. Once this premise is accepted, the reader’s attention
focuses on a cluster of related concerns: unifying plot conflicts that move toward a final resolution; the
overall structure and progression of the story; narrative and artistic patterns such as repetition, contrast,
and framing; the characters who generate the action; the settings in which events occur; the point of view
from which the story is told, including patterns of approval and disapproval of characters and events that
the story encourages the reader to adopt; image patterns and symbolism; style (with emphasis on economy
of expression, choice of concrete details that suggest a bigger picture, the prominence of dialogue and
speech patterns, and the poetic bent of Jesus); and the characteristics of the narrative “world” that each
Gospel builds in the reader’s imagination.

3. The Primacy of Story

These matters have long received scattered attention, but not until recently have they been
integrated into a systematic and popular approach to the Gospels. The main new factor is a growing
consensus that the primary form of the Gospels is narrative or story, not sermon or saying. Above all, literary
critics are now saying, the Gospels consist of characters doing certain things in a series of settings. “The
genre characteristics of the gospel are. . .narrative characteristics,” writes a biblical scholar as he criticizes
the inadequacies of traditional approaches. “The Gospel writers produced neither volumes of learned
exegesis nor sermons,” writes another; “rather, they told stories; and if we wish to understand what the
Gospels say, we should study how stories are told.” And a third warns that “there are special aspects of
narrative composition which biblical scholars will continue to ignore if there is not greater awareness of how
stories are told and how they communicate.”

4. The Hybrid Nature of the Gospels

If we come to the Gospels with the usual narrative expectations of cause-effect plot construction,
a strict beginning-middle-end framework, and the principle of single action, we will be continuously
frustrated. The Gospels are too episodic and fragmented, too self-contained in their individual parts, and
too thoroughly a hybrid form with interspersed non-narrative elements to constitute this type of unified story.
The Gospels are an encyclopedic or mixed form. They include elements of biography, historical chronicle,
fiction (the parables), oration, sermon, dialogue (drama), proverb, poem, tragedy, and comedy.

B. The Parables as Literature

1. The Incarnational Nature of Literature

Everything about the Parable of the Good Samaritan makes it a piece of literature. We should notice first
that Jesus never gives an abstract or propositional definition of “neighbor.” Instead, he tells a story that
embodies what it means to be a neighbor. This suggests at once the most important thing about literature:
its subject matter is human experience, not abstract ideas. Literature incarnates its meanings as concretely
as possible. The knowledge that literature gives of a subject is the kind of knowledge that is obtained by
(vicariously) living through an experience. Jesus could have defined neighbor abstractly, as a dictionary
does, but he chose a literary approach to the truth instead. This is comparable to an experience we probably
have all had when struggling with the assembly of a toy or appliance: when we have a good picture, we
may not even need the written instructions.

2. The Primacy of Imagination (Image-Making)

Because literature presents an experience instead of telling us about that experience, it constantly appeals
to our imagination (the image-making and image-perceiving capacity within us). Literature images forth
some aspect of reality. Consider all the sensory images and gestures we encounter in this parable: robbers
stripping and beating a victim on a road, specific people traveling down the road, first-aid equipment
consisting of such tangibles as oil and wine, and such physical things as a donkey and an inn and money.
We visualize the Samaritan lifting the victim onto his donkey and see the money exchange hands and listen
to the instructions at the inn.

3. The Genre of Story

The form of the parable is as literary as the content is. For one thing, it is a story or narrative, and this is a
distinctly literary genre (“type”). The story, moreover, is told with an abundance of literary artistry. It follows
the storytelling principle of threefold repetition: a given event happens three times, with a crucial change
introduced the third time. The story begins with vivid plot conflict to seize the listener’s attention, and from
the very start the story generates suspense about its outcome. Jesus also makes skillful use of foils
(contrasts that “set off” or heighten the main point of the story): the neighborliness of the Samaritan stands
out all the more clearly by its contrast with the indifference of the priest and of the Levite.

4. Unity, Coherence, Emphasis

Well-constructed stories have unity, coherence, and emphasis. Judged by these artistic criteria,
this parable of Jesus is a small masterpiece. Nothing is extraneous to the unifying theme of neighborly
behavior from an unlikely source. The very construction of the story makes the emphasis fall on the good
Samaritan.

5. Reader Involvement

Not only is the parable inherently literary; its effect on the reader is also literary. The story does not
primarily require our minds to grasp an idea but instead gets us to respond with our imagination and
emotions to a real-life experience. It puts us on the scene and makes us participants in the action. It gets
us involved with characters about whose destiny we are made to care. Literature, in short, is affective, not
cool and detached. This, of course, made it such an effective teaching medium for Jesus, whose parables
often drew his listeners innocently into the story and then turned the tables on them after it was too late to
evade the issue at hand.

C. The Parables as Stories

Although Jesus’ brief parables are not stories but similes or analogies, the longer parables are
stories composed of setting, characters about whose destinies we care, and plots that move through conflict
to resolution. Recent biblical scholarship has made so much of the parallels between parable and metaphor
that we are in danger of missing the story element in the parables. There is no doubt that the parables of
Jesus are folk literature in the first place, originally oral. They are the very touchstone of popular storytelling
through the ages.
 Virtually the first thing we notice about the parables is their everyday realism and concrete
vividness. The parables take us right into the familiar world of planting and harvesting, traveling through the
countryside, baking bread, tending sheep, or responding to an invitation. The parables thus obey the literary
principle of verisimilitude (“lifelikeness”). There is no fantasy in the parables of Jesus—no talking animals
or imaginary monsters, only people such as we meet during the course of a day. On the surface, these
stories are totally “secular.” There are few overtly religious activities in the parables. If we approached them
without their surrounding context and pretended that they were anonymous, we could not guess that they
were intended for a religious purpose.

The characters in the parables are anonymous. Only one of them (Lazarus) is named. The result
is that they become universal character types. Paradoxically, these nameless characters assume a quality
of vivid familiarity, like the characters of Chaucer and Dickens.

The surface appeal of these stories also depends on the presence of powerful archetypes.
Archetypes are recurrent images and motifs that keep appearing in literature and life and that touch us
powerfully, both consciously and unconsciously. The parables are filled with archetypal situations. Jesus
told parables about master and servant (employer and employee), for example, that tap our ambivalent
feelings toward employers—feelings of fear, dependence, security, insecurity, gratitude, and resentment
over injustice.

1. The Artistic Excellence of the Parables

Parables as masterpieces of popular or folk storytelling. The parables represent the beauty of
simplicity, and they can be enjoyed first of all as examples of narrative art. They can be analyzed for their
pleasing narrative qualities of lifelike and vivid realism, for their skill in arousing the narrative curiosity to
discover what happened next and how it all turned out in the end, for their skillful conciseness in which
every detail counts, for the universal character types that are part of our own life, for the archetypal patterns,
for the element of strangeness that teases us (as riddles do) to discover what the story is “getting at,” and
for “a structure and balance of narrative form which can scarcely be accidental.”

2. The Parables Are More Than Stories

We should not read the parables only as stories. There are several reasons why we cannot rest
content with the surface level of the narrative. The stories are too simple to satisfy us at a purely narrative
level. The “cracks” in the realism hint at a meaning beyond the literal. Some of the details already had
symbolic meanings in Jewish analogues (e.g., sowing = teaching, seed = word, the owner of the vineyard
= God). Most conclusively of all, we have Jesus’ own recorded interpretations of the parables of the sower
(Matt. 13:18-23) and the wheat and the tares (Matt. 13:36-43), which show that the parables have a
meaning beyond the narrative level. The parable is a story that means what it says and something besides,
and in the parables of Jesus that something besides is the more important of the two.

D. The Parables as Allegories

1. Degrees of Allegory in the Parables

The parables of Jesus range over the left half of the allegorical spectrum. In parables like those of
the sower and the talents we translate virtually every detail into a corresponding meaning. Moving a notch
to the right, we have the parable of the prodigal son in which, for example, the father is God and the elder
brother represents the Pharisees and scribes, but in which we do not allegorize such details as the
prodigal’s money, the harlots, the pigs, or the shoes that the father gives to his repentant son. In the middle
we can place the parable of the good Samaritan (See Appendix), where the story as a whole embodies the
moral meaning.
2. Analogy or Comparison as the Basic Principle

If we agree that the parables are designed to convey meaning, how should we go about interpreting
what the stories mean? The basic principle of a parable is that of analogy or comparison. Literally the word
“parable” means “to throw alongside.” This means that the literal level of the story has a corresponding
meaning, either continuously or as a whole story. Amos Wilder writes that “there is the picture-side of the
parable and there is the meaning or application.” The corresponding activity that this requires of a reader
has been stated succinctly by Cadoux: “The parable elicits a judgment in one sphere in order to transfer it
to another.”

The Fourfold Process of Parable Analysis

Once we have been alerted to the need to make such a transfer of meaning, the actual analysis of
a parable falls rather naturally into a four-phase process.

1. Analysis of the Literal Story

This fourfold process of analyzing a parable begins with looking as closely as possible at the literal
details of the story. Here is where we should apply all that has been said about the parables as
masterpieces of storytelling. If, as modern scholarship has taught us, the parables function partly as
metaphors that have as a main thrust to shock our deep-level ways of thinking, then we need to let the
shock at the literal level of the story sink in—shocks such as a good Samaritan, or outcasts being invited
to a banquet while the respectable members of society are excluded, or all workers receiving a day’s wage
regardless of how short a time they worked.

Guidelines for Interpreting Parabolic Details

1.1 Context

One signpost is the surrounding context in the Gospel narratives. If the narrative lead-in to the parable of
the prodigal son (Luke 15:1-2) alerts us that the parable is Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees’ and scribes’
complaint that Jesus “receives sinners and eats with them,” then it is plausible to see the prodigal as a
representative of “sinners,” the father who forgives him as a symbol of God and Christ, and the unforgiving
elder brother as a picture of the Pharisees and scribes.

1. 2 Details with established Hebraic meaning

Another signpost is details in the parables that had an established Hebraic (usually Old Testament)
meaning: God as father or owner of a vineyard or master, seed as God’s Word, sowing as teaching, and
so forth. Other details rather automatically call to mind the familiar teachings of Jesus or of New Testament
writers: the banquet or marriage feast is a picture of salvation, the master’s return after a long journey (Matt.
25:19) suggests Christ’s second coming, the father’s forgiveness of the prodigal cannot be anything other
than God’s forgiveness of sinners, and the employer’s payment of his workers is a judgment that calls to
mind the final judgment at the end of history.

2. Interpreting Symbolic Details

The second thing to do is determine whether any details in the story require a symbolic
interpretation. Some parables have details that require no symbolic interpretation of details. In most
parables, at least some of the details do. In either case, this is the point in one’s analysis to apply the idea
of the allegorical scale or continuum discussed earlier.
Activity 3. Let’s Critique not Criticize!

It is said that the details in the Parable of the Good Samaritan do not need a symbolic interpretation.
On the other hand, the Parable of the Talents needs a symbolic interpretation to reveal its allegorical
meaning. In a short literary analysis, discuss the details that are symbolical and argue what theme is being
conveyed in that parable.

3. Determining the Theme(s)

Having allowed the literal details to have their impact, and having interpreted the symbols, the
reader next needs to determine the theme(s) of the parable. The rules for deciding what the parable is
about are exactly the same as those for stories in general. Often the surrounding context in the Gospels
already establishes an interpretive framework, but even in such instances the parable might have implicit
themes beyond the one(s) suggested by the lead-in or concluding comment.

There is a long-established rule of parable interpretation arguing that parables can have only one
main point is under. This is an extremely arbitrary rule of interpretation and is under increasing attack. It is
one of the glories of literature that it can embody a multiplicity of meanings even in so small a unit as a
metaphor. Even when a parable has a single main point, why would we deny legitimate secondary or related
themes?

Activity 4. Theme-Work Challenge

The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) (see the Appendix) has a major theme and other
possible minor themes. Read the parable and write a thematic analysis of it supported by textual evidence
and additional evidence gathered from a mini-research.
Appendix- Sample Biblical Texts with Analyses
This last section of the module presents specific sample texts from the Old and the New
Testaments. The selections are the following: Genesis: the Creation, Psalm 23, The Book of Ruth and two
parables namely; The Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son.

A. Epic

Genesis 1
1
In the beginning when God created 2 the heavens 20
And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms
and the earth, the earth was a formless void and of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth
darkness covered the face of the deep, while a across the dome of the sky.” 21 So God created the
wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 great sea monsters and every living creature that
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm,
light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw
God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be
called the light Day, and the darkness he called fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas,
Night. And there was evening and there was and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there
morning, the first day. was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
6
And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst 24
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living
of the waters, and let it separate the waters from creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things
the waters.” 7 So God made the dome and and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it
separated the waters that were under the dome was so. 25 God made the wild animals of the earth
from the waters that were above the dome. And it of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and
was so. 8 God called the dome Sky. And there was everything that creeps upon the ground of every
evening and there was morning, the second day. kind. And God saw that it was good.
9
And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be 26
Then God said, “Let us make human-kind in our
gathered together into one place, and let the dry image, according to our likeness; and let them have
land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
land Earth, and the waters that were gathered birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
together he called Seas. And God saw that it was wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping
good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth put forth thing that creeps upon the earth.”
vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of
27
every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in So God created human-kind in his image, in the
it.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth image of God he created them; male and female
vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and he created them. 28 God blessed them, and God
trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the
evening and there was morning, the third day. fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over
every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
14
And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of
the sky to separate the day from the night; and let 29
God said, “See, I have given you every plant
them be for signs and for seasons and for days and yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth,
years, 15 and let them be lights in the dome of the and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have
sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth,
God made the two great lights—the greater light to and to every bird of the air, and to everything that
rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night— creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath
and the stars. 17 God set them in the dome of the of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And
sky to give light upon the earth, 18 to rule over the it was so. 31 God saw everything that he had made,
day and over the night, and to separate the light and indeed, it was very good. And there was
from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
 19
And there was evening and there was morning,
the fourth day.

Analyzing Genesis as a Literary Text

The word Genesis comes from Greek, and it means “origin, beginning.” This first chapter of Genesis
is a very formal tale, structured clearly and consistently around seven days. Its way of going about its work
within that structure is also very formal, and so is its rather repetitive literary style. Elohim says that
something is to happen, and it happens: “‘Let light be.’ And light was” (v. 3). Elohim looks at what he has
done and pronounces it good. Then he names the thing or things created, and the day ends. There are, of
course, specific ways of dealing with various happenings on a given day.

In its entirety, the Book of Genesis approximates the epic genre. It is atypical in having four
patriarchs instead of a single hero as the epic protagonist. But in other respects it meets epic expectations.
It is a moderately long story that traces the early ancestry of a nation. Because of the covenant theme that
pervades the story, it is a story of destiny. This is much more than the history of individual heroes or even
of a family; it is nothing less than the beginning of salvation history, the history of the whole human race
viewed from the perspective of God’s acts of redemption and judgment. And Genesis possesses to a
greater degree than perhaps any other biblical story the quality of elemental human experience that epic is
so adept at capturing. Formally speaking, it exhibits characteristics of an epic too. For instance, the meter
of the verse, So God created man…—tetrameter—, which is also found in other verses of the book, is the
most usual in the epic poetry of the Eastern peoples of antiquity, and was probably employed to a large
extent in the epic poetry of Israel, too.

B. Short Story
The Story of Ruth

Chapter 1 20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law,

1 Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges “Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not forsaken
ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a His kindness to the living and the dead!” And
certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in Naomi said to her, “This man is a relation of ours,
the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two one of our close relatives.”
sons.
21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also said to me,
2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name “You shall stay close by my young men until they
of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two have finished all my harvest.”
sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of
Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of 22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It
Moab and remained there. is good, my daughter, that you go out with his
young women, and that people do not meet you in
3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she any other field.”
was left, and her two sons.
23 So she stayed close by the young women of
4 Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and
name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-
other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. law.

5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the Chapter 3

woman survived her two sons and her husband.
1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My
6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it
she might return from the country of Moab, for she may be well with you?
had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD
had visited His people by giving them bread.
7 Therefore she went out from the place where she 2 Now Boaz, whose young women you were with,
was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and is he not our relative? In fact, he is winnowing
they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. barley tonight at the threshing floor.

8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, 3 Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put
return each to her mother’s house. The LORD deal on your best garment and go down to the threshing
kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead floor; but do not make yourself known to the man
and with me. until he has finished eating and drinking.

9 The LORD grant that you may find rest, each in 4 Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall
the house of her husband.” So she kissed them, notice the place where he lies; and you shall go in,
and they lifted up their voices and wept. uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you
what you should do.”
10 And they said to her, “Surely we will return with
you to your people.” 5 And she said to her, “All that you say to me I will
do.”
11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why
will you go with me? Are there still sons in my 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did
womb, that they may be your husbands? according to all that her mother-in-law instructed
her.
12 Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old
to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I 7 And after Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his
should have a husband tonight and should also heart was cheerful, he went to lie down at the end
bear sons, of the heap of grain; and she came softly,
uncovered his feet, and lay down.
13 would you wait for them till they were grown?
Would you restrain yourselves from having 8 Now it happened at midnight that the man was
husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me startled, and turned himself; and there, a woman
very much for your sakes that the hand of the was lying at his feet.
LORD has gone out against me!”
9 And he said, “Who are you?” So she answered,
14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; “I am Ruth, your maid-servant. Take your
and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth maidservant under your wing, for you are a close
clung to her. relative.”

15 And she said, “Look, your sister- in-law has 10 Then he said, “Blessed are you of the LORD,
gone back to her people and to her gods; return my daughter! For you have shown more kindness
after your sister-in-law.” at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not
go after young men, whether poor or rich.
16 But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or
to turn back from following after you; For wherever 11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for
you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will you all that you request, for all the people of my
lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your town know that you are a virtuous woman.
God, my God.
12 Now it is true that I am a close relative; however,
17 Where you die, I will die, And there will I be there is a relative closer than I.
buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If
anything but death parts you and me.” 13 Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that
if he will perform the duty of a close relative for
18 When she saw that she was determined to go you—good; let him do it. But if he does not want to
with her, she stopped speaking to her. perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty
for you, as the LORD lives! Lie down until morning.”
19 Now the two of them went until they came to
Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come 14 So she lay at his feet until morning, and she
to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because arose before one could recognize another. Then he
of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

Page 1 of 25
 said, “Do not let it be known that the woman came
20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; to the threshing floor.”
call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very
bitterly with me. 15 Also he said, “Bring the shawl that is on you and
hold it.” And when she held it, he measured six
21 I went out full, and the LORD has brought me ephahs of barley, and laid it on her. Then she went
home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, into the city.
since the LORD has testified against me, and the
Almighty has afflicted me?” 16 When she came to her mother-in-law, she said,
“Is that you, my daughter?” Then she told her all
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her that the man had done for her.
daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the
country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at 17 And she said, “These six ephahs of barley he
the beginning of barley harvest. gave me; for he said to me, “Do not go empty-
handed to your mother-in-law.”‘
Chapter 2
18 Then she said, “Sit still, my daughter, until you
1 There was a relative of Naomi’s husband, a man know how the matter will turn out; for the man will
of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His not rest until he has concluded the matter this day.”
name was Boaz.
Chapter 4
2 So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let
me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after 1 Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down
him in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said there; and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz
to her, “Go, my daughter.” had spoken came by. So Boaz said, “Come aside,
friend, sit down here.” So he came aside and sat
3 Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field down.
after the reapers. And she happened to come to
the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and
the family of Elimelech. said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.

4 Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and 3 Then he said to the close relative, “Naomi, who
said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!” And has come back from the country of Moab, sold the
they answered him, “The LORD bless you!” piece of land which belonged to our brother
Elimelech.
5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge
of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 4 And I thought to inform you, saying, “Buy it back
in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of
6 So the servant who was in charge of the reapers my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if
answered and said, “It is the young Moabite woman you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know;
who came back with Naomi from the country of for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am
Moab. next after you.”‘ And he said, “I will redeem it.”

7 And she said, “Please let me glean and gather 5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field
after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from
came and has continued from morning until now, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to
though she rested a little in the house.” perpetuate the name of the dead through his
inheritance.”
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my
daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in 6 And the close relative said, “I cannot redeem it
another field, nor go from here, but stay close by for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You
my young women. redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I
cannot redeem it.”
9 Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and
go after them. Have I not commanded the young 7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel
men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm

Page 2 of 25
go to the vessels and drink from what the young anything: one man took off his sandal and gave it
men have drawn.” to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.
8 Therefore the close relative said to Boaz, “Buy it
10 So she fell on her face, bowed down to the for yourself.” So he took off his sandal.
ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor
in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, 9 And Boaz said to the elders and all the people,
since I am a foreigner?” “You are witnesses this day that I have bought all
that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and
11 And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi.
been fully reported to me, all that you have done
for your mother-in-law since the death of your 10 Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of
husband, and how you have left your father and Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate
your mother and the land of your birth, and have the name of the dead through his inheritance, that
come to a people whom you did not know before. the name of the dead may not be cut off from
among his brethren and from his position at the
12 The LORD repay your work, and a full reward gate. You are witnesses this day.”
be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under
whose wings you have come for refuge.” 11 And all the people who were at the gate, and the
elders, said, “We are witnesses. The LORD make
13 Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, the woman who is coming to your house like
my lord; for you have comforted me, and have Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of
spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be
like one of your maidservants.” famous in Bethlehem.

14 Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, “Come here, 12 May your house be like the house of Perez,
and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the
in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and offspring which the LORD will give you from this
he passed parched grain to her; and she ate and young woman.”
was satisfied, and kept some back.
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife;
15 And when she rose up to glean, Boaz and when he went in to her, the LORD gave her
commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean conception, and she bore a son.
even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.
14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the
16 Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for LORD, who has not left you this day without a close
her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke relative; and may his name be famous in Israel!
her.”
15 And may he be to you a restorer of life and a
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening, and nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law,
beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about who loves you, who is better to you than seven
an ephah of barley. sons, has borne him.”

18 Then she took it up and went into the city, and 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her
her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So bosom, and became a nurse to him.
she brought out and gave to her what she had kept
back after she had been satisfied. 17 Also the neighbor women gave him a name,
saying, “There is a son born to Naomi.” And they
19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse,
you gleaned today? And where did you work? the father of David.
Blessed be the one who took notice of you.” So she
told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, 18 Now this is the genealogy of Perez: Perez begot
and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked Hezron; 19 Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot
today is Boaz.” Amminadab; 20 Amminadab begot Nahshon, and
Nahshon begot Salmon; 21 Salmon begot Boaz,
and Boaz begot Obed; 22 Obed begot Jesse, and
Jesse begot David.

Page 3 of 25
Sample Form-Critical Analysis of the Ruth

The Ruth is a Hebrew historical short story. The term Novelle is often used and can be defended.
Novelle is a form-critical category which seems for most of those who use it to connote a combination of
brevity with a plurality of episodes. It implies as well the evaluation that the style and structure are distinctive
and well-wrought. There is, furthermore, the obvious implication that the content is at least primarily fictional,
if not purely so. Then there is the matter of purpose; a Novelle should have one, according to most students,
but what it will be is not particular to the form. It may be simply to entertain, but more often it is to edify or
to advocate. It may even propagandize and polemicize. In fact, the term Novelle is so broad that if we adopt
it as a formal category of Israelite literature and say that the Ruth story is a Novelle, we may find we have
not said very much. And that is where we need to probe.

When one presses the authors of the various current introductions to the Old Testament on the
matter of the historical short story, he finds that it is not at all easy to set clear boundaries for each kind of
prose composition found in Israelite literature. For one thing, form critics have not paid prose works anything
like the attention they have devoted to poetry, and "there is an enormous job to be done" in classifying
prose forms. For another, there is real difficulty in drawing a distinction between stories with a legendary or
heroic or fairy-tale dimension and those which are more historical or secular or oriented to the level of
common human activity and experience.

If we lump the Ruth story with Esther, Tobit, and Judith, as Bentzen does, we still have four different
kinds of stories. In Tobit we see magical healing, demons, angels, and fairy-tale motifs. In Judith we find
three other motifs: a heroine of legendary beauty, piety, and accomplishments, together with scrupulous
attention to religious practice and the fabulous panic among the multitudinous enemy hordes. In Esther
there are heroic persons, along with some legendary if not fairy-tale motifs, and a distinct concern to put
forward the festival of Purim. Among these, one would want to use the adjective "historical" about the Esther
novelette, but, because of the legendary motifs, not in quite the same sense as he might like to use it about
Ruth. If we turn to comparison with Jonah, another example of Hebrew short story, we have a legendary
great fish to cope with, not to mention the fabulous picture of that great city Nineveh, entirely in repentance
and clothed in sack, right down to the cattle. Recent analysis of stories has turned with greater frequency
to comparing Ruth with the Joseph story in Genesis 37, 39-48, 50. This has proved more fruitful, but
success here arises not so much from comparison to the old fairy-tale motif found in the scene between
Joseph and Potiphar's wife in Genesis 39, proposed by Eissfeldt, as from a range of other features, mainly
stylistic, thematic, and theological ones.

C. Parable
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:30–36

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They
stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going
down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when
he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came
where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds,
pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.
The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. “Look after him,” he said, “and
when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.” Which of these three do you think
was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?

Page 4 of 25
Short Analysis:

What makes the parable of the good Samaritan a work of literature? Everything about it: its experiential
approach to truth, its sensory concreteness, its narrative genre, its carefully crafted construction, and its
total involvement of the reader—intellectually, emotionally, imaginatively.

D. Psalm

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;

he makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness [right paths]
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
for ever.

References:

Byrne, P. and Houlden, L. (1995). The companion encyclopedia of theology. Routledge.

Campbell Jr., E. (1975). Ruth: A new translation with introduction, notes and commentary. Doubleday.

Doron, E. (2016). Language contact and the development of Modern Hebrew. Brill.

Good, E. (2011). Genesis 1-11: Tales of the earliest world. Stanford University Press.

Porter, S. (2007). Dictionary of Biblical criticism and interpretation. Routledge.

Ryken, Leland (1984). How to read the Bible as literature. Zondervan.

Young, I and Rezetko, R. (2014). Linguistic dating of Biblical texts, Volume 1: An introduction to approaches
and problems. Routledge.

Page 5 of 25