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THE POETICAL BOOKS

Introduction

The previous survey of the first seventeen books (Law and History), Genesis through Nehemiah,
covered the whole history of the Old Testament. All the remaining books, Poetical and Prophetical,
fit somewhere into the history of those seventeen books. The next section to be covered, the Poetical,
is a much smaller section consisting of five books—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of
Solomon.

Before examining them, we should note certain characteristics that all of these five books have.

 The seventeen books which lie behind us are historical. These five poetical books
are experiential.
 The seventeen historical books are concerned with a nation, as such. These five poetical books
are concerned with individuals, as such.
 The seventeen have to do with the Hebrew race. These five have to do with the human heart.
These five so-called “poetical books” are not the only poetry in the Old Testament Scriptures.
There are stretches of unexcellable poetry in the writings of the prophets, which we shall come
to later …

Important Comparisons - The Old Testament is divided into four major sections that relate to the nation
of Israel as God’s chosen people in the following manner from the standpoint of their major
characteristics or focus:

1. The Law—relates to Israel’s moral life.

2. The Historical—relates to Israel’s national development and life.
3. The Poetical—relates to Israel’s spiritual life.
4. The Prophetical—relates to Israel’s future life as fulfilled in the Messiah.
The Relation of the Poetical Books to Each Other

1. The Book of Job—Blessing through Suffering.

2. The Psalms—Praise through Prayer.
3. The Proverbs—Prudence through Precept.
4. Ecclesiastes—Verity through Vanity.
5. Song of Solomon—Bliss through Union.

Christ in the Poetical Books

As noted previously, Christ, the Messiah, is the heart of all the Bible. With the two disciples on the
Emmaus road who was so saddened and perplexed over the events of the previous days as the
crucifixion, death, and reports of the resurrection, the resurrected Savior came alongside and
explained the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures (Luke 24:27). Then later when he
appeared to the eleven and He said: “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with
you than all things which are written about Me in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms
must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44).

With this in mind, before launching into the overview of each of these poetical books, it would be well
to get their Christological perspective. Regarding this element, Geisler writes:

Whereas the foundation was laid for Christ in the Law and preparation was made for Christ in the
books of History, the books of Poetry reveal the aspiration for Christ in the hearts of the people. They
aspired to a life fulfilled in Christ in both an explicit and an implicit way, both consciously and
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unconsciously. The following list will serve as an overall guide to the Christ-centered aspirations of
the poetical books:

1. Job—aspiration for mediation by Christ.

2. Psalms—aspiration for communion with Christ.
3. Proverbs—aspiration for wisdom in Christ.
4. Ecclesiastes—aspiration for ultimate satisfaction.
5. Song of Solomon—aspiration for union in love with Christ.

1. JOB (BLESSING THROUGH SUFFERING)

Author:

While we know the title of this book obviously comes from its main character, Job, and that he was an
historical person (Ezek. 14:14, 20; James 5:11), the author is unknown and there are no textual claims
as to the author’s identify. Commentators have suggested Job himself, Elihu, Moses, Solomon, and
others.

Date: It is important to distinguish between the date of writing and of the events of the book.

The date of the events in the book and the date of the writing of the book are two different matters.
The events may have taken place in a patriarchal society in the second millennium B.C., around the
time of Abraham. Several facts support this dating:

(1) Job lived more than 140 years (42:16), a not uncommon life span during the patriarchal period;
(2) the economy of Job’s day, in which wealth was measured in terms of livestock (1:3), was the type
that existed in this period;
(3) like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Job was the priest of his family (1:5);
(4) The absence of any reference to the nation Israel or the Mosaic Law suggests a pre-Mosaic date
(before 1500 B.C.).

Theme and Purpose:

 The book is a theodicy (a vindication of God’s goodness, justice, and sovereign character in the
face of the existence of suffering and evil.
 A further purpose is certainly to demonstrate the conflict of the ages between God and Satan
and to show the relationship of suffering to this conflict. In the end, it demonstrates the truth of
Romans 8:28.

Key Words:

The key words are “affliction, misery, hardship, etc.” (9 times), “righteous” or “righteousness” (20
times), but the key concept is the sovereignty of God.

Key Verses:

2:3-6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him
on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds
fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause.” And Satan
answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. “However,
put forth Your hand, now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.” So the
Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.”
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42:5-6 “Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me. ‘I have heard of You by the
hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”

42:10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord
increased all that Job had twofold.

Key Chapters:

Chapters 1-2 are key in that they introduce the reader to the source of Job’s suffering—Satan’s
accusations and the affliction that fell upon Job.

Chapters 38-42 While chapters 3-37 record the counsel of Job’s friends who raise the question,
“Does God allow the innocent to suffer?” the next key chapters are chapters 38-41, God’s speech and
silencing of Job, followed by Job’s repentance and restoration, chapter 42.

Key People:

Job, a blameless and upright man, Satan, Job’s accusers, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zopher, and Elihu, the
younger and wiser of Job’s friend who sought to give Job counsel.

Christ as seen in Job:

Christ is seen in several ways in Job. Job acknowledges a Redeemer (19:25-27) and prays for a
Mediator (9:33; 33:23). He knows he needs someone who can explain the mystery of “suffering”
which is answered only in Christ Who identifies with our suffering and ultimately both answers
Satan’s accusations, which are ultimately against God, and defeats him (Heb. 2:14-18; 4:15; Rom.
8:32-34).

2. PSALMS (Praise Through Prayer)

Author:

The Book of Psalms is not only the largest book of the Bible, but it is perhaps the most widely used
book in Scripture because of the way it speaks to the human heart in all of our experiences in life.
Again and again sighing is turned into singing through prayer and praise. For the most part, though the
texts of the psalms do not designate their authors, the titles do often indicate the author of the various
Psalms. The following chart designates the authors of these psalms as they are found in the title.

Division and Classification of the Psalms:

 The Psalms are really five books in one. Each of the following book divisions concludes with a
doxology while Psalm 150 occupies the place of the doxology and forms an appropriate
conclusion to the entire collection.
 This correspondence to the Pentateuch may be seen in the following outline:

1. Psalms about man and creation (1-41)—corresponds to Genesis.

2. Psalms about Israel and redemption (42-72)—corresponds to Exodus.
3. Psalms about worship and the Temple (73-89)—corresponds to Leviticus.
4. Psalms about our sojourn on the earth (90-106)—corresponds to Numbers.
5. Psalms about praise and the Word of God (107-150)—corresponds to Deuteronomy.
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Another way of looking at the book divisions:

Book Psalms Author General Content

Book I Psalms 1-41 David Songs of worship
Book II Psalms 42-72 David & Korah Hymns of petition
Book III Psalms 73-89 Mainly Asaph Hymns of petition
Book IV Psalms 90-106 Mainly Anonymous Anthems of praise
Book V Psalms 107-150 David and Anonymous Anthems of praise

Date: presumably composed about 1405 b.c. The Davidic Psalms would have originated between 1020
and 975 b.c.

Title of the Book:

In Hebrew, The Book of Psalms is titles, Tehillim (praise) or Sepher Tehillim (book of praises). A
shortened form is Tillim. Only one psalm (145) is designated Tehillah (praise), but praise is the heart
of the psalms. The Septuagint gives the name Psalmoi (psalms), that is “songs or poems sung with
musical accompaniment.” Psalmos comes from psallein, “to pluck a stringed instrument” as an
accompaniment to song.

Theme and Purpose:

 The Psalms provide us with a message of hope and comfort through the common theme of
worship. They are, in essence, an antidote to fear and complaining. through a personal response
to the person and work of God.
 They are an expression of the worship, faith, and spiritual life of Israel.
 In the Psalms we have a mirror of the heart of God’s people recording the simple, universal
human experiences of man in the light of God’s person, promises, plan, and presence.

Key Word:

In thought, worship, is certainly a key word as expressed in the theme above. In this regard, praise,
which occurs some 166 times and some form of the word bless, blessing, bless, occurs over a 100
times in the NASB.

Key Verses:

1:1-3 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path
of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law
he meditates day and night. 3 And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which
yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.

19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O
LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

119:9-11 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. 10 With
all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. 11 Your word I
have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.
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Key Chapters:

As with the verses, so we also face difficulty in selecting key chapters, but the following are
suggested. Psalm 1, 22, 23, 24; 37; 78; 100; 119; 121, and 150. Psalm 100 beautifully unites to central
themes of praise and worship.

Key People:

Though the titles to the psalms do sometimes point to the subject or author of the psalm, like David or
Korah, the text of the psalms does not. Rather, the focus seems to be more on the people of God in
their worship and walk with Lord.

Christ as seen in Psalms:

Many of the psalms are Messianic and speak of the person and work of Christ. They fall into falling
categories:

1. Typically messianic: These psalms are less obviously messianic. The psalmist in some way is a
type of Christ (cf. 34:20; 69:4, 9), but other aspects of the passage do not apply. Perhaps, in this case
Jesus and the apostles were applying familiar psalmic expressions to their experiences (e.g., 109:8 in
Acts 1:20).

2. Typological-prophetic: though the psalmist describes his own experience, the language is such that
points beyond his own life and becomes historically true only in the person of Christ (22).

3. Indirectly messianic: when the psalm was written it referred to the house of David or a specific
king, but will find its final and ultimate fulfillment only in the person of Christ (2, 45, 72).

3. PROVERBS (Wisdom Through Precept)

Author: According to 1 Kings 4:32, Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs.

Date: 950-700 B.C.

Title of the Book:

Proverbs obviously gets its name from its contents—short sayings or maxims that convey truth
in a pointed and pithy way. The Hebrew word for a proverb (from ma„sŒa„l, “to be like, represent”)
means “parallel,” “similar,” or “a comparison.”

Theme and Purpose:

 As suggested by the title and the meaning of the term proverb, the theme and purpose of the
book is wisdom for living through special instruction on every conceivable issue of life: folly,
sin, goodness, wealth, poverty, the tongue, pride, humility, justice, family (parents, children,
discipline), vengeance, strife, gluttony, love, laziness, friends, life, and death. No book is more
practical in terms of wisdom for daily living than Proverbs.
 The fundamental theme is “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (1:7a). The
absence of a fear of God leads to an unbridled and foolish life. To fear the Lord is to stand in
awe of His holy character and power. At the same time, Proverbs shows that true wisdom leads
to the fear of the Lord (2:1-5).

Key Words:

The key word is “wisdom,” “wise,” etc., occurring some 110 times. Also important and related to
wisdom are the terms, “instruction” and “taught, teach,” together occurring some 23 times.
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Key Verses:

1:5-7 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise
counsel, to understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your
ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear
the Lord and turn away from evil.

9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is
understanding.

Key Chapters:

There are obviously many sections of proverbs that might be considered as key such as chapter 1:20-
33 where wisdom is personified as a woman inviting all to come to her and learn, but the majority
refuse to heed her appeal, but perhaps chapter 31 gets the honors as the key chapter.

The last chapter of Proverbs is unique in ancient literature, as it reveals a very high and noble view of
women. The woman in these verses is: (1) A good woman (31:13, 15-16, 19, 25); (2) a good wife
(31:11-12, 23-24); (3) a good mother (31:14-15, 18, 21, 27); and (4) a good neighbor (31:11-12, 23-
24). Her conduct, concern, speech, and life stand in sharp contrast to the woman pictured in chapter 7.

CHRIST AS SEEN IN PROVERBS:

 In chapter 8, wisdom is personified and seen in its perfection. It is divine (8:22-31), it is the
source of biological and spiritual life (3:18; 8:35-36), it is righteous and moral (8:8-9), and it is
available to all who will receive it (8:1-6, 32-35).
 This wisdom became incarnate in Christ “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge” (Col. 2:3). “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from
God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30; cf. 1 Cor. 1:22-24).

4. ECCLESIASTES (A Search For Purpose)

Author: There are two lines of evidence (external and internal) that point to Solomon as the author of
Ecclesiastes.

 For the external evidence, the Jewish tradition attributes the book to Solomon.
 Internally, a number of lines of evidence show that Solomon was surely the author. First, the
author identifies himself as “the son of David, king in Jerusalem” (1:1). Then, references in the
book to the author’s unrivaled wisdom (1:16), extreme wealth (2:7), opportunities for pleasure
(2:3), and extensive building activities (2:4-6) all suggest Solomon as the author. There is
simply no other descendant of David who measured up to these descriptions.

Date: 931 B.C

Title of the Book: Ecclesiastes stems from the title given in the Greek translation, the Septuagint. Greek
term, ecclesiastes, means “assembly” and is derived from the word ekkle„sia, “assembly, church.”
“The Hebrew title is Qoheleth, which means “one who convenes and speaks at an assembly,” or “an
ecclesiastic” or “preacher.”
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Theme and Purpose:

 First, in seeking to demonstrate that life without God has no meaning, Solomon is seeking to
demolish confidence in man-based achievements and wisdom; he shows that all of man’s goals
or the “way that seems right to man” must of necessity lead to dissatisfaction and emptiness.”
 Second, Solomon affirms the fact that much in life cannot be fully understood, which means we
must live by faith, not by sight. Life is full of unexplained enigmas, unresolved anomalies, and
uncorrected injustices.
 Third, Ecclesiastes presents a realistic view of life that counterbalances the optimism of
Proverbs. It shows there are exceptions to the laws and promises of proverbs, at least from the
standpoint of this life.

Key Word: Vanity

Key Verses:

1:2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

2:24 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good.
This also I have seen, that it is from the hand of God.

12:13-14 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments,
because this applies to every person. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is
hidden, whether it is good or evil.

Key Chapter: Chapter 12 resolves the book’s extensive inquiry into the meaning of life with the single
conclusion, “Fear God and Keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13).43

CHRIST AS SEEN IN ECCLESIASTES:

Since Christ alone is man’s means to God where man finds wholeness and satisfaction, or life and life
more abundantly (John 10:10; 7:37-38), the futility and perplexity experienced in life can only be
removed through a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. Man’s aspiration for significance and
satisfaction are found only in the Savior.

5. SONG OF SOLOMON (A Royal Wedding)

Author: Though some critics reject King Solomon as the author and take 1:1 to mean, “which is about
Solomon,” the internal evidence supports the traditional belief that Solomon is its author. The contents
of the book agree with all that we know about the abilities and wisdom of Solomon, and there is no
compelling reason not to regard him as the author.

Date: About 965 B.C

Title of the Book: This book has been titled several ways: the Hebrew title from verse 1, The Song of
Songs, which means “the most superlative, or best, of songs”; the English title, also from verse 1, The
Song of Solomon, which designates the author; and the Canticles, meaning simply “songs,” derived
from the Latin.

Theme and Purpose:

 The Song of Solomon is a love song filled with metaphors and imagery designed to portray
God’s view of love and marriage: the beauty of physical love between man and woman.
 The book which is presented as a drama with several scenes, has three major players: the bride
(Shulamite), the king (Solomon), and a chorus (daughters of Jerusalem).
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 The purpose of the book will depend on the viewpoint taken as to the way the book should be
interpreted.

Key Word: Love

Key Verses: 7:10 “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.

Key People: The book has three major players: the bride (Shulamite), the king (Solomon), and a chorus
(daughters of Jerusalem).

Christ as seen in the Song of Solomon:

This book illustrates Christ’s love for the church which is seen as the bride of Christ in the New
Testament (cf. 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:23-25; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:9).