Poetic and Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament
REL 310
Study Topics and Assignments
Week 2 - Poetry in the Historical Books
Class Notes
- Class Notes - as a Web Page
Textbook Readings : None
Scripture Readings
- Genesis 3:14-19
- Genesis 4:23-24
- Genesis 8:22
- Genesis 27:27-29
- Genesis 31::51-53
- Genesis 49:1-27
- Exodus 15:1-21
- Numbers 6:22-27
- Numbers 21:16-18
- Numbers, chapters 22 - 24
- Deuteronomy, chapter 28
- Deuteronomy 31:30 - 32:47
- Judges, chapters 4 & 5
- Ruth 1:16-17
- I Samuel 2:1-10
- I Samuel 15:22-23
- I Samuel 18:7
- II Samuel 1:17-27
- II Samuel 22:1 - 23:7 and Psalm 18
- II Kings 19:20-28
- I Chronicles 6:31-32 & 9:33 : worship in Israel involved organized song, with people chosen specially for that service
- I Chronicles 15:16-28 : some of the families of the Levites are appointed as professional singers and musicians
- I Chronicles 16:7-36 : David appointed Asaph and his family as singers even before the Temple was built
- I Chronicles 25:1-8 : Music and singing also involved prophesying
- I Chronicles 29:10-13
- II Chronicles 5:11-14 : Music and song at the Dedication of the Temple
- II Chronicles 6:41-42 & 7:3
- II Chronicles 20:20-22, 27-28 : Musicians and singers led the army into battle
- II Chronicles 29:25-30 : The use of the psalms in worship
- Ezra 3:10-12 : Music and Song at the building of the Second Temple, when the Jews returned from 70 years of Exile in Babylon
InterNet Resources
- Go here for InterNet Links for this assignment
- Other useful articles can be found by using the Topics as search words in Search Engines such as Goodsearch
This Week's Assignment : Twenty Questions
When told to show parallelisms : use bold type for synonymous parallelisms, italics for antithetic parallelisms, underline chiastic parallelisms
As your answers will be taken mainly from the Bible and the textbook, you do not need to check with Turnitin
- Write out Genesis 4:23-24 to show the underlying poetic form. What sort of parallelism do you find? How many men did Lamech kill - give a reason for your answer
- Write a paragraph giving an account of the events leading up to the "Song of Moses" (Exodus 15:1-18)
- Give three examples of parallelism from the Song of Moses
- Write out the "Aaronic Blessing" (Numbers 6:24-26) to show the underlying poetic form. What sort of parallelism do you find?
- Write a paragraph giving an account of the events leading up to Balaam's prophecies. Who sent for Balaam, and why? What did he want Balaam to do? What did Balaam actually do?
- Give three examples of parallelisms from the oracles of Balaam
- Write four lines of your own poetry based on Numbers 23:19-20. You may use either an English rhyming meter, or a Hebrew parallel form
- What events led up to the "Song of Deborah"? (Judges, chapter 5)
- Give three examples of Parallelism from the Song of Deborah
- Write four lines of your own poetry based on Judges 5:24-27. You may use either an English rhyming meter, or a Hebrew parallel form
- What events led up to the "Song of Hannah" (I Samuel 2:1-10)?
- What is the predominant form of parallelism in this Song? Give examples. Why do you think this type predominates?
- What events led up to the "Lament of David" (II Samuel 1:19-27)?
- Give three examples of parallelism from David's Lament
- Write four lines of your own poetry based on David's Lament. You may use either an English rhyming meter, or a Hebrew parallel form
- Write four lines of your own poetry based on David's last Blessing (1 Chronicles 29:10-19)
- Which tribe of Israel served as assistants in the Temple
- Who was the Chief Musician appointed by King David
- What refrain was often sung by the people (it is recorded in several places in the Historical Books)
- Which King of Israel built the Temple?
Remember to cite your sources
Use MSWord or a text editor such as Notepad to prepare and save your work, then send it as an Attachment to, or pasted into, an email message to Dr. Rollinson at rollinsondr@yahoo.com,rollinsondr@hellokitty.com,rollinsondr@mail2world.com.
Please use all 3 email addresses in case any of the mailboxes go down.
Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
