RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Hebrew Language
sacra poesi Hebrceorum (Eng. transl., Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, 2 vols., London, 1787), in which he treated (1) the meter, (2) "the parabolic style," (3) the different kinds of poetry. Of great importance is the nineteenth lecture on the parallelism of members, which parallelism he divides into synonymous (Ps. cxiv. 1 sqq.) antithetic (Prov. xxvii. 6-7), and synthetic (Ps. xix. 8-11). To this work Herder furnished an excellent supplement in Vom Geist der ebraischen Poesie (2 vols., Dessau, 1782-83, Eng. transl., The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, Burlington, Vt., 1833). With few exceptions, mainly purely metrical questions, the topics included in this branch of Old Testament study have been avoided by modern exegetes.
With full justification Kuenen has denied Keil's contention that Hebrew poetry is the fruit of religion, and that therefore the Hebrews never had any secular poetry. Keil overlooked, on the one hand, that it was in the interest of religion that the compilers of the Old Testament selected as its contents what seemed most important to them and no doubt also to humanity; and, on the other hand, that the Old Testament still contains many 2. Employ- traces of non-religious poetry. That ment of song and poem had an important place Poetry in the life of old Israel is seen from by He- the facts that historians referred to old brews, songs, and that prophets adopted their form. It is provable that in all conditions of life the song or the chant was heard — at the wedding (Jer. vii. 34, xxv. 10; I Mace. ix. 39), even that of a king (Ps. xlv.); lovers broke into song (Isa. v. 1-2; Ezek. xxxiii. 32). The people sang in the harvest-field (Ps. lxv. 13), at the wine-press (Isa. xvi. 10; Jer. xxv. 30), at the discovery of water (Num. xxi. 17 sq.), and at the feast (Isa. v. 12; Ps. lxix. 12). Occasionally at the feast a host improvised the song (Amos vi. 5) or the riddle (Judges xiv. 12), but usually singer and songstress were engaged to entertain the guests (II Sam. xix. 35; I Kings x. 12; Eccles. ii. 8; compare also David's position at Saul's court). Everywhere vocal music is the expression of joy; so closely are they related that the bard seems to be out of place in the atmosphere of gloom (Amos viii. 10; Job xxi. 12; Prov. xxv. 20). Nevertheless, death, too, called forth its own peculiar form of poetry; the " Lament," sung by trained mourning women (Jer. ix. 17 sqq.; cf. Amos v. 16) no doubt in a stereotyped form. If the deceased was a king or a hero, real poets composed new laments (II Sam. i. 19 sqq., iii. 33 sq.; II Chron. xxxv. 25). The sacrifice of the virgin daughter of Jephthah was annually commemorated in elegies (Judges xi. 40); the warriors called to one another in rhythmic shouts (I Sam. xviii. 7, xxi. 11, xxix. 5; Judges v. 29); on his return the conqueror either himself sang his exploits (Gen. iv. 23; Judges xv. 16), or employed a poet, whose songs, like that of Deborah, became the sources for the historian (cf. Num. xxi. 14, 27; Josh. x. 12-13 Judges v. 11). Satire, too, was clothed in poetry (Judges v. 15-17; Hab. ii. 6 sqq.; Jer. vii. 29; Ezek. xix. 1, xxvi. 17); proverbs and parables were given in poetic measure (Judges ix. 7 sqq.; II Kings
xiv. 9 sqq.; II Sam. xii. 1 sqq., xiv. 6 sqq.), which was adopted by the prophets (Isa. v. 1, sqq., xxviii. 23 sqq.; Ezek. xvii. 2 sqq.) and the teacher (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes), and in the practise of it Solomon was considered chief (I Kings v. 12). How valuable the Israelites themselves considered their poetry is evinced by the many collections which were made; thus, one containing dirges is mentioned II Chron. xxxv. 25; there are also the older " Book of the wars of Yahweh " (Num. xxi. 14-15) and the " Book of Jasher " (perhaps " The Book of the Upright," Joshua x. 12-13.).
The Old Testament teaches, however, that poetry
found its highest development in the sphere of
religion; song, music, and the dance
3. Religious were always the indispensable form of Use of the cult (Ex. xxxii. 18; Judges xxi. 21; Poetry. II Sam. vi. 5, 14); a very old song,
with which the ark was greeted, is preserved in Num. x. 35-36; at the Ephraimitic sanctuaries hymns were sung to harp accompaniment (Amos v. 23), and in Judah to that of the pipe and flute (Isa. xxx. 29. After the return there were temple-singers (Ezra ii. 41) who sang such lyrics as are preserved in the Psalter, a book which contains also purely individualistic hymns (xii. 1 sqq., xvii. 12 sqq., xviii. 18 sqq., xx. 7 sqq.). From Jer. xlv. 3, which sounds like a citation, and from Lamentations, especially chap, iii., the conclusion may be drawn that the religious lyric was well developed long before the Exile. But religious poetry found a yet wider field, for the style of the prophets is so decidedly rhythmical that rhetoric immediately glides over into poetry. No doubt this was an inheritance from ancient prophecy, which was accompanied by music (I Sam. x. 5; II Kings iii. 15; cf. Ps. xlix. 4). The teachers of wisdom could not dispense with poetry, hence the proverb is expressed in gnomic form with its parables and rhythm; even Ecclesiastes, though ordinarily colorless and devoid of music, now and then glides into rhythm (Eccles. iii. 1-8, xii. 1-4), and the author of the Book of Job has handled a religiophilosophical problem in such a way that he would have been one of humanity's greatest poets had not the theologian in him dominated the poet.
Thus it appears that any presentation of Hebrew poetry is limited to the religious literature of the Old Testament, and the results would have to be modified were secular poetry as plentifully preserved as is the religious. Consequently a definite answer
can not be given to the question
4. The Epic whether or not the Hebrews had a and the drama; only this may be said, that Drama none has been preserved, for the Song
Lacking, of Solomon, if rightly understood, is not a drama, and Job is a collection of monologues and dialogues held together by narrative. Still, from all this the inference is not necessary that the Israelites in their secular poetryhad no drama, but the salient characteristic of Semitic poetry makes the knowledge of the dramatic art among the Hebrews extremely doubtful. The same is true of the epic, which is hardly conceivable in a prophetic atmosphere that as a rule excludes every mythological element. But since at least one
Hebrew Language