by Danielle Zinn

Created on: March 09, 2009

"God is our refuge and strength,

An ever- present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

Though the earth give way

And the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

Though its waters roar and foam

And the mountains quake with their surging"

Psalm 46: 1-3

These God-breathed words, though maybe not from the most well known Psalm, possess the very character and nature of God. Some people may skim over these poetic words and miss the meaning entirely. How do we, mere humans, dig deeper and discover the true meaning in these words without distorting them?

Tremper Longman III gives us three main things to look for when we read Biblical poetry, especially Psalms. First, poetry in the Bible is full of parallelism. Parallelism is where a pair of lines in a poem seemingly says the same thing, yet the second line always in some way or another expands the idea of the first. It is important to remember that parallelism can sometimes be antonyms too. An example of parallelism from the above Psalm would be in the lines:

Though the earth give way

And the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.'

When laid out like this the parallelism is more clearly seen. The two pairs of words that are paralleled would be earth' and mountains' as well as give way' and fall.' Discovering parallelisms in the Bible does take time, but it helps give us a better understanding of what the author is trying to say, so it is important to take the time needed. The second major thing to remember is how Biblical poetry is packed full of all kinds of imagery. In Psalm 46 alone, there are tons of images to be found. Some examples are God being our refuge and strength, the mountains falling into the sea and the ocean waves roaring and foaming. Each line has a picture for our minds to paint with our imaginations. This too takes time. The neat thing about imagery in the Bible is that once you discover the image and draw it out and even share it with others, the image will stick better on your heart and mind. This will cause you to remember the Psalm or other poem better too. The third main key point in Biblical poetry is that just like a story, the conclusion of each individual poem is important. Usually a central theme or thought is placed at the end, so it is important to notice. We can use Psalm 46 once again for this. This Psalm ends by saying, "The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." The author ends with a statement of faith that God is with His children and He will protect His own

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