Poetic Reflection: Biblical Poetry I
by the Rev. AJ Ochart
Scripture
Sermon Notes
This week we continue the Summer Sermon Series, ‘How to Read the Bible’ based on the Bible Project series by the same name.
This week we will start to consider the second largest type of biblical literature, poetry. Many of us do not spend as much time reading or listening to poetry as we do narrative, but we have at least a passing understanding of poetic language. Much of the poetry we hear is metered and rhyming, especially the poetry set to music in songs. There are also many forms of free or semi-free verse which me might encounter in hip-hop or spoken-word. Much of biblical poetry is written in couplets (or triplets), free verses that are meant to connect to one another. Poetic language often uses more vibrant metaphors to explore topics in more emotional or evocative ways.
Our text for this week may be one of the oldest texts in the Hebrew scriptures, a poetic telling/re-telling of the crossing of the Red Sea (or perhaps Reed Sea). It is added onto the narrative found in Exodus 14 of the recently emancipated Hebrews escaping Pharoah’s army. The so-called ‘Song of Moses’ describes the crossing using vivid imagery of the LORD as a warrior who threw the horses and riders of Pharaoh into the sea, and who will protect his people in the future.
If you would like to explore the topic of Biblical Poetry more, please see the following notes (these will be the same resources next week as well).
