Everybody goes through an angsty poetry-writing phase (just me? Maybe so…). I got all that out of my system decades ago. But about a year ago, I tried writing a poem again—this time writing a modern psalm. By that I do not mean modern updates of biblical psalms. Rather, I mean that I tried to use the conventions of Hebrew poetry to compose new (small “P”) psalms.
Hebrew poetry’s main feature is parallelism. Poems usually contain a line (“[Judah] will wash his garment in wine,” the first verset of Genesis 49.11b), and then a second line that has elements that are parallel to the first (“his vesture in the blood of grapes,” the second verset of 49.11b). But it isn’t just a parallel—it’s also an amplification. “Garment” becomes “robe,” something both more specific and special. And “wine” becomes “the blood of grapes.” If grapes are so abundant that you can wash your clothes in wine, then you’re quite rich indeed. But “blood” offers a more sinister and violent note (which is appropriate for what we know of David’s history and that of his descendants).
Here is an example of a psalm I wrote:
For us there is one god, the Father
from whom are all things and we to him.
Who stretched out the skies
and set firm the heavens,
Who made humans in his image
and created them male and female,
Who called the family of Jacob
and summoned Israel by name,
Who broke the bonds of slavery
and took Pharaoh’s hod from off of them,
Who led his people to the Red Sea
and delivered them from Pharaoh’s army,
Who guides us like a shepherd
and leads us to still waters.
Blessed art thou, lord our god,
and exalted, O king of the universe.
For us there is one lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom are all things and we through him.
Who was with God before all time
and was present with God at creation,
Who came in the likeness of man
and was born from the womb of a woman,
Who was called from the line of Judah
and sprang from the stump of Jesse,
Who broke the bonds of slavery
and toke sin’s yoke from off of us,
Who led his elect into fellowship
and his chosen into communion,
Who guides us like a shepherd
and leads us toward his kingdom.
Blessed art thou, lord our god
and exalted, O king of the universe.
Notice that I have used the progressive parallelism of Hebrew poetry throughout: “stretched out the skies” becomes “set firm the heavens.” No doubt you can see the many examples of that sort of parallelism. But that isn’t the only feature of Hebrew poetry I’m using.
As with the Psalms of the Bible, my psalm is using quotes and allusions to other parts of the Bible. For example, the section about the rescue from Egypt is a clear allusion to the Exodus story. Saying that Jesus sprang “from the stump of Jesse” is a direct quote of Isaiah 11.1. But quoting the verses isn’t all I’m doing.
The lead verses of each section are quoting directly from 1 Corinthians 8.6—but they split that verse in two so that I can reflect individually on the God the Father and the on Jesus the Son. And that verse, 1 Corinthians 8.6, is itself Paul’s reworking of the Jewish Shema, the central confession of the Jewish faith: “behold, O Israel, the Lord our god, the Lord is one.” So there are multiple layers of allusion and reference going on here.
But that’s not all—I am making many parallels, allusions, and employing many different sorts of wordplay to say what I want to. I probably revised it half a dozen times before I started this post, and I even changed a couple of things as I transcribed it!
All this is to say that Hebrew poetry is very difficult to produce (this psalm probably represents 4 or 5 hours’ worth of effort on my part). But I also want to point out that the Hebrew poets really did put a lot of effort into their writing, so reading the (big “P”) Psalms multiple times—and reading them very closely—will be very rewarding in terms of finding the meaning of the Hebrew poetry that you read.**
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* In Hebrew, the word translated “garment” is the typical one of everything from loincloths to linen outer clothes, where as the word translated “vesture” comes a archaic Hebrew word that points up its specialness. (It would be like if we used “clothes” and “raiment.”)
** If you are interested in learning about Hebrew poetry, I recommend Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Poetry (Basic Books, 2011).
