Jesus the poet

This is the first in a series of articles which will look at the various teaching methods used by Jesus and why it’s important to understand these methods in order to have a clear understanding of His message.   This series of articles will include the following:  

1. Jesus the poet

2. Jesus’ use of humour

3. Jesus’ use of figures of speech

4. Interpreting the parables

5. Teaching through miracles

6. Direct encounters with individuals  

Jesus was undoubtedly an interesting speaker. Large crowds followed him, sometimes travelling long distances and going without food so they would not miss a word. His audience were impressed by the way in which He taught, as well as by His message and His unique personality. The reason He drew large crowds was a combination of what He taught, who He was, and how He taught. These articles will look at how these three things were woven token to produce the most powerful message every taught.  

JESUS THE POET   Hebrew poetry is quite different to English poetry. For example, English poetry tends to rely on similar sounds while Hebrew poetry relies on similar thoughts. While English poets might be looking for words which sound the same, Hebrew poets would be looking for different words which express similar ideas. Consequently, English poetry makes extensive use of rhyming and wordplays, while Hebrew poetry uses sometimes complex techniques for setting ideas against each other.   We call this Hebrew poetic device parallelism because ideas are set against each other in parallel lines. There are several different ways of using parallelism  and the following examples range from simple and fairly obvious ones through to more complex forms. all the examples are taken from Jesus’ own teachings although the Old Testament contains large amounts of Hebrew poetry, including almost whole books (such as Psalms, Job and Isaiah).   Simple parallelism where one thought is expressed and then represented in one or more ways in subsequent lines is called Synonymous Parallelism. Here is a simple example where one thought is expressed in three different ways:  

1. If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

2. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

3. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand;      his end has come. (Mark 3:24-26)  

Here is a another example:   But I tell you who hear me:   1. Love your enemies, 2.  do good to those who hate you, 3.  bless those who curse you, 4.  pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke 6:27-28)   Sometimes the parallelism can run into two or more verses, where the second and subsequent verses return to the parallelism in the first verse and build on it. Here is a good example:   1. Ask and it will be given to you;      2. seek and you will find;           3. knock and the door will be opened to you.   1. For everyone who asks receives;      2. he who seeks finds;           3. and to him who knocks the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)    

The above verses are examples of parallelism where the same or synonymous thoughts are repeated. Sometimes contrasting thoughts are paralleled, and this is called Antithetical Parallelism as in the following examples where the second line stands in contrast to the first.   1.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, 2.  but whoever wants to lose his life for me and the gospel will save it. (Mark 8:35)   Notice how Jesus uses the words “save” and “lose” in both lines but simply reverses the positioning so that the two statements are contrasted.   The following example is similar:   1. Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, 2.  and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. (Luke 16:10)   Here the words “very little” and “much” stand in the same positions in both lines, but the words “trusted” and “dishonest” are set in contrast.   The parallelism can become more complex as both synonymous and contrasting thoughts are woven together. An example of this is Inverted Parallelism and the following verses use a form of inversion where the first and last lines are related, and the middle lines are contrasted.  

A1   Whoever exalts himself       

B1   will he humbled        

B2   and whoever humbles himself

A2   will be exalted. (Matthew 23:12)  

Here the first and last lines (A1 and A2) use the words “exalt” and “exalted” while the middle lines (B1 and B2) contrast these by using the words “humbled” and “humbles”.   Using an earlier example we can see that there is an element of inversion within a tight poetic structure.  

A1  Whoever wants to save his life     

B1  will lose it,     

B2  but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel

A2  will save it. (Mark 8:35)  

The first and last lines are similar (“save”); the second and third are a contrast (“lose”).   A final example of inverted parallelism demonstrates how by understanding that Jesus sometimes used poetry we can make sense of a difficult verse.  

A1  Do not give dogs what is sacred;     

B1  do not throw your pearls to pigs.     

B2  If you do they may trample them under their feet,

A2  and then turn and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:6)  

If we read this as prose we are faced with the difficulty that Jesus appears to be saying that pigs will trample the pearls under their feet and then turn and attack the person who threw them. This would be uncharacteristic behaviour for pigs and it’s puzzling why Jesus would say this. However, seen as poetry it is clear that the first and last lines (A1 and A2) are about dogs and the middle lines (B1 and B2) are about pigs. It is the dogs who “turn and tear you to pieces”, not the pigs, and this makes perfect sense.   When we are faced with a saying of Jesus which is initially difficult to understand, we should ask the question “is He using poetry?” It’s possible that we will discover an explanation simply by reading the text as verse rather than prose. For example, in John 7:37-38 Jesus says “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” This gives the impression that Scripture teaches that streams of living water will flow from within the person who believes in Jesus. This would appear to be consistent with what Jesus said in John 4:13-14 (“... the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”) However, the difficulty lies in the words “as the Scripture has said” because John 4 was not then “Scripture” (as John still hadn’t finished writing this gospel) and there is no other Scripture which teaches that “living water” would flow from the believer.   The NIV offers an alternative construction of these verses in a footnote, and suggests that this could be a use of poetry. If so, it would be an example of synonymous parallelism, as follows.  

1  If anyone is thirsty,      

2   let him come to me.

1  And let him drink,       

2  who believes in me.   As the Scripture has said ...  

So, reading the first and third lines together, and the third and fourth lines together (i.e. as prose rather than poetry), we have “If anyone is thirsty, let him drink. And let him come to me, who believes in me.” Then the words which follow (“As the Scripture has said ...”) would be a comment or explanation about this. “Streams of living water will flow from within him” would be referring to Jesus as the source of living water (“... will flow from within Him” ie. from Jesus). This makes perfect sense in the context because the believer is being invited to come to Jesus to drink of Him. So, is there a Scripture which teaches this? (“As the scripture has said ...”)   There are several possibilities, but it’s helpful to note that John says in verse 37 that these words were said by Jesus “on the last day of the Feast (of Tabernacles)”. As part of the celebrations on this day a priest would take water from the stream of Siloah which flowed from under the Temple mountain and pour it from golden vessels onto the altar. At this precise moment the words of Isaiah 12:3 were sung: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation”.   There are allusions here to several other Scriptures as well, including Isaiah 55:1 (“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters”), Isaiah 44:3-4, and the references in Ezekiel 47:1-12 and Zechariah 14:8 to the “living water” which flows from beneath the Temple.   When Jesus said “as the Scripture has said” He may have been referring to the words being sung at that time in the Temple (Isaiah 12:3) or the large body of Scriptural material on this theme and not to any one Scriptural text. It’s important to notice that many of these Scriptures refer to water as symbolic of the Spirit of God (e.g. Isaiah 44:3-4 “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring”) and John’s explanation of Jesus’ words in the next verse “By this he meant the Spirit, which those who believed in him were later to receive.”   So, by reading these lines in John 7:38 as poetry we see that Jesus was using the occasion in the Temple when water from beneath the Temple was being poured on the altar, and the choir was signing about the “wells of salvation”, to draw their attention to Himself as the source of the Spirit for believers.


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