OT: Poetry and wisdom books

Proverbs teaches us how to live
Psalms teaches us how to pray
Job teaches us how to suffer
Song of Songs teaches us how to love
Ecclesiastes teaches us how to enjoy

First, a brief explanation about the poetry in the Bible.
Hebrew poetry is based not so much on metre and rhyme as on rhythm and repetition. For example, Job 28:28:
“The fear of the LORD is wisdom
And to shun evil is understanding”
This means that it survives translation into any language with very little loss.

Job is an exploration of the age-old question – why do the innocent suffer? Job is as good a man as it is possible to be, yet God allows him to undergo a terrible experience of suffering. We see his situation from several angles: from Job’s position (he wants an explanation but he never gets one), from that of his friends (who are convinced that he must have committed some terrible sin, and tell him so, hence the expression “Job’s comforters”), and from God’s (who has allowed everything to happen in order to prove that Job’s faith is genuine). The conversation between Job and his three friends is very long and repetitive, but buried amongst Job’s words are some very famous lines: for example, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25).

Psalms is the hymnbook of the Bible - a collection of prayers and songs for almost any occasion and mood, from ecstatic praise to utter despair. There are also prophetic psalms (e.g. Psalms 22 & 110) and wisdom psalms meditating on issues such as death (Psalm 49) and injustice (Psalms 37, 73). In terms of date, they span the entire Old Testament period from Moses (Psalm 90) to the Exile (Psalm 137). About half of the psalms (73 to be exact) were written by David.

Proverbs is a collection of very practical teachings, to show us by example, by contrast, or by humorous illustration how to put our faith into practice in everyday life. For example, how to be a good wife, how to be a good parent, how to be a good neighbour, how to be a good king! My favourite character is the sluggard (Proverbs 26:13-16)

Ecclesiastes is another book that rarely gets read because it is rather rambling and it is not always easy to see what the writer is getting at. It begins with the famous line: “Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” and ends with the exhortation to “Fear God and keep his commandments”. In between there are some surprisingly well-known bits and a general message that the best way to live is to live life to the full (Ecclesiastes 2:24,25).

Song of Songs (the other book that doesn’t mention God) is a collection of love poems celebrating human sexuality. Read and enjoy!