(Part 1)

JBTM Jeffrey G. Audirsch
38
all who were kings of the nations. (Isa 14:4b–9)
During the last fifty years, biblical scholars have challenged this form of parallelism. As a
result, newer approaches to parallelism have emerged.
In 1981, James Kugel challenged Lowth’s view of parallelism, particularly as it related
to semantic aspects. For Kugel, the essence of parallelism is:
Sharpness, sequences of actions and cause-effect sequences, differentiation, differences in
the other words in ‘fixed pair’ parallelism, B’s going beyond A in repetitive parallelism, the
nonsynonymity of numerical and ‘self-contradictory’ parallelism, the ‘B-clause kol’—each is,
in its way, an argument against fixing on the similarity of A and B as central. This is not to say
that paralleling is not important—of course it is, it is the most striking characteristic of this
style. But focusing on it is just somewhat beside the point. 25
This means that parallelism is identified as “A is so, and what’s more, B is so.” Thus,
the second line of poetry (B) is connected to the first line (A), but does not have to be a
restatement. As a result, B is somewhat a progression of A. The point of the text continues
forward emphatically through echoing, defining, reiterating, or contrasting. Thus, Kugel
rejects the notion that B is parallel with A because the former actually supports the latter.
To support his argument, Kugel uses several texts. I will highlight several (see Ps 114 above
also). 26
3
Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;
to the Lord I will sing;
I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel. (Judg 5:3)
9
Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for the Lord our God is holy! (Ps 99:9)
2
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the Lord has spoken. (Isa 1:2)
Robert Alter also delineates the features of parallelism espoused by Lowth. He
suggestes line B intensifies the function of the parallelism. In other words, Alter argues that
parallelism does not mean or imply synonymy—the repeating of a word/phrase from one
line of poetry to the next. 27 For Alter, biblical poetry is best characterized by intensification
25
Kugel, The Idea of Biblical Poetry, 51.
26
Ibid., 8–9, 23, and 51–53.
27
Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Poetry (New York: Basic Books, 1985), 28–29; idem, “The
Characteristics of Ancient Hebrew Poetry,” in The Literary Guide to the Bible, eds. Robert Alter and