(Part 1)

JBTM Jeffrey G. Audirsch
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Before beginning, it is important to distinguish between exegesis and hermeneutics.
All interpreters use exegesis and hermeneutics, which are two sides of the same coin. 4
First, the interpreter must exegete the biblical text. Exegesis is the attempt to extract
the original and/or intended meaning of a text. This process is multifaceted and involves
linguistic analysis and contextual analysis (i.e., literary, historical, and cultural). 5 Second,
once the exegetical work is done satisfactorily, the interpreter moves into the hermeneutical,
or interpretive, stage. Hermeneutics utilizes exegetical work. This process can be
overly simplified into key questions: Who was the author? Who was the audience? What
is the purpose of the text within its original context? What theme(s) or principle(s) can
be appropriately applied to today’s contemporary society? 6 When dealing with biblical
poetry, however, the exegetical and hermeneutical process is not always so clearly demarcated
(see discussion below). Thus, Ernst R. Wendland argued, “No single methodology
is able to give us an adequate understanding of either an individual poem or a larger
collection of them.” 7 As a result, greater attention must be given to the guiding principles
that might extend beyond the traditional lines of interpreting the other genres of the Old
Testament. 8 Below, I will focus on five subsections that will help interpreters understand
and apply biblical poetry: defining poetry, examining biblical parallelism, defining literary
characteristics of poetry, discussing key approaches for interpreting the Psalter, and
outlining the guiding principles for interpreting poetry. At the conclusion of the essay, I
briefly discuss how the interpreter should approach the Old Testament as Christian Scripture
and provide guiding principles for preaching biblical poetry.
What is Biblical Poetry?
Providing a definition of biblical poetry is not easy. 9 Scholars are more apt to describe
see William Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. Introduction to Biblical Interpretation,
rev. ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004), 273–319.
⁴C. Hassell Bullock elaborates more thoroughly on the comparison between exegesis and
hermeneutics. See C. Hassell Bullock, “Interpreting the Songs of Israel,” in The Literature and Meaning
of Scripture, ed. Morris A. Inch (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981), 80.
⁵It should be noted that this is an oversimplification of exegesis. Multiple layers exist within the
literary, historical, and cultural analyses of the biblical text. The resources mentioned in n. 3 focus on
the linguistic aspect of biblical poetry.
⁶This is not a complete list of questions related to the hermeneutical process. It does, however,
give readers a starting point.
⁷Ernst R. Wendland, “The Discourse Analysis of Hebrew Poetry: A Procedural Outline,” in
Discourse Perspectives on Hebrew Poetry in the Scriptures, United Bible Society Monograph Series 7, ed.
Ernst R. Wendland (New York: United Bible Societies, 1994), 24.
⁸For a similar argument, see Bullock, “Interpreting the Song of Israel,” 81.
⁹Most notably, James Kugel denies the argument that the Bible contains poetry. See James Kugel,
The Idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism and Its History (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981).
Alternatively, many scholars disagree with Kugel’s notion that poetry does not exist in the Bible. For