(Part 1)

JBTM Jeffrey G. Audirsch
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1. Select a manageable text. Preaching poetic texts can be a delight for both the
interpreter/preacher and the audience/congregation. In many ways, defining
a guideline for “how many verses” should be preached is difficult. What is
certain is that the interpreter/preacher should identify a self-contained,
literary unit that “has structural integrity.” 89 Personally, I do not believe
a “formula” exists for determining too little or too much material to be
preached. Obviously, some biblical poems are simply too large to preach
in one sermon (e.g., Ps 119). On the other hand, poetic texts like the Song
of Moses (Exod 15:1–18), the Song of Deborah (Judg 5:1–31), or David’s
repentance (Ps 51:1–18), though long, can be preached in one sermon. The
reality is, the length of the passage to be preached should be determined
by the guiding principles below; however, I believe this principle should be
first given the fact that all sermons must begin with the biblical text and not
the trivial “find a text to support my points/arguments” approach that is
sometimes abused by interpreters/preachers.
2. Consult a variety of translations and read the poetic text over-and-over. 90 By
reading the poetic text multiple times, the interpreter/preacher can begin
to identify the parallelisms, major themes, theological motifs, events, and
figurative language in the poem.
3. Identify the parallelisms within the text. Poetry by nature contains parallelisms.
The interpreter/preacher should be familiar with Lowth’s forms of
parallelisms: synonymous, antithetic, and synthetic. To properly interpret
biblical poetry, the interpreter/preacher must remember that the poems are
making “their statement with poetic means.” 91
4. Identify major themes, theological motifs, or events. The ability to identify and
understand the themes, theological motifs, and historical events is no small
task. In fact, this is one of the most challenging aspects of studying the Old
Testament. The First Testament is vast and dense covering centuries of
89
Duane A. Garrett, “Preaching from the Psalms and Proverbs,” in Preaching the Old Testament,
edited by Scott M. Gibson (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2006), 102.
90
Ellen F. Davis noted, “The best way to prepare a psalm is to read it over and over aloud, until you
can see how and why one line yields to the next, until its images are haunting your imagination, until
its phraseology and its particular pattern of repetition-with-variation (for that is the basic pattern of
Israelite poetry) become distinctive in your mind.” See Ellen F. Davis, Wondrous Depth: Preaching the
Old Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), 24.
91
Richard J. Clifford, Psalms 1–72, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries (Nashville: Abingdon
Press, 2002), 26. On the importance of identifying the distinctive features of biblical poetry (especially
the psalms genre), see Thomas G. Long, “Preaching Psalms,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms,
edited by William P. Brown (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 558–66.