Deck 13: The Poets of Ancient Israel

Question 1

1. Hebrew poetry works very differently from English poetry. Explain the basic formal characteristics of Hebrew poetry, including the various types of Hebrew poetic lines.

Answer 1

Students should observe that Hebrew poetry does not depend on parallel sounds but rather on parallel ideas and should list the four main versions of Hebrew parallelism: (i) synonymous, (ii) antithetical, (iii) constructive, and (iv) climactic. Students should also include definitions and/or examples of each.

Question 2

2. Discuss the importance of music in ancient Israel. How do the Psalms contribute to our understanding of music in Israel?

Answer 2

For a largely illiterate society, songs and poetry provided the most common avenues of tradition and didactic activity. The Psalms help provide a window into Israelite theology and culture and are our primary examples of ancient Israelite music and how it functioned.

Question 3

3. Many psalms are ascribed to David that most modern scholars no longer think were actually written by David. Why have these scholars come to this conclusion? Why might these psalms have been ascribed to David if they were not actually written by him?

Answer 3

Many of these psalms refer to circumstances or situations (such as the existence of the temple) from after (sometimes long after) David's life. The ascriptions themselves came from much later than the authorship of the psalms themselves. They were likely ascribed to David because of the tradition of David as a musician at the foundational period of Israel. Such ascriptions also assign authority and sometimes an especially poignant context to a given psalm.

Question 4

4. Name five different types of psalms and give the unique features of each.

Question 5

5. Why was Lamentations ascribed to Jeremiah in the first place, and why do many scholars doubt that identification?

Question 6

1. The book of Lamentations features several acrostic poems.

Question 7

2. The Song of Songs probably dates to the pre-exilic period.

Question 8

3. The books of the Writings were for the most part written or edited before the books of the Pentateuch or the Prophets.

Question 9

4. Psalms is the longest book in the Bible.

Question 10

5. References to music and dance are common in the psalms.

Question 11

6. The Psalms are focused more on the present human condition than the afterlife.

Question 12

7. Hebrew poetry depends on parallel sounds and rhythm.

Question 13

8. Climactic parallelism involves the second line of a verse restating what the first line says in different words.

Question 14

9. The Song of Songs was written as an allegory about divine love.

Question 15

1) Hymns that have the king as their central figure are called

A) Psalms of Zion.
B) Royal Psalms.
C) Davidic Covenant.
D) royal ideology.

Question 16

2) The book of Psalms can be described as a(n)

A) history.
B) anthology.
C) law code.
D) biography.

Question 17

6) The most common type of psalm in the book of Psalms is the

A) lament.
B) royal hymn.
C) thanksgiving hymn.
D) pilgrimage hymn.

Question 18

7) Most of ancient Israel's music was probably lost because of the events of

A) 586 B.C.E.
B) 722 B.C.E.
C) 70 C.E.
D) 486 C.E.

Question 19

8) Tehillim means

A) "praises."
B) "songs."
C) "poems."
D) "hymns."

Question 20

9) All of the following are common components of lament psalms except a(n)

A) address to God.
B) royal ideology.
C) curses on the enemy.
D) petition for divine help.

Question 21

11) Psalm 1 and 119 are examples of which kind of Psalm?

A) Praise
B) Lament
C) Enthronement
D) Torah

Question 22

13) A(n) ____________ is a poem in which the first letters of successive lines form a word or pattern.

A) assonance
B) alliteration
C) acrostic
D) progressive parallel

Question 23

14) The Song of Songs is also known as

A) Qoheleth.
B) Song of Solomon.
C) the Royal Psalm.
D) Esther.

Question 24

15) In the Song of Songs, the woman is compared to the cities of Jerusalem and

A) Shechem.
B) Babylon.
C) Tirzah.
D) Tyre.

Question 25

17) Later tradition interpreted the Song of Songs as

A) an allegory about YHWH's love for Israel.
B) a narrative about Solomon's love for his last wife.
C) a celebration of sexual attraction between an unmarried couple.
D) the Jewish Kama Sutra.

Question 26

18) Each poem of Lamentations ends with

A) a bitter complaint about injustice.
B) an appeal for vindication.
C) a lament about the fall of Jerusalem.
D) a statement of penitence for sin.

Question 27

19) Which is not a major kind of Psalm?

A) Thanksgiving
B) Lament
C) Wisdom
D) Vengeance

Question 28

20) The primary structure of each of the poems of lamentations is

A) synonymous parallelism.
B) constructive parallelism.
C) acrostic.
D) tragic trimeter.

Question 29

21) The Song of Songs consists of

A) parodies.
B) hymns.
C) a catalogue.
D) poetic speeches.