32. Poetic Parallelism

Poetic Parallelism

Chapter 31

Parallelism, where one clause answers to another, pertains to the genius of Hebrew poetry, the rhythm and rhyme of thought taking the place of those of words, one member of the parallelism corresponding to another in sentiment, and sometimes in terms. To discover and develop this correspondence or juxtaposition often gives the clue to exposition. In some cases one member of a complex parallelism is left unexpressed and wanting; but, being implied, must be supplied to make the whole complete; and this is one form of the enigmas, or “dark sayings of the wise,” to be solved by study.

All the poetic portions of the Bible are arranged in corresponding sentences, a sort of thought meter and melody. This is a remarkable provision for translation, since such parallelism of thought can be reproduced in any other language without sacrificing its beauty or pertinency, whereas verbal rhythm and rhyme might be difficult to transfer to a new tongue.

Parallelism is of five kinds: Apposite, Opposite, Synonymous, Synthetic, and Inverted.

1. Apposite: where two or more parallel sentences are arranged so as to present the same or closely related thoughts, by way of correspondence or comparison. Thus Proverbs 3:5 :

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
And lean not unto thine own understanding.”

Here the one thought, trusting in Jehovah, is presented in both members, first positively, then negatively. The truly wise man trusts in God, and not in himself.

2. Opposite: where exactly opposite thoughts are contrasted. Thus Proverbs 10:7 :

“The memory of the just is blessed;
But the name of the wicked shall rot.”

Here the sharp antithesis extends to all prominent words in both members.

3. Synonymous: where the same thought is repeated in equivalent terms and phrases. Thus Proverbs 1:4 :

“To give subtilty to the simple;
To the young man, knowledge and discretion.”

4. Synthetic: where thoughts are built up into structural form, like block upon block, cumulatively and often climactically; before the whole idea is complete, several successive pairs of parallels may enter into the construction. Thus Proverbs 30:17 :

“The eye that mocketh at his father,
And despiseth to obey his mother:
The ravens of the valley shall pick it out,
And the young eagles (vultures) shall eat it.”

Here two synonymous parallels are built up into one synthetic. Agur’s Prayer, Proverbs 30:7-9, and the passage from Proverbs 30:24-28, are examples of still more complex synthetic parallelism. Some are very complicated; the correspondence between the various propositions reaches even to minor details; and the whole paragraph with its constructive parts crystallizes about one dominant idea ( cf.Psalms 148:7-13; Psalms 19:7-11).

5. Inverted: where stanzas are so framed that, to perceive the true relations of the sentences we must begin at the extremes and move toward the center. Bishop Jebb calls this “Introverted.” Thus Psalms 135:15-18 :

“The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, The work of men’s hand;

They have mouths, but they speak not;

They have eyes, but they see not;

They have ears, but they hear not;

Neither is there any breath in their mouths.

They who make them are like unto them; So are all they who put their trust in them.” The relation of the various lines and members will appear in the above arrangement, where correspondent clauses are placed directly in line with each other vertically. To master this symmetric structure of poetic parts of the Bible is, as has been hinted, a help to intelligent exposition and exegesis. The mutual relation of the words and thoughts will not appear until we discover what phrases or sentences are parallel, and detect the thought-rhythm. Thus Psalms 10:4, reads, translating literally:

“The wicked in the height of his scorn:

‘He will not require it!’

‘There is no God!’

These are all his thoughts.”

Here the wicked is represented at the very apex and climax of daring impiety and blasphemy. His secret thought is: “God will not requite my sin,” and from this denial of judgment the step is easy to the last and worst thought: “There is no God!”

Once more, Matthew 7:6 :

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs;

Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, Lest they trample them under their feet, And turn again and rend you.” At first glance, all the latter half of this stanza would be referred to the swine. But every part of such a stanza demands its parallel, and the law of thought-rhyme leads us to construe the last line as the correspondent and complement of the first.

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, Lest they turn again and rend you.

Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, Lest they trample them under their feet.”

Parallelism is best and most fully exhibited in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Thus, “A wise son maketh a glad father:
But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.”

Here the “wise son” corresponds to the “foolish,” “gladness” to “heaviness,” and “father” to “mother.” The same parallelism of thought, with the addition of verbal rhyme and rhythm, would read somewhat thus: A son by wisdom makes his father glad,
But he that’s foolish makes his mother sad. But nothing is here gained, thought-wise, and, in translation, it might much increase the difficulty, were it needful, to find words in another tongue which would reproduce the metrical measures and the rhyme. But, where only the correspondence of ideas is to be preserved, the task is greatly simplified, and this illustrates one reason already assigned for the use of parallel structure in Hebrew poetry, that, in translating the Word of God into all other tongues, there might be no loss of force and beauty. This matter, though having mainly to do with literary form and structure, sometimes concerns the thought and substance also, and should therefore be studied. A considerable portion of Holy Scripture is framed in parallelisms, and, in many cases, this is not obvious as in the book of Proverbs, but concealed as in some discourses of our Lord. In the “Blackader Bible” the editor has discovered and exhibited many of these hidden beauties as in the Gospel according to John:

“In the beginning was the Word; And the Word was with God, And the Word was God; The same was in the beginning with God.”

And, again:

“Let not your heart be troubled!

Ye believe in God, Believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions;

If it were not so I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, And receive you unto Myself;

That, where I am, ye may be also,” etc.

Matthew 11:28-30 is perhaps the best example of a concealed parallel structure, where the omission of one member must be supplied to complete the poetic stanza. Here are three injunctions, each enforced by two considerations; there should therefore be three promises, though only two are expressed; but, when the parallel structure is seen, the lacking member is easily suggested:

Here the italics show the substance of the obvious missing member of this complex threefold parallelism, which has thus in all twelve members.

Parallel structure is often hidden under the continuity of a paragraph, but is detected by close study, and when the grammatical and rhetorical members are seen in their relation, a passage takes on a crystalline beauty.

Thus, in Romans 10:8-10 :

By comparison, it at once appears that the following members, as above arranged, closely correspond, namely: 1, and 4; 2, 6, and 13; 3, 8 and 11, 10 and 14, etc. If, in all cases, this hidden parallelism were thus exhibited by an arrangement of clauses, much of what seems prose would be found to be poetry. Countless new beauties of correspondence would be disclosed that otherwise escape us, and, behind these verbal responses of thought or truth to one another, would be found not a few helps to the understanding of the substance of Scripture teaching. In some cases there is in the original both rhythm and rhyme, which it is not easy to convey in English.

Thus Isaiah said to Ahaz, “If ye will not believe
Surely ye shall not be established.”

We might paraphrase this somewhat thus:

If to believe ye are not able,
Surely ye shall not be made stable; or If in the Lord there is no confiding;
Surely in strength there is no abiding. The most conspicuous instance of rhythm and rhyme of words is in the original Greek of John 3:36 :

Ho pisteuōn eis ton Huion, Echei zōën aionion.

“Whoso doth on the Son believe Doth Everlasting Life receive.”

Here is a perfect Iambic couplet, with rhyme.

There are not a few other cases in which a student of the original finds almost as perfect versification. In Hebrews 12:12-15 the whole structure is beautifully metrical. One line is a perfect dactylic hexameter; another, a rough, irregular Iambic trimeter, and the last two lines are strictly metrical. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16 is a marked example, in the Greek, of both metrical melody and onomatopoeia, or the expression of sense by sound. When intelligently read aloud, with proper taste, and appreciation of the force of vowels and consonants, it is as though we heard the blast and clang of the archangel’s trumpet. Perhaps some idea of the rhetorical beauty of this passage might be conveyed by a paraphrase:
For the Lord Himself shall from Heaven come down! And Archangel’s voice, and God’s trump shall sound; And the dead in Christ Shall first arise, etc. But no English rendering can convey the awful music of the original, where trumpets, cornets and clanging cymbals seem sounding all at once. The introduction of such occasional metrical passages into the Word of God cannot be without design. We have given four conspicuous instances. In the first, we have a permanent lesson on faith as the basis of all fidelity and stability; in the second, on faith as the condition Of salvation, the immediate gift of eternal life which is the central lesson of John’s Gospel; in the third, we have the grand conclusion of the exhortation to faith in the Fatherhood of God in disciplinary correction; and, in the last, faith looks far into the future to the consummation of all things. These poetic passages seem meant to arrest attention, and emphasize a great truth by a unique form of statement.

Careful students discover whole epistles to be built up on a basis or plan of parallelism. Thus one writer suggests that the First Epistle to Timothy is so constructed. A | 1 Timothy 1:1-2—Benediction B | 1 Timothy 1:3-20—Doctrine C | 1 Timothy 2:1 to 1 Timothy 3:13—Discipline D | 1 Timothy 3:14-15—Intended visit and interval E | 1 Timothy 3:16—The mystery of godliness E | 1 Timothy 4:1-12—The mystery of iniquity D |1 Timothy 4:13-16—Intended visit and interval C |1 Timothy 5:1 to 1 Timothy 6:2—Discipline B | 1 Timothy 6:3-21—Doctrine A |1 Timothy 6:21—Benediction The expansion of B (1 Timothy 1:3-20):—

F | a | 1 Timothy 1:3-4—The charge b | 1 Timothy 1:5—Faith and a good conscience (defined) c | 1 Timothy 1:6-10—The shipwreck of “some”

G | 1 Timothy 1:11—The glory of God in His Gospel H | 1 Timothy 1:12—Paul, the “faithful” minister of Christ Jesus J | 1 Timothy 1:13—Paul, the chief of sinners (unsaved) K | 1 Timothy 1:14—The abounding grace of our Lord K | 1 Timothy 1:15 a—His mission of grace to sinners J | 1 Timothy 1:15 b—Paul, the chief of sinners (saved) H | 1 Timothy 1:16—Paul, the “pattern” believer in Jesus Christ G |1 Timothy 1:17—The glory of God in Himself F a |1 Timothy 1:18—The charge b |1 Timothy 1:19—Faith and a good conscience (to be held fast) c |1 Timothy 1:19-20—The shipwreck of “some”[1] [1]Geo. F. Trench

Another writer finds a more comprehensive correspondence still, and traces the order of God’s work in the light of the parallel arrangement of Scripture.

A. The Original Creation—Genesis 1:1 (“Heavens and earth”) B. Ruin—Genesis 1:2 (Isaiah 45:18, Heb.) Cause: Satan’s first rebellion.

C. Earth blessed, but cursed because of sin D. Mankind dealt with as a whole (Adam to Abram) E. Chosen Nation blessed F. First appearing of Christ—Hebrews 9:26 G. Church (taken out)—Acts 15:14 When the Church is completed (Romans 11:25) and “He returns for restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21), He will follow reverse order.

G. Church (taken up)—1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 F. Second appearing on earth—Hebrews 9:28; Zechariah 14:4 E. Chosen Nation blessed—Romans 11:25 D. Mankind as a whole (“All Gentiles”) blessed—Acts 15:16 C. Curse removed and earth blessed and beautified—(Amos 9:13-15; Isaiah 35:1; Psalms 67:6) B. Satan’s final rebellion—Revelation 20:7 A. “New heavens and new earth”—Revelation 21:1 “Known unto God are all His works from ‘the beginning’ of the world” (Acts 15:18).[1] [1] Morton W. Plummer.