Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalms 42 and 43:

Hope in the Midst of Trial

Seth Dombach

Judges through Poets

Dr. John D. Currid

June 25, 2007

Table of Contents

Title Page....................................................................................................i

Table of Contents..........................................................................................ii

Introduction and Thesis....................................................................................1

Hebrew Poetry..............................................................................................1

Strophic Structure..........................................................................................3

Parallelism....................................................................................................3

Figurative Language........................................................................................5

Interpretation and Meaning.................................................................................6

Application and Conclusion................................................................................13

Works Cited.................................................................................................15

~*Unless otherwise noted, all Biblical quotations from the New King James Version of the Bible

Psalms 42 and 43:

Hope in the Midst of Trial

Psalms 42 and 43, written in ancient Hebrew poetry, are a beautiful song of desire for God, distress in circumstances, praise for faithfulness and hope in the future.

To understand the depth of significance of these Psalms, this paper will focus on certain elements of Hebrew poetry, defining what a strophic structure is, as well as looking at different forms of parallelism and figurative language.

From this discussion will flow a stanza-by-stanza interpretation of these Psalms, looking at the meaning of each thought from the title to the conclusion.

This paper will then end with a challenge of application to our lives through these Psalms.

Hebrew Poetry

Hebrews 1:1-2a says "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son..." (Italics mine) One of the ways God has revealed His Word to mankind is through poetry.

But in reading and interpreting the book of Psalms, it is immediately clear that the poetry represented is not the same style or genre that we are accustomed to reading in the 21st century.

Indeed, as one reads and interprets Psalm 42 and 43 it is crucial to understand the depth and background of Hebrew poetry.

The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible puts it this way,

The internal qualities of Hebrew poetry are in part influenced by the age, social conditions, and environment in which the writers lived.

Although the OT is of divine authorship, it also comes within the scope of literature, and should be appreciated as such.

Though the Holy Spirit inspired the message of the Hebrew writers, their individual writing styles remain clearly evident.

Using simple and vivid diction, figures of speech, and literary devices, each poet expressed a wealth of religious thought, experience, and emotion; simile, metaphor, allegory, hyperbole, personification, irony, and wordplay all variously enhanced each writer's pattern of thinking.

Hebrew poetry is the expression of the poet's human spirit, and it is the literature of revelation-the Word of God to humankind.

(1731)

As will be discussed further in this paper, the author of Psalms 42 and 43 was not only influenced by the ancient Hebrew age, environment, and social conditions, but they played a very practical role in his description of being far removed from God.

Even so, these Psalms are a vivid picture of the human spirit that transcends time through the living Word of God.

The Handbook to Bible Study says,

If we look closely we can often see what happens to the poet in the course of a Psalm.

We are not saying that he dashes off his words in a charged emotional state.

All good poetry is carefully crafted, and biblical poetry is no exception.

Its writers were clearly aware of different forms of literature and of how to use poetic elements.

Doubtless many Psalms, if not all, are the result of much careful work.

Certainly the acrostic Psalms are (these are Psalms where lines or sections begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet).

This does not mean they are any less the product of the inspiring Holy Spirit.

But the writer may reveal what occurs in his experience, as if the poem were an account of his progress.

(Preface)

Psalms 42 and 43 are no exception.

The author uses multiple poetic elements to craft this account.

In order to see the depth of the meaning of these Psalms, one must look at how they were written and what kinds of styles were used in their construction.

There are three main poetic elements that will be discussed.

The first of these elements is strophe or stanza.

Strophic Structure

In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem (the term means "room" in Italian).

In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse".

In a more general sense, the strophe is a pair of stanzas of alternating form on which the structure of a given poem is based.

The ancients called a combination of verse-periods a system, and gave the name strophe to such a system only when it was repeated once or more in unmodified form.

(Wikepedia) This style of writing is found all throughout the Psalms.

In Psalms 42 and 43 this is exactly what in seen in verses 42:5, 11 and 43:5.

Each of these verses read, "Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, for the help of His countenance."

All three of these verses conclude a stanza, thus dividing Psalm 42 into two stanzas, Psalm 42:1-5 and 6-11, and making all five verses of Psalm 43 into one stanza.

The use of stropic structure is not the primary characteristic of Hebrew poetry.

However, it is clearly a tool that the author of Psalms 42 and 43 used to remind the reader not only of the state of his soul, but also of the hope that remains in God.

Parallelism

The most common trait attributed to the psalter is repitition usually called parallelism.

Parallelism refers to the corresponence which occurs between the phrases of a poetic line.

Bishop Robert Lowth coined the phrase parallelism in 1753 and identified three main types of parallelism called synonymous, antithetic and synthetic.

Synonymous parallelism is the most frequently used and best known.

According to most interpreters, it is the repetition of the same thought in two different phrases using two different yet closely related sets of words.

(Longman III 99-105) The writer of Psalms 42 and 43 uses this type in his stanzas when he says, "Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me."

"Antithetic parallelism is when the words are contrasted in the two or more lines, being opposed in sense the one to the other."

(Bullinger 351) Lowth however says it is actually that the lines are describing the same thought while using different terms.

Proverbs uses this kind of parallelism often and in Psalm 42:8 there is an example as well.

It reads, "The Lord will command His loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me."

Lastly, synthetic parallelism labels those lines in which the second phrase completes or supplements the first.

We see the Psalmist use this element in 43:3 when he writes, "O send out Your light and Your truth!

Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle."

To interpret the parallels used in scripture it becomes easiest to break the poem up into lines or units.

In some instances one line could contain two or three or more poetic phrases.

To help define and easily read the lines or phrases, mark each one with an A, B, C, etc.

As an example, the break down for Psalm 43:1 would look like this:

A Vindicate me, O God

B and plead my cause against an ungodly nation

A Oh deliver me

B from the deceitful and unjust man

In this verse we see how the author has paralleled 'vindicate me' and 'deliver me' in line A, and in line B he parallels 'ungodly nation' with 'deceitful and unjust man.'

This is an invaluable tool in interpretation.

If the first half of a verse or passage is unclear, then matching the verse or passage to the second half can shed some light on the meaning.

Figurative Language

Although parallelism is the major structure of Hebrew poetry, another key component is imagery or figurative language.

Wikepedia describes imagery as,

Any words that create a picture in your head.

Using figures of speech, similes or metaphors can create such images.

While words in figurative expressions connote additional layers of meaning, literal expressions denote what they mean according to common or dictionary usage.

When the human ear or eye receives the message, the mind must interpret the data to convert it into meaning.

To sum up, an image compares two things that are similar in some ways but dissimilar in other ways.

The dissimilarity is what surprises a person and causes him or her to take notice.

Then, the person is able to search for the similarity and apply it to his or her life and surroundings.