Poetry of the Old Testament

Use this forum to discuss the August 2019 Book of the month, "I Will Make of Thee a Great Nation: Old Testament Stories" by Val D. Greenwood.
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Melissa Breen
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Re: Poetry of the Old Testament

Post by Melissa Breen »

Im not religious and i didn't know there were poetry books, I'll have to give them a read!
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Post by mhPNW »

I agree, this was an interesting omission, given that other Old Testament books have quite a bit of ink dedicated to non-historical events (e.g., the Law, prophecies).
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Post by abithacker »

The aim of the book may have been to tell the story of the Old Testament, but I feel that the poetry books, especially the Psalms, do help tell this story. They are the illustrations; the recordings of the emotions and songs that the Jewish people wrote as they lived out this story.
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Post by Juliana_Isabella »

I think omitting the Psalms is acceptable, but it would have been interesting tp hear the author's take on the histories of the people who wrote them.
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Post by Ruba Abu Ali »

It was acceptable to leave them out, since the purpose of the book was achieved without including them.
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Post by Ngozi Onyibor »

Although including poetry will detract from the aim of the book. In my opinion the Psalms and Songs of Solomon have a humane feel to them; reading them gives you an idea of how Bible characters felt and behaved. It helped me see the Isrealites as more than a bunch of people who took pleasure in disobeying God. They are my favorite books in the Bible.
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Post by amjohnson13mommy »

I think the poetry should have been left in. Without it, this book does not relate to younger people very well as I think it would seem more boring and harder to understand without the poetic imaginary.
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Post by Kristin Ransome »

The author chose to focus on stories specifically, so I think his decision to leave them out makes sense.
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Post by Helen_Combe »

I think that one problem with poetry is that it had been translated, so, may be very different from the original. More so than the stories.
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Post by Katherine Smith »

I think that Mr. Greenwood left out the poetic books of the Bible because he wanted to fuse history and the Bible. It wanted a historical basis that shows why the authors of the Bible said what they did or acted in the way that they did. By allowing the readers to understand the culture and time period of the Bible, it makes it easier to understand and seem more palatable.
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Post by Diana Lowery »

Psalms is also my favorite book, but it is poetry and doesn't belong in a historical retelling, so the author made the right decision.
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Post by Gracedscribe »

As a book that was putting together chronological history, leaving the Psalms and Songs out may have been necessary. Perhaps they will appear in another book by the same author. :D
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Post by Ellylion »

Jsovermyer wrote: 02 Aug 2019, 07:48 The author, Val Greenwood, decided to leave the poetry of the Old Testament out of his book, I Will Make of Thee a Great Nation. Poetry books inlude Psalms and Song of Solomon. I think that Psalms is one of the most important books in the Old Testament. It shows the feelings of the people of that time and their devotion to God. Why do you think Greenwood left them out? Do you agree with his decision?
I love Psalms so very much, but maybe the author left them out because his main focus was on the actual events that took place according to the Old Testament :).
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Post by sarahmarlowe »

Jsovermyer wrote: 02 Aug 2019, 07:48 Why do you think Greenwood left them out? Do you agree with his decision?
Like others have said, I think he left them out because he was focusing on the stories. Perhaps he has a poetry book in mind! That would be a great follow up to this book.
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Post by Sonya Nicolaidis »

Psalms could easily have been included as a bit of an interlude in between Bible stories. It might have also been nice to highlight some of the Proverbs, too, either at the start of the chapters or at the end. The Proverbs are fun to read, not to mention full of practical wisdom, and this would appeal to readers, I'm sure.
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