Dr. Shirley's Web Courses

REL 310

Poetic and Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament
Study Topics and Assignments
Week 2 - Poetry in the Historical Books

Class Notes

Textbook Readings : None

Scripture Readings

InterNet Resources

This Week's Assignment : Twenty Questions - new version

My apologies - the earlier assignment was much too long and difficult. If you have already sent in your assignment, you do not need to repeat it.

When told to show parallelisms : use bold type for synonymous parallelisms, italics for antithetic parallelisms, underline chiastic parallelisms

As your answers will be taken mainly from the Bible and the textbook, you do not need to check with Turnitin

  1. Write out Genesis 4:23-24 to show the underlying poetic form. What sort of paralellism do you find? How many men did Lamech kill - give a reason for your answer
  2. Write a paragraph giving an account of the events leading up to the "Song of Moses" (Exodus 15:1-18)
  3. Give three examples of parallelism from the Song of Moses
  4. Write out the "Aaronic Blessing" (Numbers 6:24-26) to show the underlying poetic form. What sort of paralellism do you find?
  5. Write a paragraph giving an account of the events leading up to Balaam's prophecies. Who sent for Balaam, and why? What did he want Balaam to do? What did Balaam actually do?
  6. Give three examples of parallelisms from the oracles of Balaam
  7. Write four lines of your own poetry based on Numbers 23:19-20. You may use either an English rhyming meter, or a Hebrew parallel form
  8. What events led up to the "Song of Deborah"? (Judges, chpater 5)
  9. Give three examples of Parallelism from the SOng od Deborah
  10. Write four lines of your own poetry based on Judges 5:24-27. You may use either an English rhyming meter, or a Hebrew parallel form
  11. What events led up to the "Song of Hannah" (I Samuel 2:1-10)?
  12. What is the predominant form of parallelism in this Song? Give examples. Why do you think this type predominates?
  13. What events led up to the "Lament of David" (II Samuel 1:19-27)?
  14. Give three examples of parallelism from David's Lament
  15. Write four lines of your own poetry based on David's Lament. You may use either an English rhyming meter, or a Hebrew parallel form
  16. Write four lines of your own poetry based on David's last Blessing (1 Chronicles 29:10-19)
  17. Which tribe of Israel served as assistants in the Temple
  18. Who was the Chief Musician appointed by King David
  19. What refrain was often sung by the people (it is recorded in several places in the Historical Books)
  20. Which King of Israel built the Temple?

Remember to cite your sources
Use MSWord or a text editor such as Notepad to prepare and save your work, then send it as an Attachment to, or pasted into, an email message to Dr. Rollinson at rollinsondr@yahoo.com,rollinsondr@hellokitty.com,rollinsondr@mail2world.com.
Please use all 3 email addresses in case any of the mailboxes go down.

Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved

Dr. Rollinson

Department of Religion
ENMU
Portales, NM 88130

Last Updated: Septemebr 17, 2007

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