Discerning Historical Fact from Biblical Poetry

We can be confident that what Old Testament poets told their readers about the past, present and future was true. They were inspired by God who only speaks truth. But they often described history in ways that were something other than straightforward. And for this reason, to know what poets actually intended to communicate about objective historical facts, we have to understand the literary conventions of Old Testament poetry.

When we speak of Old Testament poetry we have in mind passages like the Psalms, some wisdom literature, much of Old Testament prophecy, and smaller portions of other books as well. To discern facts about God’s actions and words from these Scriptures, we have to account for how the literary features of poetry reveal historical information.

First, poetical passages employ unusual vocabulary and syntax designed to make readers ponder what is written. Second, Old Testament poets used many figures of speech such as metaphors, similes, analogies, and hyperboles to describe historical realities indirectly. Third, poets expressed their own imaginative reflections to incite compelling imaginative sensory experiences in their readers. Fourth, they conveyed their own emotions to stir emotional reactions in their readers. These characteristics appear to some extent in other biblical genres as well, but they were concentrated, central features in Old Testament poetry. To see how these characteristics affected the communication of historical information, we’ll look at a portion of one poetical passage — the Song of Moses and Miriam at the Red Sea in Exodus 15.

Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble (Exodus 15:6-7).

In this passage, Moses referred to the historical event of Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea. Yet, these verses do not give a wooden description of what God did. For example, God’s right hand was not actually visible at the Red Sea, even though Moses said that God’s “right hand … shattered the enemy.” And the Egyptians were not burned by fire, even though God’s “burning anger … consumed them like stubble.”

Instead, the narrative account in Exodus tells us that God sent a mighty east wind that separated the waters of the sea allowing the Israelites to pass on dry land. Then God drowned the pursuing Egyptian army by causing the waters to return as the Egyptians crossed.

So, why did Moses speak of God’s right hand, and of his burning anger consuming the Egyptians like stubble? Moses relied on the common Old Testament metaphor of God’s right hand to characterize this event as God’s mighty attack against his enemies. He employed an exaggerated simile likening the Egyptians’ condition to burned stubble; not to reveal the means of their destruction, but to reveal how thoroughly and horribly they were destroyed.

If we were to focus on the way Exodus 15 uses figures of speech to relate historical data, we might summarize it in this way: God set Israel free by miraculously destroying the Egyptian army in the Red Sea.

Moses intended his poetry to be taken as a true record of the event, but he never meant it to be read as a literal, wooden description.

This example makes it clear that we must approach Old Testament poetry with care. We must not read it the same way we read prose. Instead, we must distill historical information by recognizing poetry’s unusual vocabulary and syntax, its figures of speech, its imaginative concerns and its emotional impacts.