Since the turn of the century, biblical scholars have classified and named various types of OT literature. By somparing them with similar forms found in other ancient Near Eastern literature, scholars have delineated their typical traits and attempted to place them in their original situations in Israel's life. This branch of biblical science is called form criticism.
Form criticism says nothing about the historical basis of an OT passage. The names of the forms refer to the literary structures in the stories. There are no complete myths (timeless stories of the gods and their relationships) in the OT. The GOD of the Bible is One GOD, who acts in history. Occasionally some of the language of ancient Near Eastern myths is borrowed, for example, from the Mesopotamian chaos dragon myth (Ps. 74:13-14; Isa. 51:9). In such cases that language is always used in a historical context.
Most of the OT's forms were first shaped and handed down orally before being written down. (There are some exceptions; for example, the biographical portions of Jeremiah.) Typical structures made the forms easy to remember and pass on by word of mouth. By knowing the typical structure of a form, we are able to see how any biblical author has changed the form and thus given it a particular emphasis. For example, Jeremiah 15:15-18 has the form of an individual lament. Laments are usually followed by an expression of trust and hope (as in Jer. 20:7-13). But Jeremiah 15:18 is followed by a challenge from GOD, thus emphasizing 15:19-21.
The various types of OT literature found are almost toomany to list. Among prose types are speeches (II Kgs. 18:28-35), sermons (Jer. 7:1-15), prayers (I Kgs. 8:23-53), letters (I Kgs. 21:8-10), and lists. Other prose forms include rules governing worship and sacrifice (Lev. 1-7), short stories (Ruth and the Joseph story), fables (Judg. 9:8-15), and autobiographies (Neh. 1-7).
Other representatives of prose forms are accounts of dreams and visions (Gen. 37:5-10), proverbs (I Sam. 10:12), riddles (Judg. 14:18), wisdom sayings (Proverbs), and allegories (Ezek. 17:22-24). Second Samuel 6-20 and I Kings 1-2 are generally acknowledged to be eye-witness histories written by someone in David's court.
There are several collections of laws. The most important are the Decalogue or Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:1-17; Deut. 5:6-21), the Book of the Covenant (Exod. 20:22-23:33), the Holiness Code (lev. 17-26), and the Book of Deuteronomy, which is shaped in the form of sermons.
Among poetic types are songs of all kinds: work songs (Num. 21:17-18), love songs (Song of Songs), mocking songs (Isa. 14:4-21), victory songs (Exod. 15:21), funeral songs (Lamentations). Worship songs include the forms found in the Psalter: hymns of praise (Ps. 96), thanksgivings (Ps. 116), songs of Zion (ps. 48), royal psalms (Pss. 2; 110), both individual (ps. 22) and communal (Ps. 440 laments, processional hymns (Ps. 15), songs of trust (Ps. 27), enthronement hymns (Ps. 72), and wisdom psalms (Ps. 49).
The two most frequent types found in the Psalter are the hymn and the individual lament. These represent the two poles of Israel's worship, praise and lament. The hymn structure is found throughout the Bible. It opens with a call to praise or to bless GOD (Ps. 98:1a)). This is followd by the transitional word "for" and a sentence giving the reason for the praise (Ps. 98:1b). Or it is followed by sentences beginning with "who" that describe GOD's person or activity (compare Ps. 103:3-5). Then follows the hymn body, giving a further description of GOD (Ps. 98:1c-3). Sometimes there is a conclusion (Ps. 104:34-35); sometimes the structure of the hymn is just repeated (Ps. 98:4-9). This typical hymn structure may be seen still in use in the NT (for example, Luke 1:46-55). The purpose of a humn is always to praise GOD.
The lament also has a typical form. It opens with an invocation of GOD (Ps. 22:1-5) followed by a description of the sufferer's situation (Ps. 22:6-8; 14-18). There is then petition to GOD for aid (Ps. 22:11,19-21). A lament usually closes with the expression of certainty that GOD has heard the prayer and will save (Ps. 22:22-31). That is, lament turns into praise.
In the prophetic literature we find oracles of judgment on both individuals (Amost 7:14-17) and nation (Isa. 8:6-8), oracles of salvation (Jer. 35:18-19), and woe oracles (Isa. 5:8-10, often put in a series as in Isa 5:11-25). Other prophetic forms include legal procedures (Isa. 1:18-20) and prophetic torahs (Isa. 1:10-17).
The basic structure of the prophetic oracle of judgment is as follows: introduction (Amos 4:1a,b), a description of Israel's sinful situation (Amos 4:1c,d), the messsenger formula that indicates that the oracle comes from GOD (Amos 4:2a), and the announcement of GOD's coming action (Amos 4:2b,3). This form was used until the time of Ezeki8el, although with variations.
The OT is a marvel of literary variety and form.
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