Writings: An Overview

The third section of the TANAK, the Writings (Ketuvim) contains a variety of literary forms: songs/poems, prophecies, historical writings (1-2 Chronicles are a rewriting of all of Israelite history, from Adam to the return from Exile; Ezra-Nehemiah tell the story of rebuilding Jerusalem and the Temple), and wisdom literature. Christian versions of the Bible, which follow a different ordering for the Old Testament, redistribute much of this literature based on genre. The historical books of 1-2 Chronciles and Ezra-Nehemiah are placed after 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings; Ruth is placed after Judges (when its narrative is set); Esther is placed after Nehemiah (its action is set during the Persian rule of Judah); and Daniel is placed among the prophets. The songs and wisdom literature together form the Christian "hagiographia," the "sacred writings" of the Old Testament. It is important to keep this difference of ordering in mind when you consider the different overall messages of the Jewish TANAK and the Christian Old Testament.

 

Many of the books of the Writings had liturgical functions in ancient (and now modern) Judaism. The Psalms may have been recited during Temple sacrifices, and later in Jewish synagogues. Five of the books of Writings are known as the "Five Scrolls" (megillot), and were traditionally recited during five annual festivals

The Writings was the last section of the TANAK to be gathered in a collection; for this reason, different versions of some books were still in circulation (especially Esther and Daniel) along with other books (the Apocrypha) that didn't make it into the Jewish TANAK, but were incorporated into some Christian Bibles).

 

 

Psalms

The name "psalms" is Greek for "song." Sometimes the book is called the Psalter. It is divided into five sections, with verses praising God's glory acting as "bookmarks" (see for instance Ps 41:13 for one such set of verses). There are 150 psalms of various lengths, origins, meters, subjects, and settings. Some are attributed to figures from the Bible (such as David, Solomon, Moses, priests) others are anonymous. All of them have in common emotional expressions to God, but the emotions vary from thanksgiving to despair to hope to sadness. Some or all of these psalms may have been chanted by priests at the Temple in Jerusalem. Certainly after the destruction of the Second Temple, many psalms were incorporated into the worship services of Jews and Christians.

 

Psalm 13

This is a typical song asking for help, here an individual asking God to save him/her from his/her enemies. It is attributed to David (the other heading, "To the leader," may be instructions for liturgical signing, that is, a particular cadence or musical key). The psalm reflects trust in the Lord, and invokes the covenant (v. 5).

 

Psalm 23

This is probably the most famous psalm (best known in the King James version). Like Ps 13, this is a psalm of pain and hope written from the perspective of an individual. Although life is painful, God removes pain. The image of God as a shepherd was common throughout the ancient world.

 

Psalm 106

This is a confessional psalm: it recounts all of the ways that the people of Israel have broken covenant loyalty with God from the Exodus until (it seems) the Exile, and assumes that the people chanting the psalm share in that communal guilt. The outrageous deeds of Israel are contrasted with the forgiveness of the LORD. The reference to "captivity" and "salvation from the nations" suggests a setting during the Exile or soon after.

 

Psalm 113

This is a psalm of praise: the LORD is given eternal praise in a few brief verses. His power to help the poor and needy (the example of a childless woman is given, a familiar image from Genesis and 1 Samuel) is emphasized, but this is not a straightforward song asking for help (like Ps 13).

 

Psalm 132

The superscription of this psalm, "A Song of Ascents," may refer to pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for one of the three prescribed pilgrimage festivals of ancient Israel. If so, this song may have been part of an informal liturgy as locals made their way into the city to the Temple. The psalm weaves together all of the elements of the Davidic covenant: a promise that David's royal house would never die, praise for bringing the Ark to Jerusalem, and praise for the centralized Temple there. As such, it can also be categorized as a "royal psalm," a song celebrating the House of David.

 

Psalm 137

This is a song of lamentation, set in the context of the Babylonian Exile. The mood is one of utter despair and hopelessness, mingled with hope that Zion (the symbolic center of Israelite identity) will be restored. There is also an unmistakable hope for vengeance.

 

Psalm 138

By contrast, this is a song of utter thanksgiving and praise for God, and even contains the hope that one day the nations of world will come to praise and worship the LORD along with Israel. The song does not ask for the LORD's protection, but assumes that it is forthcoming (there is reference to covenant loyalty in v. 8).

 

Points of interest

•    Many of the psalms contain (unverifiable) attribution to King David; eventually, the entire Psalter was attributed to David, and linked with his lyre-playing (see 1 Sam 16).

 

Questions to consider

•    Many of these psalms have specific liturgical or historical settings--the Babylonian Exile, pilgrimage to Jerusalem--that would seem to restrict their impact; yet they have been read and used in worship for thousands of years. What aspects of these poems transcend their specific context?

•    Why so many psalms?

 

Lamentations

This is a series of five poems mourning the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians. The first four poems are alphabetical acrostics (each verse or set of verses begins with the next letter of the alphabet), and the last poem has 22 verses (the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters). They were most likely composed in Exile, but certainly continued to be recited (perhaps privately, perhaps in public ceremonies) for centuries afterwards. The imagery of the atrocities of war and conquest is at times gruesome and horrifying. Many of the metaphors for catastrophe are familiar from the prophetic writings ("Zion," that is, the symbolic heart of Israel, is a faithless woman, an orphan child, and so forth). The final stanza is hopeful, but uncertain, about restoration and redemption.

 

Points of interest

•    Lamentations came to be attributed to the prophet Jeremiah in antiquity, and so Christian Bibles place it after the book of Jeremiah among the prophets; but in the TANAK it is part of the Writings

•    Jewish tradition held that both Temples were destroyed on the same day of the year--the 9th of Ab--and many Jews recognize that as a fasting day, on which they mourn the Temples and recite Lamentations with a special melody

 

Song of Solomon (also called Song of Songs)

The Song of Solomon is a love poem; some scholars believe that a series of love poems have been put together, so that it is an anthology of short love poems. Sometimes the verses speak in the woman's voice, sometimes in the man's voice, sometimes as a dialogue between the two. Classic forms of ancient near eastern love poetry are on display in this poem, particularly the descriptive technique known by the Arabic term wasf: a description of the lover from head to toe. There is a definite erotic element to the love celebrated in this poem: only by analogy, metaphor, and allegory have interpreters been able to transform this into a song about God's love for humanity. The attribution to Solomon is late, and may account (in small part) for the Song's inclusion in the Writings.

 

Points of interest

•    "Song of songs," in the first verse, is a superlative: this is the song to end all songs, the songiest song that was ever sung

•    Some ancient interpreters believed this was a song chanted at Solomon's wedding, and modern scholars concur that it could be a wedding hymn (although probably not Solomon's)

 

Questions to consider

•    Why a sex song in the Bible? If you read this in another context (a generic poetry book, for instance) would it invoke religion, divinity, or spirituality?

•    In addition to asking "why a sex song in the Bible?" you might also ask: "What kind of sexual love is described here?" In addition to erotic elements, there is also mockery, violence, and denigration of women (sometimes by women). What is supposed to be erotic here, and what is supposed to be troubling?

 

Proverbs 8-15:  Lady Wisdom and the Sayings of Solomon

The book of Proverbs (also attributed to Solomon much later) is a classic example of "Wisdom literature," in which the orderly universe is praised and analyzed and used as a guide to godly living. In these chapters, Wisdom is personified as a woman, the first of God's creatures (thereby ensuring orderliness to all other creations); she is contrasted with Lady Folly, who is immodest and sloppy and unwise and, to be frank, trampy. Proverbs 10-15 is a collection of oppositional or antithetical sayings ("The wise man does X, but the foolish man does Y") of generally optimistic and cautious sayings. Wealth is not condemned, but neither is it seen as a positive good apart from wisdom. Good behavior is promoted, but not at the cost of personal liberty or security. Various socially conservative norms are affirmed--family, politics, education--and everything is seen to be orderly and under God's care.

 

Points of interest

•    Many famous morality sayings come out of Proverbs (usually in their King James formulation), such as "Pride goeth before the fall"

•    "Wisdom" in ancient Hebrew (and ancient Greek) is a feminine gender word (like Spanish la sabiduría or French la sagesse)

 

Questions to consider

•    What sort of gender assumptions would allow Wisdom to be characterized as a woman? Is it only because "wisdom" has a feminine gender in Hebrew, or is there a more significant categorization of creativity and philosophy as "womanly" or "feminine"?

•    Do the sayings of "Solomon" cohere with modern ethics? Should a reader be allowed to "pick and choose"?

 

Ecclesiastes 1-3:  The Futility of Wisdom and Power of God

Ecclesiastes also was ascribed to Solomon in antiquity. The writer identifies himself as "the Teacher" (qoheleth in Hebrew, ecclesiastes in Greek), a wise man who questions received wisdom and the assumption of an orderly universe. Although he achieved great wisdom, the Teacher doesn't know any more about the universe than he did before: all the answers of wise men are "empty," and things simply happen on God's schedule, which is unknowable. The best thing, perhaps, is just to enjoy what is enjoyable, be responsible to others, and hope for the best.

 

Points of interest

•    The verses of Eccl 3 were set to music as a famous song by The Byrds in the 1960s under the title "Turn, Turn, Turn"

•    The invocation of the "emptiness" or "vanity" of life on earth inspired the description of the immoral "Vanity Fair" in the Christian allegorical novel "Pilgrim's Progress" (in turn inspiring the name of a novel by Thackeray and a modern, glossy magazine)

 

Questions to consider

•    How does the Teacher reconcile hopelessness about an orderly universe with belief in God--or does he?

•    Would you normally read Eccl 3 optimistically, or pessimistically? Does the context of this passage change that?

 

Job 1-3, 38-42:  Job Falls and Job Repents

Job (rhymes with "robe") is a righteous man who has everything taken away from him by a heavenly being, and questions the goodness of God and the orderly nature of the universe. Friends try to persuade him that he must have sinned to be punished (following the covenant logic of the Torah and Prophets), but Job refuses to confess to sins he didn't commit. He questions God's righteousness, until God emerges from a whirlwind to affirm his own power and wisdom in the face of humanity's impotence and ignorance. All of Job's possessions and his family are restored. The narrative frame--Job's desolation and restoration--contrast sharply with the very long poetic speeches of Job and his three friends (and one stranger). In the narrative Job accepts his punishment, even though he is righteous, and is rewarded. In the poetic speeches, Job questions God's justice and demands answers. Here you read the narrative frame, the LORD's response to Job, and Job's repentance.

 

Points of interest

•    The character "Satan" in this story is not the Devil; the name means "Adversary" and he holds a recognized position in the LORD's heavenly court (a better translation might be "Prosecuting Attorney"); only in later tradition was Satan considered a title of the Devil (the adversary of good), and this story was reinterpreted accordingly

•    The phrase "patience of Job" is used to describe someone who does not succumb to despair in the face of adversity; it is really only appropriate when considering the first chapters, since Job in the long middle portion of the book is anything but patient or accepting

 

Question to consider

•    Job is one of the few books of the TANAK to question God's justice (theodicy); compare the correlation of Israel's sins and destruction in the Prophets. Are the answers given in this book (God knows what he's doing, so suck it up) satisfying? What sort of God is portrayed, and how do humans interact with him?

 

 

Ruth

The story of Ruth is set during the time of the Judges (after the Exodus and entry into the promised land, before the beginning of the monarchy under King Saul). Ruth is a Moabite (a semitic kingdom neighboring ancient Judah) married to a man of Judah. When her husband, her brother-in-law, and her father-in-law die she accompanies her mother-in-law Naomi back to Judah. Her oath of loyalty to Naomi is striking and beautiful. Back in Judah, Ruth gleans the fields of Naomi's kinsman Boaz ("gleaning" means picking up stray remains of the harvest deliberately left behind by the harvesters for the poor), and eventually marries Boaz (who must first gain permission from Ruth's late husband's closest male relative). They have a son, Obed, who will eventually be King David's grandfather.

 

Points of interest

•    Scholars debate the composition date of this story: some place it during the time of David's Kingdom (ca. 950 BCE), while others place it after the Exile (ca. 400-350 BCE), making it either one of the earliest or latest compositions in the Bible

•    Various ancient near eastern customs are recorded in this story: Ruth's sexual offering to Boaz (asking to be "covered with his cloak"); the obligations of male kin to assume responsibilities for their dead male relatives (see Deuteronomy 25:5-10, the so-called "levirate laws," and Genesis 38, on Tamar and Judah); and the exchange of worthless property (a sandal) to represent financial transactions

•    Oprah Winfrey's first name reportedly comes from the character of Ruth's sister-in-law Orpah (through a misspelling of the name on her birth certificate)

 

Questions to consider

•    Why do you think Ruth is so insistent on staying with Naomi? How do you understand their relationship?

•    This story is often interpreted in religious terms as an allegory or a parable about hesed (i.e., the steadfast loyalty that characterizes covenant relationships): does this religious reading add to, detract from, or affirm what you thought to be the central messages of the story of Ruth and Naomi?

•    Is the character of Boaz sympathetic, suspicious, or so flat that he barely registers?

•    What is the message about non-Jewish and Jewish interaction in this book? Does Ruth "convert"?

 

 

Daniel

The book of Daniel is set during and after the Babylonian Exile, and may be broken down into two parts: chapters 1-6 contain stories about the wise youth Daniel and his struggles and triumphs at the court of the Babylonian and Persian kings (here, there are echoes of the story of Joseph at Pharaoh's court); chapters 7-12 contain prophetic visions received by Daniel about the cosmic redemption of Israel: these are the only clear examples of apocalyptic writing in TANAK. Daniel serves at the court of three foreign kings: Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius the Mede (the last two were not historically kings of Babylon). Each king tries to punish or kill Daniel based on the accusations of jealous courtiers. Nebuchadnezzar tries to starve Daniel and his three companions, and also tries to cook the three friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago) in a furnace. Darius throws Daniel in the lion's den, where God saves Daniel. The visions are symbolic images interpreted by an angel concerning the fall of Israel to its enemies, and Israel's eventual triumph after a predetermined time, ending in a cosmic conflict at the end of history: the dead will be raised, the righteous rewarded, the wicked punished.

 

Points of interest

•    Although the narratives of Daniel in Babylon may date from the post-Exilic period, the apocalyptic prophecies likely date from the second century BCE., and the time of Judean persecution by King Antiochus IV of Syria

•    The TANAK places Daniel among the Writings, emphasizing the narrative; the Christian Bible places Daniel after Ezekiel, among the Prophets, emphasizing the apocalyptic chapters

•    "Apocalypse" literally means "unveiling" or "revelation"; a more famous example (which is based, in part, on Daniel) is the Revelation of John at the end of the Christian Bible

 

Questions to consider

•    How are the various foreign kings presented in Daniel? Are they good, evil, stupid, diabolical? Does the representation of foreign powers in the narrative match up with the representation of foreign powers in the apocalyptic chapters?

•    What is the overall relationship between Israel and the ruling powers depicted in Daniel? Positive or negative? Optimistic or pessimistic? How does the God of Israel fit into this picture?