So you want to know about Old Testament genres? Maybe you are a new or young Christian and don’t even know what a genre is or why it is essential. Then you are reading the right article!
There are at least six Old testament genres. And knowing the genre of the Old Testament book is critical to interpreting the text.
Why is the book’s genre so important?
Consider this analogy. I don’t read a novel the same way I read a news article. I don’t read any medical texts the same way I do poetry.
And when I’m reading history, I don’t interpret it as I do science fiction. Why is this?
To understand what I am reading, I need to know the book’s genre . What does genre mean? It is the kind of writing characterized by a particular form and content.
There are at least six Old Testament genres (see Heb. 1:1 ).
1. The Law
2. Narrative
3, Wisdom Literature
4. Poetry
5. Prophetic literature
6. Apocalyptic literature
The Old Testament is the first 39 books of the Bible. At least 25 different men authored these books. If we want to understand the Bible, we have to understand the six different Old Testament genres.
The Bible is not one book but a library of sixty-six books. These sixty-six books:
The first Old Testament genre is the “Law” covered in the first five books. These five books contain a wide range of instructions.
These include laws about governance. There are guidelines for religious and priestly duties.
The Law also covers social responsibilities for the Israelites.
These instructions include specific commandments in Exodus 20-40. Of these commandments, the best known are the Ten Commandments in Exod. 20:1-17 ). Leviticus, portions of Numbers ( Num. 5-6, 15, 18-19, 28-30, 34-35 ), and most of Deuteronomy all contain various commandments for the Jews.
Of the 6 Old Testament genres, the next one is narrative. A biblical narrative is a story. The story usually contains illustrations used to convey a message.
These messages address problems and situations. This genre usually starts with increasing complications. Then there is a climax of the story. Finally comes the resolution.
The Bible contains at least six different narratives:
The third type of Old Testament genre is wisdom literature. Wisdom literature teaches the meaning of life and how to live. There are two genres of wisdom literature:
The first is “proverbial” literature.
The second type of wisdom literature is “speculative.”
For many, poetry is the delicacy of the Bible. And with the other Old Testament genres, we need to recognize certain unique features. Old Testament poetry is ancient near eastern poetry. And near eastern poetry is distinct from contemporary poems.
There are several books of poetry. These include Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs are poetry.
Poetry appears in other places like Exodus 15 , Judges 5 , and 1 Samuel 2 .
Biblical poetry is in measured or balanced lines. There is a rhythmic and heightened style.
The writer may use many styles to create a mood or image. Examples include figurative language, word order variation, wordplay, repetition, or rhyming.
A critical distinction of Biblical poetry is parallelism. This style involves two lines stated in a parallel form.
Let’s consider some examples to make this clearer. The short Psalm 1 uses parallelism in several ways:
The “chiasm” pattern is a common poetic form used in Old Testament. What is a chasm?
We see a chiasm in Psalm 137:5–6 .
Prophecy is distinct from the other Old Testament genres. It serves many functions.
The books from Isaiah through Malachi are all considered prophetic literature. These prophetic books are important because they contain prophecies about Jesus. And it is Jesus who fulfilled God’s plans on earth.
If we are honest, some prophecies are hard to interpret now. These prophecies will be apparent to us only in the future. At that time, God will show the whole reality of where the prophet was pointing.
Of the Old Testament genres, apocalyptic literature shares a prophetic nature. But apocalyptic literature differs from other prophetic literature by capturing the imagination. Within apocalyptic literature, there are symbols, imagery, and predictions of disaster and destruction.
We find this type of language in Daniel (the “beasts” in Dan. 7 ), Ezekiel (the scroll of Ezek. 3 ), and Zechariah (the golden lampstand of Zech. 4 ).
The Old Testament uses many different literary genres . We have covered six of the most common.
Interpretation of any Biblical book starts with the author. What did he intend to communicate to his original audience? Understanding the original meaning of Scripture includes recognizing the literary genre. And once correctly interpreted, we can apply it to our contemporary world.
