Poetry of the Old Testament

[KCWolf]

The poetry in the Old Testament was really was very eye-catching and beautiful. It's a shame that the author had to leave them out.

I completely agree, considering there are so many applicable passages and life lessons included in the psalms and proverbs.

[Areej Tahir]

The author was trying to cover stories, and poetry didn't really count for that so maybe that's reason.

[Ferdinand_Otieno]

The author was trying to cover stories, and poetry didn't really count for that so maybe that's reason.

I agree. Passages have a different feel than poetry and the author was trying to cover as many passages in the Old Testament. I understand his aversion to including poetry.

[Thehorselover]

Since the author was writing the books of the Old Testament in chronological order and writing them as a living story line of the people of Israel, it makes sense that he left out the Psalms, as they are not part of the story line.

[Joy Catap]

I think the author focuses on the actual events. The poems focus on emotions and feelings, it would be hard to interpret the poems one by one. The readers might get confused.

[LV2R]

I was wondering the same thing about leaving out the Psalms, which were mostly written by David and the Proverbs, which were mostly written by Solomon. I think that he could have included a few examples of each that would have been interesting.

[Samy Lax]

I do enjoy reading Psalms myself, but I think that - in this instance - it was alright of the author to not include them in the book. I think the book aimed to portray the key stories in the Old Testament instead.

[LyorBoone]

I would say the book of Psalms doesn't fit the author's ambition of working the old testament into a better flowing story. A few psalms could have been worked into a moment that inspired the psalm to be written in the first place, but it would be difficult to track down the exact point where a single psalm belongs in the overall narrative. If the author was worried about adding psalms smoothly into the rest of the story narrative, I would say he made the right call, rather than risk throwing one into the prose in a way that feels off. Regardless of the motives, I feel leaving Psalms out is a respectable and logical choose with intended goals presented.

[skindrukas]

I'd agree woth the opinion that Psalms weren't necessary to complete the idea of the book to tell the stories.

[Wilhelmib1]

I wonder if the author may have left out the Psalms to keep a narrative flow. The Psalms might have become a paraphrase of the Bible rather than an attempt at narration. It would be wonderful if he had referenced them in David's life, referencing them with his troubled times.

[AntoineOMEGA]

I think he made the right decision. It would be odd to find unrelated art in a book about the civil war, even if the knowledge itself did come from some form of art.

[Fazzier]

Going by the author's purpose for the book, I think it was just okay for the author to leave out the poetry books.

[Erin Dydek]

The Psalms and Proverbs are certainly important and I enjoy reading them, but the focus of Greenwood's book seemed to be the stories of the people. Since his focus was on the interactions between God and the people it made sense to leave out the poetry.

[iknwuzoh]

The Psalms are the best to read and the author wrote much from it. The author did fine.

[aacodreanu]

It is true that poetry does not tell stories, but I am certain that a connection could be found with the title of the book, so as to include the Psalms and the Song of Solomon.