Sense Units

Thus far, our discussion may have created the impression that all Hebrew po- etry consists of only a few lines. Obviously, a glance at the psalms quickly confirms that this is not the case! The Bible’s parallel stichs actually form part of larger struc- tural units we will call sense units. 110 A sense unit constitutes the major subdivision of a poem. Just as a house may have one or more rooms, so a poem has at least one sense unit but may have many more of varying sizes.

The key indicators of a poem’s sense units are as follows: (1) changes in con- tent, grammar, literary form, or speaker; (2) the concentration of keywords in a section; and (3) the appearance of refi-ains or repeated statements.“’ Psalm 32 pro- vides an example of sense units and their indicators:112

‘OSOf course, this step requires the student to have a good understanding of the biblical world.

For example, the point is to find what “horn” connoted back in Bible times, not today. We recommend the regular use of Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias as excellent sources of background on figures of speech. Recall our prior explanation of word studies.

lOgCareful readers must also watch for poetic language in nonpoetic passages (e.g., Gen 4:7; Mt 2337; Jas 1:15); cf. Ryken, Words of Delight, 180.

“Owe borrow the term from Petersen and Richards (Interpreting Hebrew Poetry, 60-63) as an alternative to popular but ambiguous terms like “stanza” and “strophe” (against Watson, Classical Hebrew Poetry, 160-67).

“‘These same indicators may also signal the main literary divisions of prose passages.

“‘Cf. Gerstenberger, Psalms 1, 14C43. Having your Bible open here is crucial to see this point.

General Rules of Hermeneutics-Old Testament Poetry 253

Sense Unit Verses Indicators

1 l - 2 form: impersonal “blessed is the person”

formula content: sin, forgiveness

function: to provide general thematic intro- duction

2 3-5

3 6 - 7

4 8 - 1 0

transition: ccfor”

change of speaker: “I”

form: report of personal experience content: experience of forgiveness

tinction: to illustrate the forgiveness theme transition: ufor”

form: exhortation (v. 6), affirmation of confidence (v. 7)

addressee: God (“you” singular) content: prayer, protection, deliverance function: to urge people to pray form: instruction (cf. prohibition [v. 93,

proverb [v. lo])

addressee: Israel (“you” singular) content: teaching about trust in Yahweh function: to teach the benefit of trust

5 11 form: call to rejoice

addressee: righteous Israelites (rCyou” plural) content: rejoicing, gladness, singing

function: to call for response to entire psalm Sense units are basic to the structure of a poem, so if we want to decipher this structure we must first identifjr the poem’s sense units. With a piece of note paper in hand, read the poem watching for the key indicators mentioned above. When these indicators change significantly, indicating a break between sections, write the verses of the sense unit just concluded. Continue this analysis until all the poem’s sections are identified. After the sense units are identified the student should isolate any subsections within those sense units. Read the poem a second time, identifying the subsections within each sense unit. Write the verses for each subsection under the verses for each sense unit.

Finally, beside the verses for each sense unit/subunit, write a short label that describes its literary form. Be sure that the label describes the literary form rather than the content. The difference is this: a content label describes what a sense unit says (its content); a literary label describes bow it says what it says (its literary form). For example, Psa 73:l (“Surely God is good to Israel/to those who are pure in heart”) constitutes a sense unit whose content is about God’s goodness to Israel. Its form,-

254 Introduction to Biblical Interpretation

however, is that of an affirmation.

By the same

token, in content Amos 5:6a (“Seek the LORD and live”) is about

devotion to God, but its form is a call to worship.

To illustrate this procedure, consider how you would describe these three sec- tions of Psa 32:

w.

3,s When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. . . . Then I acknowledged my sin to you

and did not cover up my iniquity.

v. 9

v. 11

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”

-and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle

or they will not come to you.

Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous;

sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Obviously, the

excerpt of w. 3 and 5 is about the ending of personal trouble through the confession and forgiveness of sin. One might describe the content as “The trouble and forgiveness of sin” or “Confession of sin ends trouble.” Observe, how- ever, that this is not an impersonal, abstract discussion of human suffering caused by sin. Bather, it offers a personal report given by an individual about a past experi- ence of forgiven sin. The proper literary label would be something like “Personal report: trouble and forgiveness.”

Taken by itself, the content of v. 9 easily wins labels like “An appeal for self- control” or “An example of stubbornness.” Since it follows up v. 8, however (“I will instruct you

. . .

in the way you should go”), one might describe its content more precisely as “Stubborn resistance to good teaching.” Literarily, however, no- tice that v. 9 is not a description but a prohibition (“Do not be like the horse or the mule

. . . “)

that the speaker urges upon his audience. So, one should label it literarily as a “Prohibition.” As for v. 11, its content readily calls to mind a label like

“Rejoicing and singing.” Again, however, observe the form: two commands with which the speaker exhorts the audience (“Rejoice

. . .

sing”). Literarily, then, one should describe it as an “Exhortation” or “Call to Worship.“’

After completing the descriptions of sense units and their subparts, we sug- gest two final steps. First, one should write a literary outline based on those de- scriptions. The purpose of such an outline is to present the poem’s literary structure in visual form. The outline, then, can become the basis for analyzing the poem’s literary and thematic development. A literary outline of Psa 32 might look like this:l13

*‘me following is a modification of Gerstenberger, Psalms 1, 140. For a fuller treatment of this method and its application to poetic and nonpoetic texts, see G. M. Tucker, Form Criticism of the Old Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1971).

General Rules of Hermeneutics-Old Testament Poetry 255

I. Superscription la

II. The Psalm

_{l b - 1 1}

A. Declaration l b - 2

B. Personal report: trouble and forgiveness 3-5

1. Description: trouble 3 4

2. Description: forgiveness 5

C. Exhortation and confession 6-7

1. Exhortation 6

2. Confession 7

D. Instruction 8-10

1. Statement of intention 8

2. Instruction itself 9-10

a. Prohibition 9

b. Proverb 10

E. Closing exhortation 11

Notice the consistent use of literary terms rather than descriptions of content. As indi- cated, we describe w. 3-5 as a “Personal report” because that is its form (the comment

“trouble and forgiveness,” however, adds some clarification). Because the exhortation ofv. 11 concludes the psalm, we call it a “Closing exhortation.” Our “Prohibition” (v.

9), however, forms only part of a larger section (w. 8-10) along with a proverb (v.

10) and a declaration of intention to give instruction (v. 8). Since v. 8 introduces what follows as instruction (w. 9-lo), we label the entire section as “Instruction.”

Second, using the literary outline as a guide, one should analyze the poem’s structure. To do so, the reader might study the outline to answer questions like the following:

1. What comes first in the poem? What comes last? Why?

2. What comes in the middle of the poem? Why?

3. What organizing principle underlies its structure (e.g., liturgical practices, thematic development, etc.)?

4. What is the poem’s main theme(s)?

5. How does each sense unit contribute to its thematic development?

6. What is the poem’s intention or purpose (i.e., What did the poet hope to accomplish?)?

7. What is its main point?

In sum, analysis of a poem’s structure is more than an academic exercise. Ap-

plied carefully, it provides readers with a helpful tool of interpretation. In fact, one

may also apply this same method-the preparation of a literary outline-to

nonpoetic texts. In such cases, however, the outline

would describe its subparts though not as poetic sense units. Our method provides a way for readers to break a

text

down into its constituent parts. Awareness of those parts gives readers the basis for tracing the thematic development of a passage.

4J