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I. Job
А. The writer(s), the place, and the time
B. The subject
C. The background
D. The central thought
E. The general sketch
F. The sections
II. Psalms (A to F)
III. Proverbs (A to F)
IV. Ecclesiastes (A to F)
V. Song of Songs (A to F)
There are five books in the Bible considered to be poetry: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. The book of Lamentations is also poetic in form, but it is considered as a supplement to the book of Jeremiah, even referred to as “the Second Book of Jeremiah” by some ancient writings; therefore, it is not included among the books of poetry.
The content of the books of poetry is the various spiritual experiences gained by the people of God in their living, expressed through poetry as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; it is the pouring out of their hearts. So, the poetry in the Bible is not abstract, impractical, or unrealistic.
A. The writer(s), the place, and the time: There is great contention about the authorship of the book of Job. [The things recorded in this book took place before the time of Moses and may have been concurrent with Abraham, which is about two thousand years before Christ. Some have said it was written by Elihu, and some have said that Moses was probably the author.] Job lived in Uz, in the southern part of Edom, west of the Arabian plain, at the border of Canaan. Uz belongs to Edom (Lam. 4:21). The events recorded in this book probably took place within one year’s time.
B. The subject: God’s people having deeper and higher visions and experiences of God in spite of Satan’s attack.
C. The background: Job was blameless and upright before God. He was one who feared God and shunned evil. He became a glory to God before Satan. Satan thought that Job loved God because God blessed him with many physical blessings, so he requested and received God’s permission to test him by destroying everything he had. Ultimately, God and Job triumphed. Job was proven to love God regardless of his outward situation, and Satan was defeated.
D. The central thought: God allows Satan to attack godly people so that they may have deeper experiences and visions. We may not understand why certain things happen, but we believe “that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God” (Rom. 8:28).
E. The general sketch: God boasted of Job before Satan. Satan accused Job before God twice. He obtained permission to ruin what Job had and to cause Job to suffer. During Satan’s attack, Job’s three friends came to visit. They tried to comfort Job during his suffering, but, because they did not know God’s will, they could only offer their opinions. Job was somewhat affected by them. Elihu, a young man, having more knowledge of God, spoke something better; however, because he lacked maturity, he also was unable to help Job.
When God appeared and spoke to Job face to face, he understood what was going on. He saw God. He knew God. All his problems were solved. Praise the Lord! What we need is to contact God.
F. The sections: 1) introduction (1:1—2:10), 2) Job and his three friends (2:11—31), 3) Job and Elihu (chs. 32—37), 4) Job talking to God face to face (ch. 38—42:9), and 5) conclusion (42:10-17).
A. The writer(s), the place, and the time: There are more writers of this book than of any other book in the Bible. David wrote most of the psalms; therefore, the Psalms are sometimes called the Psalms of David. According to the headings of the psalms, seventy-three psalms were written by David; twelve psalms were written by Asaph; one psalm was written by Heman; and one psalm was written by Ethan. Ten psalms were written by the sons of Korah. Two psalms were written by Solomon. One psalm was written by Moses. Fifty psalms did not have a heading. Of the fifty without a heading, a few are written by David, such as: Psalm 2 (Acts 4:25), Psalm 95 (Heb. 4:7), Psalm 96 (1 Chron. 16:23-33), and Psalm 105 (1 Chron. 16:8-22). Although many people wrote the Psalms, it was inspired by the one Holy Spirit.
Most of the psalms were probably written in Israel, except Psalm 90, which was written by Moses in the wilderness.
The earliest psalm was written by Moses about 1500 B.C. (Psalm 90), and the last one was probably Psalm 137, which was written after the children of Israel had been taken into captivity.
B. The subject: the praises of the saints revealing Christ and typifying the church.
C. The background: Psalms is the second book of poetry. Job leads us into the school of God to be educated to know God. The Psalms leads us into the Holy of Holies for us to fellowship with God through prayers, aspirations, meditations, desires, and praises. [All Christians know that in the Bible there is a wonderful book called the Psalms. Yet most of them merely know that this book is wonderful; they cannot tell why it is so wonderful. The Psalms are indeed very impressive to the reader. Whoever reads the Psalms is touched. The reason the Psalms are so touching is because they are not mere teachings; they are the sentiments and impressions of the godly saints in their experiences. Moreover, these expressions are uttered in praises to God, not in ordinary talk. These are not praises according to doctrine, but praises according to the feelings and impressions which the godly saints have derived from their experiences.]
D. The central thought: The psalms [are the expression, in their praises to God, of the sentiments and impressions of the godly saints in their experiences, in and through which Christ is revealed and the Church as God’s house and God’s city is typified.]
E. The general sketch: We can look at Psalms from the human point of view or from the divine point of view. [From the human point of view it is one thing, and from the divine it is another. According to the human concept it is one thing, but according to the divine it is another. From the human standpoint, we may say that the center and content of all the Psalms are the experiences of the saints concerning God’s mercy, kindness, love, faithfulness, power, and glory. They experienced so much of God’s goodness that they praised God with all these aspects of their experience of God. This is the human concept, this is the human point of view. But according to the divine concept and the divine point of view, the center and content of all the praises are Christ, the house and the city of God. Christ is the center, and the church, typified by the house and the city, is also the center. Christ and the church are the center and content of all the praises of the Psalms. Therefore, in all our praises we must have the sentiments and impressions gathered from our experience; yet in all our praises we must have Christ and the church as the center and the content.]
F. The sections: The Psalms were divided into five sections, called books. No one knows who divided the Psalms into five books, nor why they did so. It is traditionally believed that Book I was compiled by David, Book II by Hezekiah, Book III by Josiah, and Books IV and V by Ezra and Nehemiah. Regardless of who compiled them, one thing is for sure: it was the work of the Holy Spirit arranging the Psalms into these five books through the hand of man.
When you look at these five books according to the experience of the children of Israel, you can see that they correspond to the five books of Moses respectively. But according to spiritual experience, they show us the ascending steps of the experiences of Christ and the church. Let us look at them according to these two views.
According to the experience of the children of Israel:
According to the spiritual experiences of Christ and the church:
A. The writer(s), the place, and the time: Like Psalms, Proverbs is a compilation; it was not written by one person. Just as David is the most important contributing author of the Psalms, Solomon is the most significant author of Proverbs (1:1; 10:1; 25:1). Solomon wrote three thousand proverbs (1 Kings 4:32; cf. Eccl. 12:9), and this book contains the best selections from among those proverbs. In addition to the ones he wrote himself, he also collected a number of traditional and popular sayings and converted them into proverbs; in this book they are referred to as the “words of the wise” (22:17; 24:23). Chapter 30 consists of the proverbs of Agur; chapter 31 is the sayings of Lemuel.
The origin of this book is as follows: first, from among Solomon’s three thousand proverbs, some were selected which were more important and regularly quoted. Then, during the time of Hezekiah, this king added some of the proverbs of his ancestors to the collection (chs. 25—29). Finally, the proverbs of Agur and Lemuel were added, thus completing the book of Proverbs that we have today.
Regardless of the writers’ identity or the process by which it was compiled, the proverbs in this book are not ordinary exhortations urging men to be virtuous, or teaching ethics and good behavior, but they are golden verses inspired by the one Holy Spirit to cause men to revere and respect God.
B. The subject: living a godly life by God’s wisdom — Christ.
C. The background: Proverbs have existed from the most ancient times, and they were especially popular in the East. People used them to instruct young children, because in those days books were very scarce and expensive, not easy to come by, but proverbs were compact and simple, easy to remember. Often one brief and weighty, powerful proverb became a person’s motto, affecting his manner of living for his entire life.
D. The central thought: Seek after wisdom so that you may live a godly life on earth that is acceptable to God.
E. The general sketch: The beginning of this book clearly states: “The proverbs of Solomon...to know wisdom and instruction” (1:1, 2). So the purpose of this book is to seek “wisdom.” “Counsel,” “prudence,” “discretion,” “instruction,” “understanding,” and “knowledge,” spoken of in this book, are all “wisdom,” whereas “simple,” “fools,” “folly,” “void of understanding,” “foolishness,” “ignominy,” and “without knowledge” all refer to the opposite of “wisdom.”
“Wisdom” here does not refer to the “wisdom of the world” (1 Cor. 1:20). Human philosophy, science, common sense, comprehension, discernment, and aptitude are not what is meant by “wisdom.” Rather, the wisdom spoken of here indicates man’s knowledge and fear toward God. “The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (9:10). God is omniscient. The true wisdom is to know Him and understand His ways; it is to fear Him and carry out His will. If you have such wisdom, then you can show forth holiness, righteousness, goodness, noble characteristics, and all-surpassing virtues in your living.
But how can one attain to such true wisdom? The Old Testament believers had to deeply know and strictly fear God. We, the New Testament believers, are more blessed than they, because we simply need to believe in the Lord Jesus. The “wisdom” which was in ancient times, which from the beginning was in the presence of God, through which He created the universe (8:22-31) has become flesh and dwelt among us, and this is our Lord. Whoever has the Lord Jesus has that “wisdom,” because He is God’s wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24), and He has become wisdom to us from God (1 Cor. 1:30).
Although this book is in the Old Testament, it is also valuable to New Testament believers, because it is full of advice on how to deal with people, standards of behavior, governing principles for a believer’s walk, how to be free from evil snares, and how to receive God’s approval. With regards to the believers who seek and wait on God, 3:5-6 and 8:17 are words of comfort and guarantee. Towards suffering, disciplined believers, 3:12 is a word full of help and guidance.
F. The sections: Proverbs is primarily composed of stand-alone golden verses, not necessarily related to the ones before and after. Therefore, it is more difficult to divide into sections than any other book.
We can divide it into five sections according to content: 1) foreword (1:1-6), 2) the importance of seeking wisdom and the danger of lacking it (1:7—9), 3) comparison between wise and foolish, virtuous and evil (chs. 10—24), 4) proverbs compiled during the time of Hezekiah (chs. 25—29), and 5) common proverbs: a) the words of Agur (ch. 30) and b) the words of Lemuel (ch. 31).
A. The writer(s), the place, and the time: Although this book does not clearly name Solomon as its author, and although many Bible readers attribute its authorship to other people, yet according to the contents of the entire book we can say with certainty that Solomon wrote it. We can say this because the author was:
In the Bible, no other person meets all the above qualifications except Solomon; therefore, no one else could possibly have written this book.
This book was written in Israel during Solomon’s later years.
B. The subject: A living and seeking apart from God can never lead to true satisfaction.
C. The background: The Holy Spirit selected Solomon to write this book because he had been through a time of failure. God had established him as king, and had granted him great wisdom. At first, he used this wisdom to take care of God’s people, but later he became proud of his great wisdom and followed his unbridled lusts, rebelling against God and seeking earthly luxuries. God had commanded concerning kings, “Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses: forasmuch as Jehovah hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way” (Deut. 17:16), but he “had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen” (1 Kings 4:26), “and the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt” (1 Kings 10:28). God had made another commandment regarding kings: “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away” (Deut. 17:17), but he “had seven hundred wives...and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart...after other gods” (1 Kings 11:3-4). Another commandment that God had given concerning kings was: “Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold” (Deut. 17:17), but he had a tremendous amount of gold, and “silver...was nothing accounted of” and “as stones...for abundance” (1 Kings 10:21, 27). All the commandments concerning kings were broken by Solomon. He had the highest position, the greatest wisdom, and the top endowments. One could say that no other person under the sun was more qualified to seek after earthly education, renown, enjoyment, and pleasure. He obtained them all, but still these were not able to satisfy him. Eventually, he reached a point where he could only say, “Vanity of vanities...vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (1:2). So, we can also say that there is no other person under the sun more qualified to write the book of Ecclesiastes than Solomon.
In Solomon’s later years, after his recovery, the Holy Spirit moved him to write the book of Ecclesiastes, reminding him of how the time that he had spent apart from God seeking the world had caused him to become disappointed and dissatisfied, resulting in pessimism and disillusionment. Then, after he had been fully recovered, the Holy Spirit moved him further to write the Song of Songs, expressing the true satisfaction which he had achieved only after returning to the presence of God.
D. The central thought: A man may attain to all the education, knowledge, treasures, riches, renown, position, enjoyment, and pleasure that the world has to offer, yet if he does not have God, it is still all vanity, because the end is “once to die, and after this judgment” (Heb. 9:27).
E. The general sketch: The author uses several experiences to prove his point:
F. The sections: 1) title (1:1-3), 2) experience (1:4—12:12), and 3) conclusion (12:13-14).
A. The writer(s), the place, and the time: The Song of Songs was written by Solomon in Israel during his later years and is just as difficult to understand as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
B. The subject: loving the Lord to experience Him as life for the building up of His Body, the bride.
C. The background: This book follows Ecclesiastes and is in contrast with and supplementary to it. Ecclesiastes tells us that if man abandons God and seeks anything under the sun, the result is “vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” The Song of Songs tells us that if man yearns for the Lord, pursuing everything in Christ, the result is satisfaction of satisfactions, all is satisfaction.
Poetry is the expression of the moving within the human heart, the writing of the experiences of human life. These five books of poetry — Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs — also show forth the good pleasure of the Holy Spirit, telling of our experiences and seekings along the spiritual way. Through suffering (Job), we are brought into prayer and fellowship in the presence of God (Psalms), through which prayer we receive wisdom and revelation (Proverbs) and are ushered into the realization of the vanity of all things apart from God (Ecclesiastes) and the satisfaction in Christ (Song of Songs).
D. The central thought: The believers need to seek after the Lord to fellowship with Him in love. This seeking causes them to get out of themselves through the work of the cross and to be transformed by the Spirit. The result is the Body of Christ, the bride of Christ ready to be raptured into the wedding feast with the Lord.
E. The general sketch: Some say that Solomon wrote this book based on one of his own love stories, which may have taken place as follows:
In Ephraim, Baalhaman, Solomon had a vineyard which he gave to a family of the people of Ephraim to take care of. Their father had evidently already died. Their mother had at least two sons and two daughters; the two daughters were the Shulamite and her younger sister (1:6; 8:8). When she was at home, the Shulamite’s older brothers abused her, forcing her to give up her own vineyard to take care of theirs, and also compelling her to shepherd their sheep, so that her face became blackened by extended exposure to the sun. One day a handsome young man in shepherd’s garb came from far away, paying particular attention to the young woman and making friends with her. Then the Shulamite said, “Look not upon me, because I am swarthy, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were incensed against me; they made me keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest thy flock” (1:6-7). The shepherd responded by calling her “fairest among women” (1:8). After a while, they fell in love. One day, the shepherd bid her farewell, promising to return soon to marry her. But after he left, there was no news from him. Although the other people around her told her that she had been tricked by the shepherd, she refused to listen, firmly believing that their engagement was irrevocable. After waiting for a long time without his return, she longed for him so much that she felt sick, sometimes imagining that she saw him. Then one day she noticed clouds of dust flying up along one of the mountain roads of Ephraim, as if many carriages were approaching. Soon a messenger arrived, informing her that the king was on his way to marry her. At first, the Shulamite did not know what to say, but as soon as she caught sight of the king, she recognized him as her beloved shepherd, so she cried out triumphantly, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me” (7:10). (This is also the story of each one of us. From Genesis all the way to Revelation, the whole Bible is a record of how our good Shepherd left His glory and His throne to come to earth to seek out His bride of lowly birth. When He had found her, He left her for a while, promising that He would come back to claim her. Now we are in the time of waiting. May we have as much faith, patience, longing, and fervent love as the Shulamite had, and may we have the same cry as she had — “Make haste, my beloved, to come!”)
F. The sections: 1) initial seeking and satisfaction (1:1—2:7), 2) the calling to put off the self (2:8—3:5), 3) the calling to ascend to the heavens (3:6—5:1), 4) after resurrection, the more severe calling of the cross (5:2—6:13), 5) God’s work (ch. 7), and 6) the sighing of the flesh (ch. 8).
