Biblical Poetry is….well…pretty hard to understand sometimes! And when you compare translations, they don’t always say the same thing! What is going on?? 

I invited my good friend J. Richard Middleton back into the Dojo for a discussion of Hebrew poetry, and the hauntingly beautiful Psalm 77 in particular. Sit back and enjoy the discussion, friends!

Dr. Middleton's Books and Resources can be found at:

Articles and blog - https://www.jrichardmiddleton.com

Abraham's Silence - https://tinyurl.com/3x94apv6

A New Heaven and New Earth - https://tinyurl.com/zjn74thh

The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 - https://tinyurl.com/249zfsm6

Seminary Now - https://seminarynow.com/

Related Dojo resources:

“To Know and Be Known: Forming a Thoughtful Christian Sexual Ethic” - https://www.discipledojo.org/to-know 

“Bible for the Rest of us” - https://www.discipledojo.org/bible 

Ancient Near East Bible Backgrounds playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4bbdsVUgfc5TnFfdyxI0ZELx0JVjLgbA

00:00:00 - Intro

00:03:49 - What has Dr. Middleton been up to lately?

00:06:13 - How to present an academic paper without being boring!

00:10:13 - Is academia an “ivory tower’?

00:12:30 - How do you speak on biblical faith in a scholarly setting among non-believing colleagues?

00:14:14 - The importance of reading Scripture out loud in corporate worship…and why it’s usually done poorly!

00:24:20 - How do we safeguard against reading our own ideas into the text?

00:30:24 - The problem with theological “deconstruction”

00:36:50 - Is Richard a heretic??

00:38:34 - Let’s look at Psalm 77 in Hebrew…

00:41:15 - Opening observations on “crying out” and “meditating”

00:43:25 - Hebrew tenses…and why Biblical poetry is so hard

00:47:56 - What if you can’t read Hebrew?

00:49:57 - Why the A.C.T.S. model of prayer is actually kinda backwards!

00:52:54 - Psalm 77:4, Insomnia, A Clockwork Orange, and Bird Box

00:56:53 - Hebrew poetic imagery and Israel’s geography

00:59:12 - ‘Olam: “forever” or “a long duration”?

01:00:40 - Rhetorical questions and the effectiveness of ending an if/then statement with “…”

01:04:57 - The difference knowing Hebrew makes in our depth of understanding

01:07:30 - Does God “change”??

01:15:16 - When theology and experience don’t match…you get Lament!

01:17:37 - God’s mighty deeds and echoes of Exodus 15’s triumph hymn

01:24:25 - Singing the “big picture” and why we should do WAYYYY more of it in church worship!

01:28:12 - Ancient Near East stock imagery: Deep/Waters/Thunder/Lightning

01:36:04 - Seeing Israel’s story as OUR story too, and why that matters so much!

01:38:13 - God’s “footprints are not known”?

01:39:26 - Why does Psalm 77 seem to end unfinished?

01:45:00 - The danger of prooftexting from Hebrew poetry

01:46:43 - Final recap of Psalm 77 and what it means to us today

01:49:40 - Closing remarks and how to access Richard’s work online

01:50:45 - Richard’s upcoming books!

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