Monday, July 14, 2025

Archaic Hebrew poetry in the Torah

PROF. TANIA NOTARIUS: Remnants of Archaic Hebrew Poetry Embedded in the Torah.
The poems in the Torah are stylistically, theologically, and linguistically different from the prose narratives surrounding them. They include traces of earlier dialects of Hebrew, Ancient Near Eastern mythical motifs, and resemble an 8th century B.C.E. poetic fragment from Kuntillet Ajrud—all of which suggest that they are ancient remnants of earlier Israelite literature.
A good discussion of archaic Hebrew poetry in the Pentateuch.

Elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible I would include at least Judges 5, 2 Samuel 1, Psalm 29, and a few other bits and pieces as archaic poetry. And there is a good case for Habakkuk 3 and some other passages.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.