I came across this clip the other day. I thought I'd post it as, in a minor way, it is a modern example of poetry in law! The judge's poem contains factual material, and is part of his judgement, and so is part of the law.
Not that Genesis 1 (part of Torah, or the law for Israel) is poetry (see post on von Rad and Weeks' article), but even if it was, that would not prevent it from being factually accurate: poetry is used as part of the law to convey factual information today!!
The clip is from the Sydney Morning Herald, p. 15, 28 November, 2004.
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1 comment:
Eric, I have always been puzzled by the teaching that Genesis Ch.1 is poetry.
Being far from an expert but having some understanding of Hebrew poetry (as in some psalms) I am well aware that Gen.1 is not poetry at all, except vs 27. I agree with you that being poetry does not exclude literature from being historical truth, in a poetical style. Consider The Charge of The Light Brigade.
People with whom I have spoken who have pushed the poetry view were convinced that calling Genesis 1 poetry absolved them from the need to take it at face value, as historical prose. To a man they believed in evolution, long ages and therefore had a need to dispense with Genesis creation, as historical prose.
I am an avid reader of novels, well aware the foundation for the whole book is framed in the opening chapters.
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