4. Didactic books of the Old Testament.

For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth

cometh knowledge and understanding (Prov. 2:6).

The Bible has several books that contain moral instruction and are commonly known as didactic

. As compared  to  the  books of Moses, that contain direct and mandatory commandments of

God, the didactic books are written with the intent of  encouraging  people  to  live  a godly  life.

They teach a person to live his/her life in such a way that it will be blessed by God, filled with

well-being and peace of mind. This category includes the books of Job,  Psalms,  Proverbs  of

Solomon,  Ecclesiastes,  Song  of  Solomon,  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  and  Wisdom  of  Jesus  Son  of

Sirach.

  As far as their literary form, most didactic books of the Old Testament are written as poetry

in the original Hebrew. Hebrew poetry is characterized by poetic parallelism, which is noticeable

even in translation. The essence of this parallelism is that the writer.s thought is expressed not in

one sentence, but rather in several, usually two, sentences, which work together to develop the

idea by comparison, contrast or substantiation. These types of parallelism are called synonimic,

antithetic and synthetic. The following passages from Psalter (a.k.a. the book of Psalms.transl).

provide examples of various types of poetic parallelism:

“When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;

Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion” (synonimic parallelism, Ps. 114:1,2).

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD

our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright” (antithetic

parallelism, Ps. 20:7,8).

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the commandment of the LORD is

pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever” (synthetic

parallelism, Ps. 19:7-9).

Among  the  Jews,  the  didactic  books,  together with some historical (Ruth, Esther, Ezra, Nehe-

miah,  1st and 2nd  Paralipomenon)  and  prophetic (Lamentations, Daniel) books are known as

Ketubim (or Hagiographa in Greek), i.e. Sacred Scriptures.