What are the different forms of biblical literature?

"The story is told us in very varied ways. The Bible is really a literature and not a book. It contains historical records, laws, poems, visions, books of teachings, proverbs and prophecies. Some of it is very dry; other parts of it are the most beautiful pieces of writing the world has produced.

Epistolary communications are a marked feature of New Testament revelation. In the Old Testament there was comprised, under the threefold division of the law, the prophets, and the Psalms (Luke 24:44), the whole of that portion of God's written word. By the law was meant the Pentateuch. Under the prophets the historical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings were classed with the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets. Under the Psalms the rest of the books forming the canon of Old Testament revelation were ranged; this portion being so called, probably, since the book of Psalms stood first in the third great division of the Hebrew Scriptures.

The Old Testament. The Books of the Law: — Genesis. Exodus. Leviticus. Numbers. Deuteronomy. The Covenant-History: — Joshua. Judges. Ruth. Kings: — First Book (Samuel). Second Book (Kings). Captivity-Books: — Ezra. Nehemiah. Esther. Chronicles. The Prophets: — Isaiah. Jeremiah. Lamentations. Ezekiel. Daniel. The Book of Minor Prophets: — Hosea. Amos. Micah. Joel. Obadiah. Jonah. Nahum. Habakkuk. Zephaniah. Haggai. Zechariah. Malachi. The Psalm-books: — The Psalms. Job. Solomon's Song. Ecclesiastes. Proverbs. The New Testament. The Gospels: — Matthew. Mark. Luke. John. The Acts. The Pauline Epistles: — Romans. Galatians. Ephesians. Colossians Philemon. Philippians. Thessalonians First & Second Epistles. Corinthians First & Second Epistles. Hebrews. Timothy First & Second Epistles. Titus. The Catholic Epistles: — Peter First & Second Epistles. James. John First, Second & Third Epistles. Jude. Revelation.

The divisions are — The Books of the Law, in which are enforced God's almighty power and sovereign rights. The Covenant History. 2 is the number of legal covenant, and this characterizes the whole. Thus it is a history of discord, division, and the enemy's power, though with divine interventions in deliverances, which stand as types and assurances of the final deliverance to come. The Prophets then give us God's voice — the reasoning of divine holiness with man, that he may be partaker of it, as it is seen in the visions of the future he shall be, and the glory of God be then fully displayed. The Psalm-books are the books of experience and trial in the world, — speaking of the lessons he has learned in it, the wisdom which is their outcome, and the goodness of God which turns sorrow into song.

The whole of the Scriptures revolve round the Person of the Son of God. It has been put in a striking way as follows. The Pentateuch gives us the figures of Christ; the Psalms, the feelings of Christ; the Prophets, the foretellings of Christ; the Gospels, the facts of Christ; the Epistles, the fruits of Christ; Revelation, final judgments by Christ. Remembering how ancient are the Scriptures, how many are the different writers of the various Books, how they lived far apart from each other, both geographically and in time, it is astounding that such a statement can be made about one Person and one Book. It is absolute proof that there is a Master Mind behind the Book. And if GOD thus presents in such different ways and phases a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, it follows that such a presentation should command our deepest homage.

Could any book in the world answer to such a test of design as the following? The Pentateuch gives us the FIGURES of Christ. The Psalms give us the FEELINGS of Christ. The Prophets give us the FORETELLINGS of Christ. The Gospels give us the FACTS of Christ. The Epistles give us the FRUITS of Christ.

The Psalms themselves are either commemorative or prophetic, or expressive of the present passage of the soul. They have all the variety of confession, supplication, and praise; of doctrine, history, and prophecy.

The Epistles of the New Testament set the truth of Christianity before our souls, as God has been pleased to give it. The Gospels portray that glorious Person, the Son of God, in His pathway of humiliation, and as the faithful and true Witness, in the midst of a world hostile to the light that shone out in His ways, words, and works. In the Psalms we have the inward exercises and sorrows of the Saviour more in detail than anywhere else, along with His confidence in Jehovah, and His faithfulness at all times to the trust committed to Him.

The literary form of these proverbs is mostly in the form of couplets or distichs. The two clauses of the couplet are generally related to each other by what has been termed parallelism, according to Hebrew poetry. Three kinds of parallelism have been pointed out.

The Books of Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and various parts of the Prophets are poetical. It is not easy to define Hebrew poetry. It appears clear that the lines did not end with corresponding sounds, and it cannot be discovered in what the rhythm consists, the ancient pronunciation of the language being lost. Ewald concluded that in the Hebrew poetry there was a thought rhythm, and not one of sound.

One of their most marked styles is an alphabetical poem. These consist of twenty-two lines or stanzas, or systems of lines, and the lines or stanzas begin with letters which follow in alphabetical order: the first A, the second B, and so on. There is doubtless a spiritual significance in these arrangements: such as intense human exercises, emotions, etc., under the working of the Spirit. And they may have assisted the memory, at least in the Psalms when they were sung. Such may be found in Ps. 25; Ps. 34; Ps. 37; Ps. 111; Ps. 112; Ps. 119; Ps. 145; Prov. 31:10-31; Lam. 1; Lam. 2; Lam. 3; Lam. 4.