The Art of Preaching
Old Testament Poetry

Steven D. Mathewson

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

© 2024 by Steven D. Mathewson

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

BakerAcademic.com

Ebook edition created 2024

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Identifiers: LCCN 2024013518 | ISBN 9781540967626 (paperback) | ISBN 9781540968364 (casebound) | ISBN 9781493447725 (ebook) | ISBN 9781493447732 (pdf)

Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®

Cover art: As Pants the Hart by James Jacques Tissot / Private Collection / Bridgeman Images

To

Ron Allen

Mike Boyle

Gerry Breshears

Don Carson

Scott Manetsch

These faithful servants have all played a significant role in my development as a pastor, preacher, teacher, and follower of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for each one of them and for their mark on my life and ministry.

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Preparing to Preach Old Testament Poetry

2. Preaching Psalms

3. Preaching Proverbs

4. Preaching Job

5. Preaching Ecclesiastes

6. Preaching Song of Songs

7. A Final Word

Appendix A Sample Sermon on Psalm 87

Appendix B Sample Sermon on Psalm 137

Appendix C Sample Sermon on Proverbs 31:1–9

Appendix D Sample Sermon on Job 28:1–28

Appendix E Sample Sermon on Ecclesiastes 11:7–12:14

Appendix F Sample Sermon on Song of Songs

Appendix G A Categorization of the Psalms

Bibliography

Scripture Index

Subject Index

Illustrations

Figure

4.1	The גֹּאֵל (go’el), a protector of family rights

Tables

1.1	Alter’s System for Identifying How Parallelism Functions
2.1	Some Approaches to Categorizing the Psalms
2.2	The Structure of Hymns of Praise
2.3	The Doxologies at the End of the Five Books of the Psalter
2.4	The Contents of the Five Books of the Psalter
3.1	An Overview of the Book of Proverbs
4.1	An Overview of the Book of Job
4.2	The Structure of the Cycles in Job 4–27
5.1	Two Approaches to a Sermon Series on Ecclesiastes

Acknowledgments

It is a privilege to thank and acknowledge those whose help, encouragement, and support have enabled me to write this volume. I am forever grateful for each one of them.

First, I thank my family. The love of my life, my wife, Priscilla, has supported my compulsion to write and has never once complained ...