Kugel on the Bible

By Michael Kress

Among those for whom the Bible is, above all, a sacred text detailing God's relationship with Israel, there often is little in the way of discussion of the literary aspects of the Biblical language and imagery. Perhaps there is a feeling that too much time spent on the imagery, metaphors, and language of this most important of texts detracts from its theological and legal import. Not so to James Kugel, professor of Jewish literature at Harvard and the author of The Great Poems of the Bible: A Reader's Companion With New Translations (Free Press). In his new book, Kugel sacrifices neither literary appreciation nor religious reverence as he explores the literary beauty of the Bible's poems and the deep theological insights that lie behind, and sometimes buried within, them. Returning to the topic of his doctoral dissertation, Kugel offers a work accessible to the general public and heavy on well-placed cultural references, including a rumination on the theology of the Wizard of Oz.

Kugel's poetic choices range from the well-known -- "The Lord is my shepherd" (Ps. 23), "The wolf will dwell with the lamb" (Is. 11) -- to the more obscure -- "Oh Come to Bethel for sins, to Gilgal for sins galore" (Amos 4). For each, he offers a fresh translation that gets at the plain meaning of the text -- no "thous" and "thees" for flourish -- while still rendering an impressive piece of English poetry. His translations successfully capture the shifting tones and emotions of the various Biblical authors and narrators. Following each poem, Kugel offers an essay exploring the selection's key theological and historical themes, such as the Messiah, prophecy, and the problem of theodicy. For all, he brings other relevant Biblical examples while also delving into the poetic devices of the specific poem that introduced the topic, making the book a helpful overview of Jewish thought as well as a guide to the Bible's greatest poetic works.

In these poems, we meet some of the most complex and significant personalities in the Bible, all with unique priorities and styles reflected in the poetry they produced: The penitent King David, the fiery Amos, the Utopian Isaiah, the forlorn Job, the heroic Deborah, the wise Solomon. Kugel uses their words in less-than-obvious ways as springboards to embark on explorations of key concepts in Judaism. Psalm 29 -- "Give the Lord, O sons of the mighty," sung in synagogues when the Torah Scrolls are returned to the ark on Shabbat -- is a basis from which to talk about worship of the idol Baal and the triumph of monotheistic belief in ancient Israel. If there is a fault in Kugel's beautiful book, it is that some of his essays are a bit too disjointed from the poems with which he pairs them. From Psalm 23 ("The Lord is my shepherd"), Kugel launches into a discussion of Jewish views on the afterlife even after rejecting the possibility that the psalm's last line "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" -- is actually speaking of a Paradise to be found after death. The essay, while fascinating on its own terms, seems better fit for a book on introductory Judaism than for a commentary on Ps. 23, although there certainly is much to be gained nevertheless bearing with Kugel as he expounds so intelligently on the afterlife.

Kugel repeatedly discusses the defining feature of Biblical poetry, although he wisely does not dwell on it more than he must. While English speakers may define poetry by anything from rhyme to meter, Biblical poetry can be identified by its almost-invariable use of parallel lines, where the second clause re-emphasizes the first by restating the point, phrasing it in an opposite fashion, or drawing a comparison between two disparate images: "Why is it that wicked men prosper?" -- Clause A, immediately followed by Clause B -- "Why do liars and backstabbers thrive?" (Jer. 12: 2). Often, the second clause relies on the first for a shared predicate. While even the most extended poems adhere to this structure, the format opens the way for the existence of one-line poems, mostly found in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, to which Kugel devotes a chapter. One prime example is Eccles. 7:1, "A name is better than scented oil, and the day of death than the day of one's birth." The poem establishes a relationship between one's reputation and material affluence (scented oil), while also relating that idea to a comparison between birth and death. Kugel illuminates the brilliance of this one-liner:
"Just as you conceded, says Ecclesiastes, that a good name is better than precious oil (since precious oil is bound to go bad but the name is immune to decay) so you must also admit that the day of death, although the precious substance of the body has at last gone, is nonetheless better than the day of birth, for on this day the person's 'name' is now complete and set for eternity."

Another vital thread running through Kugel's essays is his continuous return to what essentially forms the key to understanding the themes of Biblical poetry, namely the altogether different perceptions of nature, God and humanity that were present in Biblical times and today. Or, put conversely, Kugel writes that the "greatest obstacle to our understanding of what the Bible does tell us about God is the gap that separates us from the mental and spiritual world of ancient Israelites." Where once God was considered an active reality in the world of nature and human affairs, God today is considered by most to be more distant and unrecognizable. Where once humanity thought itself quite little, a helpless speck in God's vast world, we now believe we control our destiny and master the natural world. And where once people believed that prophets had a direct line to the divine, we now write off any such claims as either fantasy or insanity. Kugel's essays and translations help the reader enter that now-foreign world, the only way to truly understand and appreciate its poetry.

There is, of course, always room to quibble with any greatest-hits list, and Kugel's selections are no exception. As for me, I would like to have seen the Five Books of Moses represented in his choices, since I think Israel's Song at the Red Sea (Ex. 15 : 1-18) and Moses' farewell song -- "Ha-Azinu" (Deut. 32 : 1-43) -- can stand up to any of Kugel's picks in religious significance and literary depth. But in the end, it is the beauty of those poems that do appear in this book that shines through. So before delving into Kugel's essays and interpretations, it is worth spending time savoring his renditions of these sometimes melodic, sometimes angry, always poignant, always graceful snippets of ancient poetry. Taken together with Kugel's essays, they prove that the Bible can be considered at once a sacred text and a literary masterpiece, without damage to either method of comprehension.

Michael Kress is a Cambridge, MA-based freelance writer who covers religion and spirituality.