The Poem!

Deuteronomy 32 – The Poem

The poem is written and read with ‘heaven and earth’ as witnesses – it will exist forever! It is an Eternal Truth.

this is a picture of the poem format in a 15th Century Pentateuch:
San’a Pentateuch, Yemen, 1469 The poem Give Ear; Deuteronomy 32. BL Or. MS 2348, ff.151v-152
Copyright © The British Library Board
link to see more: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/sanapent_lg.html

And the poem begins – The format of the written poem is always in 2 columns. Two halves with a relation to each other.

There is a distinct rhythm to the Hebrew reading with repeated sounds. And there are repeated parallel phrases:

Sound:
Give ear || Hear
Speak || Utter of the mouth

Water:
Discourse come down as the rain || Speech distill as dew
Like showers || Like droplets

Metaphors that add visualization to the rhythm and give the poem memorable imagery.

Reference to God as “The Rock!” beginning a section to describe God’s Greatness.
The image of a rock is connected to many details in our tradition. The rock is sturdy, it is lasting, it represents the core of our world and also is something we can stand on. An image that is repeated many times in Torah.

And there are other terms that only appear once a hapax legomenon - (I need to find the specific one that was mentioned last week)

Thanks Pete for this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapax_legomenon