Saturday, November 15, 2014

Ascending through Biblical Rhetoric

Psalms 24: 3-4
"3.Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who should stand in his holy place?
4. He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully."

Adhortio
A commandment, promise, or exhortation intended to move one's consent or desires
Ok, admittedly this may be a stretch, especially since other passages in the Bible exemplify this much better but maybe this will help someone else so they can use it. In a sort of roundabout way, though not quite like circumlocution, God is promising His people that if they follow the standards  in verse four they will get the blessings in verse three in attempt to move them to desire to be good.

Antonomasia
Substituting a descriptive phrase for a proper name, or substituting a proper name for a quality associated with it
"The hill of the Lord" and "his holy place" is in reference to the temple or even to the celestial kingdom, but rather than saying temple, David, the author of this Psalm, makes the scripture more eloquent by describing the holiness of the place and allowing the readers to infer as to where he is talking about.

Anthypophora
To ask and immediately answer one's own questions.
This is rather obvious in this passage, but it allows David to pique his audience's interest and make them ask themselves, "yeah, what would allow me to get to God's presence?" Thus they pay more attention to the answer to the question as opposed to just skimming over the scripture with the attitude of it being "just another commandment."

Taxis
To divide a subject into its various components or attributes.
The subject of the second verse is the type of person who can ascend to the hill of the Lord. David uses Taxis to break down the characteristics, or adjusts, of a person who would be able to achieve that level of salvation and makes it easier for his audience to visualize what type of person they need to be.


 
 


 

2 comments:

  1. I like your point about anthypophora. If he had merely said "be clean and pure and you can go to the temple" it would be easier to pass over. I think that by using this form he allows us to ask ourselves that question, and then to ask the next logical question, do I have a pure heart and clean hands?

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  2. The way that you color coded your verse was quite creative and was a visual aid in showing how many rhetorical devices were in play. Nice work.

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