PARALLELISM IN HEBREW POETRY: It is now generally conceded that
parallelism is the fundamental law, not only of the poetical,
but even of the rhetorical and therefore of higher style in
general in the Old Testament. By parallelism in this connection
is understood the regularly recurring juxtaposition of
symmetrically constructed sentences. The symmetry is carried out
in the substance as well as in the form, and lies chiefly in the
relation of the expression to the thought. The same idea is
expressed in its full import—that is, in its various aspects and
turns—not in a continuous, uninterrupted sentence, but in
several corresponding clauses or members with different words.
Hencethe name "parallelismus membrorum" or "sententiarum." It
has also been aptly called "sinnrhythmus" (Ewald). For the
parallel members are related to each other as rhythmical
protasis and apodosis, as προῳδός and ἐπῳδός.Discoverers. The
first to see this law clearly and to distinguish between its
basic forms was the Anglican bishop Robert