The Bible uses diverse literary genres to convey historical events, and many historical passages employ stylized, symbolical, or elevated language. David’s poetic descriptions of salvation in Psalm 18, the night visions of Zechariah 1–6, Deborah and Barak’s song in Judges 5, and John’s apocalyptic visions in Revelation are all concerned with events that happen in history. But it would be hermeneutically careless to read these passages in the same way we read, say, the Gospels, which are widely considered in the genre of ancient biography. We should work hard to identify and understand the
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