Troublesome Topic: Parallelism and the Use of Two Choirs

Hebrew poetry did not rhyme or follow an obvious meter but relied on what is called parallelism, which involves communicating the same idea twice, but in different ways. In the Psalms it is usually a matter of saying the same thing with different words. In Proverbs it is often making the same point by presenting opposites, two sides of the same coin. There were various other types of parallelism or various subcategories, but the basic idea is a repetition of the main point. Sometimes the second clause of parallelism added to what had already been said.

Parallelism placed the emphasis on the message being conveyed, and the author wanted to be sure the hearer understood it.

Two Choirs

Because everything was stated at least twice, their style of music leant itself to having two choirs which answered each other. These two choirs were positioned on opposite sides of the temple courtyard, facing each other as if they were talking to each other (this is confirmed by Neh 12:9 & 12:24. No mention is ever made of more than 2 choirs). There was a director, and sometimes the congregation participated, but usually it was a “conversation” between two choirs.

We know there were likely two choirs.  One sang the first phrase and the other answered with the second phrase. We don’t know which side (right or left) was first and which was second, and we don’t know whether right and left would be determined from behind the choir or in front of the choir. Therefore I simply call them choir 1 and choir 2.

When there is a set of three parallel statements instead of two or four, the third one could be both choirs together, showing emphasis and being a magnification of that thing. But if added emphasis does not seem logical, it is more likely that the answering went back and forth between the two choirs, with no regard being given to who “led off” with the first statement of the parallelism. Many Psalms have a predominance of 1-2, 1-2 statements, with some 1-2-3, parallels interspersed. In the 1-2-3 statements, the same idea was communicated three times instead of two. Although there are several options that involve two choirs, a director and a congregation, singing mostly two-part parallels with an occasional three-part parallel, what I share here is the option I think would fit the situation the best. If my assumption is correct, the lead would switch between choirs when there was a parallel involving three lines, and the choir participation would look like this (1 & 2 referring here to choir 1 and choir 2):

1-2

1-2

1-2-1

2-1

2-1

2-1-2

1-2

1-2

Etc.

Psalm 4 is a good example of a psalm that simply goes back and forth between the two choirs.

Psalm 1 may be an example of a psalm where the choirs say the last statement of the section together for emphasis. The first statement of each section may have been said by the director, or by both choirs, or by the lead choir.  

When we write it out in that way, we can easily see that the choir taking the lead, i.e. starting off a new statement made of parallels, would switch to accommodate the times when the same thing was stated three times instead of two.

There is nothing in the Bible to confirm this, it is simply my assessment of the situation and what I think they did based on what would work best.

So, the point here is, when you read the psalms, imagine two choirs facing each other and responding back and forth to each other.