5 Foundational Metaphors for Distress in the Psalms
5 Foundational Metaphors for Distress in the Psalms
When Job says, "I will speak in the bitterness of my soul" (Job 10:1), what does he mean? Does he have spiteful resentment toward God?
In his dissertation on metaphors for distress in the Hebrew Bible, SIL member Dr. Phil King convincingly argues that this verse, and many others, may not mean what we think. This week, we'll dive into the nature of metaphor and five essential metaphors for distress in the Psalms, Job, and Lamentations. Understanding these metaphors has changed how I see God and pray through the Psalms—it may do the same for you!
The Nature of Metaphor
Languages fundamentally organize information around metaphors.
What are metaphors?
Metaphors are a specific type of figurative language in which the communicators can use their knowledge of the physical world to reason about more abstract concepts. The target domain is more conceptual and the source domain is more physical. For example, English uses the metaphor ANGER IS A BOILING LIQUID. The following sentence wonderfully communicates an instance of anger: "His rage waited to erupt, simmering like the magma of Krakatoa"
People express their emotions through metaphors because both emotions and metaphors use what scientists call embodied cognition, which refers to how the parts of the nervous system outside the brain influence cognitive processes. Metaphors allow us to draw on our vast reservoirs of physical memories to process problems logically. Emotions also draw on our reservoirs of physical memories, but to help us make quick decisions (Barret 2018). Both use the same underlying system: embodied cognition.
It is no surprise that metaphors can express emotions more powerfully than non-metaphorical counterparts (Citron and Goldberg 2014). In fact, metaphors are employed to express emotions so regularly that one researcher in the field of emotion metaphors has suggested emotions themselves are essentially metaphors (Kövecses 2014).
Five Foundational Metaphors for Understanding the Psalms
One of the most common characteristics of poetry across cultures is metaphor (Barnwell 2020, chapter 38). While cultures often share metaphors for emotions, the specifics of the metaphors often differ in significant ways (King 2012). One of the ways is the frequency of the metaphor.
King (2012) investigated metaphors of distress in the Psalms, Lamentations, Job, and the thanksgiving hymns from Qumran. He found the following:
- 38% (207/551) used FORCE
- 23% (129/551) used CONSTRAINT
- 15% (81/551) used VERTICALITY
- 9% (48/551) used DARKNESS
- 6% (36/551) used TASTE
- The other 9% (50/551) were other spatial relations
I will now summarize King's comments on each of the top five categories, using relevant verses from the Psalms to exemplify the metaphors.
1. Distress and the FORCE schema
As indicated above, FORCE is by far the most common schema in the Hebrew corpus studied (King 2012, 18-19). In this elaborate metaphor, an external force, such as water, wind, wild animals, or heavy weights, impacts the sufferer. The more impactful the force, the more the author is communicating distress.
Psalm 22's use of the FORCE schema was considered a prophecy of Jesus by the early Church:
16 … they have pierced my hands and feet— 17 I can count all my bones…
2. Distress and the CONSTRAINT schema
In the CONSTRAINT schema, petitioners think of themselves as helplessly surrounded or blocked by other entities. Their only help is for an external force to save them—God. The image is static, with intensity being expressed through the length of time that the petitioner is surrounded (King 2012, 19).
Psalm 22 demonstrates a particularly vivid use of the CONSTRAINT schema:
12 Many bulls encompass me… 16 For dogs encompass me, a company of evildoers encircles me...
3. Distress and the VERTICALITY schema
The VERTICALITY schema is less prominent in Hebrew than in English (King 2012, 17). In both schemas, BEING IN DISTRESS IS BEING DOWN, and vice versa.
In English, the verbs for going down are usually impersonal (King 2012, 17). English speakers, thus, feel that they need to get themselves out of their situation. In Hebrew, there are no impersonal verbs; God or the enemies are the agent who has placed the Psalmist in the lower location. As with the CONSTRAINT schema, the Psalmists feel the only possible solution is for God to lift them out (18).
Psalm 22's use of the VERTICALITY schema is especially moving:
15 … [LORD] you lay me in the dust of death.
4. Distress and the DARKNESS schema
Being in darkness comprises another set of metaphors for distress (King 2012, 20). The darkness can occur through physical darkness or the inability to see. Many other languages use darkness as a metaphor for negative emotions, including English, Japanese, and Finnish. In Hebrew, darkness is associated with Sheol, wickedness, and captivity (20). The direct association with death makes discussions of darkness in Hebrew much more serious than they are in English (20).
Psalm 143 combines the FORCE, VERTICALITY, and DARKNESS schema in one verse:
3 For the enemy has pursued my soul, he has crushed my life to the ground, he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
5. Distress and BAD TASTE
There are two primary words for taste in Hebrew: sweet and bitter (King 2012, 20). The Hebrew word for "bitter" does not map to the scientific definition of bitterness as much as it does to "bad/toxic." Likewise, the word for "sweet" means to be good/healthy. The "bitter" waters at Marah are a good example of this use (Exodus 15:23-25).
When someone eats something, it becomes part of their body. In the same way, when someone endures something negative, it becomes part of their life experience and can have ill consequences (King 2012, 20). The root for "bitter" to describe someone's negative emotional state occurs often in narratives, such as when Hannah is described as having a "bitter soul" in 1 Samuel 1:10 (20). The substance, frequency, and duration of ingesting the food all map onto the intensity of distress (21).
In Psalm 64, the petitioner describes the wicked as those who,
3… aim bitter words like arrows.
Conclusion
In conclusion, when Job says, "I will speak in the bitterness of my soul" (Job 10:1), what does he mean? I will close with King's reading of Job's words:
"By studying the way the source domain of taste is used in Hebrew emotion metaphors, it is more likely Job is talking about the effects of suffering bad experiences (conceptualised as eating bad food) which are harming Job’s very insides and driving him to react. Thus, his drive to go on speaking comes from what he has suffered and the desire to do something about it, rather than his frustration and resentment towards God” (2012, 21).
TL;DR
- People express their emotions through metaphors because both utilize our embodied experiences.
- Metaphors differ across cultures.
- Understanding the Hebrew metaphors for distress will change how you view God and pray the Psalms.
- The five most common metaphors for expressing distress in Job, the Psalms, Lamentations, and the Qumranic hymns were: FORCE, CONSTRAINT, VERTICALITY, DARKNESS, and BAD TASTE.
Challenge
Next time you read the Psalms or the Prophets, pull up this email on metaphors and highlight how often each metaphor occurs. If you see another metaphor occurring often, highlight that one too!
References
- Barnwell, Katharine. 2020. Bible Translation: An Introductory Course in Translation Principles. 4th ed. Dallas, TX, USA: Summer Institute of Linguistics, Academic Publications.
- Barrett, Lisa. 2018. How Emotions Are Made. Main Market Ed. edition. London: Mariner Books.
- Citron, Francesca M. M., and Adele E. Goldberg. 2014. “Metaphorical Sentences Are More Emotionally Engaging than Their Literal Counterparts.” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 26 (11): 2585–95. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00654.
- King, Phil. 2012. “Metaphor and Methodology for Cross-Cultural Investigation of Hebrew Emotions.” Journal of Translation 8 (1): 9–24.
- Kövecses, Zoltán. 2014. “Conceptualizing Emotions. A Revised Cognitive Linguistic Perspective.” Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 50 (1): 15–28. https://doi.org/10.1515/psicl-2014-0002.
- The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.