Biblical Acrostics and Their Relationship to Other Neareastern Acrostics

Abstract

Professor John Brug examines the form and significance of acrostic poems in biblical literature. Throughout the article he brings in evidences of contemporary extra-biblical examples and refutes several criticisms against the character of biblical acrostics. Brug shows the (many) distinctions between Akkadian acrostics, which often have a hidden message, but also points out the relative similarity between some extant Egyptian poems and biblical literature. The use of the acrostic “depicts completeness,” which seems to be a close parallel to many of the biblical examples. Brug concludes that it is entirely possible that though the acrostics are similar in some ways, “each of the three forms of acrostic arose indigenously (sic) in its own culture.”