Old Testament Survey Week Six: Wisdom Literature

Survey of the Old Testament
with Jim Leffel

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Week Six: Wisdom Literature

Wisdom literature

What books are wisdom literature?

Works of Hebrew poetry, primarily written during the "high period" of the Jewish united monarchy

Psalms

Proverbs

Job

Song of Solomon

Ecclesiastes

"The fear of the Lord"

Solomon. He was the king who prayed for wisdom.

These works focus on general truths, and are not to be understood as without exception.

The major unifying theme in both of these books is the notion of the "fear of the Lord." The fear of the Lord is not terror, but awe of the Lord which arises from a proper understanding of his nature. Used143 times with hundreds of other variants, the concept in included in historical narrative, prophets and wisdom literature, including 24 times in Psalms and 18 times in Proverbs.

The Proverbs and Ecclesiastes both show the importance of the fear of the Lord in the practical affairs of life.

Ecclesiastes

Controlling theme of the "fear of the Lord" is mentioned on six occasions (3:14; 5:7; 7:18; 8:12,13). The central thesis of the book is the second to last verse, where Solomon exhorts his son to fear the Lord.

The application of the fear of the Lord is the plight of the autonomous man, who does not fear God. Autonomous man cannot make sense out of life. Vanity of vanities does not mean that life is a bore or that all things are futile and without meaning. Rather, it means that human existence in and of itself cannot supply the key to life's meaning. Only in proper relationship to God are the varied and paradoxical experiences of life rendered meaningful. Only in proper relationship to God, as represented by one who fears God, can the fractured pieces of human existence be unified into a meaningful whole.

Read 8:12-14.

The one who fears the Lord, and who is thus able to make sense out of his life is in striking contrast to the wisdom of the world. Consider Ps. 53, "the fool has said in his heart, 'there is no God'." Or, consider the "futile speculations" of those who reject the glory of God (Rom. 1). These are of the same sort as those who reason "under the sun" (1:3, 9, 13, 14; 2:11; 3:16,; 4:1, 3; 6:12....).

Proverbs

The theme of the fear of the Lord is applied to the quality of life, rather than to its meaning. As the controlling theme of Proverbs, the fear of the Lord is mentioned directly 13 times. It is tied to the experience of an abundant life (1:7; 2:5; 8:12-14; 15:33....).

The thesis of Proverbs is expressed in 1:7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The wise man is one who prospers while his opposite, the fool, is the one who suffers loss. When a man fears God and becomes wise, he avoids evil, walks in righteousness, loves God and experiences the blessings of life.

Wise and fool contrasted

The wise

The fool

1:1—6 Proverbs impart wisdom,

understanding, wise behavior

1:7 "Fear of the Lord" is basis

1:20 Wisdom personified, "she"

1:23 Wisdom offers reproof

2:1—4 Wisdom to be pursued

2:5—8 Wisdom is path of justice

2:10 Wisdom is pleasant to soul

2:11—22 Wisdom directs our paths

3:1—5 Don’t forget wisdom

3:13 Wisdom is a blessing, more

precious than gold

4:4—9 Wisdom to be acquired, not

forsaken; to be prized,

producing beauty in the soul

4:13 Wisdom is to be guarded

7:4 Wisdom is an intimate friend

8:1—11 Wisdom calls out in pureness,

more valuable than jewels

8:12—21 Wisdom provides knowledge

& discretion, it has power and

walks with the righteous, loving

those who love her

8:22—36 Wisdom comes from the Lord

from eternity

9:1—4 Wisdom invites us to enjoy her

provisions and abundance

9:8,9 Wise man invites reproof

9:10 Fear of the Lord begins wisdom

9:11 Wisdom brings long life

10:11 Wise son gladdens his father

10:31 Wisdom from righteous mouth

11:3 Wisdom comes from humility

12:1 Love wisdom, love discipline

12:15 Wise man listens to counsel

12:18 Tongue of wise is healing

13:1 Wise son accepts discipline

13:20 Walk with wise to be wise

14:6 Scoffers will not find wisdom

14:16 Wisdom turns from evil

14:35 Kings favor the wise servant

15:2 Wise words make knowledge

acceptable

15:20 Wise son makes father glad

15:33 Fear of the Lord for wisdom

16:16 Wisdom is better than gold

16:23 Heart of the wise directs his

mouth, adding persuasion

1:7 Fools despise wisdom

1:22 Fools hate knowledge

1:23ff Fools shun wisdom to their own

destruction, given over to

immorality, false wealth,

injustice, resulting in destruction

10:1 Fool is grief to his mother

10:8-10 babbling fool thrown down

10:14 Fools mouth is their ruin

10:21 Fools die by lack of instruction

10:23 Wickedness is a fool’s sport

12:1 Haters of reproof are stupid

12:15 Fools are right in their own eyes

13:20 Companion of the fool is harmed

14:8 Deceit is the fool’s folly

14:9 Fools mock at sin

14:16 Fools are arrogant and careless

15:2 Mouth is the fools folly

15:5 Fools reject fathers’ discipline

15:12 Scoffers will not become wise

15:14 Mouth of fool leads to folly

15:20 Fools despise their mother

Psalms

Psalms were written as a source of instruction, not merely expression

"The Psalms inform our intellect, arouse our emotions, our wills, and stimulate our imaginations"--Tremper Longman, How to Read the Psalms

Theological context: Israel’s unique covenant relationship with God

Significant attention given to God’s special historical dealings with Israel where Psalms serve as a commentary on theological narrative in terms of salvation history

E.g.: Ps. 78

1—4 Introduction as a word of instruction

5—8 Mosaic Law (Exodus 20ff)

9—42 God’s blessing, Israel’s wilderness disobedience

43—53 Mighty deeds of God in Egypt (Exodus 1—18)

54,55 Gift of the land

56—60Rebellion during the Judges era

61—64Babylonian captivity

65,66 Rescue from captivity

67—69God chose Judah, not Joseph (Gen. 49:10—12)

70—72God chose David to shepherd his people

Consider the importance of this psalm in post-exilic context

See also Ps. 74, 111, 37, 89, 105, 106, 145, 136…in relation to the God of covenant

Prophetic dimension: Psalms advance our understanding of God’s plan. Expansion of the Davidic Covenant to the messianic reign of the Davidic King occupies much of the "Royal Psalms".

Ps. 2 Universal realm of messiah’s rule

Ps. 45, 110Uniqueness of Davidic King’s identity

Note: Psalms are among the most frequently quoted OT texts in the NT

Types of psalms

Lament. (3, 22, 31, 39, 42, 57, 71, 120, 139, 142, 12, 44, 8k0, 94, 137…)

Most common type (60). Both individual and corporate laments expressing fear, distress, anger at circumstances and adversaries. Needed challenge to our stoicism.

Structural elements of lament psalms:

Address

Complaint

Trust

Deliverance

Assurance

Praise

Exercises: Ps. 3, 22, 142

Thanksgiving. (65, 67, 75, 107, 124, 136, 18, 30, 32, 34, 40, 66, 92, 116, 118, 138…)

Gratitude for God’s specific acts of goodness, protection, blessing. A needed corrective to our infantile tendencies.

Structural elements of thanksgiving psalms:

Introduction

Distress

Appeal

Deliverance

Testimony

Exercises: Ps. 32, 51

Hymns of Praise. (8, 19, 33, 103, 104, 111, 114, 117, 145—149 … )

According to God his worth for who he is: Creator, protector and benefactor, Lord of history… A needed corrective to our tendency toward naturalism.

Exercises: Ps. 8, 111

Salvation history. (78, 105, 106, 135, 136)

These psalms review God’s work historically, and often include biting commentary on Israel’s spiritual state and God’s faithfulness.

Celebration and affirmation. Liturgy for corporate celebrations relating to:

Enthronement Psalms, celebrating the new king and God as King (24, 29, 47, 93, 95—99)

Exercise: Ps. 24

Reaffirmation of the Davidic Covenant (E.g.: 132)

Royal Psalms addressing both David and messiah (2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 89, 101, 110, 144)

Songs of Zion, Psalms celebrating the place where God is present and where his kings reign (46, 48, 76, 84, 87, 122)

Wisdom psalms. (1, 36, 37, 49, 73, 112, 127, 128, 133 (cf. Prov. 8 is a psalm)

Much like the proverbs, these psalms address practical life issues from the perspective of trust in God. Themes center on the righteous/wicked, wise/fool in terms of aphorisms.

Songs of trust. (11, 16, 23, 27, 62, 63, 91, 121, 125, 131)

Affirming God’s goodness in difficult times—a choice to believe in God rather than circumstances. An important lesson that faith precedes feeling.

Exercise: Ps. 11

Structure of Hebrew poetry

Like all lyrics, psalms use a variety of literary devices are used for the sake of memory, participation and reflection. For this reason, poetry is rich in memorable images (metaphor, simile, etc.) and concise, even terse.

Acrostic (Ps. 119) Initial letter of each verse work through the alphabet

Antiphonal (Ps. 136) Response of the congregation after each line

Parallelism: Grouping together two lines of a poem to complete a thought. Some basic examples of parallelism in poetic structure are:

Synonymous Parallelism. The second line repeats the first in words or ideas

Ps. 24:1

Ps. 19:2

Prov. 1:20

Gen. 4:23

Mark 3:24, 25

Luke 6:27, 28

Antithetical Parallelism. The second line contrasts with the first line in words or ideas

Ps. 1:6

Prov. 10:1

Prov. 27:6

Mark 8:35

Matthew 7:17, 18

Synthetic Parallelism. The thought of the second line supplements, or brings the first line to completion

Luke 12:49—51

"Staircase parallelism" is an example of synthetic parallelism, in which a word or phrase is repeated to extend the thought of the first line:

Ps. 92:9

Ps. 93:3

Ps. 96:1, 2a

Applying psalms

Universal appeal: Psalms speak to the substance, struggles, and victories of the life of faith for all ages since they center on God’s relationship with his covenant people.

Job

Controversy exists over whether Job is an historical narrative or not. The controversy is based on some stylistic similarities between other types of wisdom literature and the book of Job. Yet, the book does not claim to be non-historical and the face-value reading of it suggests most strongly that it is a book of genuine history and of comparatively ancient origin.