What's New?     Online Store About Xenos Home Groups Bible Teachings Adult Classes Books & Essays Ministries Donate Core Classes Classes for Leaders Electives Social Issues MA Program Class Registration

Week 4: Wisdom Psalms^[1] 

Overview

Wisdom psalms^[2]  are identified as such because of their similarity to the genre of wisdom literature found in Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes. This similarity includes similarity in literary devices as well as similarity in content.^[3]  Wisdom literature in general tends to contrast the life choices made by those who reject God (e.g. the foolish or the wicked) with those who embrace God's rule (the wise or righteous). God curses those who reject him, while he blesses those who obey. 

• Examples include: 1, 10, 12, 15, 19, 32, 34, 36, 37, 49, 50, 52, 53, 73, 78, 82, 91, 92, 94, 111, 112, 119, 127, 128, 139. 
• General format

There is no general format for these kinds of psalms. They may extol God's attributes,^[4]  his creation^[5]  or his law.^[6]  They may express skepticism.^[7]  Regardless of the content, however, the goal of the psalmist is to argue for the superiority of God and his ways. 

• Types of wisdom psalms include: 

• Wisdom (general) 
• Psalms of the Law 

• Some psalms have elements of more than one genre.^[8]  
• The importance of getting wisdom 

• Hakam, and related terms, appear over 300 times in the OT. Hakam means to live life skillfully. 

• Wisdom has to do with living life consistent with God's covenants. 
• Wisdom literature is very focused on the 'here and now' - the completeness and beauty of a life lived under the covenant obligations, in dependence upon God. 

• A key concept in wisdom literature is the, 'fear of the Lord.' 

• This concept doesn't first appear in wisdom literature. Earlier scripture makes it clear that 'fear of YHWH' is the appropriate response to trust in the Lord (Gen.22:12; 42:18; Job 1:1, 8-9; 2:3; Ex.1:15-21; 14:31; 20:20; Lev.19:14,32; 25:17; Deut.4:10). 
• The fear of YHWH has to be learned (Deut.4:10; 14:23; 17:19; 31:12-13; Ps.34:11) 
• To fear YHWH is to: 

• Turn from evil (Ec.3:11,14; 5:7; 8:12; 12:13; Ps.34:11,14; Job 1:1,8; 2:3; 28:28) even to hate evil (Prov.3:7; 16:16). 
• Obey through trust in God's promises (Gen.22). 
• To hear, learn and respond to God's word (Deut.4:10; 8:6; Ps.19:7-14; 112:1; 119:33-38, 57-64). 
• To love, cleave to, serve & praise God (Deut.10:12-13; 13:5; 10:20; 13:4-5; Ps.22:22-23; 34:7,9; 25:12,14; 33:18) 

• The outcome of having fear of YHWH is to: 

• Get wisdom (Prov.1:7,29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:1015:33) from the God who created in wisdom (Prov.3:19-20; 8:22-31). 
• Get God's favor (Prov. 10:27; 22:4; 14:26; 19:23; Ps. 33:18; 103:13; 147:11) 
• Get life (Prov.13:14; 14:27; 19:23; Ecc.12:13 kol ha adam the wholeness of man).

Wisdom Psalms

• Examples include: 1, 10, 12, 15, 32, 34,^[9]  36, 37, 49, 50, 52, 53, 73, 78, 82, 91, 92, 94, 111, 112, 127, 128, 139. 
• Psalm 37

Situation of the psalmist

• Written by David 
• How to succeed against evil without resorting to evil.

Structure of the psalm

• The structure is less obvious than some psalms; it appears to be a collection of proverbs organized around the problem of evil and God's retributive justice. 
• It is organized as an alphabetic acrostic of 22 strophes.  
• It begins (vv. 1-6) and ends (vv.34-40) with the encouragement to hope in Yahweh's deliverance. 
• The middle section reminds us of God's eventual retributive justice (vv.7-11 & 27-33) and the contrast between the wicked and righteous (vv.12-26).

How to succeed amongst ungodly people

• The ungodly can knock us for a loop (Ps.73)  

• They do pretty well for themselves (v.1,7,16,35) 
• They scheme against the weak (v.14) 
• They try to destroy the godly (v.12,14,32) 

• Don't:

• Envy (v.1, 16) b/c they will pass (v.2) 
• Fret (v.1,8) 
• Be persistently angry (v.8) 

• Do: 

• Place yourself in God's hands (v.3,5,7,23,28,33,34) 
• Delight yourself in God (v.4) 
• Do good where you are (v.3,21,27) 
• Absorb yourself in God's truth and let it guide your words & deeds (vv.30-31)

Psalms of the Law 

• Examples include: 1, 19, 119. 
• Psalm 19

Situation of the psalmist

• Written by David 
• Three motifs: creation, wisdom and prayer for forgiveness/acceptance comprise this psalm

Structure of the psalm

• vv. 1-6 Praise for Creation - the name El predominates  
• vv.7-11 Praise for the Law - the name YHWH predominates 
• vv.12-14 Prayerful Contemplation

Analysis of the psalm

God's transforming revelation

• Through El's creation - without words 

• The expanse of space continually tells how awesome, powerful, skillful and wise God is. 
• The ongoing circuit of the sun speaks volumes - joy, determination & impact 

• Through YHWH's Torah - with words that are perfect, certain, right, pure, priceless & sweet. 

• It restores the inner man 
• It makes wise (Ps.119:130; Prov.21:11) 
• It brings joy (inner peace & tranquillity are manifest as joy) 
• It gives insight 
• It evokes fear 
• It evokes awareness of the truth of God's judgments 

• Meditation upon the revelation of God 

• It warns me when I stray 
• It leads me to great reward 
• It shows me hidden errors 
• It drives me toward dependence 

• Forgive me 
• Guide me

Get Wisdom

How do we live wisely? That is, how do we take on and live out God's perspective? Well, for one thing we have to understand what we're up against when we decide to bring God front and center - we don't want to bring Him front and center. 

The Enemy Within - Prov. 5:22-23

There is within each of us a nature, an impulse, an intuition that is hostile to God and that left to ourselves we cannot do & do not even wish to do the right things. These very passages teach that God can inject us with a new nature...one that wishes to submit to his leadership. Romans 7:24,25, 8:1-2 & Romans 8:9 

Replacement Therapy

When we delight ourselves in the Lord we can have fundamentally different goals, perspectives and base of power.

Goal - Either I press forward with my natural desires for self-stimulation, acquisition and affirmation or I take on God's goals for my life - to enjoy and honor Him.

Perspective - Either I base my core sense of myself on what I do or on who I am - a child of God in good standing.

Power - Either I draw on my own resources to change or on the power of God.

Gal.5:16-26 & Rom.8:5-17 calls this experience - walking in the Spirit. 

• Take off - to fear the Lord is to hate evil 

• Sensuality (pleasure for its own sake) vs. Pleasure from godliness
  Prov.21:17; 23:29-35 Sexuality 5:1-20; 6:20-7:27; Sloth 6:6-11; 10:4-5; 10:26; 
• Acquisition (for stimulation/status/security) vs. God's provision
  Prov.15:6,16,17; 18:1; 23:4; 23:6-8; 28:22,25 
• Self-importance (because we're affirmation junkies) vs. God's approval
  Prov.3:7; 10:18; 11:2, 7; 14:16; 16:5; 18:2; 30:12 

• Put On - Love & Trust 

Love - Prov.3:3, 27; 14:21

• Speech (Mt.12:34) - Prov.10:11,21,32; 11:12,13; 12:18; 15:1,2,4,28; 16:23,24,28; 17:27; 18:13,20-21; 24:26; 25:15
• Honesty - Prov.12:22; 13:6; 28:13
• Generosity - Prov.11:24-28; 14:31; 17:5; 19:17; 25:14
• Forgiveness - Prov.17:9; 24:17,29 ; 25:21-22
• Cultivating friendship - Prov.17:17; 19:22; 22:24-25; 27:6; 27:9, 10,17
• Loving Justice - Prov. 28:5; 31:8,9
• Not enabling - Prov.19:19; 29:21 

Trust

• Looking to God - Prov. 3:5-6; 14:12; 16:33; 19:21; 20:22,24; 21:1,30-31; 29:25
• Teachable - Prov. 3:11-12, 34; 9:7-9; 10:8; 12:3,15; 13:1, 20; 16:2; 17:10; 24:19-20; 27:26; 29:1 

Truth (Col.2:2-3; 3:16) Prov. 1:1-9; 2:1-3:2; 4:1-13; 29:18; 30:5-6

Homework Assignment 

• Read psalms^[10]  33, 89, 95, 111, 117, 122, 134, 139, 144 
• Review the notes on Psalms of praise from the first week of class.

Prepare responses to the following for homework submission

• Identify as many subtypes of this genre (i.e. Psalm of Praise) as you can. 
• Pick 2-3 attributes of God, meditate upon them for a day or two and compose a psalm of praise in the Hebrew style 
• Name 3 things you could do (i.e. not make other people do) to make praising God an important part of your home group time (i.e. keep cultural sensitivity in mind).

previous page

^Notes:

^[1]  I am indebted to Dennis Bratcher for these genre's and sub-categories of Psalms. See, The Christian Resource Institute website at http://www.cresourcei.org/psalmtypes.html Copyright © 1999 Christian Resource Institute. My use of Bratcher's genres should not be construed as an endorsement of the views expressed on his website, which I do not endorse. Return to Text

^[2]  There is not universal agreement that a genre of 'wisdom' exists even if wisdom forms exist (Gunkel & Mowinckel fall into this camp). Return to Text

^[3]  R. E. Murphy identifies wisdom literature through recognition of stylistic forms (e.g. the use of the terms 'blessed, 'better'; 'my son'; numeric sayings {e.g. "three, yes even four"}); acrostic forms (Ps.119); simple comparisons and instruction format. Also, the content may identify a wisdom psalm (e.g. contrasts between evil and good; discussion of the two paths; discussion of retribution; practical ideas concerning personal conduct; study of the Torah or the significance of 'the fear of the Lord'. For these and other thoughts about wisdom literature see, Thomas, M. E. JETS 29/1 (March 1986) pp.15-24. Return to Text

^[4]  Psalm 139 Return to Text

^[5]  Psalm 19 Return to Text

^[6]  Psalms 1, 19, 119 Return to Text

^[7]  Psalm 73 Return to Text

^[8]  Psalm 1 has elements of general wisdom psalms and also psalms of the Law; Psalms 12, 32, 36, 52, 53, have elements of lament as well as wisdom; Psalms 15, 19, 50, 78, 111, 139 have elements of praise and wisdom; Psalms 34, 91, 92 have elements of thanksgiving and wisdom; Psalm 139 seems to have elements of praise, wisdom & lament (i.e. imprecation & repentance). Return to Text

^[9]  This is the only wisdom psalm associated with a particular event, David feigning insanity before Ambimelech. Return to Text

^[10]  As you read them pay attention to the poetic devices used. Return to Text