Old Testament Wisdom

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Old Testament Wisdom

• Introduction

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What is Wisdom?
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What is Wisdom?
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What is Wisdom?
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What is Wisdom?
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What is Wisdom?
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What is Wisdom?
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What is Wisdom?
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What is Wisdom?
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What is Wisdom?
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What is Wisdom?
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What is Wisdom?
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What is Wisdom Literature?

• The attempt to cope with reality.
• How to deal with the adversity, inequities, and
  contradictions of life.
• 2. The quest for specific ways to ensure personal
  well-being.
• 3. The transmission of this knowledge to future
  generations.

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What is Wisdom Literature?

• 4. Relational.
• Husband-wife relationships.
• Parent-child relationships.
• Business relationships.
• Societal relationships.

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What is Wisdom Literature?

• 5. A literary corpus
• Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Ben Sirach, and
  Wisdom of Solomon, as well as a few psalms.

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What is Wisdom Literature?

• Crenshaw mysterious ingredient
• ThemeThe sages spoke of common problems.
• Style
• proverbial sayings,
• instructions,
• debates or discussion, and
• intellectual reflection.
• It is the peculiar marriage of content (theme)
  and form (style) that sets apart wisdom
  literature.

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What is Wisdom Literature?

• Personification of wisdomLady wisdom

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What is Wisdom Literature?

• 6. A Search
• Wisdom is portrayed as hidden.
• Thus, at its core, wisdom literature is the
  record of the ongoing search for wisdom.

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What is Wisdom Literature?

• 7. A Worldview.
• God is supreme.
• Creation has a basic order.
• Life has a basic propriety.
• This worldview is basically optimistic.
• This worldview is also basically humanistic.

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Wisdom and heilsgeschichte

• Time-Space Continuum

Pent., History, Prophets

• History, prophets, keep covenant

• God is immanent

Ben Sirach Wisdom DSS NT
Prov., Job, Ecclesiastes

• Creation, Way of Life, impersonal

• God is transcendent

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The goal of Wisdom Literature

• 1. The development of human character.
• Character through rhetoric.
• Proverbial statements have the natural ring of
  truth.
• Can a man carry hot coals in his shirt and not
  be burned?
• Of course not! And neither can a man consort with
  an adulteress (or vice versa) and not be
  destroyed!

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The goal of Wisdom Literature

• William Brown OT Wisdom Literature provides
  characterizations of character.
• The life of virtue is described celebrated.
• This life of virtue represents an ethic of
  being or character rather than an ethic of
  duty.
• Specific moral ethical maxims or rules are
  simply the means to an end, not the end itself.

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The goal of Wisdom Literature

• 2. Thus, the goal of Wisdom Literature is the
  production of people of integrity.
• Who is the ultimate man of integrity?
• Job
• The person of integrity can apply the truths of
  wisdom to daily life and make good decisions.

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Themes of OT Wisdom

• I. Moderation Restraint
• Excess is to be avoided.
• Beware the evils of
• Riches
• Strong drink
• The adulterous or loose woman and
• Power.

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Themes of OT Wisdom

• II. Family Life
• Anything that tears down family solidarity is to
  be avoided.
• The important roles of father and mother are
  stressed in the Wisdom Literature.

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Themes of OT Wisdom Literature

• III. Wisdom and Folly
• Wisdom and Folly are opposing characters.
• WisdomIntegrity, FollyDishonesty
• WisdomRighteous, FollyUnrighteous
• WisdomGood, FollyEvil
• Wisdom is to be sought, Folly is to be
  avoided
• Wisdom brings life, Folly brings death

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Themes of OT Wisdom

• IV. Fear of the Lord
• Fear of the Lord is variously defined
• Worship
• Obedience
• Reverence
• It is the proper attitude toward Yahweh.
• This attitude of submission to Yahweh.

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Fear of the Lord

• JOB 2828 He said to man, The fear of the
  Lord--that is wisdom, and to shun evil is
  understanding.
• PR 17 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
  knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and
  discipline.
• PR 910 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
  wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is
  understanding.
• PR 1427 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of
  life, turning a man from the snares of death.

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Fear of the Lord

• PR 1516 Better a little with the fear of the
  LORD than great wealth with turmoil.
• PR 224 Humility and the fear of the LORD bring
  wealth and honor and life.
• ECC 1213 Here is the conclusion of the matter
  Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is
  the whole duty of man.

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History of OT Wisdom

• Prehistory of OT Wisdom Literature
• Egyptian antecedents, esp. Amenhopet.
• Mesopotamian wisdom texts may have influenced Job
  Ecclesiastes.
• Many of the proverbs suggest a rural class
  society.

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Ancient Near Eastern Wisdom

• Egyptian
• The instruction genre was popular in Egypt, with
  examples from the 25th century BC through the 1st
  century AD.
• The god-given order of the world is called maat,
  which is translated truth, justice, or
  order.

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History of OT Wisdom

• The wedding of wisdom salvation history
• Until the 2nd century BC, wisdom literature is
  almost totally devoid of any historical
  reference.
• The traditions of IsraelAbraham, covenant,
  Moses, exodus, conquest, Jerusalem, Davidare
  virtually non-existent.
• Ben Sirach combines the historical traditions
  with wisdom traditions, bringing these two
  disparate biblical genres (salvation-history, or
  heilsgeschichte, and wisdom).

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Ancient Near Eastern Wisdom
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Ancient Near Eastern Wisdom

• Mesopotamian
• Wisdom belonged to the gods.
• Two forms may be compared with the OT
• Instruction
• Proverbial statements

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Ancient Near Eastern Wisdom

• Canaanite
• At Ugarit, a few wisdom texts have been
  discovered.
• A few Babylonian texts were found, most notably
  The Sayings of Ahiqar.
• Graded numerical sayings are only found in West
  Semitic wisdom literature, i.e. Ugaritic Hebrew

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History of OT Wisdom

• Solomon as Sage par Excellence
• 1 Kings 429-34
• As Solomon consolidated his kingdom, he probably
  would have included a sapiential (wisdom)
  tradition.
• Proverbs of Solomon may mean that Solomon was
  responsible for the collection some writing of
  proverbs.

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Solomon Sage par Excellence

• 1 Kings 429-34
• God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight,
  and a breadth of understanding as measureless as
  the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was
  greater than the wisdom of all the men of the
  East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.
  He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan
  the Ezrahite--wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda,
  the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the
  surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand
  proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and
  five. He described plant life, from the cedar of
  Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He
  also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and
  fish. Men of all nations came to listen to
  Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the
  world, who had heard of his wisdom.

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History of OT Wisdom

• Sages as a class
• Under Solomon (Hezekiah?) sages existed as a
  class.
• Wisdom literature, by nature, is developmental.
• This accounts for contradictions in wisdom
  literature.
• PR 264 Do not answer a fool according to his
  folly, or you will be like him yourself.
• PR 265 Answer a fool according to his folly, or
  he will be wise in his own eyes.
• This also explains the skepticism of Job
  Ecclesiastes.
• As time passed, attitudes changed some
  questioned the sapiential foundations.