Proverbs raises questions of values, moral behavior, the meaning of human life, and righteous conduct. The three retain an ongoing relevance for both religious and secular readers, Job and Ecclesiastes through the boldness of their dissent from received tradition, Proverbs in its worldliness and satiric shrewdness. Wisdom is as close as Biblical literature comes to Greek philosophy, of which it was a contemporary; it shares with the Greeks an inquiry into values and reflections on the human condition, although there is no discussion of ontology, epistemology, metaphysics, and the other abstract issues raised by the Greeks. Proverbs was almost excluded from the Bible because of its contradictions – the reader is told, for example, both to not answer a dolt according to his folly, according to 26:4, and to answer the dolt by his folly, as 26:5 advises. More pervasively, the recurring theme of the initial unit (chapters 1–9) is that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but the following units are much less theological, presenting wisdom as a transmissible human craft, until with 30:1–14, the words of Agur, we return once more to the idea that God alone possesses wisdom. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10 – the phrase implies submission to Gods will. Wisdom is praised for her role in creation (God by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens – Proverbs 3:19). God acquired her before all else, and through her he gave order to chaos (When [God] established the heavens...when he drew a circle on then face of the Deeps...when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him – Proverbs 8:27–31). Since humans have life and prosperity by conforming to the order of creation, seeking wisdom is the essence and goal of the religious life. Wisdom, or the wise person, is compared and contrasted with foolishness or the fool, meaning one who is lacking in wisdom and uninterested in instruction, not one who is merely silly or playful (though see the words of Agur for a fool who has wisdom, and could be seen as playful). For the most part Proverbs offers a simplistic view of life with few grey areas: life lived according to the rules brings reward, life in violation of them is certain to bring disaster. In contrast, Job and Ecclesiastes appear to be direct contradictions of the simplicities of Proverbs, each in its own way all but dismissing the assumptions of the wise. Noteworthy also is the fact that the mighty acts of God (the Exodus, the giving of the Torah at Sinai, the Covenant between God and Israel, etc.) which make up Israels history are completely or almost completely absent from Proverbs and the other Wisdom books: in contrast to the other books of the Hebrew bible, which appeal to divine revelation for their authority (Thus says the Lord!), wisdom appeals to human reason and observation.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 20:44:11 +0000
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