Proverbs
Psalm 125 (Year B September 4-10) is a communal lament. It exalts those who trust in the Lord. The psalm has a warning to maintain trust in God and establish it afresh wherever it is on the decline or in danger. The threat is to the whole community. It focuses upon the safety and security of the people of the Lord. Pilgrims particularly loved this song as they came upon the city. Those who trust in the Lord are as stable is Mount Zion, which nothing can move abides forever. Such persons are firmly rooted in the promises of God. The Lord surrounds such persons like the mountains surround Jerusalem, and will do so forever, providing an image of security. The poet then shifts to the concern about the scepter of wickedness that is present in the land, asserting that it will not remain long in the land, so that the righteousness will not do wrong by cooperating with that scepter. The poet then shifts to the petition that the Lord do good those who are good and upright in their hearts, noting that those who turn aside to their won crooked ways the Lord will lead away with evildoers to their destruction. The Lord will abandon those who abandon the Lord. The poet concludes with a prayer for salvation, praying peace upon Israel.
This psalm connects with the Old Testament lesson in its reference to those who are good and upright, as they proverbs refer to the importance of a good name.
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 (Year B September 4-10) have proverbs that concern the wisdom and folly of compassion and greed. They are short, witty, memorable, and true if we have the wisdom to apply them to the proper situation. Look before you leap, applied properly, refers to the caution one needs before making a major change in one’s life. However, a rolling stone gathers no moss applies to a situation in which one needs to keep moving forward or run the risk of becoming stagnant. Wisdom literature condensed in such short sayings depends upon common human experience. They are part of the secular reflections in the Old Testament, but even then, occur within the background of the particularity of the religion of Israel.
Ellen T. Charry, Princeton theologian wrote God and the Art of Happiness (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2010). In this study, she addresses her concern that Christian theology lacks a substantial doctrine of human flourishing. In the book’s first section, Charry surveys the history of philosophy and Christian doctrine to reveal overlooked thinkers from Augustine to the Anglican divine Joseph Butler who encourage human flourishing. In the second section, Charry examines the biblical foundations of a doctrine she calls “asherism” (from the Hebrew asher, to be happy) and finds that Scripture encourages Christians to organize life around God so that the love, beauty, goodness, and wisdom of God may lift them up. This discussion is what makes the book memorable for theologians, and boring for others. It has an innovative teaching of ‘asherism.’ Asherism avoids the dangers of self-denying agapism (love that would let people walk all over you) and self-serving eudemonism (your personal pleasure is your goal) by confirming our perennial need to love God, neighbor, and self at once and to live out our lives and vocations by the letter, spirit, and telos of both the law and the gospel.” Happiness, she concludes, is celebrating our own spiritual growth and well-being, and the enjoyment God receives in them. She makes it clear that Christians need not be dour and gloomy about life, but that their traditions do encourage them to put on a happy face.
As she sees it, western Christian theology is skittish about happiness. We hope for future, eternal happiness, but we avoid considering happiness in this life as if we suspect that God would not allow such a thing. The book offers a refreshing interpretation of happiness as a way of life grounded in scripture and the incarnate Christ.
Ellen Charry here reveals how the Bible encourages the happiness and joy that accompany obedience to the Creator, enhancing both our own life and the lives of those around us. This advances the wellbeing of creation, which, in turn, causes God to delight with, in, and for us.
Charry says that the divine goal of Christian truth is to produce virtue, and, thus, theology ought to be more concerned with teaching wisdom – the root of happiness – than knowledge. She believes that knowledge is a necessary, but subordinate, means to character formation. The same should be true about our study of Scripture. Yes, it helps us know what is in the Bible, but the larger purpose of our study is to help us become the person God calls us to be.
If our reading of the Old Testament brings us face to face with the asherist commands, our reading of the New Testament brings us, among other things, the Sermon on the Mount. That, too, aims at teaching wisdom and helping us create communities that thrive.
Not all Old Testament commands are asherist. Some, says Charry, are “single occurrence or rarely occurring ... orders” related to a specific time or circumstance, to test obedience.” For example, when God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it was an obedience test. The asherist commands, however, are guidelines that commend an ongoing way of life. They include the Ten Commandments, certainly, but also the laws about how to treat the poor and the resident alien, and how to use the land. The asherist commands teach us the values God holds for human interactions and life together.
Verses 1-2, 8-9 are from a collection of miscellaneous wisdom sayings.
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold (22:1). The admonition regarding securing and preserving a good reputation is throughout Proverbs and other wisdom literature. Pause, and think about that. Riches are not bad. Yet, what priority do you have in life? Surely, we need to build character. Temptation gives us knowledge of ourselves. It comes at differing times and circumstances, testing the various sides of who we are. Integrity on one side of our character is no voucher for integrity on another side of our character. We have experienced a certain set of temptations. We do not know how we will act with another set of temptations different from the ones experienced thus far. This thought should keep us humble. We are sinners. However, we do not yet know how great a sinner we are.[1] One who focuses upon that will take everything that matters with him or her into eternity. “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit and lost without deserving” (Shakespeare). “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it” (Benjamin Franklin). “Your reputation is what other people think you are; your character is what you really are” (John Wooden). “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do” (Henry Ford). Why is a reputation more valuable than money? Some people do not care what others think of them. Don’t we secretly admire those people? The text says a good reputation is to be valued above riches. But if you have riches, why does it matter what people think of you? What are the benefits of a good reputation, and what makes a reputation a good one?
2 The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all.
Wise social interactions include contrasting the oppression of the poor in opposition to the practice of generosity. The Lord tears down the house of the proud but maintains the boundaries of the widow from encroachment (15:25 C), an act forbidden in the laws of Israel, recognizing that since only adult males had direct access to the courts the widow had a precarious legal status. The rich and the poor, when they meet, have an obvious difference between them, but, as in 20:12, they have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all (22:2 C), a fact both need to keep in mind. The Lord made the distinction between man and woman in creation, a distinction that matters for many reasons. Yet, most of the other distinctions that we consider significant, and wealth is clearly one of them, forgets an important fact. Beneath the roles we play, regardless of our status, fame, power, or wealth, we are still people made in the image of God. Neither poverty nor riches are the direct result of an individual person’s achievement, but rather, the providence of God determines such matters. Those who oppress the poor or withhold what is due to them, insult their Maker, which makes them worthy of respect so that mistreating them is an affront to their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor their Maker (14:31 B). The poor and the oppressor or fraudulent or contentious have this in common: as in 22:2 and 20:12, the Lord gives light to the eyes, and thus gave life, to both of them (29:13 C). In a similar insight, do not laugh at a blind person, tease the dwarf, injure the affairs of the lame, or tease one who is in the hand of the god, for humanity is clay and straw, but the god is the builder, tearing down and building up every day (The Instruction of Amen-em-opet, p. 243). Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself and giving to the rich, or to profit by withholding what is due to the poor is like making gifts to the rich, which is pure loss and will lead only to loss (22:16 C). In a similar insight, do not be greedy for the property of the poor nor be hungry for their bread (The Instruction of Amen-em-opet, p. 240). One who augments wealth by exorbitant interest gathers it for another who is kind to the poor (28:8 C). In the Torah, if one lends money to an Israelite who is needy, it is not a business deal so charge no interest (Exodus 22:25). If an Israelite becomes poor, do not take interest or profit from them, but fear God, so that they may continue to live among them (Leviticus 25:35-6). They may charge interest to a foreigner, but not an Israelite, so that the Lord may bless them in all they do (Deuteronomy 23:20). In a similar insight, guard yourself against robbing the oppressed and against overbearing the disabled (The Instruction of Amen-em-opet, p. 237). In another such insight, if you find a large debt against a poor person, make it into three parts, forgive two and let one stand, for better is praise as one who loves people than riches in a storehouse (The Instruction of Amen-em-opet, p. 241). Those who mock the poor insult their Maker and those glad at calamity or misfortune that befalls another will not unpunished (17:5 C), reminding us that the poor are the handiwork of the Lord and worthy of respect, so mistreating them is an affront to their Maker. In a similar insight, God desires respect for the poor more than the honoring of the exalted (The Instruction of Amen-em-opet, p. 243). The righteous know the rights and just claims of the poor while the wicked have no such understanding (29:7 C). In a similar insight, blessed are you O Lord, for you have never abandoned the orphan nor despised the poor (The Book of Hymns, p. 155). Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and will be repaid in full (19:17 C). Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but one who turns a blind eye will get many a curse (28:27 C).
8 Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity (or trouble), and the rod of anger will fail (or the rod of the anger of God will destroy).[2]
This proverb is Class C proverb, suggesting influence from the prophetic tradition.[3]
The combination sow/reap is one we find in wisdom and prophetic literature as an idiom for undertaking actions and suffering the consequences of those actions. Those who plow iniquity will reap iniquity (Job 4:8). The prayer is that those who sow in tears will reap with joy (Psalm 126:5). Those who observe the winds and clouds will neither sow nor reap (Ecclesiastes 11:4). Those who sow wheat reap thorns (Jeremiah 12:18). They sow wind and reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). If they sow righteousness they will reap steadfast love (Hosea 10:12).
9 God blesses those who are generous, for they share their bread with the poor.
This proverb is a Class B proverb, concerned with social relationships.[4]
The kind person is benevolent and has concern for the poor. The life the Lord blesses is not in selfishness but in love for the neighbor. Although people do receive blessing from God in the Hebrew Bible, the word does not occur frequently in Proverbs. In the other two instances (5:18; 20:21), it refers to inanimate objects.
Wealth should not be an index of worth. This proverb is not a polemic against wealth. The biblical tradition frequently compares riches, explicitly or implicitly, with other values (such as a good name or wisdom or virtue). While the tradition does not despise riches, the tradition considers them wanting in comparison to other goods. Thus, since Solomon did not ask for riches, God grants Solomon’s request for the wisdom to rule Israel wisely (1 Kings 3:5-11). One needs to find refuge in God rather than riches (Psalm 52:7). Do not set your heart on riches (Psalm 62:10). Riches will bring no profit when at the time of death (Proverbs 11:4). Trusting in riches will cause one to wither, while righteousness will bring one to flourishing (Proverbs 11:28). The riches of this life will strangle the growth of the word in one’s life (Luke 8:14). One ought not to have pride in riches or set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who provides with everything for our enjoyment (I Timothy 6:17). Taking pride in riches does not come from the Father, but rather, comes from attachment to the world (I John 2:16). The matters of wealth and poverty play no less a role in wisdom literature than they do in prophetic literature or parabolic literature. Riches are a fortress for those who have it, while poverty is the ruin of those who are poor (Proverbs 10:15). Riches are so valuable in social standing that some will pretend to have it, while others who have riches will pretend to be poor (Proverbs 13:7). The poor have few friends while the rich have many friends (Proverbs 14:20). The poor will plead with others while the rich answer roughly (Proverbs 18:23). The rich rule the poor (Proverbs 22:7). Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself will lead to loss (Proverbs 22:16). In general, though, the orientation of wisdom literature toward riches tends to be more approving or cautionary than critical. Thus, the reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches (Proverbs 22:4).
Although much of the advice given in Proverbs would be appropriate for the education of a courtier-in-training, the “favor” one seeks here is general approval based on a sound reputation, rather than the favor of idiosyncratic favoritism. Widespread acceptance among one’s contemporaries was a matter in which to take pride in the world of Proverbs, a perspective that would shift dramatically in the biblical tradition by the time of the New Testament, where Jesus offers a beatitude upon those who falsely revile and speak evil against followers of Jesus (Matthew 5:11).
Verses 22-23 comes from a collection of Thirty Wise Sayings that bear a striking similarity to a collection from the Ancient Egyptian sage Amen-em-ope (1100 BC). The first saying considers robbing the poor, do not rob the poor or weak because they are poor or weak, or crush the afflicted at the gate, where justice was administered, and public business transacted, for their weakness is good reason not to cheat them; part of the Book of the Covenant as well as it commands participants not to cheat the poor (Exodus 23:6), for the Lord pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them, suggesting that if the poor do not have a human protector, they have a divine protector. We find this sentiment in the Book of the Covenant as well, where the Lord will hear the cry of the widow and orphan and kill with the sword those who take advantage of these two groups in Israel (Exodus 22:22-24). Robbing a poor person shows both cowardice and injustice. Legal proceedings are in mind. The poor may not have resources to get justice, but the Lord will fight their case. The system of justice in ancient Israel was that village elders or city rulers administered justice at the gate. Boaz would negotiate his marriage before ten elders at the gate (Ruth 4:1-6). When Jerusalem fell to Babylon, its king sat in the middle of the gate (Jeremiah 39:3). The purpose for hearing cases in so public a place was to allow many and random witnesses to act as a safeguard against the perverting of justice in private trials. The point is that rulers were not to take advantage of the poor, for the LORD, dispenser of all justice, is their advocate, an idea found throughout the Hebrew Bible.
Psalm 19 (Year B September 11-17) is a hymn that unites creation, torah, and a petition to hear the prayer. The combination of creation and law is not unique to this Psalm. Psalm 119:73 ties together God’s creation and God’s law, where the writer affirms the Lord has fashioned him and given him understanding so that he can learn the commandments of the Lord. The ordered universe and the order provided by Torah receive praise. The discovery of ancient Near Easter texts where justice is often part of the realm of the sun god has offered a way to understand the unity of the psalm. The revelation of God in heaven unites with the revelation of God on the earth.
Verses 1-6 emphasizes the beauty and order of nature as wordless testimony to the excellence of God. It is a hymn that focuses on creation and especially the sun. The absence of the covenantal name for God in Israel, Yahweh, suggests to some that an Israelite poet has adapted a non-Israelite hymn praising the sun to Israelite worship. The same experience that inspired Psalm 8 inspired verses 1-6. Psalm 8 begins by declaring the majesty of the Lord from among all the earth. The Lord has set the divine glory about the heavens. This leads to reflection on the dignity of humanity. Here, the focus is on the peculiar character of the revelation of God in nature. These verses join other passages of the Bible that speak of the creative work of God.[5] The cosmos praises God. Creation testifies to the greatness of God. The contemplation of nature leads the author to see that it serves God. The works of the master reveal the master. The destiny of creatures is to praise and honor God and extol divine glory.[6] The wordless testimony of creation becomes a music of the spheres, an idea later associated with Pythagoras. An Ugaritic epic speaks of speech of tree and whisper of stone, converse of heaven and earth. It may even mean that the celestial bodies speak soundlessly. They convey their message through their being. Even though nature is speaking, people do not hear its voice. For that reason, then, we cannot read nature as a plain or obvious witness that leads to the praise of God. In the ancient Near East, the sun was typically associated with a major deity. Cylinder seals with winged sun disks have been found in Israel. Josiah removed objects fashioned as horses that had been dedicated to the sun (II Kings 23:11), providing evidence for solar worship in ancient Israel. In terms of the influence of this passage on theological reflection, we need to recognize that the claim that nature is the work of God is always debatable.[7] Yet, when we join the psalmist in such praise of God, we anticipate the eschatological praising of God. The wonders of the universe can reveal the excellence and beauty of God for those who have eyes to see.[8] For this poet, then, the contemplation of nature leads him to see that even nature serves God. The works of the master reveal the master. The destiny of all creatures is to offer praise and honor to God and extol divine glory.[9] The divine ordering of nature speaks in a language everyone can understand. Nature gives knowledge of God to the world. Many persons in the ancient world sing the praise of objects in nature. For the psalmist, while nature is an inanimate object, human beings still approach it with wonder. As in Genesis 1, God created sun, moon, and stars and their movement. The word “create” does not occur, but God “set a tent for the sun.” As powerful and pervasive as is the light and heat of the sun, it belongs to God. Creation is voiceless. Yet, it resonates universal praise back to its creator.
We can observe a certain type of logic here. The movement of the objects we see in space can make us puzzle about how such movement began. Such reflections can lead us from the contingency of all finite things to the notion of a necessary Being, which we might call God, who is behind all that we see and study in nature. While many things have being, this would suggest the Greatest Being of all, which we would call God. Each part of creation seems uniquely fitted for its purpose. Each part of our bodies has their purpose that could not exist apart from its participation in the body. This fact may make it appear that an intelligent being designed it this way, which we would call God. The wonderfully complex diversity of creation seems to demand one who designed it. The best one might say, though, is that such reasoning may provide a hint of the divine, but the hint is ambiguous, given the resistance we see in suffering and evil. Even Charles Darwin and Thomas Henry Huxley described themselves as agnostic regarding the divine and ultimate matters. The deeper point is that neither the scientist nor the Christian has anything to fear from the other. We have a common drive toward truth. We are trying to put it together, even if we do so in distinctly diverse ways. For science to demand scientific proof of our ultimate questions is for it to step beyond its purpose. For religion to demand scientific evidence for its belief in God is to make a demand science cannot give.
Many composers and hymn writers have written settings to biblical and other words of praise for and by God’s creation. One thinks of Haydn’s “The Heavens Are Telling,” from The Creation. One also thinks of such hymns as “All Creatures of our God and King” (which tracks the words of a prayer by St. Francis of Assisi). Its refrain of “Praise Him” and “Alleluia” summarizes well the spirit of these verses. It invites nature to lift its voice with us as believers as we offer this praise to God. It begins with inviting sun and moon to do so. It invites them to “find a voice” and “Make music for the Lord to hear.” Mother earth also unfolds blessings toward humanity, including flowers and fruits. It then invites human beings “of tender heart, forgiving others,” to take its part in offering such praise in song. Even those who bear “pain and sorrow” are to offer their praise to God on whom they case their care. Even Death is “kind and gentle” as it leads us home in the way Christ has led. All things worship the Creator with humbleness. I think of “How Great Thou Art,” which invites us to consider the worlds and stars the hand of God has made. They display the power of God. His soul sings of the greatness of God. “This Is My Father’s World” that to his “listening ears, All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.” Rocks, trees, skies, and seas are wonders from the hand of God. Birds raise carols and lilies declare the praise of their Maker. He hears the Father pass “in the rustling grass” and “speaks to me everywhere.” “Morning Has Broken” offers praise for the singing and morning, “God’s recreation of the new day.” “Cantemos al Señor” (“Let’s Sing unto the Lord”) invites us to sing praise “at the new day’s fresh beginning.” God made sky, stars, sun, and oceans filled with beauty. The hymn of adoration is to show the love, faith, and hope of all creation. Through all the Lord has made, we praise the greatness of the Lord. Finally, the last verse of “Love Divine, all Loves Excelling” reminds us that creation is imperfect enough that we have the hope of a new creation, as we pray that God would finish the new creation so that we might see salvation and find our restoration in God.
Considering all this, I invite you to ponder the following, in the light of the entirety of Psalm 19. God created human beings as the culmination of creation, as Psalm 8:5 makes clear in the light of Genesis 1:26-31. Such a standing in creation gives humanity the special purpose of reflecting and expressing divine glory. Question 1 of the Westminster Larger Catechism reads, “What is the chief and highest end of man?” The answer: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.” We follow Jesus Christ, the one who fully reflects the imago dei. Do we glorify God by our own words, lives, and ministries?
Verses 7-10 are a hymn focusing on Torah. It has a close relationship to Psalm 119. They share many of the same words as synonyms for Torah: law, decrees, precepts, commandments or instruction. We also find this section suffused with wisdom terminology, including simple, wise, and the fear of the Lord, and wisdom or Torah being compared to gold. It reminds us of the power of Torah to bring joy and purpose to a human life. We can see the delight in the Torah and the benefits of following it. It brings joy and blessing to those who obey it. Those who turn away from the way the Lord will receive the reverse, as we find in Psalm 1, 111-112, and Deuteronomy 30. Torah is a revelation of the will of the Lord. He has such a joyful confidence in the Torah that it has become higher than all earthly values. Do we have a similar view to the psalmist who declares that knowing and following instructions from the Lord and the ways of the Lord is more valuable even than having a lot of money or indulging in tasty goodies? Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work” (John 4:34). In Isaiah 55:1-3, the prophet invites those thirsty, even those who have no money, to come to the “waters,” and to “buy and eat” that which the Lord gives freely. He invites people not to spend money or labor on that which is not bread and does not satisfy. He invites us to eat what is good. He defines this as listening to the Lord so that we might live.
Verse 11-14 are a prayer of petition to be saved from sin and the Lord to hear the prayers of the poet. We learn that the chief reward of holding the revelation of Torah as precious is spiritual and focuses upon forgiveness. We do not have such wisdom on our own to detect our errors. Torah points them out. Yet is the statement true? I would suggest that only from a certain perspective. Human beings naturally detect error in self and others. We naturally develop a conscience through our interactions with others. The conscience detects right and wrong in our behavior and in the behavior of others. One brand of psychology calls this the “superego.” The point is, each culture detects varying behaviors as right and wrong, but human beings are naturally aware of the need to discern the difference between right and wrong. Thus, without Torah, yes, we would still detect error. Yet, we are also naturally aware of our capacity for self-deception. In this sense, revelation provides a reference point outside us by which we can detect right and wrong. To put the matter bluntly, we may wonder if God exists and whether we are to live lives accountable to God, but Torah does not wonder. Torah commands honor of God in our worship, speech, and use of our time. We may wonder if respecting parents, the property of others, telling the truth, faithfulness to a spouse or other matters, are right, good, and moral. Torah does not wonder. Torah says Yes, such behavior deserves respect and fulfillment in our lives. Torah will not tell us everything we are to do with our lives, and Torah will not tell unambiguously what to do in every situation. However, Torah will provide broad knowledge of the type of person we are to become and discern what that type of person would do in this situation. The conclusion invites the Lord to give our inner talk scrutiny and correction. Welcoming this divine knowing and shaping of our inner talk deepens our vulnerability, which is a key step in our spiritual formation. His reference to the heart reminds us that obedience to Torah is not simply an outward matter. Obedience is a matter of the heart. In Deuteronomy 6:1-6, they are to teach the decrees and commandments so that they will fear the Lord and have a long life. In Deuteronomy 30:11-14, the commandments are not too hard for them and are not far away, but in their mouths and hearts. Jeremiah 31:31-34 will promise a new covenant with the law put within them, writing it on their hearts.[10] His heart meditation is that the Lord will find in the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart an acceptable offering.[11] Even today, preachers, poets, and musicians will wisely pray this portion of the psalm as they prepare and join their congregations in presenting the offering of this day to the Lord.
This psalm connects with the Old Testament lesson in its reflection upon wisdom.
Proverbs 1:20-33 (Year B September 11-17) with close parallels in 8:1 ff. and 9:1 ff, has the theme of wisdom as preacher. The personification of wisdom here is a literary device created as a vivid and memorable way of speaking about human wisdom. These verses become a theological reason for this supremacy of wisdom. Lady Wisdom possesses divine authority, proclaiming the righteous ways of the Lord wherever people gather. Wisdom is not secret or esoteric, but public, frequenting the busiest parts of the city and calling to all to accept her. Wisdom (personified as a woman) calls out appealingly to all of us to listen and learn from her. She calls out wherever one finds human beings. It is to our peril to turn away our ears and hearts and lives from the ways of Wisdom. Wisdom goes walking through the city streets waylaying the inhabitants to press her teaching on them, denouncing their heedlessness and false sense of security, as in Amos 6:1, 9:10, and Zephaniah 1:12. Thus, the content of what wisdom cries is nothing other than the well-known preaching of repentance, judgment, and salvation. Even the wording could be that of a prophet.[12] Wisdom castigates the simple, scoffers, and dullards who are indifferent to the rebuke of wisdom. The result is that Wisdom will mock them when disaster overtakes them. The time will come when it is too late to listen. They will seek Wisdom but not find because they hated knowledge and the fear of the Lord. They refused the advice of Wisdom. Wisdom has a revelatory character. She becomes a gushing spring that has abundant water, overflowing to all who acknowledge and submit to her. Wherever we human beings gather, Wisdom actively and invitingly seeks us out, calls out to us, and pours out her thoughts to us. She thus takes the role of God’s prophet or preacher, inviting the listener to turn away from the ways of Folly and to learn and live out the wisdom of God. The wisdom from God is not secret, cryptic, or mysterious. God wants you to know it, to learn it, and to live it. To love knowledge is to have respect for the Lord. Proverbs also associates understanding in poetic parallelism with wisdom. Wisdom relies upon the revelation of the Lord in Torah. Wisdom educates, of course, but it also involves the discipline of learning from revelation and relies upon illumination from the Lord. Even with parallels to other ancient Near Eastern literature, Proverbs identifies wisdom/Wisdom with specifically Israelite religion. Their punishment becomes the natural consequences of their actions. Actions have consequences for good or ill. Your actions are the seed and the consequences are the fruit. Thus, rather than receiving God’s blessings, they will “reap what they sow.” Wisdom sees judgment as the consequences of their actions. See parallels in Deuteronomy 28 and 30, where receiving God’s blessing or God’s curse depends on whether the people of Israel obey (more literally “listen to”) the LORD. In contrast, prophets often thought in terms of judgment from God. Lady Wisdom wants us to listen to her, and to each other. If we do not, wisdom will laugh right back, because it will bring calamity and distress if we do not listen. Think of it this way. If you break the Ten Commandments, you will hurt yourself. If you ignore the Beatitudes, you will never know the kingdom of God. If you fail to love God and neighbor, you will miss a distinctively Christian life. Wisdom offers security and a good life, one without fear to all who respond favorably to her message. Wisdom offers safety and peace. When we listen and act wisely, we will be better off. The search for wisdom is the search for wholeness, a beautiful life, a productive life, and a life full of joy, happiness, and human flourishing.
The wisdom the Bible offers is in so many places. Yet, for most of us, we find a few places that summarize what we read in the Bible. The Apostles’ Creed summarize core doctrines but think of the places that reflect guidance for living. You think of the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Great Commandment, the list of virtues and vices by Paul, the Sermon on the Mount, I Corinthians 13, and I imagine more. The wisdom is there because God has not hidden it.
Psalm 1 (Psalm 1, Year B, Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year B September 18-24, and Year C Epiphany 6) shows the poet can offer devotional instructions on what it takes to live a holy life. Sometimes, people need to hear words of affirmation regarding the course they are following. This psalm reminds us of the happiness we can find in following the way God prescribed. It has a simplicity, but one that masks its difficulty. This psalm points us to the blessedness or the life of human flourishing that relies upon the Lord. Those who compiled the Psalter did not choose to begin with a psalm whose first words cited David as its author or gave instructions for musicians or singers. Rather, the whole Psalter begins with devotional instructions on what it takes to live a holy life, which will in turn lead to a happy and fruitful life. The Psalm assumes that each of us has a choice as to the kind of people we will be.
Character is the fruit of personal choice‑‑and exertion. We do not inherit it from parents. We do not have it as an appendage to our birth, to wealth, or station in life. Character is the result of our endeavors to respond to the challenges of life. Character is the result and reward of "good principles sown in the course of a lifetime of virtuous and honorable action" (J. Dawes). One way to think of character is by what you are willing to do when the spotlight is turned off what you are doing, the applause has died down, and no one is around to give you credit.
The psalm begins with a contrast of two ways. Its concern is to show how readers can be Happy (‘ashrei), fortunate, rich, blessed, and prosperous. Such a person has discovered what it means to live a life in harmony with God. However, becoming wise in this way takes more than a sheer acquisition of knowledge. Israelite wisdom tradition does not value knowledge for its own sake; it values wisdom, which combines piety, humility, and a right reverence for God with a deep understanding and appreciation for how God intends the world to work. Think of Genesis 2, where a stream of water flows from the earth and provides for trees in the Garden of Eden. Think of Jeremiah 17, where the prophet contrasts the shrubs in the desert with the tree planted by life-giving water. John used the concept of “living water” to have Jesus describe the nurturing relationship of God to the Samaritan woman (John 4). Paul talks about living a life that is “rooted” in Christ (Colossians 2:6-7). Our willingness to root our lives in a relationship with God, a relationship characterized by obedience, is what yields true happiness and a life that yields “fruit.” Just as the wicked may offer their advice, and the sinner may offer leadership, the cynical and disrespectful may achieve prominent office in society. Such persons hold in contempt the value of wisdom and moral uprightness. They “know better” than what Israel has received in Torah. When we are full of self and our resources, we have no room for God. The person who is wise and hopes to become “happy” because of that wisdom will avoid such persons and associations. One way to think of this is our relationship to the culture that forms us. Today, we might need to think of our sub-culture or tribe. Some of its values may well be godly, even where it does not know it as such. Some of its values may not be so. Our happiness is in learning the difference. Wisdom develops a form of resistance when it needs to resist. Throughout the psalm, the image of traveling on the right path in life recurs. By both opening and closing the psalm with the image of the “way” the psalmist stresses that those who wish to live a life whose value will live on in the world after them must walk the life-path that God sanctions.
The focus upon Torah, or for the Christian, the Word of God as a faithful witness to the revelation of God in Israel and in Jesus Christ, is the path that helps us to maintain ourselves as the people of God in distinction from our tribe. Genuine flourishing, blessing, and joy are not in the values of the culture or tribe in which we find ourselves. Virtue is a state of character gained by repeatedly performing good actions.[13] Virtue is an acquired excellence of character that renders a person capable over the long haul of behaving in certain reliable ways.[14] Thus, the law is a source of joy for it reveals the will of the Lord. Without the event of revelation of Torah, which means God’s “teaching” (from the Hebrew verb yrh, “to teach”), one cannot be wise.
While the righteous have deep roots, the wicked are like chaff. A simple gust of wind can blow away chaff. Jeremiah 17:6-7 says they are like shrubs in the desert that do not see relief and no longer bear fruit. If their lives are on the surface, they will not withstand judgment from the Lord. What we need for human flourishing, happiness and blessedness is to have a life properly rooted and grounded. Like the roots of a tree, the source of such a life is real, but hidden below the surface. Such a life has its roots in a relationship with God in which we accept the guidance that God gives for the way we live. Such a life acknowledges its dependence upon the Lord. It will also not allow adverse circumstances or challenges to carry it away.
Proverbs 31:10-31 (Year B September 18-24) is a song of praise, an acrostic idyllic poem, to the ideal wife. The mental image that guides the author is that of the ideal wife and the general theme, but he does not directly connect to what precedes or follows. It is a description of a wife of quality. Acrostics are beautifully and carefully constructed works of poetry, and this poem provides a fitting conclusion to a book extolling the virtues of wisdom. In fact, the woman described here is the living embodiment of the teachings of Lady Wisdom throughout Proverbs.[15] The woman described in the closing verses of this book is anything but typical. But neither is Lady Wisdom in chapters 1-9 of Proverbs, so this poem makes a fitting conclusion to a book with unusually prominent feminine imagery.
In its canonical form, the composition is the advice in the form of an oracle of a queen mother — the mother of King Lemuel, a figure known only from this passage. The two originally separate parts of the chapter share some vocabulary, structure, and themes, and in their present form present the stark contrast between the ways of a self-indulgent ruler (vv. 1-9, including the danger of giving one’s “strength to women,” v. 3) and the benefits that come from having an ideal wife (vv. 10-31). As an oracle, the highly stylized literary form of the acrostic was understood in wisdom circles, at least, as a legitimate expression of prophecy by a woman.
The book of Proverbs has been devoted to inculcating the ideal of a wise man. It now concludes with a poem describing a wise woman, praising her energy her economic talents, and her personal virtues. This is an ideal, a paragon of female virtues. These virtues are shared by the ideal man described throughout this book. She is a proud and splendid woman, a mistress of a prosperous manor. This woman has considerable independence in interacting with outsiders and conducting business, even in acquiring real estate. This allows her husband to spend his time sitting in the city gates, conducting civic business, and serving as a judge. This woman has a husband, children, and is an ideal woman.
The poem begins with an exclamation of her value, not her rarity. Beneath all the virtue and talents of this woman lies a deep and solid strength of character. Such a wife is, like wisdom (3:13, 15), as precious as jewels. The husband has complete confidence in her, and like the Lord and the heeding of wisdom (1:20-33; 8:17-21), brings gain and prosperity. The portrayal of this woman in primarily of her economic function is unique.[16] She is of immense value as a partner for life. The woman described is striking in her entrepreneurial abilities. The lifestyle described here is more like that of the woman of the manor than it is of an ordinary farm wife. She can turn these raw materials into finished articles of various kinds. She is a weaver (vv. 13, 19, 22), which was an ancient Near Eastern profession dominated by women, so much so that the Egyptian hieroglyph for weaving features a female figure. One did not weave just for one's family; cloth was a valuable commodity that one might trade for items that one's own household did not produce. Like a merchant with a fleet of trading ships, she uses her weaving to allow her to trade for food produced elsewhere. The poet describes the setting as “her household,” unusual in that the head of the household is the male. She has a capacity for sustained work. She is a good administrator in that she oversees a staff. She has a sharp eye for business opportunities. She earns money as a dressmaker that allows her to buy a vineyard. The vineyard will produce grapes and wine for trade and consumption. She takes care of her household while also caring for the households of others, especially the poor, a virtue that applies ot all persons. She cares for the entire household, which includes servants and their families. The city gates were the location of most civic affairs, legal hearings, and business transactions (see, for example, Ruth 4 and 2 Samuel 15:2), and as in most traditional societies, segregation of the sexes was the norm in ancient Israel, and the public presence of women of all classes was carefully regulated. A man’s reputation “in the city gates” and “among the elders of the land” was dependent upon his own actions; that his wife could enhance that reputation by her own was undoubtedly a fact “on the ground” in ancient Israel, but not ordinarily commented upon in the Bible. She is wise and kind. She works hard and is attentive to the needs of her household. The fear of the Lord is the summit of human wisdom and involves the theological or theoretical aspect of wisdom in Israel. This culminating virtue of the woman of strength is also the starting point of wisdom in 1:7, 9:10 and its high point in 2:5. Recurrent themes sounded throughout the book of Proverbs — the fear of the Lord, thrift, kindness, honesty, the importance of a good reputation, the deceitful nature of charm and the ephemeral nature of human beauty — appear in rapid succession at the close of the poem.
[1]—John Henry Newman.
[2] The word translated “calamity” can also be translated “trouble” (with the Revised English Bible), and the second half of the clause — “and the rod of anger will fail” — is gnomic to the point of obscurity. The Revised English Bible’s “The rod of God’s anger will destroy him” makes good sense, albeit through expansion of the Hebrew (“God” does not appear in the original text, nor is there a direct object for the verb “destroy”). The only other occurrence of the construct chain “rod of his anger” (which is what the Hebrew literally says) is found in Lamentations 3:1, where the expression refers to the rod of God’s wrath, which lends support for the REB translation (anticipated by the lexicon of Brown, Driver and Briggs, 720).
[3] Weiser, Old Testament Library.
[4] Weiser, Old Testament Library.
[5] Psalm 8; Psalm 89:5 ff.; Psalm 104; Genesis 1-2; Isaiah 40:26-31; 42:5; chapters 43 and 45 passim; Amos 4:12-13; Job 38-41; Romans 1:19-20, 25. Several NT passages declare that all creation is through Jesus Christ, God’s creating embodied Word: John 1:1-5, 14; Hebrews 1:1-4; Colossians 1:15-23; Revelation 3:14. Creation yearns for redemption in Romans 8:18-23, 38-39. For “new heavens and a new earth” see Isaiah 65:17 ff.; Isaiah 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1; for further passages about new creation see 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 4:24 (= Colossians 3:10).
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10] Deuteronomy 6:1-6;
Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2 so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.[a] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14
11 Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” 14 No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
and Jeremiah 31:31-34 and frequently elsewhere in Jeremiah.
31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
[11] [James L. Mays, Psalms Interpretation commentary, 100].
[12]
[13] Aristotle
[14] Thomas Hibbs
[15] Carole Fontaine ("Proverbs," The Women's Bible Commentary, Sharon Ringe and Carol Newsom, eds. [Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992], 151-52).
[16] Carol Meyer (Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988], 180).
