Introduction To The Books Of Poetry And Wisdom

3. Biblical wisdom is universal in scope. It never suggests that its teachings apply only to Israelites.

4. Torah (the Pentateuch) describes the stipulations of the Sinai Covenant between God and Israel. Although it is profoundly moral, it also has stipulations that are somewhat arbitrary—such as the rules that govern Israelite sacrifice. Wisdom, on the other hand, recognizes that behavior such as sexual immorality, laziness, violence, and deceit distort the soul and lead to ruin because they contradict the pattern by which God made the world and humanity. In Torah, proper behavior—including moral, judicial, priestly, and kosher matters—is determined by God’s commands under the covenant; this is quite apart from any justification provided by the structure of the world.

5. Much of Torah is concerned with sanctuary or priestly matters, with kosher laws, and with purification rituals. Biblical wisdom never deals with these matters. If Wisdom literature mentions a place of worship, it uses generic language such as “house of God” and does not speak of the Israelite central sanctuary (Ec 5:1).

6. Proverbs concerns itself with matters of behavior that are neither theological nor ethical but concern social interaction.

7. The quintessential sin of election literature is idolatry. Biblical wisdom does not mention idolatry at all.

8. Although the ideals behind Torah are eternal, the Sinai Covenant itself is temporary and subject to termination (Jr 31:31-32). Biblical wisdom, as described in Proverbs, teaches timeless principles that have no end date. These stipulations remain valid even if Israel is in diaspora, the temple is razed to the ground, and the priesthood of Aaron is no more. Many of the rules of Torah are rendered moot by the condition of exile.

9. The election literature provides for forgiveness of sin individually (as in Ps 51) and for Israel as a nation (as in Jr 31:34). By contrast, Lady Wisdom offers instruction but no forgiveness. She even mocks those who embrace folly but then turn and call on her (Pr 1:25-28; cp. Ps 86:5). Of course, Wisdom literature does not deny that God can forgive (Jb 5:8-27; 42:7-9). But wisdom as such has no forgiveness. This only makes sense. Lady Wisdom is the personification of prudent behavior. The only outcome for failure to heed wisdom is calamity. God can forgive sin, but the consequences of reckless behavior are in an entirely different category. Forgiveness is not an issue there.

None of this is to suggest that Wisdom literature opposes election literature or offers an alternative to it. Wisdom explores human life from a different but compatible perspective. It is a complementary body of texts.

In the Bible, “wisdom” broadly falls into three categories. First, there is wisdom in the sense of skills and capabilities. Examples include skill in working with fabric or with metals and jewels (Ex 28:3; 31:1-5; 35:26), in waging war (Is 10:13), and in seamanship (Ps 107:23-27). These texts all describe skills as “wisdom,” although this is not always evident in English translation. Wisdom literature says little about this sense of “wisdom,” although it does affirm that such skills are valuable (Pr 22:29).

Second, there is wisdom as “prudence,” the pursuit of a good and wholesome life. This is the focus of Proverbs, and it arises from the fact that God created us. As described above, this includes both moral behavior and the development of skills for interacting within society. The wise woman of Tekoa (2Sm 14:2) had the latter wisdom. Prudence is readily available to all who will receive it. Lady Wisdom stands in the streets, shouting at the top of her lungs, trying to get people to turn to her and embrace her teaching (Pr 1:20-22; 8:1-5).

Third, there is a wisdom that belongs to God alone. It is his hidden counsel, whereby he directs human affairs and achieves his purposes in ways that may seem radically counterintuitive. This wisdom is not accessible to humans. People can come to know it only when God chooses to reveal it. Job 28 describes this wisdom. It is hidden from all, and no amount of effort spent digging into creation can unearth it. In the book of Job, the hero and his three friends try to make sense of what seems inscrutable, that a righteous man should suffer calamitous and apparently final ruin. But Job and the three operate only in the second category of wisdom and have no understanding of God’s hidden purposes. This highest type of wisdom is also the focus of 1 Corinthians 1:20-25. Christ crucified, the wisdom of God, is to the human mind incomprehensible; it appears to be folly.

We can succinctly summarize the three books of Wisdom literature as follows.

Proverbs teaches the basic principles of wisdom. It addresses the young man on the brink of making decisions that will follow him all his life. It focuses on the second type of wisdom described above. It is “Wisdom 101,” the basic rules that everyone should know. It describes unchanging principles for living a wholesome and honorable life, but it does not delve into the complex problems that challenge such principles.

By contrast, Job and Ecclesiastes do address such problems. They are complex books, addressing sages and not novices. Job contemplates the problems of theodicy, such as the uneven distribution of suffering and success in the world. How is it, if the basic principles of Proverbs are true, that we see so many examples of immoral people thriving and prospering, while others who are surely no worse and are often much better, suffer miserable lives of depredation? The book of Job wrestles with this by considering the case of a man whom God afflicted not because of his sin but because of his righteousness.

Ecclesiastes reflects on the brevity and apparent insignificance of human life. Against the certainty of death and the passing of time, it considers all of the standard human achievements—wisdom, wealth, and power—to be meaningless.

Both Job and Ecclesiastes ultimately look to the third type of wisdom. Neither book tells us explicitly what God’s hidden purpose is, but both assert that even if we remain in the dark about what God is doing, we can still show ourselves wise by fearing him and turning from evil (Jb 28:28; Ec 12:13).

Biblical poetry and wisdom are at the same time both great literature and the eternal Word of God. It intrigues and delights us even as it rebukes and instructs. For the reader who gives due attention to these songs and lessons, “they will be a garland of favor on your head and pendants around your neck” (Pr 1:9).