Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Bible Society
Bible Society recently relaunched their website, which is much improved on the old one. It contains hundreds of helpful resources related to the Bible, many of which are freely available to download. Well worth checking out.
Martin J. Selman on 1 and 2 Chronicles
Martin J. Selman, ‘Chronicles’, in T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner (eds.), New Dictionary of Biblical Theology (Leicester: IVP, 2000), 188-95.
Part Two of this dictionary contains articles on the main biblical sections and books, discussing the theology of the book under consideration as well as its links to the rest of Scripture. Martin Selman, who also wrote the Tyndale Commentary on Chronicles (1994), contributes the entry on Chronicles.
Selman begins from the premise of the unity of the present form of Chronicles as the basis for theological interpretation (188), and stands with those who view it primarily as a theological work (recognising ‘that all biblical history is to some extent theological in nature’, 189).
A theology of history
The Chronicler’s interpretation of history highlights three areas where God’s activity was significant:
(1) ‘Israel’s history from beginning to end belongs in the context of God’s purposes for the whole world’ (189), providing a challenge to a narrow theology.
(2) The ‘Chronicler is especially concerned with the monarchy’ (189).
(3) The ‘perspective on Israel’s past from which the Chronicler writes is that of the exile’ (189).
A theology of the word of God
Selman holds that Chronicles is, in effect, ‘a commentary on much of the rest of the OT’, seeking to interpret it from beginning to end, showing the relevance of Scripture for his own period (189).
(1) The Law – of special importance as the foundation for the life of God’s people, emphasising the Torah as the living word of God (2 Chron. 17:9; 19:4-11; 35:26, etc.) and as providing a pattern for the worship of God (in the pattern of the tabernacle, the activities of worship, etc.).
(2) The Prophets – using the underlying narrative from 2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings, with the temple becoming the focus of the people’s relationship with God, and with prophecy as ‘one of the main means by which Israel’s history is interpreted in Chronicles’ (190), with the prophets calling Israel to repentance.
(3) The Psalms – important ‘in illustrating Israel’s worship in the temple’ (191), quoted at key points in the narrative when the ark is installed in Jerusalem and when the temple is built.
All this, according to Selman, ‘provides a highly important contribution to the developing theology of Scripture in the OT’ (191).
• The Torah, Prophets, and Psalms are assumed to ‘exercise authority in the life of God’s people’ (191).
• The written nature of the material and the assumption of its familiarity ‘suggests it was already functioning as Scripture’ (191).
• The Chronicler ‘assumes that this received Scripture has already been considerably integrated’ (191).
• Chronicles ‘supplies considerable evidence that this written Scripture was capable not only of application but also of further development’, the word of God being ‘both authoritative and dynamic, written and oral’ (191).
The central theme of Chronicles
Although different themes have been suggested (seeking God, Israel’s restoration, atonement), Selman sides with those who see the work as dominated by the Davidic monarchy and Solomon’s temple (192). This is seen not least in the structure of the work, with the central section devoted to the united monarchy (1 Chron. 10 – 2 Chron. 9), and with two passages dominating the central section: the promise of the Davidic covenant (1 Chron. 17) and Solomon’s dedication of the temple (2 Chron. 6-7).
The chief feature in the presentation of both kings is their association with the temple. Selman disagrees with those who argue that they are presented in a whitewashed idealised way since some positive as well as negative features are omitted, and the Chronicler even occasionally ‘magnifies their failures’ (193) (e.g., 1 Chron. 13:9-13; 21:1-22:1; 2 Chron. 10:1-14).
‘The Chronicler’s greatest interest is in fact in God’s covenant promises to David and Solomon, which he sees as initially fulfilled in Solomon’s succession and the dedication of the temple’ (193).
The Davidic covenant is particularly significant, with three features highlighted: (1) ‘God’s promises can be realized through obedience’; (2) ‘the temple becomes the chief symbol of the Davidic covenant’; (3) ‘the Davidic promises are permanent’ (193).
Part Two of this dictionary contains articles on the main biblical sections and books, discussing the theology of the book under consideration as well as its links to the rest of Scripture. Martin Selman, who also wrote the Tyndale Commentary on Chronicles (1994), contributes the entry on Chronicles.
Selman begins from the premise of the unity of the present form of Chronicles as the basis for theological interpretation (188), and stands with those who view it primarily as a theological work (recognising ‘that all biblical history is to some extent theological in nature’, 189).
A theology of history
The Chronicler’s interpretation of history highlights three areas where God’s activity was significant:
(1) ‘Israel’s history from beginning to end belongs in the context of God’s purposes for the whole world’ (189), providing a challenge to a narrow theology.
(2) The ‘Chronicler is especially concerned with the monarchy’ (189).
(3) The ‘perspective on Israel’s past from which the Chronicler writes is that of the exile’ (189).
A theology of the word of God
Selman holds that Chronicles is, in effect, ‘a commentary on much of the rest of the OT’, seeking to interpret it from beginning to end, showing the relevance of Scripture for his own period (189).
(1) The Law – of special importance as the foundation for the life of God’s people, emphasising the Torah as the living word of God (2 Chron. 17:9; 19:4-11; 35:26, etc.) and as providing a pattern for the worship of God (in the pattern of the tabernacle, the activities of worship, etc.).
(2) The Prophets – using the underlying narrative from 2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings, with the temple becoming the focus of the people’s relationship with God, and with prophecy as ‘one of the main means by which Israel’s history is interpreted in Chronicles’ (190), with the prophets calling Israel to repentance.
(3) The Psalms – important ‘in illustrating Israel’s worship in the temple’ (191), quoted at key points in the narrative when the ark is installed in Jerusalem and when the temple is built.
All this, according to Selman, ‘provides a highly important contribution to the developing theology of Scripture in the OT’ (191).
• The Torah, Prophets, and Psalms are assumed to ‘exercise authority in the life of God’s people’ (191).
• The written nature of the material and the assumption of its familiarity ‘suggests it was already functioning as Scripture’ (191).
• The Chronicler ‘assumes that this received Scripture has already been considerably integrated’ (191).
• Chronicles ‘supplies considerable evidence that this written Scripture was capable not only of application but also of further development’, the word of God being ‘both authoritative and dynamic, written and oral’ (191).
The central theme of Chronicles
Although different themes have been suggested (seeking God, Israel’s restoration, atonement), Selman sides with those who see the work as dominated by the Davidic monarchy and Solomon’s temple (192). This is seen not least in the structure of the work, with the central section devoted to the united monarchy (1 Chron. 10 – 2 Chron. 9), and with two passages dominating the central section: the promise of the Davidic covenant (1 Chron. 17) and Solomon’s dedication of the temple (2 Chron. 6-7).
The chief feature in the presentation of both kings is their association with the temple. Selman disagrees with those who argue that they are presented in a whitewashed idealised way since some positive as well as negative features are omitted, and the Chronicler even occasionally ‘magnifies their failures’ (193) (e.g., 1 Chron. 13:9-13; 21:1-22:1; 2 Chron. 10:1-14).
‘The Chronicler’s greatest interest is in fact in God’s covenant promises to David and Solomon, which he sees as initially fulfilled in Solomon’s succession and the dedication of the temple’ (193).
The Davidic covenant is particularly significant, with three features highlighted: (1) ‘God’s promises can be realized through obedience’; (2) ‘the temple becomes the chief symbol of the Davidic covenant’; (3) ‘the Davidic promises are permanent’ (193).
Monday, 10 August 2009
Word for the Week: Whole Life, Whole Bible (18/50) – For the Sake of David
‘Word for the Week: Whole Life, Whole Bible’, from London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, is a series of fifty emails designed to look at the main milestones of the biblical story, seeking to show how whole-life discipleship is woven through Scripture as a whole, from beginning to end. Here is the eighteenth of the fifty emails, this one written by Helen Parry.
What share do we have in David? What part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!
1 Kings 12:16
It is forty years since David’s death. In spite of his achievements, Solomon’s idolatry has brought down on him and the kingdom the judgment of God (1 Kings 11:9-13).
As the kingdom falls apart, we find ourselves asking ‘Who is in control?’ Even before Solomon’s death, Jeroboam is encouraged to rebel by a prophecy: ‘I [God] am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand, and give you ten tribes’ (11:31).
On his father’s death, Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, is crowned king. Jeroboam tries to strike a deal with him but is ruthlessly rejected. The Israelites respond with an immediate declaration of independence: ‘To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!’ But this, we read, ‘was from the Lord, to fulfil the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam…’
Thus, the kingdom is divided, Jeroboam ruling the north (Israel) and Rehoboam the south (Judah). Both ‘did evil in the eyes of the Lord’. The Bible never suggests that God’s sovereignty nullifies human responsibility. Both nations are ultimately judged.
Israel, conquered by the Assyrians, is dispersed in 722 BC, never to be restored. But the story of Judah is different. ‘For the sake of David my servant’, God says, the southern kingdom will have a future (11:32, 36), but nevertheless, their constant rebellion leads them, too, into exile, over a century later.
But the promise of return echoes through the declarations of the prophets. Ezekiel prophesies (37:15-28) that it is as one nation that the Jews will return from exile, and ‘my servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd’. In spite of the return of Judah to Jerusalem, the true fulfilment of this prophecy begins with the coming of ‘great David's greater Son’*. We immediately think of Jesus’ words (John 10:16): ‘I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also… and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.’
As it was for David’s sake that God had mercy on Israel, so it is for Jesus’ sake that he has mercy on us. We cannot earn his favour – it is pure sovereign grace. But we are still responsible for working out our own salvation (Philippians 2:12).
* From James Montgomery’s hymn, ‘Hail to the Lord’s Anointed’.
Helen Parry
For further reflection and action:
1. As we think about the Israelites’ repeated disobedience and its consequences, do we sometimes presume on God’s grace? How do we understand the relationship between God’s sovereignty and our responsibility in our own lives?
2. Jesus said, ‘A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand’ (Matthew 12:25). Do we too readily accept the divisions in the church today? What can we do?
What share do we have in David? What part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!
1 Kings 12:16
It is forty years since David’s death. In spite of his achievements, Solomon’s idolatry has brought down on him and the kingdom the judgment of God (1 Kings 11:9-13).
As the kingdom falls apart, we find ourselves asking ‘Who is in control?’ Even before Solomon’s death, Jeroboam is encouraged to rebel by a prophecy: ‘I [God] am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand, and give you ten tribes’ (11:31).
On his father’s death, Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, is crowned king. Jeroboam tries to strike a deal with him but is ruthlessly rejected. The Israelites respond with an immediate declaration of independence: ‘To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!’ But this, we read, ‘was from the Lord, to fulfil the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam…’
Thus, the kingdom is divided, Jeroboam ruling the north (Israel) and Rehoboam the south (Judah). Both ‘did evil in the eyes of the Lord’. The Bible never suggests that God’s sovereignty nullifies human responsibility. Both nations are ultimately judged.
Israel, conquered by the Assyrians, is dispersed in 722 BC, never to be restored. But the story of Judah is different. ‘For the sake of David my servant’, God says, the southern kingdom will have a future (11:32, 36), but nevertheless, their constant rebellion leads them, too, into exile, over a century later.
But the promise of return echoes through the declarations of the prophets. Ezekiel prophesies (37:15-28) that it is as one nation that the Jews will return from exile, and ‘my servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd’. In spite of the return of Judah to Jerusalem, the true fulfilment of this prophecy begins with the coming of ‘great David's greater Son’*. We immediately think of Jesus’ words (John 10:16): ‘I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also… and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.’
As it was for David’s sake that God had mercy on Israel, so it is for Jesus’ sake that he has mercy on us. We cannot earn his favour – it is pure sovereign grace. But we are still responsible for working out our own salvation (Philippians 2:12).
* From James Montgomery’s hymn, ‘Hail to the Lord’s Anointed’.
Helen Parry
For further reflection and action:
1. As we think about the Israelites’ repeated disobedience and its consequences, do we sometimes presume on God’s grace? How do we understand the relationship between God’s sovereignty and our responsibility in our own lives?
2. Jesus said, ‘A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand’ (Matthew 12:25). Do we too readily accept the divisions in the church today? What can we do?
John Stott on the Church and the Word
‘The dependence of the church on the Word is not a doctrine readily acceptable to all. In former days of Roman Catholic polemic, for example, its champions would insist that “the church wrote the Bible” and therefore has authority over it. Still today one sometimes hears this rather simplistic argument. Now it is true, of course, that both Testaments were written within the context of the believing community, and that the substance of the New Testament in God’s providence… was to some extent determined by the needs of the local Christian congregations. In consequence, the Bible can neither be detached from the milieu in which it originated, nor be understood in isolation from it. Nevertheless, as Protestants have always emphasized, it is misleading to the point of inaccuracy to say that “the church wrote the Bible”; the truth is almost the opposite, namely that “God’s Word created the church”. For the people of God may be said to have come into existence when his Word came to Abraham, calling him and making a covenant with him. Similarly, it was through the apostolic preaching of God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost that the people of God became the Spirit-filled body of Christ.’
John R.W. Stott, I Believe in Preaching (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1982), 109.
Today’s daily thought from John Stott, a service provided by Langham Partnership International and John Stott Ministries.
John R.W. Stott, I Believe in Preaching (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1982), 109.
Today’s daily thought from John Stott, a service provided by Langham Partnership International and John Stott Ministries.
Leo G. Perdue, Robert Morgan, and Benjamin D. Sommer on Biblical Theology
Leo G. Perdue, Robert Morgan, Benjamin D. Sommer, Biblical Theology: Introducing the Conversation, Library of Biblical Theology (Nashville: Abingdon, 2009), viii + 337pp., ISBN 9780687341009.
I blogged about this series – Library of Biblical Theology – here. The lead volume has finally appeared, containing the following essays:
1. Benjamin D. Sommer
Dialogical Biblical Theology: A Jewish Approach to Reading Scripture Theologically
2. Leo G. Perdue
Old Testament Theology Since Barth’s Epistle to the Romans
3. Robert Morgan
New Testament Theology in the Twentieth Century
4. Leo G. Perdue
Hermeneutics: The Bible and the Quest for Theological Meaning
The essays are lengthy and look substantial, and I’m sure will be very good, though I had been hoping for a more collaborative treatment and statement of the issues.
The Preface reminds us again of the general failure of biblical studies scholars and theologians to engage with one another’s work in significant ways, and of the goal of the series ‘to bring the worlds of biblical scholarship and constructive theology together into an interpretative relationship’ (vii).
This particular volume promises seeks to recognise ‘the increasing emphasis placed on the role of the reader in the interpretation of texts’ alongside the continual realisation that ‘the historical context and understanding of scriptural texts cannot be ignored in seeking to listen to voices from the past that have helped shape theological understandings through the centuries’ (viii).
I blogged about this series – Library of Biblical Theology – here. The lead volume has finally appeared, containing the following essays:
1. Benjamin D. Sommer
Dialogical Biblical Theology: A Jewish Approach to Reading Scripture Theologically
2. Leo G. Perdue
Old Testament Theology Since Barth’s Epistle to the Romans
3. Robert Morgan
New Testament Theology in the Twentieth Century
4. Leo G. Perdue
Hermeneutics: The Bible and the Quest for Theological Meaning
The essays are lengthy and look substantial, and I’m sure will be very good, though I had been hoping for a more collaborative treatment and statement of the issues.
The Preface reminds us again of the general failure of biblical studies scholars and theologians to engage with one another’s work in significant ways, and of the goal of the series ‘to bring the worlds of biblical scholarship and constructive theology together into an interpretative relationship’ (vii).
This particular volume promises seeks to recognise ‘the increasing emphasis placed on the role of the reader in the interpretation of texts’ alongside the continual realisation that ‘the historical context and understanding of scriptural texts cannot be ignored in seeking to listen to voices from the past that have helped shape theological understandings through the centuries’ (viii).
Sunday, 9 August 2009
Allen R. Guenther on Kings and Chronicles
Allen R. Guenther, ‘Kings and Chronicles: Interpreting Historical Interpretation’, Direction 11, 2 (1982), 4-15.
Against approaches which would reduce Kings and Chronicles to a single account through artificial harmonisation, Guenther argues that they are ‘written from different perspectives and only when the church affirms both accounts as historical interpretation will these books begin to serve as revelation for the nurture and proclamation of the church’ (5).
He seeks to illustrate through a comparative study of Asa’s reign (1 Kings 15:9-24; 2 Chronicles 14:1-16:14), highlighting in turn the perspective of Kings (the Deutronomist) and Chronicles (the Chronicler).
The perspective of Kings
On this view, Kings is part of the larger history told in Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, which is introduced by Deuteronomy and in which the themes and perspectives of Deuteronomy dominate – the Sinai covenant and Israel’s obligation to observe the commands, with the promise of blessing if they do and punishment if they do not. The history of Israel is traced from the Sinai covenant to the Babylonian exile.
With the exception of Josiah, even the greatest leaders (including David) were a mixture of godliness and and disobedience, with judgment eventually falling on both Israel and Judah, even while the promises to the patriarchs (Deuteronomy 30:1-10) still provide some hope (8-10).
The perspective of the Chronicler
The Chronicler traces biblical history from Adam to the end of the Babylonian exile. After the initial genealogies, the history ‘is restricted to the Davidic line and the house of Judah’, the scope of the history suggesting that the Chronicler ‘is concerned to demonstrate the continuity of God’s redemptive activity from creation to the time of restoration following the Babylonian exile’ (10). The accounts of David and the temple are central (10-11).
•••
Each account needs to be read for its particular perspective.
Each reminds us that God’s word is addressed to people at a given time and place, coming ‘in concrete circumstances to real people to build faith according to specific needs’ (14). ‘When we perceive (wherever possible) the circumstances and needs of that faith-community, the texts can then be directed more profitably to specific contemporary faith-communities in our world’ (14).
‘Chronicles would speak more powerfully to a struggling, leaderless community than would Kings. On the other hand, Kings forces one to look for patterns of life and faith which may be cumulatively destructive or constructive; it provides a more powerful message of a complacent church, relying on the historical elective and redemptive experiences of God’ (14).
‘When we move beyond the concern to harmonize these histories to a concern for their meaning, we discover more inclusive and richer understandings of the truths of God. And we can then appropriately apply those truths to ourselves today’ (15).
Against approaches which would reduce Kings and Chronicles to a single account through artificial harmonisation, Guenther argues that they are ‘written from different perspectives and only when the church affirms both accounts as historical interpretation will these books begin to serve as revelation for the nurture and proclamation of the church’ (5).
He seeks to illustrate through a comparative study of Asa’s reign (1 Kings 15:9-24; 2 Chronicles 14:1-16:14), highlighting in turn the perspective of Kings (the Deutronomist) and Chronicles (the Chronicler).
The perspective of Kings
On this view, Kings is part of the larger history told in Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, which is introduced by Deuteronomy and in which the themes and perspectives of Deuteronomy dominate – the Sinai covenant and Israel’s obligation to observe the commands, with the promise of blessing if they do and punishment if they do not. The history of Israel is traced from the Sinai covenant to the Babylonian exile.
With the exception of Josiah, even the greatest leaders (including David) were a mixture of godliness and and disobedience, with judgment eventually falling on both Israel and Judah, even while the promises to the patriarchs (Deuteronomy 30:1-10) still provide some hope (8-10).
The perspective of the Chronicler
The Chronicler traces biblical history from Adam to the end of the Babylonian exile. After the initial genealogies, the history ‘is restricted to the Davidic line and the house of Judah’, the scope of the history suggesting that the Chronicler ‘is concerned to demonstrate the continuity of God’s redemptive activity from creation to the time of restoration following the Babylonian exile’ (10). The accounts of David and the temple are central (10-11).
•••
Each account needs to be read for its particular perspective.
Each reminds us that God’s word is addressed to people at a given time and place, coming ‘in concrete circumstances to real people to build faith according to specific needs’ (14). ‘When we perceive (wherever possible) the circumstances and needs of that faith-community, the texts can then be directed more profitably to specific contemporary faith-communities in our world’ (14).
‘Chronicles would speak more powerfully to a struggling, leaderless community than would Kings. On the other hand, Kings forces one to look for patterns of life and faith which may be cumulatively destructive or constructive; it provides a more powerful message of a complacent church, relying on the historical elective and redemptive experiences of God’ (14).
‘When we move beyond the concern to harmonize these histories to a concern for their meaning, we discover more inclusive and richer understandings of the truths of God. And we can then appropriately apply those truths to ourselves today’ (15).
Word for the Week: Whole Life, Whole Bible (17/50) – Words for the Wise
‘Word for the Week: Whole Life, Whole Bible’, from London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, is a series of fifty emails designed to look at the main milestones of the biblical story, seeking to show how whole-life discipleship is woven through Scripture as a whole, from beginning to end. Here is the seventeenth of the fifty emails.
A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies…
She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar…
She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard…
She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy…
She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes…
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue…
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Honour her for all that her hands have done,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
Proverbs 31:10-31
The major turns in the biblical story – God’s promise to Abraham, his redemption from slavery, his covenant with the people, the giving of the law, the establishment of the monarchy, the building of the temple – are conspicuous by their absence in the biblical wisdom literature.
As it turns out, wisdom is rooted further back – in creation – grounded in the orderly regulation of the world by the creator God, even while acknowledging (as Job and Ecclesiastes do in different ways) that there are great mysteries woven into the fabric of life in God’s world. Wisdom is not, therefore, a ‘secular’ alternative to other, more ‘sacred’ parts of the Bible. Nor is it surprising that Israel is able to engage with surrounding cultures, gleaning insight where they reflect the truth that is God’s truth, because of the recognition that he is the source of wisdom.
This is made clear in the opening of the book of Proverbs, where it is said that ‘the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom’ (1:7). If wisdom literature is concerned with living wisely in God’s world, then fear of the Lord is the first principle of such a life, where wisdom does not begin in human autonomy, but in deep reverence of the Lord God; where wisdom is not merely intellectual capacity, but linked with discipline and discernment, shrewdness and skill; where wisdom produces a certain kind of character and demonstrates itself in particular sorts of actions. And, what’s more, which operates in every sphere of life – at home, at the city gate, in the market square – and which embraces the daily rhythms of eating, drinking, working, sleeping.
This is powerfully portrayed in the Bible’s fullest description of the regular activity of an ‘ordinary’ person – the woman who ‘fears the Lord’ (31:30), whose wisdom is demonstrated in her everyday activities of being a wife to her husband, a mother to her children, providing for her family, managing her household, engaging in international trade in cloths and textiles, negotiating the purchase of fields, looking out for the poor.
Insofar as the woman is a picture of wisdom itself, matching the portrayal of ‘woman wisdom’ in earlier chapters of Proverbs, it’s applicable to men as much as to women, setting out the ideal of practical wisdom, embracing actions and speech, worked out concretely in the kitchen, on the field, at the desk, wherever God has called us.
For further reflection and action:
1. Read and reflect on the whole of Proverbs 31:10-31, perhaps pausing to consider how the ‘fear of the Lord’ might inform your own activities today.
2. How ‘air-brushed’ is the woman of Proverbs 31? Is she a role model for all women everywhere or a male fantasy of the perfect spouse, placing yet more unrealistic pressure on women? Or something else?
3. Song of Songs is often held to belong to the Bible’s wisdom literature. What might this suggest about how the poems should be interpreted?
4. If wisdom literature looks back to creation, it also looks forward to Christ who is the wisdom of God (e.g., 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30). If Christ is the wisdom of God, what difference might that make, or what added insights might it provide, to our reading of Old Testament wisdom literature?
A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies…
She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar…
She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard…
She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy…
She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes…
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue…
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Honour her for all that her hands have done,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
Proverbs 31:10-31
The major turns in the biblical story – God’s promise to Abraham, his redemption from slavery, his covenant with the people, the giving of the law, the establishment of the monarchy, the building of the temple – are conspicuous by their absence in the biblical wisdom literature.
As it turns out, wisdom is rooted further back – in creation – grounded in the orderly regulation of the world by the creator God, even while acknowledging (as Job and Ecclesiastes do in different ways) that there are great mysteries woven into the fabric of life in God’s world. Wisdom is not, therefore, a ‘secular’ alternative to other, more ‘sacred’ parts of the Bible. Nor is it surprising that Israel is able to engage with surrounding cultures, gleaning insight where they reflect the truth that is God’s truth, because of the recognition that he is the source of wisdom.
This is made clear in the opening of the book of Proverbs, where it is said that ‘the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom’ (1:7). If wisdom literature is concerned with living wisely in God’s world, then fear of the Lord is the first principle of such a life, where wisdom does not begin in human autonomy, but in deep reverence of the Lord God; where wisdom is not merely intellectual capacity, but linked with discipline and discernment, shrewdness and skill; where wisdom produces a certain kind of character and demonstrates itself in particular sorts of actions. And, what’s more, which operates in every sphere of life – at home, at the city gate, in the market square – and which embraces the daily rhythms of eating, drinking, working, sleeping.
This is powerfully portrayed in the Bible’s fullest description of the regular activity of an ‘ordinary’ person – the woman who ‘fears the Lord’ (31:30), whose wisdom is demonstrated in her everyday activities of being a wife to her husband, a mother to her children, providing for her family, managing her household, engaging in international trade in cloths and textiles, negotiating the purchase of fields, looking out for the poor.
Insofar as the woman is a picture of wisdom itself, matching the portrayal of ‘woman wisdom’ in earlier chapters of Proverbs, it’s applicable to men as much as to women, setting out the ideal of practical wisdom, embracing actions and speech, worked out concretely in the kitchen, on the field, at the desk, wherever God has called us.
For further reflection and action:
1. Read and reflect on the whole of Proverbs 31:10-31, perhaps pausing to consider how the ‘fear of the Lord’ might inform your own activities today.
2. How ‘air-brushed’ is the woman of Proverbs 31? Is she a role model for all women everywhere or a male fantasy of the perfect spouse, placing yet more unrealistic pressure on women? Or something else?
3. Song of Songs is often held to belong to the Bible’s wisdom literature. What might this suggest about how the poems should be interpreted?
4. If wisdom literature looks back to creation, it also looks forward to Christ who is the wisdom of God (e.g., 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30). If Christ is the wisdom of God, what difference might that make, or what added insights might it provide, to our reading of Old Testament wisdom literature?
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