Walk with the wise and become wise;
associate with fools and get in trouble.Proverbs 13:20
Sounds like good advice, doesn’t it? Thankfully, the Bible provides a number of books we refer to as ‘wisdom literature.’ Last week, we explored the Book of Psalms, and many of the psalms were intended to pass on wisdom. In addition to these psalms, we have the books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs. We’ll take a look at each of these, but first we need to know exactly what we’re talking about.
The passage I quoted above teaches us to walk with the wise and to not associate with fools. Does this mean we should seek out the brightest people to spend time with, and avoid those who are not quite as sharp? Should we have people take an IQ test before we hang out with them? The word wise in the Bible doesn’t have anything to do with intelligence. It refers to someone who has a ‘skill for living,’ particularly in the sense of making choices and decisions that are truly godly. On the other hand, fools aren’t people who are ignorant or unintelligent, but those who willingly resist and defy what they know to be right, and insist on stubbornly doing their own thing. This is why:
Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom.
Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.Proverbs 9:10
So if these biblical books will help us gain this skill in living godly, healthy lives, we should take a closer look.
Job
The book of Job is a very ancient book, possibly even written before the time of Moses. Many people are familiar with the basic story: God allowed Satan to harm Job (but not to kill him). Through tragedy after tragedy, Job lost almost everything he knew and loved. Despite being tempted even by his wife to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9), Job held onto his faith in God, movingly expressed in words such as these:
Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.
Job 13:15 (NIV)
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.Job 1:21
The book of Job begins and ends with the story of Job, but most of the book is a poetic exchange between Job and his friends (and ultimately God). It’s easy to get lost in all the Hebrew poetry, so it’s important to pay attention to who’s speaking at any given point. This is especially necessary because Job’s friends have an understanding of Job’s predicament that is completely upside down. They tell him repeatedly, in very poetic words, that all of his troubles are because of his sin. They insist that if he would simply repent to God and stop sinning, then all the bad things will stop happening and he’ll experience only what is pleasant. (We still hear this today, don’t we?) Toward the end of the book, God himself rebukes the friends and their condemnation of Job. So we want to make sure we’re not drawing our wisdom from the unwise friends of Job! And we certainly don’t want to be teaching their erroneous thoughts as the wisdom of God—as I’ve seen done!
Ecclesiastes
If you don’t understand what this book is all about, it can be the most depressing book in the Bible. Many believe the author was Solomon, although other scholars disagree. Solomon does seem to fit the author’s descriptions of himself. He was king of Israel, ruling from Jerusalem. He had almost unlimited resources and power. And he made it his goal to discover the ultimate meaning of life. He begins the book with his conclusion:
“Everything is meaningless,”
says the Teacher,
“completely meaningless!”Ecclesiastes 1:2
Isn’t that uplifting? After describing the continuous, unending cycles within nature, he writes:
Everything is wearisome beyond description.
No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied.
No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
History merely repeats itself.
It has all been done before.
Nothing under the sun is truly new.
We don’t remember what happened in the past,
and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.Ecclesiastes 1:8-11
In the rest of his book, he tells us of everything he tried in order to find meaning and purpose in life. He poured himself into great accomplishments and building projects, into learning and wisdom. He sought to bring justice and benefit to society, and he sought pleasure for pleasure’s sake. Everything became ultimately meaningless to him, like “grasping oil” or “chasing the wind.” The best he could come up with is to fear God, work hard, and enjoy whatever you have with those you love for as long as you can. (Doesn’t sound that different from the common wisdom of today, does it?) For a book we find in the Bible, it’s surprisingly cynical.
But then we notice a phrase that is repeated throughout the book. The author is describing what he’s found “under the sun.” The meaninglessness and elusive, fleeting sense of purpose is the best one can expect to find by looking merely “under the sun”—that is, from a purely human perspective. Unless we can somehow see life from God’s perspective, this is the most we can hope for. I like to compare the depressing, “under the sun” meaninglessness of Ecclesiastes with the words of Paul in his letter to the Philippians:
I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Philippians 3:7-8
So we see only what is under the sun, or we see everything that is under the Son.
Song of Songs
This book (another one associated with Solomon) can be confusing to readers. If you don’t know it’s there, it can seem surprisingly graphic for something in the Bible:
Your lips are like scarlet ribbon;
your mouth is inviting.
Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates
behind your veil.
Your neck is as beautiful as the tower of David,
jeweled with the shields of a thousand heroes.
Your breasts are like two fawns,
twin fawns of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.
Before the dawn breezes blow
and the night shadows flee,
I will hurry to the mountain of myrrh
and to the hill of frankincense.
You are altogether beautiful, my darling,
beautiful in every way.Song of Songs 4:3-7
Now, today we wouldn’t ordinarily compliment someone by telling them, “Your teeth are as white as sheep”(!) but it’s not hard to look past the ancient Hebrew expressions to see the emotions being expressed. These are emotions that most of us know well. The church went through a period of history when many were embarrassed by the sexual frankness of this book. So they decided it was an allegory about Christ and the church. The problem is that this book is about precisely what it seems to be about! It’s difficult to read Christ and the church into a passage such as:
You are my private garden,
my treasure, my bride,
a secluded spring, a hidden fountain.
Your thighs shelter a paradise of pomegranates . . .
Song of Songs 4:12-13
Okay, but why is it in the Bible? And why are we talking about this book in a study of the wisdom books in the Bible? Don’t forget what “wisdom” is all about in Scripture. It’s a skillfulness in living a life that is pleasing to God (and therefore healthy). Next to our relationship with God, what is more central to our lives than our marital relationship? And what demonstrates the wisdom of God better than a healthy, vibrant marriage?
I think it’s wonderful that this book is in Scripture. Many times, Christians have viewed sexual intimacy as a necessary evil. But the Bible celebrates this beautiful intimacy between husband and wife. We need to remember that the magic of romantic love and the wondrous intensity of emotional, physical and spiritual intimacy we experience in marriage were all created for us by God. The more we see the precious beauty of God-given sexual intimacy in marriage, the more we clearly see sex outside of the marriage relationship as the cheap imitation it is.
Proverbs
When we think of wisdom literature in the Bible, we usually think of the book of Proverbs, so I’ve kept this book for last. We first need to remember that this is a poetic book, so we should expect the usual poetic forms as I described last week. For instance, one proverb tells us:
Sensible children bring joy to their father;
foolish children despise their mother.Proverbs 15:20
I recall studying this verse in a Bible study years ago, and someone was trying to explain how this proverb showed the different ways mothers and fathers relate to their children. Of course, if we understand how poetry works in the Scriptures, we’ll know this proverb is simply saying the same thing in two different ways. Don’t make the mistake of overcomplicating poetry.
As we’re reading proverbs in the Bible, one of the most important things for us to remember is the nature of a proverb. What is a proverb? We’re all very familiar with proverbs, even if we’ve never read the Bible before. Every culture has proverbs. A proverb is simply a catchy saying that expresses a general truth. Here’s a common American proverb:
Early to bed, early to rise,
makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
Is this proverb true? Well, yes, sure it is. But is it an absolute law? Is every person who goes to bed early and rises early guaranteed health and wealth and wisdom? No, of course not. It’s not some kind of law; it’s just expressing a general principle. It’s a short, pithy expression of something that is generally true, without including all of the clarifying details. That’s what a proverb is—and that’s also what a proverb is in the Bible. Let me give you an example:
Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools,
or you will become as foolish as they are.Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools,
or they will become wise in their own estimation.Proverbs 26:4-5
Now, is the Bible contradicting itself? No, because these aren’t absolute commands; they’re expressions of principles that are generally true, and very wise. It’s not hard for us to see the wisdom in both proverbs. We don’t want to lower ourselves to the level of the fool (the person stubbornly defying God) and enter into their silly arguments. It just makes us look as foolish as they. But then there’s also a time to counter foolish arguments. If we just remain silent, the claims of the fool could appear unassailable. So we have two proverbs, wisely giving us both perspectives of this problem.
It’s important that we read the proverbs as they’re intended. The proverbs in Scripture are general principles, not absolute promises. It’s common to hear people claim certain proverbs as promises from God that will never fail.
Direct your child onto the right path,
and when they are older, they will not leave it.Proverbs 22:6
Is this really telling us that if we raise our kids right, when they’re older they will remain faithful? Are good Christian parents guaranteed to have good Christian children? (Does this mean that God was a faulty ‘parent,’ not directing Adam and Eve onto the right path?) Can we claim this as a promise from God? No, because this isn’t found in the book of Promises, but the book of Proverbs—and that’s exactly what it is, a proverb. This is expressing a general principle—kids tend to continue in life according to how they were raised—not an absolute promise or guarantee. The book of Proverbs was not intended to catalogue promises from God, but short, catchy sayings that make us wiser in how we approach life. We need to use them the way God intended.
A proverb is a general principle,
not an absolute promise.
You’ll find humorous proverbs:
A beautiful woman who lacks discretion
is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.Proverbs 11:22
Sarcastic proverbs:
Without oxen a stable stays clean,
but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.Proverbs 14:4
And proverbs with sober warnings:
There is a path before each person that seems right,
but it ends in death.Proverbs 14:12
There are two primary truths the wisdom literature in Scripture emphasizes over and over again:
1. True wisdom (skill in living a healthy life) comes from God.
2. Wisdom is of inestimable value, something to be earnestly sought.
Tune your ears to wisdom,
and concentrate on understanding.
Cry out for insight,
and ask for understanding.
Search for them as you would for silver;
seek them like hidden treasures.
Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD,
and you will gain knowledge of God.Proverbs 2:2-5
How to study the Bible series:
Which Bible version should I use?
The first three rules of Bible study
Why do have to “study” the Bible?
Where are we?: Getting a feel for the bigger story
You’ve got mail: Opening the letters to the churches
Building bridges: Cultural differences in the letters to the churches
Following the story: God and his people, part 1
Following the story: God and his people, part 2
Acting on Acts: How do we apply Acts to the church today?
Should Christians obey the Ten Commandments?: Christians and the Old Testament law
The psalms: Prayers to God that speak to us
Walking with the wise: Learning from the Bible’s poetic wisdom [see above]
The prophets: God’s messengers, calling his people back
Revelation: The story comes full circle
exploring the faith 