Wisdom Literature

A selection from the Old Testament wisdom books, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Solomon, and Lamentations. The apocryphal books of Jesus ben Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon may also be read and studied in relation to canonical wisdom.

Introduction Wisdom Literature

Poetic Literature

Place in the Canon. In the main there is to be recognized a three fold division of the canon, Law, Prophets, Writings

Hebrew Bible - lists in the Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles.

Septuagint - has the same books but ordered differently.

Josephus - Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon

The problem of recognizing or identifying Hebrew poetry is its lack of "any easily discernable meter, or any comparable feature that marks it as verse.

Hill & Walton noted Hoftijzer's 1965 thesis (refined by Andersen and Freedman) separated Hebrew prose from poetry by looking at the "prose particle" density."Old Testament texts exhibiting prose-particle (את אשׁר and the definite article) densities of 15 percent or more are considered prose in nature, while those demonstrating prose-particle densities of 5 percent or less are regarded as poetic. Old Testament prophetic literature yielding densities between 5 and 15 percent is labeled 'oracular prose,' connoting its poetic tendencies."

The key to the identification of Hebrew poetry is the recognition of parallelisms (a correspondence of one thing with another). Generally, the parallelism of consecutive lines is a strong indicator. "Parallelism may involve semantics, grammar, and/or other linguistic features, and it may occur on the level of the word, line, couplet, or over a greater textual span." However, not all lines in Hebrew poetry are parallelistic or symmetrical, and not all parallelisms are poetry.

There are varieties of parallelism. Some types found in the Bible are:

Semantic Parallelism (based on word usage)

Progressive Parallelism (based on logical sequence)

Grammatical Parallelism (based on choice of grammatical forms)

Complete Parallelism (where every single term or thought unit in one line is parallel to an equivalent term or unit in the other line).

Synonymous parallelism - the same thought is repeated but using different words. Ps 105.23.

Antithetical parallelism - here there is an opposition or contrast of thought. Ps 90.6

Incomplete Parallelism (there is not a complete one for one correspondence of terms between units.

With compensation - here there are the same number of terms but there is not a one to one correspondence. Ps 21.10

Without compensation - here there are less terms between corresponding units. Ps 24.1

Formal Parallelism - This differs from above in that the second part continues the thought in the first part. Ps 2.6

These are just a few of the many verities of parallelism found in Scripture. Parallelism involves the relationship of A to B where B carries the idea of A further by echoing, defining, narrowing, restating, contrasting, illustrating and a variety of other methods.

1. A distinctive aspect of poetry is meter, or the regular rhythm of lines of poetry. This is an aspect of poetry that is closely tied to the language that the poem was written in and is pretty much difficult to repeat in a translation. This is made even more difficult in Hebrew as what we have of the original text is only the consonants. The vowels are vital to the true understanding of the meter of Hebrew and because what we have in the Masoretic text is conjecture (good as it is) we are left guessing at the existence of and extent of Biblical Hebrew meter. This has to be left to a Hebrew language class.

2. The key to unlocking the meaning of the parallelism of Hebrew poetry is the recognition of the figures of speech. This is a substitution of one or more terms for another one or more terms.[9]

1. Involving Comparison

1. Simile - resemblance, two things of unlike nature that have something in common. Uses the terms "like" and "as."

2. Metaphor: a representation, an implicit comparison between two things of unlike nature that have something in common. There is no use of like or as. Metaphors are usually couched in terms of "is" and "are."

2. The best work on figures of speech in the Bible (and elsewhere for that matter) is E. W. Bullinger Figures of Speech used in the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1968). Bullinger summarizes his classifications into Divisions

1. First Division. figures involving Omission

1. Affecting Words

2. Affecting the sense

2. Second Division. Figures involving Addition

1. Affecting Words

2. Affecting the sense, by way of

1. Repetition

2. Amplification

3. Description

4. Conclusion

5. Interposition

6. Reasoning

3. Third Division. Figures involving Change.

1. Affecting the meaning and usage of words

2. Affecting the order and arrangement of words

3. Affecting the application of words

1. Sense

2. Persons

3. Subject Matter

4. Time

5. Feeling

6. Reasoning

3. Another aspect of Hebrew poetry (and poetry in general) is its terseness. Poetry, by and large, contains only the "nucleus of the thought" - unnecessary words are removed so that what remains is what is important and what is expressed with an economy of words. This is effectively achieved with the use of figures of speech.

Hebrew Poetry then is "characterized by a high incidence of terse, balanced parallelism" which is effectively achieved through the use of figures of speech.

The difference between (Hebrew) poetry and prose is seen in Judges 4.19-21 and 5.24-27.

1. Wisdom Literature

2. The wisdom literature of the Hebrews differs from what is considered wisdom in the west. The western tradition looks to philosophical speculation in the vein of the Greeks and Romans. Though there exists proverbial and advice sayings, in the main the west looks to Plato and the Sophists. Hebrew wisdom literature rather is revelatory, not speculatory. Questions of God's existence and man's place in the created universe is are answered by God himself through the writings of Moses, the prophets and the writers of the hagiographa. Speculation is not necessary as the answered to the questions are provided. Ecclesiastes and Job are the closest to speculative philosophy in the Bible, and even there answers are provided, by Solomon and by God.

Job is a book of wisdom based on discourse, he suffers and talks to his friends about it. They reach erroneuos conclusions (Job et al; though Job recognizes the error of his friends' arguments) and Job is made to know that there are things that he may never know, he is to let God be God and trust him to make things right. YHVH never answered Job directly concerning his suffering, his point was that it was perfectly within his perview to do what he wants and man is not able (morally or otherwise) to question God.

Lamentations

Name

Hebrew - אֵיכָה 'ekah How, "how" or "alas"
Lamentations, from Vulgate Threni

Authorship - Text says nothing, H&W calls the discussions a stalemate, tradition ascribes it to Jeremiah, some say based erroneously on 2 Chronicles 35.25.

Occassion - The fall of Jerusalem. As such it is read in the Megilloth (festival scrolls) and is scheduled to be read on the 9th of Ab, the day of the destruction of the Temple by the Babyonians in 587/586 B.C. and by the Romans in A.D. 70.

Outline (Hill & Walton).

Lamentation for Jerusalem's misery and desertion
Lamentation for the Daughter of Zion cut down in YHWH's wrath
Poet's grief and hope
Horror of the seige (esp. 4.10. cf. Lev 26.29, Deut 28.57)
Zion's disgrace remembered; a petition for restoration

Poetic structure (H&W 336) has an alphabetic acrostic structure for poems 1-3. Poems 1 and 2 are 22 three line verses - a - - b - - c - - whereas poem three is 66 three line verses with the acrostic going a a a b b b c c c . . .

Ecclesiastes

Name
1. Hebrew – Qoheleth קהלת Preacher
2. LXX - Εκκλησιαστης Assembly
3. Vulgate - Ecclesiastes
Purpose - To show forth the futility and vanity of worldly acheivement and the peace and happiness in Godly contentment.
Author - Solomon
Dating - Tenth Century BC
Key or main verse - Fear God and keep his commandments 12.13
Analysis -
1. Prologue
2. The Preacher's testimony
  1. The futility of human achievement
    1. The uselessness of human Wisdom and Philosophy
    2. The emptiness of pleasure and wealth
    3. The certainty of death
  2. The futility of human labor
    1. The inequity of work
    2. Contentment with God's providence
    3. The reality of life and death
    4. The frustration and disappointment of earthly life
    5. The futility of the self seeking life
    6. The contentment of gratitude
    7. The futility of death
  3. The Preacher's advice from experience
    1. Man's ignorance of the plan of God
    2. Righteousness and wickedness in the plan of God
    3. Justice in the plan of God
  4. Man's ignorance of the future
    1. Certainty of death versus the uncertainty of life
    2. Proof from experience
  5. Man's response to the uncertainties of life
    1. the importance of labor
    2. the reasonableness of rejoicing
    3. The necessity of remmebering the Lord
  6. Epilogue
    1. Summary
    2. The Preacher's qualifications
    3. The Preacher's purpose and source
    4. Conclusion; Fear God and Obey his commmandments

Ecclesiastes is the world's greatest exposition on how one should approach life. It comes from Solomon, the one given the gift of wisdom and who used it to explore the bounds of human wisdom and experience in the quest for satisfaction and happiness. The end of it all is that the quest for fame, glory, money and power is vanity and acheives no more than sitting back and enjoying the fruits that God sends. Solomon comes to realize in this great exposition that the end of all is death and money, fame, and power gain you no more at death than that which is alloted a dog (3.19-21). His conclusion is that "nothing is better than that man should be happy in his acitivities" and that he should "Fear God and keep his commandments."

Solomon, in all of his wisdom, wealth, splendor and power is recommending a simple life lived honestly before God.

Elwood P. Dowd expressed Solomon's sentiments in Harvey when he said "My mother told me that to get along in life you have to be either ever so smart or ever so pleasant. For years I have been smart, I recommend pleasant."

A contemporary song also expressed Solomon's sentiments. It was entitled, Don't Worry, Be Happy!!

Said Rabbi Akiba: Heaven forbid that any man in Israel ever disputed that the Song of Songs is holy. For the whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy and the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies.
--Mishnah Yadayim 3:5 (second century C.E.)

. . . the holy love that is the subject of the entire Song cannot be expressed by words or language, but only in deed and truth. Here love speaks everywhere! If anyone desires to grasp these writings, let him love! For anyone who does not love, it is vain to listen to this song of love--or to read it, for a cold heart cannot catch fire from its eloquence. The language of love will be meaningless jangle, like sounding brass or tinkling cymbal, to anyone who does not love.
--Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), Sermon 79.1

[The Song is] not allegorical but sacramental. Human passion . . . gives us a hint of God's passion for us. We are most like God's love for us when we are aroused in the presence of our beloved. And we best experience a hint of God's love when our beloved pursues us.
--Andrew M. Greeley, Love Song (1989)

1 Kings 1.3, 1 Kings 2.16-25 Song 6.13 - Spelling points to two different women. Shunammite שׁוּנַמּית in 1 Kings, Shulammiteשׁוּלַמּית in Song.