1) Wisdom literature is simply a style of literature that is concerned
with insight, instruction, and mediation on the meaning of life, and moral
exhortation (AB 436).
2) This excludes the Psalms, one of our focuses here, which is more
of a ancient hymn book of the people of Israel
3) The focus of wisdom is not history, or even the meaning of that
history—rather it is focused on the individual and the human struggle to
live an ethical life within a world that sometimes seems amoral and
sometimes even meaningless.
4) The focus shifts away from the many to the one.
Job: An Innocent Man Done Wrong By God
1) This book is set during the time of Noah, though the book seems
to be written sometime in the late 6th or 5th century.
2) The book was in wide circulation by the end of the second
century BCE
3) Shows similarity to a vein of Near Eastern Literature, that
questioned whether the gods were just and whether they managed the
world justly and wisely—“The Babloynian Theodicy,” “A Dispute Between
A Man And His Ba (Soul) (Egyptian)”, “The Eloquent Peasant,” “A Man
And His God”
4) This powerful book asks some tough questions:
a. Is it possible that a person can remain moral, even when he or
she is not rewarded for their goodness?
b. Why do good, innocent people suffer?
c. What role does God play in causing human suffering?
5) Job attempts to answers some of those questions, but, on the
other hand, it can be argued that it doesn’t really try to answer those
questions
6) Job is the story of man who unknowingly finds himself as a pawn
in a bet between God and Satan.
7) The bet: Satan says that Job is faithful because God rewards his
faithfulness—what if you take the rewards away, what will be Job’s
reaction then?
8) The last time that God ask speaks without a mediator, like a
prophet
9) The plot—Satan, who is interestingly in the court of heaven, (like
a human king, God has a court), questions whether Job would be faithful
if he didn’t receive all the good things from God that came with being
faithful and good.
10) First, with God’s permission, Job takes away his family and
wealth, and when Job remains faithful, Satan receives permission to
attack his body
11) First, with God’s permission, Job takes away his family and
wealth, and when Job remains faithful, Satan receives permission to
attack his body
12) Finally, Job charges God with being unjust towards him.
13) Then Job’s friends question Job’s right to question God—they
assume that Job must have sinned, because God would not punish an
innocent person.
14) The irony: Job is suffering because he is righteous, not because
he is unrighteous.
15) The remaining portion of the book is this dialogue between Job
and his friends, with Job declaring his innocence, and his friends arguing
for his guilt, and arguing that God would not do such a thing as punish
an innocent man.
16) The finale is the moment when God speaks from a whirlwind.
Basically, God says, I am the creator, and you are my creation.
17) There is no answer for Job, except the reminder of the
divine/human situation. God is Creator and we are the creation: God is
God and we are not God.
18) The interesting thing: Job accepts this truth, but he remains an
innocent man—his innocence is defended by God against those who
defended God, Job’s friends.
19) Separate: Can God do bad things? Read Jack Miles quote in
Davis, 271
a. “The climax is a climax for God himself and not for Job or for the
reader. After Job, God knows his own ambiguity as he has never known
it before. He now knows that…he as a fiend-susceptible side and that
mankind’s conscience can be finer than his. With Job’s assistance, his
just, kind self has won out over his cruel, capricious self just as it did
after the flood. But the victory has come at an enormous price. Job will
father a new family, but the family he lost during the wager will not be
brought back from the dead; neither will the servants whom the devil
slew. And neither will God’s innocence. The world still seems more just
than unjust, and God still seems more good than bad; yet the pervasive
mood, as this extraordinary word ends, is one not of redemption but of
reprieve.” (Jack Miles, BIOGRAPHY OF GOD, 328)
The First Hymnbook: Psalms
1) The book of Psalms is one of the most well-known Biblical books
2) Psalms is a collection of hymns that were probably used in the
First Temple (Solomon’s temple) or Second Temple (Ezra & Nehemiah),
as well as used in the synagogues that were sprouting up all over the
world, wherever Jews resided.
3) The word “psalm” comes from a Greek translation of a Hebrew
word that means “musical praise”
4) We don’t quite know how they were actually used in worship:
probably used for sure during festival times when Israel would come for
worship in Jerusalem
5) Despite the hymn nature of the text, these psalms became
prayers as well, much like we use them today.
6) The book of Psalms is divided into 5 books, entitled Book One,
etc.
7) The first three were probably a done deal before the final two
books were completed, though there are overlaps.
8) Some seemed to be attributed to King David, though we are not
sure whether “Of David” might mean “inspired by David” or “in memory of
David”
9) 5 Basic Types of Hymn (we think):
a. Praise Psalms: invitation to praise God, followed by mediation on
God’s character, or God’s work as creator (100, 117)
b. Lament Psalms: prayers for help that describe the distress,
address God directly over it, and then asks God for help, and then
affirms faith in God’s response (13, 44)
c. Thanksgiving Psalms: expression of praise towards God,
especially for deliverance (30,34)
d. Royal Psalms: tend to mention a king, might have been
associated with the rituals and ceremonies surrounding the monarchy (2,
89)
e. Wisdom/Torah Psalms: spiritual poems that give advice or offer
reflection on life, or on the Torah (those 5 books again)
10) And no, we have no idea what Selah means! May be some sort of
liturgical device, much like our “God be with you” and the response, “And
also with you”
11) The psalms can be very grim and disturbing as well—Psalm 139:
Use it for funerals…but leave out the last few verses.
Let Me Give You Some Advice: Proverbs
1) Proverbs is an anthology of sayings meant to provide wise advice
for how to enjoy life and avoid unnecessary trouble.
2) The Proverbs are usually in a two-line form—read some from
Proverbs 15
3) But they also offer advice on being a virtuous wife (31) and give
advice to a young man just setting out into the world (1-9)
4) The wittiness and cleverness of the sayings loose much in
translation. The play on words doesn’t usually come through in
translations.
5) The assumption within these proverbs: an incredible confidence
in divine justice and human freedom.
6) Doesn’t ask the hard questions that you find in Job and
Ecclesiastes.
7) Often attributed to Solomon or his court, and there may be some
sayings that go back that far—ancient kings sponsored writing/books.
Has the feel of palace scribes.
8) Probably a collection of sayings that finally got put together by
the end of exile in Babylon.
9) One of the most famous pieces of advice: spare the rod, spoil the
child. Good advice?
It’s All So Meaningless! Ecclesiastes
1) The word “Ecclesiastes” is the ancient Greek translation of the
Hebrew word “Teacher”
2) Often attributed to King Solomon, but most scholars are in
agreement that Solomon did not write it (his name doesn’t actually
appear in the text), though attributing it to him help the book become
part of the canon.
3) The book is a meditation on the seeming meaninglessness of life
and the struggle with that meaninglessness in light of who God is.
4) The book seems to contradict itself at every turn—which may be
the point.
5) Some have argued that a pious editor added some of the more
positive, God-focused passages, especially near the end, so as to make
it more life and God affirming.
6) The Teacher is an utter realist, yet he will not let God go. A “yes,
but” style
7) Life is transient, futile, and without aim—so, the teacher advises,
you must enjoy life, both in work and play (2:10, 9:7-10, 11:9)
8) A testament to the incredible voices in the Bible—that even an
incredibly skeptical and disturbing book finds itself in the Christian
canon.
A Biblical Hottie: Song of Solomon
1) Also called the Song of Songs and “Canticles” or just “The Song”
2) Basically, the Song is a love poem or a collection of love poem
exchanged between a woman and a man.
3) Often seen by Jews as a love poem between the Jewish people
and God; the church has seen it as a love poem between the church and
God.
4) Both interpretations helped it become part of the Canon.
5) But it also could be simply a secular love poem, in which the
author meant no spiritual meaning at all. Also, might be a sacred
wedding liturgy of some sort, or even as a funeral song, in which love is
affirmed in the face of the finality of death.
6) Often attributed to Solomon, but that is doubted by most
scholars—but, again, attributing it to Solomon helped its entrance into
the canon. Theories have said that it could have been as late 300 BCE
in origin.
7) Incredibly erotic and sexual—startling for some folks—read
chapter 4, verses 4-5, 13, 5:2-6
8) Romantic: 8:6-7
9) Very much a book written from a female perspective.
a. Woman speaks more often than the man
b. Women’s sexuality is celebrated, not controlled
c. Mothers, rather than fathers, are mentioned
