1.02.01.05 The Wisdom Literature

V. THE WISDOM LITERATURE. A distinct class of literature, to which the name Chokhmah or “Wisdom,” was given, appears toward the end of Old Testament times. It embodies for the most part a gnomic wisdom, a practical and proverbial form of thought. In studying it we have to recognize that it is aided by a certain inspiration, but an inspiration of an inferior order compared with that which fires the enthusiasm of a prophet or that which breathes its sweetest music into the song of a psalmist. It is here, therefore, especially that we have to acknowledge that there are differences of degree and differences of kind to be observed in the inspiration of various parts of the Bible. This is another reason for not quoting “texts” indifferently from various parts of Scripture, as though they were all of equal value. It is not reasonable to set a phrase from Proverbs or Ecclesiastes against one from Isaiah or St. John, as though they were of equal authority. The “ wisdom literature “ is characterized by shrewdness rather than by depth of spiritual insight; it is ethical rather than religious, and its ethics are often of the prudential order and rarely rise to the rank of the highest principles of conduct. This literature is represented in the Old Testament by three books— Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job. The finest works of Jewish. literature outside the canon— the Book of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus— also come into the same category.

1. Proverhs.— The Book of Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings from various sources. How many of them actually have come down from Solomon it is impossible to say. The book itself testifies to a collection made by “the men of Hezekiah” (Pro 25:1), and it closes with two appendices from other sources. The Words of Agur (xxx.) and The Words of King Lemuel (xxxi.). As we know so little of the origin of these aphorisms, they must be taken on their own merits; but this is just what is always expected in the case of a proverb. It may be said that the proverb differs from the law essentially in the source of its authority. The law depends on the authority of the lawgiver, the proverb on its own inherent reasonableness. We must see the proverb, perceive its inherent truth and rightness, if it is to exercise any authority over us. The Book of Proverbs has been censured for what has been regarded as its want of elevation in tone. It walks very soberly on the solid earth; its pages are rarely freshened by the breezes from the everlasting hills that spread life and joy over other books of the Bible. Nay, some of its maxims seem to be positively narrow, worldly, selfish. They have the odor of the market rather than the perfume of the sanctuary. Thus mere self -regarding prudence seems to dictate repeated warnings against suretyship, such, for example, as this: My son, if thou art become surety for thy neighbor,
If thou hast stricken thy hands for a stranger,
Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth.
Thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. — Pro 6:1-2. But now, it cannot be denied that the prudence commended in various ways in the Proverbs is in accordance with the dictates of common sense, and it may be questioned whether on the whole a quixotic disregard of the maxims of common sense does not produce more misery than happiness in the world, and that even among the thriftless people who are indiscriminately assisted, often only to their own ultimate ruin. This question, however, may be left to be discussed by the social economists. When we take the Book of Proverbs as a whole we must admit that it makes for a sound morality. Its advice is in sharp contrast to the sinister principles that seem to regulate the life of men of the world. Were they applied to business affairs to-day they would bring about a perfect revolution, a true cleansing of the “Augean stables.” Here everything is absolutely upright, perfectly straightforward, conceived in strict integrity, scouting all lies and trickery. Is it nothing that we have laid down in this book the rules of a clean, true, honest life? Take, for example, the proverb:

Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity
Than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool.— Pro 19:1. Or this: A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, And loving favor rather than silver and gold.— Pro 22:1. Not a few of the proverbs rise to much higher regions; for example, the words quoted by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Rom 12:19-20, which read more like the teachings of Jesus Christ than an extract from such a book as the Proverbs:

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink, For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, And the Lord shall reward thee. — Pro 25:21-22.

Lastly, in its exaltation of wisdom as the supreme requisite of life the book is continually lifting its readers above base thinking and base living— most strikingly so in the great utterance: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.— Pro 1:7.

2. Ecclesiastes.— This book has little, if any, of the exaltation of tone that emerges so often from among the prudential maxims of the Proverbs. Perhaps no book of the Bible is more unsuitable to be used as a collection of “texts” to be quoted as absolute truths of revelation. The very form of the work forbids this treatment. There is a continuous thread of thought running through it, and we cannot understand the several parts except we read them in the light of the whole. One after another the leading pursuits of life are tried, but always with the same result, that each is discovered to be delusive and disappointing. In every case the verdict is, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” No matter where we turn, to the life of pleasure, to the pursuit of knowledge, to the greed of wealth, to a smug moderation— it is always the same tale, disillusion and disappointment. Nothing can be more melancholy. The book is steeped in pessimism. A new turn is taken in the last two verses, and since we here find a wholesome antidote to all that precedes, some have thought that the pessimism of the body of the book was simply intended to lead up to this noble conclusion, so that, as with the lesson of the parable of the Pearl of Great Price, or the experience St. Augustine narrates in his Confessions, the bitterness of the earlier dissatisfaction is seen to be swallowed up and wiped out in the final attainment. But it is probable that these last verses were added to Ecclesiastes by a later hand, and are not to be reckoned as an integral part of the work. If so, the book as it came from its author is pessimistic from beginning to end. Then it can only be read as a study of one mournful phase of life. Taken in this way it has a certain warning value.

3. Job.— This great poem magnificent in its language and noble in many of its ideas, belongs essentially to the “wisdom literature” because it is a sort of theodicy, “justifying the ways of God to man.” It is cast in the form of a drama— not, indeed, that it was intended to be acted; the theater was unknown to the Jew of ancient times, and there is very little action in the poem; but it is in the form of dialogue with a background of events.

Now this needs to be recognized in studying the book or any portion of it. We cannot take its various phrases by themselves; we must note in each case who the speaker is and what position he is intended to represent. Thus we have not only to take account of the real personality of the writer, as in the case of other books of the Bible; we have also to consider the imaginary personality of each of the characters in the drama. It would be very absurd to take the cruel falsehoods of Iago for the sober opinions of Shakespeare, or the cynical suggestions of Mephistopheles as representing the personal convictions of Goethe; and it would be no less absurd to quote harsh phrases from the speeches of Eliphaz the Temanite, B Idad the Shuhite, or Zophar the Naamathite, as simply so many “texts of Scripture,” to be received on authority as parts of “God’s word.” When we reach Elihu we seem to perceive that the author has more sympathy with the language of this new character— a character which some believe to have been added by a later writer. Though he is conceited and pretentious, the clever young man gives utterance to some truly great thoughts, which commend them-selves to us on their own merits. Still, while free from the prejudices that entangle the three miserable “comforters,” Elihu also comes under condemnation at last, and Job, too, is rebuked for his presumption and impatience. Therefore the only part of the book that can be taken as setting forth absolute truth is that in which God is represented as speaking, and even there the language is adjusted to the whole situation and can only be fau4y appreciated when that situation is first considered. The Revised Version is a great help in the study of the Book of Job. But even with the best translation in our hands we are troubled at times with the obscurities of this very difficult book. Still, if it be read right through and the distinction between the several speakers carefully observed, so that each speech falls into its proper place, we must be struck with the grandeur of the whole poem, one of the finest poems in the world’s literature. Read in this way, too, the book cannot fail- to suggest thoughts of profound significance on the terrible problem of evil and the profound mystery of providence.