We are currently preparing to begin a series of sermons on Proverbs here at Immanuel (www.immauelchurchdublin.org). Proverbs, the book of Psalms and the books of Job and Ecclesiastes make up what is known as the corpus of “wisdom literature” within the Bible.
The book of Proverbs and the Psalms contain a multitude of commands for daily life. Generally speaking, the commands are clear. Over and over again, a God-centred way of life is presented as true wisdom. The way to live such a life is to obey the will of God revealed in his Word. The only alternative to this way of life is the way of the fool. The foolish person ignores the counsel of God and walks according to his own designs and intentions.
As the Psalms and Proverbs progress, it is made clear that only the wise can live a life filled with blessing. On the other hand, the foolish can only hope for a life pierced with misery and hardship. The wise and the foolish life are continually set in opposition to one another. The writers of Proverbs and the psalmists continually admonish the reader to obey God in order to enjoy his blessing. The reader is constantly warned to avoid the pitfalls of a foolish life.
The Psalms and Proverbs are filled therefore with commands that fit into a general pattern: Obey God and experience blessing; disobey God and endure misery and difficulty. Psalm 1, for example, reads:
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
The wise man is like a tree planted by streams of water; whatever he does will prosper. Not so the wicked; they are like chaff the wind scatters away. This clear motif in psalm 1 is echoed through the remaining 149 psalms.
The contrast between the folly of the wicked and the blessedness of the righteous is even stronger in Proverbs. Again and again, we read verses like the following in chapter 1:
20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street,
she raises her voice in the public squares;
21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out,
in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:
22 "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
23 If you had responded to my rebuke,
I would have poured out my heart to you
and made my thoughts known to you.
24 But since you rejected me when I called
and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
25 since you ignored all my advice
and would not accept my rebuke,
26 I in turn will laugh at your disaster;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you-
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
28 "Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me.
29 Since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the LORD,
30 since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,
31 they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm."
Whoever listens to wisdom and accepts godly counsel will live in safety but calamity will overtake those who despise the counsel of God. The book of Proverbs makes this very clear indeed. The equation is simple: obey God and be blessed; despise God and suffer.
But, is the equation really so straight-forward as all that? Is the reality of life really so simple? Is it not much more complex? Honestly, when we match up the commands and promises of Proverbs with the reality of life, do we not encounter a broad disparity? All around us, we see the evil and the wicked prosper whilst the good, wise and noble people are often made to suffer terribly. The justice that Proverbs promises us is rarely apparent in our day-to-day lives. And there’s the rub: why do bad things happen to good, honourable and God-fearing people whilst evil-doers prosper and flourish?
It is these very questions that the other two books of wisdom literature pick up on and examine. In the book of Job, we encounter a noble, upstanding and God-fearing man who is made to suffer terribly. On the basis of what must be a shallow reading of Proverbs, his friends come to him and insist that there must be some secret evil in his life. There must be some unconfessed sin; otherwise God would not be dealing with him so severely. And so, in the book of Job we are brought face-to-face with the awful mystery; a good and holy man is made to suffer and the wisdom of his friends utterly fails to bring them (or Job) closer to understanding precisely why. Only the evil suffer; the wise honour God and so should only experience fullness and blessing.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, we meet the Teacher who surveys all of life; human commerce, the endless search for knowledge, civilisation, love and death. In the end, he is moved to confess that all is “vanity and a striving after wind”:
"Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless" (Ecclesiastes 1.2)
Life is meaningless says the Teacher. There is no rhyme or reason to life; no end or goal. Everything is meaningless. We toil and struggle our whole life long; seeking wisdom, wealth or reputation, gleaning knowledge and what little pleasure our lot in life permits us. In the end,
"There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow" (Ecclesiastes 1.11)
Once dead, we are swiftly forgotten by the world. None of us will be remembered by those who follow. Everything is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Job and Ecclesiastes examine the human condition in all of its absurdity and frailty; acknowledging the path of wisdom plotted in the book of Proverbs, but wondering at the agonising questions it cannot resolve.
And so, the riddle of human existence and the attendant miseries of suffering and death are in tension with the affirmation of a good, wise and all-loving God. Can the tension be resolved? Can humankind chance upon the wisdom and the insight that will bring resolution to this awful existential tension at the heart of human existence?
The wisdom literature of the Old Testament seemingly leaves us with these unresolved paradoxes that no human being can properly answer. Indeed, there is no human wisdom that is up to the task of answering these taxing questions at the heart of existence. The best of human wisdom, personified in Job’s friends, was woefully ill-fitted to bring a satisfying answer that would comfort their suffering friend.
The vexing questions that hover over the content of the Old Testament wisdom literature are only answered ultimately by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians: Christ crucified is the wisdom of God revealed. Human acumen, learning and insight could never bring us a thorough and satisfying answer to the riddle and paradox at the heart of existence. In the Person of Christ, in his life, his crucifixion, his death and resurrection, God has finally answered the riddle of the ages. The wisdom of God long sought after has been manifested perfectly in the Person of Jesus:
“…Christ Jesus, who has become to us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1.30)
Christ Jesus has become for us the wisdom that for so long eluded the Hebrew sages of old and for which every human heart gropes after in the midst of the agony and pain of life. The supreme manifestation of the wisdom of God, says Paul, is Christ crucified:
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength” (1 Corinthians 1.18-25)
The world through its wisdom did not know God. The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom. The foolishness of God is Christ crucified; wisdom supreme above all human thought and speculation.
In a very real sense, the cross of Jesus is anticipated in the tensions encountered in the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. The anguished questions unresolved in Job and Ecclesiastes are answered finally upon Golgotha. Divine wisdom is finally and supremely manifested in the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. The wisdom the Teacher sought after in vain and the wisdom Job cried out for in his baffled anguish has been revealed to us finally in the Person of Jesus Christ and the awful cross he bore.
And so we are brought back once again to the enourmity of the atonement event. In the next post, I’m hoping to include some reflections from Leon Morris’ excellent book, The Cross of Jesus, which touches on many of the themes we have briefly examined here.
Until then –
The Scribbling Apprentice.
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