Proverbial wisdom

A proverb is a succinct and memorable statement containing advice, a warning, a prediction or an analytical observation. King Solomon is credited in the Bible with writing an entire book of Proverbs based on the wisdom that God gave him through his experience of life.

1 Kings 4. 32-34 tells us that:

“God gave Solomon wisdom—the deepest of understanding and the largest of hearts. There was nothing beyond him, nothing he couldn't handle. Solomon's wisdom outclassed the vaunted wisdom of wise men of the East, outshone the famous wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, wiser than Heman, wiser than Calcol and Darda the sons of Mahol. He became famous among all the surrounding nations. He created 3,000 proverbs; his songs added up to 1,005. He knew all about plants, from the huge cedar that grows in Lebanon to the tiny hyssop that grows in the cracks of a wall. He understood everything about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Sent by kings from all over the earth who had heard of his reputation, people came from far and near to listen to the wisdom of Solomon.”

Solomon’s reputation rested not only on his own brilliance but also his patronage of learning and the arts. The Queen of Sheba, who visited him because of his reputation for wisdom, was just one of a stream of visitors who poured into Israel to hear him and put him to the test, and from whom he learned as well. He and his wise men culled the wisdom of the east, but incorporated nothing that was not in line with God’s standards.

The book of Proverbs begins by setting out what wisdom is for:

“These are the wise sayings of Solomon,
David's son, Israel's king—
Written down so we'll know how to live well and right,
to understand what life means and where it's going;
A manual for living,
for learning what's right and just and fair;
To teach the inexperienced the ropes
and give our young people a grasp on reality.
There's something here also for seasoned men and women,
still a thing or two for the experienced to learn—
Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate,
the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women.”

Wisdom, in the Old Testament, tends to be the voice of reflection and experience, rather than of bare command or preaching. Through Wisdom, we are persuaded, even teased, into seeing a connection between God’s order in the world and his orders to human beings. That includes the absurdity or foolishness of going against the grain of God’s creation.

Then Proverbs gives us the key to wisdom. “Start with God,” it says, “the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.” Or in other translations, “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”

The ‘fear of God’ is the starting point of Proverbs and the pivot of all Wisdom literature in the Bible. Secular philosophy tends to measure everything by human beings, and comes to doubt whether wisdom is to be found at all. But the Old Testament with this motto – ‘the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom’ – turns the world the right way up, with God at its head, his wisdom the creative and ordering principle that runs through every part; and human beings, disciplined and taught by that wisdom, finding life and fulfilment in his perfect will. Knowledge in its full sense is a relationship with God, dependent or revelation or wisdom and inseparable from character or discipline.

So how can be we best use the proverbs and wisdom that we are given in the Bible? It is important to bear in mind that proverbs are by nature generalisations. They state what is generally true, not invariably true. The writers do not deny that there are exceptions. But exceptions are not within the scope of proverbial sayings. For instance, Proverbs states that those who live by God’s standards will prosper in the world. This is generally the truth (and we have statistical evidence today about the health and general well-being of churchgoers to back this up). But it is not an ‘unconditional’ promise, as the example of Job and the life of Jesus clearly show us.

So, these proverbs are not a set of commands or laws that must be followed to the letter in order that we benefit from wisdom. Instead, they are given to persuade us or tease us into seeing a connection between God’s order in the world and his orders to human beings. The style of the proverbs is to provoke thought, getting under the skin by thrusts of wit, paradox, common sense, and teasing symbolism. They are a bit like the parables of Jesus, something to make us think about life rather than being a set of clear and simple instructions to follow.

As a result, it is good to digest or study them a few saying at a time, weighing one saying against another and getting an idea of the general teaching on a particular topic. One resource that I have which helps in doing this is a calendar which has a different proverb for each day together with a very brief relational reflection on that day’s proverb. This calendar is also available as a screensaver for your computer, so could be downloaded to your pc at work as a reminder to you and your work colleagues of God’s values in public and private life.

That brings me on to another aspect of these proverbs that they are for the whole of life. There is no separation of the public and private or the sacred and the secular when it comes to the proverbs and wisdom in the Bible. Proverbs applies the principles of God’s teaching to: relationships, home, work, justice, decisions, attitudes, reactions, everything we do and say and think.

Proverbs 1. 20-21 says:

“Wisdom goes out in the street and shouts.
At the town centre she makes her speech.
In the middle of the traffic she takes her stand.
At the busiest corner she calls out.”

This open proclamation, made above the noise of the market, shows that the offer of wisdom is for the person in the street, it is for the business of living. So, for the Bible’s wisdom to really make sense we have to take and use it in everyday life; to apply to our Monday to Saturday lives rather than keeping it bottled up on Sundays alone. As Amy Carmichael prayed, “Holy Spirit, think through me till your ideas are my ideas.”

Lord Jesus, who as a child did learn and grow in wisdom: enable us to learn from your Word in such a way that we will walk in your ways and daily grow more like you, who are our Saviour and our Lord. Amen.

(Use made of material from The Lion Handbook to the Bible)

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Leigh Nash & Jars of Clay - With Every Breath.