Theological Bites
This is the fifth part of the introduction to the book of Proverbs. When I first attempted an introduction to this book, I have to confess I thought it was a simple task but here I am. In the last presentation, we had begun on the task of looking at Divine Wisdom and the wise men. We started off with the Biblically most celebrated wise man, King Solomon son to king David. I dared an objective evaluation of his life to prove whether the brother had the wisdom that Biblical theology talks or not in that presentation. I will leave the conclusions to each of us.
There are cultures with the same wisdom sayings just like those in the Bible. These sayings are in nature the same as those in the Bible. In fact, some historical quotes could even be delivering more wisdom than individual sayings in the Bible. We need therefore evaluate the distinguishing characteristics of Biblical wisdom from all others.
Wisdom Characteristics
The book of Proverbs is filled with wise sayings. The sayings in there like all other wise-sayings in other sources like those from our indigenous cultures and eastern mysticism like Budha, Krishna, Dalai-lama, Islamic Hadiths, and all the Asian philosophies are pithy sayings. Pithy Sayings could be short wise phrases or even comprehensive statements and stories designed to make readers or listeners contemplate. Every organized culture in the world has such sayings and the purpose was and is to show us how to live life wisely and skillfully.
The book of Proverbs is one that has pithy Jewish sayings about how to live. What makes this Jewish book relevant to all cultures is the scope of the sayings. The topics in the book cover family, death, life, discretion, eating, enemies, the fear of the Lord, the fool, friendship, God, the heart (or mind), the home, the king, knowledge, labor, law, lazy people, love, neighbors, peace, poverty, prayer, pride, riches, righteousness, sex, shame, sin, sleep, soul, spirit, the tongue, trust, the wicked, wine, wisdom, women and words.
What makes the Jewish pithy sayings distinct from other culture’s sayings is not most of them being centred on a deity but the distinct deity that is referenced is what makes these sayings of a better relevance than all others.
Wisdom sayings both in the book of Proverbs and in our cultures have two characteristics that I would like to point out here.
The first is that these wise sayings are not conclusive prescriptions that should be applied without demur (unquestioningly). A casual reading of Proverbs 26:4 and 26:5 would conclude there is a contradiction.
However, the wisdom is that there are circumstances when it is wise to answer a fool according to his folly and there are circumstances when it is not wise to answer a fool according to his folly. The knowledge of when and how to act or respond is wisdom.
The wisdom here is about the quality of goal that you intend by your circumstantial behaviour but not the genius of maneuvering. Wisdom is not following a policy book or applying the law without attending to its spirit. Wisdom is the necessity for a Judge who has listened to a legal right prosecutor and legally right defendant.
Wisdom is not speculative cynicism or curiosity, but instead, wisdom is the essence of things. Wisdom is not what you are trained to do but circumstantial judgments made accordingly. Wisdom is characteristically not a policy but an organic principle of being within the unseen reality of seen realities.
The second characteristic of wisdom in the book of Proverbs is that it is concerned with individuals but not individualism. The wisdom here is concerned with how the unit member of a corporate body should behave not for the good of everyone but for his own good. The wisdom of the world is individualism where one is against all, but the wisdom in the book of Proverbs is you against God (Proverbs 12:2, Galatians 5:16).
Biblical wisdom is not institutional but an individual with their God. Institutionalized wisdom minds the big picture but divine wisdom in man is laser-focused on what I call the major picture.
Big Picture or Major Picture?
I am sure most of us are conversant with the bigger picture but a few of us do understand that there exists something like a major picture even beyond the bigger picture. For instance, the values that our world, in its wisdom, hold today is that oriented towards the public good. The arc-theme of the United Nations (World Organisation) is the unitedness of people (governments) all-over the world for a common good.
The bigger picture looks at the goodness, rightness and beauty of unity. However, the major picture concentrates on what the unifying element is. To what are we uniting for or against? According to the wisdom explained in Biblical pages God the creator and redeemer of this world ought to be the pivot of all creativity and philosophy (Proverbs 1:7; John 17; James 3:14-18).
Bigger picture view wisdom dictates that it doesn’t matter the god a successful person worships, as long as that individual is successful, then whatever gods that individual reveres are therefore the true gods. Proverbs, on the other hand, insists that the fear of Yahweh (Lord) is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). The wisdom of this world in a bigger picture view has concluded that there is no god and if he is he is not who he says he is (Psalm 14:1, 53:1).
In many circumstances, it becomes very difficult to tell the difference between a bigger picture and a major picture. For instance, the idea of democracy dictates that once the majority votes on a thing, it becomes law and an accepted lifestyle. This is what I call the BIGGER PICTURE VIEW of life. However, have we all questioned what if the majority is wrong? Shouldn’t we always look at the minority report as the major picture that we ought to act upon at the expense of the bigger picture?
There is a faint distinguishing line between the two. Only wisdom born out of the fear of the Lord exuberates the faint distinction between a big-picture and a major-picture. Next, I will demonstrate that distinguishing line when I look at the world-renowned philosophers including Jesus Christ.
God bless you I invoke TRUTH, REASON, and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest Isaiah White (+256-793 822833 for further inquiries)
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)
@Think & Become
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 