INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOKS OF POETRY AND WISDOM

Duane A. Garrett

T he Bible is not a manual of religious teachings like the Baptist Faith and Message, the Westminster Confession of Faith or the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church. It is the Word of God as it has come to us through the experiences of the people of God. It expresses all the emotions of the life of faith, and it deals with many areas of experience that might seem mundane and unspiritual.

This is nowhere more true than in its poetic and wisdom literature. The Psalms express every emotion the believer encounters in life, be it praise and love for God, anger at those who practice violence and deceit, personal grief and confusion, or appreciation for God’s truth. Proverbs not only examines moral issues, but it also helps us deal with the ordinary matters of life, such as indebtedness and work habits. Song of Songs celebrates the joy of love between man and woman. Job and Ecclesiastes make us face our most profound questions and thereby bring us to a more genuine faith in God. In sum, all these books deal with real life.

David, who wrote the most delightful of Israel’s songs (2Sm 23:1), composed approximately half of the 150 psalms. David’s psalms became the standard followed by others, thereby imprinting a Davidic character to the entire book. Other authors include Asaph (twelve), the sons of Korah (ten), Solomon (two), Moses (one), Heman (one), and Ethan (one). Approximately forty-eight psalms are anonymous.

Traditionally, we speak of Psalms and Song of Songs as being the books of biblical poetry and Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes as biblical wisdom. These five books will be the focus of this section. Other Old Testament (OT) books, however, share many of the features of poetic and wisdom books. Lamentations is essentially a collection of psalms of lament. Psalms are also found in the prophets (for example, Jnh 2; Hab 3). Ruth, Esther, and Daniel have much more in common with wisdom literature than the casual reader might realize. In the Apocrypha, Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon imitate the wisdom features of their biblical counterparts. Even the New Testament has a few psalms (Lk 1:46-55,68-79) and proverbs (Ac 20:35; 1Co 15:33).

The five books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs still give us the best examples of how we should read biblical hymns, songs, proverbs, and reflections. This in turn allows us to see how wisdom and poetry have affected the rest of the Bible.

LITERARY DEVICES OF HEBREW POETRY AND WISDOM

What gave rise to the wide variety of songs, proverbs, and theological reflection we see in this literature? The OT was not written in a cultural or literary vacuum. Many of the motifs and features of Egyptian, Canaanite, and Mesopotamian literature are found in the OT, especially in the poetic and wisdom passages. Some of the most common are the following.

Parallelism is a device in which one line of poetry is followed by a second that in some way reiterates or reinforces the first. Several types of parallelism are found. In synonymous parallelism the second line says the same thing in the same word order as the first line; only the vocabulary differs. For example: “A false witness will not go unpunished, / and one who utters lies will not escape” (Pr 19:5). See also Ps 114:8: “Who turned the rock into a pool, / the flint into a spring.” In antithetic parallelism the second line often reinforces the first by stating the same thought from a negative perspective. For example, “A gentle answer turns away anger, / but a harsh word stirs up wrath” (Pr 15:1). With synthetic parallelism the second line is not actually parallel to the first, but it reinforces the idea expressed by adding a reason or explanation. For example: “Start a youth out on his way; / even when he grows old he will not depart from it” (Pr 22:6); “Stay away from a foolish person; / you will gain no knowledge from his speech” (Pr 14:7).

In chiasm the second line mirrors and thus reinforces the first by reversing the sequence of words or phrases. For example, Proverbs 2:4 in the Hebrew word order reads, “If you look for it [A] as for silver [B] and as for hidden treasure [Bʼ] search for it [Aʼ]” (author’s translation). The word order of the second line [Bʼ-Aʼ] is the reverse of the first [A-B].

Parallelism and chiasm also occur on a much larger scale. Entire chapters or even entire books can be constructed in parallel or chiastic fashion, in which whole blocks of text parallel one another. In some chiasms there is a central element, X, so it takes the following form: A B X Bʼ Aʼ. X is the key idea or assertion in such a structure.

Other literary patterns are also found. Numeric proverbs enumerate a number of items or occurrences that share a common characteristic. For example: “The Lord hates six things, / in fact, seven are detestable to him: / arrogant eyes, / a lying tongue . . .” (Pr 6:16-19).

In an acrostic poem each line or section begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet; the first begins with aleph, the second with beth, the third with gimel, and so forth. The twenty-two stanzas of Psalm 119, the Bible’s largest acrostic, have eight verses for each consecutive Hebrew letter.

Rhetorical Devices are also found. The language of biblical poetry and wisdom is meant to make it entertaining and easy to remember. The Hebrew text contains rhyme, alliteration (repetition of initial sounds), and even puns. Simile, a comparison using like or as, also occurs frequently (Ps 131:2; Pr 25:25). One can also find sarcastic humor (Pr 11:22; 19:24) as well as paradox, a statement contrary to common sense that is nevertheless true (Pr 25:15).

In a society in which multiple copies of a literary document would come at a premium, memorization was the medium in which the document was “published.” Most of the literary devices of Hebrew poetry and wisdom served well the memorization of and careful reflection on sacred content.

DISTINCTIVES OF HEBREW WISDOM LITERATURE

While poetry and wisdom literature from the nations outside Israel provide a historical and literary context for wisdom, these ancient Near Eastern texts do not define biblical wisdom or tell us how it functions in the canon. To understand the message and outlook of wisdom in the Bible, we must compare Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes to the other OT books.

On close examination, Wisdom literature differs from the rest of the canon in profound ways. We can describe the other books as “election literature” because they all focus on God’s election of Israel. Election literature includes the following material: accounts of God’s choice of Israel and his purposes for Israel (as in Gn 12:1-3), the story of Israel (the OT narrative), descriptions of how God expects Israel to behave (the laws), God’s messages to Israel (the Prophets), and Israel’s response in prayer and song (Psalms and Lamentations). The election literature thus includes all of the OT except Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and perhaps Song of Songs, a book in a class by itself.

When we compare election literature to Wisdom, a number of differences stand out.

1. Wisdom literature does not delve into the history, significance, purpose, or future of the election of Israel.

2. Salvation history is at the center of the election literature, but Wisdom literature is ahistorical. It has its origin in ancient Israel but does not concern itself with its historical narrative. The story of Job is entirely separate from Israel’s salvation history.

3. Biblical wisdom is universal in scope. It never suggests that its teachings apply only to Israelites.

4. Torah (the Pentateuch) describes the stipulations of the Sinai Covenant between God and Israel. Although it is profoundly moral, it also has stipulations that are somewhat arbitrary—such as the rules that govern Israelite sacrifice. Wisdom, on the other hand, recognizes that behavior such as sexual immorality, laziness, violence, and deceit distort the soul and lead to ruin because they contradict the pattern by which God made the world and humanity. In Torah, proper behavior—including moral, judicial, priestly, and kosher matters—is determined by God’s commands under the covenant; this is quite apart from any justification provided by the structure of the world.

5. Much of Torah is concerned with sanctuary or priestly matters, with kosher laws, and with purification rituals. Biblical wisdom never deals with these matters. If Wisdom literature mentions a place of worship, it uses generic language such as “house of God” and does not speak of the Israelite central sanctuary (Ec 5:1).

6. Proverbs concerns itself with matters of behavior that are neither theological nor ethical but concern social interaction.

7. The quintessential sin of election literature is idolatry. Biblical wisdom does not mention idolatry at all.

8. Although the ideals behind Torah are eternal, the Sinai Covenant itself is temporary and subject to termination (Jr 31:31-32). Biblical wisdom, as described in Proverbs, teaches timeless principles that have no end date. These stipulations remain valid even if Israel is in diaspora, the temple is razed to the ground, and the priesthood of Aaron is no more. Many of the rules of Torah are rendered moot by the condition of exile.

9. The election literature provides for forgiveness of sin individually (as in Ps 51) and for Israel as a nation (as in Jr 31:34). By contrast, Lady Wisdom offers instruction but no forgiveness. She even mocks those who embrace folly but then turn and call on her (Pr 1:25-28; cp. Ps 86:5). Of course, Wisdom literature does not deny that God can forgive (Jb 5:8-27; 42:7-9). But wisdom as such has no forgiveness. This only makes sense. Lady Wisdom is the personification of prudent behavior. The only outcome for failure to heed wisdom is calamity. God can forgive sin, but the consequences of reckless behavior are in an entirely different category. Forgiveness is not an issue there.

None of this is to suggest that Wisdom literature opposes election literature or offers an alternative to it. Wisdom explores human life from a different but compatible perspective. It is a complementary body of texts.

VARIETIES OF HEBREW WISDOM LITERATURE

In the Bible, “wisdom” broadly falls into three categories. First, there is wisdom in the sense of skills and capabilities. Examples include skill in working with fabric or with metals and jewels (Ex 28:3; 31:1-5; 35:26), in waging war (Is 10:13), and in seamanship (Ps 107:23-27). These texts all describe skills as “wisdom,” although this is not always evident in English translation. Wisdom literature says little about this sense of “wisdom,” although it does affirm that such skills are valuable (Pr 22:29).

Second, there is wisdom as “prudence,” the pursuit of a good and wholesome life. This is the focus of Proverbs, and it arises from the fact that God created us. As described above, this includes both moral behavior and the development of skills for interacting within society. The wise woman of Tekoa (2Sm 14:2) had the latter wisdom. Prudence is readily available to all who will receive it. Lady Wisdom stands in the streets, shouting at the top of her lungs, trying to get people to turn to her and embrace her teaching (Pr 1:20-22; 8:1-5).

Third, there is a wisdom that belongs to God alone. It is his hidden counsel, whereby he directs human affairs and achieves his purposes in ways that may seem radically counterintuitive. This wisdom is not accessible to humans. People can come to know it only when God chooses to reveal it. Job 28 describes this wisdom. It is hidden from all, and no amount of effort spent digging into creation can unearth it. In the book of Job, the hero and his three friends try to make sense of what seems inscrutable, that a righteous man should suffer calamitous and apparently final ruin. But Job and the three operate only in the second category of wisdom and have no understanding of God’s hidden purposes. This highest type of wisdom is also the focus of 1 Corinthians 1:20-25. Christ crucified, the wisdom of God, is to the human mind incomprehensible; it appears to be folly.

We can succinctly summarize the three books of Wisdom literature as follows.

Proverbs teaches the basic principles of wisdom. It addresses the young man on the brink of making decisions that will follow him all his life. It focuses on the second type of wisdom described above. It is “Wisdom 101,” the basic rules that everyone should know. It describes unchanging principles for living a wholesome and honorable life, but it does not delve into the complex problems that challenge such principles.

By contrast, Job and Ecclesiastes do address such problems. They are complex books, addressing sages and not novices. Job contemplates the problems of theodicy, such as the uneven distribution of suffering and success in the world. How is it, if the basic principles of Proverbs are true, that we see so many examples of immoral people thriving and prospering, while others who are surely no worse and are often much better, suffer miserable lives of depredation? The book of Job wrestles with this by considering the case of a man whom God afflicted not because of his sin but because of his righteousness.

Ecclesiastes reflects on the brevity and apparent insignificance of human life. Against the certainty of death and the passing of time, it considers all of the standard human achievements—wisdom, wealth, and power—to be meaningless.

Both Job and Ecclesiastes ultimately look to the third type of wisdom. Neither book tells us explicitly what God’s hidden purpose is, but both assert that even if we remain in the dark about what God is doing, we can still show ourselves wise by fearing him and turning from evil (Jb 28:28; Ec 12:13).

Biblical poetry and wisdom are at the same time both great literature and the eternal Word of God. It intrigues and delights us even as it rebukes and instructs. For the reader who gives due attention to these songs and lessons, “they will be a garland of favor on your head and pendants around your neck” (Pr 1:9).