Proverbial poetry: its settings and syntax
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and contrasts the portrayal of ma'at as a goddess with the "personification" of Wisdom in theophoric terms in Proverbs 8.3 Ptahhotep concludes his instruction, noting the importance of ma'at: I had one hundred and ten years of life As gift of the king, Honors exceeding those of the ancestors, By doing justice [ma'at] for the king, Until the state of veneration.4
been disturbed since the day of its creator, whereas he who transgresses its ordinances is punished. It lies as a path in front even of him who knows nothing. Wrongdoing [?] has never yet brought its venture to ____________________ 1Michael V. Fox, "Aspects of the Religion of the Book of Proverbs," HUCA 39 (1968):58. 2Jerry A. Gladson, "Retributive Paradoxes in Proverbs 10-29" (Ph.D. dissertation, Vanderbilt University, 1978), p. 69; J. A. Emerton, "Wisdom," in
Clarendon Press, 1979), p. 215; and von Rad, Wisdom in Israel, pp. 72, 153. Act with inherent consequence is another way of looking at this phenomenon. 3von Rad, Wisdom in Israel, pp. 72, 153. 4Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 1:76; W. L. Humphreys, "The Motif of the Wise Courtier in the Old Testament," (Ph.D. dissertation, Union Theological Seminary, 1970), pp. 54-56. port. It is true that evil may gain wealth but the strength of truth is that it lasts . . . .1 The term ma'at occurs only once in the "Instructions of Onchsheshonqy," where it specifies that ma'at may be communicated between individuals and that one's speech (as well as one's actions) is to be conformed to ma'at. Indeed, human language was one way in which the wise man ordered his world and communicated to his students, whom he advised to live in harmony with this order.2 So the proverb of Onchsheshonqy exhorts: Speak truth [ma'at] to all men; let it cleave to your speech.3 Regularity was dominant in Egypt due to the predictable cycles found in their environment. Thus, the geographical conditions afforded a sense of security which is reflected in their wisdom literature.4 One should not think of Egyptian wisdom as an impersonal, deterministic, mechanical order, but, rather, that this order was maintained and dictated by the will of ____________________ 1Waltke, "The Book of Proverbs and Ancient Wisdom Literature," p. 233, trans. in Frankfort, Ancient Egyptian Religion, p. 62. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 1:64, sec. 5. 2B. Gemser, "The Spiritual Structure of Biblical Aphoristic Wisdom," in SAIW, pp. 211, 216. 3Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 3:169; cf. Gemser, "The Instructions of 'Onchsheshonqy and Biblical Wisdom Literature," in SAIW, p. 150.
the gods. So Amenemope writes: The Ape sits by the balance, His heart is in the plummet; Where is a god as great as Thoth, Who invented these things and made them? Do not make for yourself deficient weights, They are rich in grief through the might of god. (Amen. 17:22-18:5)1
concepts of security, the created order's being derived from the gods, and man's responsibility to live in harmony with that order are analogous to the Egyptian notion of ma'at.2 Israelite Wisdom and Ma'at The connection of this ma'at principle to Israelite wisdom is only natural. The portrayal of Dame wisdom in theophoric terms finds strong parallels with Egypt's ma'at, who finds her existence as a darling among the gods.3 As in Egypt, the Israelite wise man, through observing the world order, was able to describe where God would reward and where punishment would result for actions ____________________ 1Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 2:156-57. Cf. E. W. Heaton, Solomon's New Men, p. 120; also cf. Prov 11:1.
Biblical Theology (Part One)," pp. 315-16; and Perdue, Wisdom and Cult, p. 92. 3Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom, p. 98; also Crenshaw, "Prolegomenon," in SAIW, p. 25. not in harmony with the prescribed order. Thus, the "righteous," who harmonize with the order, are blessed (Prov 10:2, 3, 6, 25), but the "wicked" are faced with calamity (Prov 10:3, 6, 25) and an abbreviated life-span (Prov 10:27).1 Brueggemann emphasizes the fact that wisdom calls man to make responsible choices, by which one fixes his destiny (Prov 18:21; 21:21; 24:16).2 The connection between act and consequence is well observed in wisdom (Prov 25:23; 26:20).3 Order presents itself not only in the cosmological and ethical realms, but also the societal order must be observed, if one will secure his existence. So Zimmerli comments:
itself into a scale of value within which every entity has its place, from the immensity of God who is acknowledged as the highest value (even God's inscrutability is so ordered in e.g. 16:33; 20:24; just the same as the king's calculability is figured in 25:3) down to the minute values of good fortune belonging to petty life (joy, satisfaction, happy countenance etc.). Therefore, it is the wise man's business to have this scale of values readily at hand.4 ____________________ 1Nel, The Structure and Ethos, pp. 109-11. Cf. Walther Zimmerli, "The Place and Limit of the Wisdom in the Framework of the Old Testament Theology," SJT 17.2 (1964):154. 2Brueggemann, In Man We Trust, pp. 20-22. 3Humphreys, "The Motif of the Wise Courtier," p. 155.
4Walther Zimmerli, "Concerning the Structure of Old Testament Wisdom," in SAIW, p. 198. God not only is the founder of this order but also, as reflected in the motivational clauses, is the one who upholds it (Prov 22:23, 11; 24:12, 18, 22).1 Kovacs has done a brilliant job of organizing and analyzing the social order as it manifests itself in Proverbs.2 He develops a concept which he labels as a person's "demesne," by which he means:
particular person, being, institution or effect would have influence or power. One's demesne is what one can control.3 The demesne is the specification of the boundaries of one's personal control and the wise man must know how to live within his demesne without violating particularly the demesne of those who are over him (Prov 20:2; 21:1; 22:7; 25:2, 6, 8).4 Thus, a hierarchy is developed--with Yahweh
____________________ 1von Rad, Wisdom in Israel, pp. 90-91. 2Brian Kovacs, "Sociological-Structural Constraints Upon Wisdom: The Spatial and Temporal Matrix of Proverbs 15:28-22:16" (Ph.D. dissertation, Vanderbilt University, 1978). 3Ibid., p. 393. 4Ibid., pp. 362, 441-42, 456. Dundes, dealing with Yoruba proverbs, states that, "One important aspect of Yoruba child training has to do with teaching the child the proper sets of relationships to be maintained between himself and his parents, his siblings, members of his lineage, and unrelated elders." He also notes proverbs dealing with the relationship between the parents and the children: "If a man beats his child with his right hand, he should draw him to himself with his left" and "The offspring of an elephant cannot become a dwarf; the offspring of an elephant is like the elephant" (Alan at the top, followed by the king, the aristocrat, the wise, the righteous, the ignorant, the foolish and the wicked--thereby manifesting various diminishing spheres of power which must be prioritized and observed.1 The biblical wise man discerningly scrutinizes the limits of his demesne, which results in behavioral modification if he perceives that a demesne over him may be violated by his actions. So he writes:
note well what is put before you, and put a knife to your throat, if you are given to gluttony. (Prov 23:1-2) The demesne of Yahweh is all-encompassing. Therefore, He, above all else, is to be feared (Prov 1:7, 29; 8:13). Note that the king is also to be feared (Prov 24:21). Cautions and Caveats Several writers have looked askance upon reading a ma'at approach mutatis mutandis into the Old Testament wisdom literature. God and man are not bound by the world order in Israel, but, rather, the Creator Himself, by His character, which is manifested in His creation, binds man, while He Himself is left free and sovereign to act (Prov ____________________ Dundes, Analytic Essays in Folklore [The Hague: Mouton, 1975], pp. 38, 40). 1Kovacs, "Sociological-Structural Constraints," pp. 418, 517. 16:1, 9, 33; 20:24; 21:1, 30-31).1 Murphy animadverts upon the ma'at model, suggesting that the term "order" is too inert and mechanical to capture the relationship between God and wisdom in the wisdom literature of Israel. Rather, the term should describe the fact that "Israel encountered the creator in her experience of daily events."2 J. Harvey calls wisdom "cosmodynamic," which seems to be a very apt way of viewing the bulk of proverbial material.3 Fontaine makes an interesting critique which could be applied to the understanding of Egyptian instructions as well as to the biblical proverbs: "The traditional saying gives linguistic expression to the operational categories of the culture; their function is not so much to discover some pre-existent 'world order' as it is to create and consolidate (cultural) order."4 Such salubrious cautions need to be explored further, both in biblical studies and in Egyptian materials. This writer ____________________ 1Emerton, "Wisdom," p. 217; Wurthwein, "Egyptian Wisdom and the Old Testament," p. 131; and Nel, The Structure and Ethos, p. 104. 2Roland E. Murphy, "Israel's Wisdom: A Biblical Model of Salvation," Studia Missionalia 30 (1981):41; and Murphy, "Wisdom and Yahwism," p. 120.
(Part One)," p. 311. 4Carol R. Fontaine, "The Use of the Traditional Saying in the Old Testament" (Ph.D. dissertation, Duke University, 1979), p. 299. Cf. also Kovacs, "Sociological-Structural Constraints," p. 63. is not convinced that the view of ma'at in Egypt was as mechanistic as has been intimated by some who desire to separate Egyptian and Israelite conceptions. The ma'at approach properly places its emphasis on the notions of the righteous/wicked, wise man/foolish man, and the fear of God/fear of king, which permeate the text of Proverbs.1 One wonders whether perspectives on wisdom theology may benefit from the linguistic distinction between synchronic and diachronic. Wisdom looks at the world order in a descriptively synchronical fashion. It focuses its attention phenomenologically on the present order of things, diachronically assuming the creation, covenant and character of the Creator and Maintainer of that order, who Himself provides the paradigm of how that order is to function in moral and social realms.
theology, as it approaches the wisdom texts, is the impression encapsulated by Zimmerli: "Wisdom has no relation to the history between God and Israel."2 ____________________
also vid. Nel, The Structure and Ethos, pp. 6, 108. 2Walther Zimmerli, "The Place and Limit of the Wisdom in the Framework of the Old Testament Theology," p. 315. This had been noticed long before, by Walter Baumgartner, in his work, Israelitische und altorientalishche Weisheit, Sammlung Gemeinverstandlicher Numerous other scholars have also pointed to this apparent "parenthesis" in the Heilsgeschichte principle, which dominates the historical and prophetic materials.1 Nel notes that "Not one admonition in Proverbs is motivated with reference to the history of salvation."2 This tension has resulted in a variety of responses. Some, such as H. D. Preuss, conclude that wisdom, because of its lack of salvation history, is devoid of inspiration and on par with pagan texts.3 Brueggemann "solves" the problem by engineering two "histories," each motivated by a different memory. The first is the Mosaic-covenant, which portrays God's spectacular intrusions into history. The second is the Davidic-royal, which highlights God's ____________________ Vortrage und Schriften aus dem Gebiet der Theologie und Religionsgeschichte, vol. 166 (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1933), pp. 1-2, and later, in Baumgartner's article, "The Wisdom Literature," in The Old Testament and Modern Study:
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), p. 211. 1Murphy, "Israel's Wisdom," p. 13; Bernhard W. Anderson, Understanding the Old Testament (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966), p. 490; Robert C. Hill, "The Dimensions of Salvation History in the Wisdom Books," CBQ 19 (October 1967):98; C. Hasel Bullock, An
Burdett, "Wisdom Literature and the Promise Doctrine," p. 2.
alttestamentlicher Weisheitsliteratur," EvT 30 (1970):393-417.
maintain that order.1 Others will opt for an evolution within wisdom, from a non-Israelite, secular outlook to a later assimilation or theologization of Heilsgeschichte motifs into that tradition. This becomes particularly noticeable in later wisdom texts, such as Ben Sirach (Sir 44-49 and its relationship to the law, Sir 1:26; 19:20; 24:23).2 Two proposals, both of which move in the right direction, are: (1) Toombs' attempt to use the salvation portrayed in Proverbs as the basis of a connection with salvation history (cf. Prov 2:1-5, 12, 15, 20; and also 10:2)3 and (2) an emphasis on creation/order theology, which provides a better base by rooting wisdom in God's mighty acts and character, which are demonstrated by ____________________ 1Walter A. Brueggemann, "The Epistemological Crisis of Israel's Two Histories (Jer 9:22-23)," in Israelite Wisdom: Theological and Literary Essays in Honor of Samuel Terrien, ed. J. G. Gammie et al. (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1978), p. 86. The obvious problem with his artificial model is the relationship between wisdom and the cult in such histories. 2Coert J. Rylaarsdam, Revelation in Jewish Wisdom Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1946), p. 20.
3Toombs, "O.T. Theology and the Wisdom Literature," p. 194; also vid. Zimmerli, "Concerning the Structure of Old Testament Wisdom," p. 206, where he examines salvific vocabulary in Proverbs (nsl: 6:3,5; 11:4; nsr 2:8, 11; 4:6; mlt 11:21; 19:5; also the emphasis on sin and punishment and obedience and "life"). His creating and maintaining the cosmic order.1 H. H. Schmid qualifies this discussion on wisdom's ahistorical outlook. He suggests that wisdom is historically sensitive along individual lines.2 Loader develops this point by stressing the importance of time and situation in the wisdom literature (Eccl 3:1-8; Prov 10:5; 24:27).3 Reid, in an overly acrid stereotype, portrays a salvation history methodology as a "god of the gaps" approach. Similarly, Brueggemann objects to the tunnel perspective of seeing history as a record of God's intrusions, thereby accentuating the discontinuities in history, rather than seeing the continuities of God's work in daily affairs. While Brueggemann is overly harsh in his caricature of historical narrative, it is this later Weltanschauung, normal daily life, that is reflected in wisdom.4 Along the same line is the lack of wisdom's mention ____________________
upon Amos," ZAW 79 (1967):50. Also vid. Crenshaw's student, Perdue, Wisdom and Cult, p. 227.
Paradoxes in Proverbs 10-29," pp. 41-42; and Harvey, "Wisdom Literature and Biblical Theology," p. 314.
Wisdom," in Studies in Wisdom Literature, ed. W. C. van Wyk, OTWSA 15 & 16 (1972, 1973), p. 50.
48.3 (July-September 1976):149; Brueggemann, In Man We Trust, p. 23. of God's covenant with Israel, which is so foundational to the rest of the Old Testament. Wisdom's emphasis is on man qua man, rather than on the covenant community per se.1 This problem of the lack of the election of Israel in wisdom will not be resolved by hiding in Sirach, as Hill does.2 It is further accentuated by what Ranston notes as the total neglect of messianism. While Ranston's view is, of course, dependent on a very narrow view of messianism, it does point out the lack of explicit mention of the person of the messiah in normal salvific terms.3 Though wisdom scrutinizes the activities of man as an individual, rather than in an explicitly national ____________________
1977), p. 146; Priest, "Where is Wisdom to be Placed?" p. 275; Wright, God Who Acts, p. 103; and Fox, "Aspects of the Religion of the Book of Proverbs," p. 63. 2Hill, "The Dimensions of Salvation History in the Wisdom Books," Scr 19 (1967):103. Baumgartner ("The Wisdom Literature," p. 211), Murphy ("The Interpretation of Old Testament Wisdom Literature," p. 290), and Scott (The Way of Wisdom, p. 202) appreciate the issue more than Hill does. One should not forget Crenshaw's caution: "Hartman Gese's oft-quoted phrase describing wisdom as an alien body within the Old Testament (Gese, 1958, p. 1) was grounded in firm reality: an absence of the usual Yahwistic concerns until Sirach," (James L. Crenshaw, review of Wisdom in Israel, by Gerhard von Rad, in
52; W. H. Gispen, "What is Wisdom in the Old Testament?" in Travels in the World of the Old Testament, ed. M. A. Beek (Assen: Van Gorcum and Company, 1974), pp. 75-79; and Gispen, "The Wise Men in Israel," Free University
Israelite sense,1 this is perfectly consistent with its international viewpoint.
helped wisdom studies has been the observation that wisdom is secular "stuff." This secularized perspective has been developed in two directions: (1) the lack of a clear relationship of an actively-participating God in the events of history and/or (2) a positive emphasis of man qua man in the "early" wisdom books. Wisdom's secular tenor has helped in the sense that many biblical scholars have been enamored with a "secular" approach to religion; hence they have generated a significant number of technical studies describing its tendenz and analyzing its texts. Such proclivities have drawn them to study the wisdom literature as a secular approach to man's problems. They focus on the fact that wisdom does not revert to an escape into the paradisaical eschaton or resign one into the arms of a God who died to save wormish sinners. For the wisdom materials proclaim man to be his own deliverer via the use of his mind, which he is to employ redemptively to transform situations all for the glory of man; or so they think. ____________________
10-29," p. 46. H. Gunkel pointed out the secular character of the oldest sections of Proverbs and this tenet, unfortunately, has been fostered by Eichrodt and rejuvenated by McKane's works.1 McKane typifies this position when he writes: Yüklə 6,58 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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