3Glendon E. Bryce, "'Better'-Proverbs: An
Historical and Structural Study," in Book of Seminar
Papers, vol. 2, ed. L. C. McGaughy, (Missoula, MT: Society
of Biblical Literature, 1972), p. 348. He assumes
borrowing by Proverbs.
in the early stages, the motives were eudaemonistic and,
later, there was a shift to more religious motivation.
But, obviously, he selects and dates the material he uses
for proof and fragments the canonical text to fit his
hypothesis.1
Outside of Proverbs, McKane heightens the conflict
between the wise men and the prophets. In Hegelian
fashion, he views the Yahwistic elements in wisdom
sections as a later synthesis between the dabar-oriented
prophets, who relay a word from God, and the secular wise
men, who use 'esa. Thus, he perceives passages such as
Genesis 41:33-36 to be a reinterpretation fitted to
Israelite piety. Second Samuel 19:28 (also 14:20) is
explained as mere shrewdness, rather than as a divine
gift. McKane ignores or refashions the clear statements
of the text to fit his rather flimsily constructed model.
Such prescriptive methodology is a sad remnant of the
nineteenth century.2
Baumgartner elucidates three bases of his
evolutionary model: (1) the LXX, (2) later wisdom (Ben
Sirach), and (3) the hypostasis of wisdom in Proverbs 8.3
____________________
1Johannes Fichtner, Die altorientalische Weisheit
in ihrer israelitisch-judischen Auspragung, pp. 60-97; and
Gladson, "Retributive Paradoxes in Proverbs 10-29," p. 30.
2McKane, Prophets and Wise Men, pp. 50, 59,
61.
3Baumgartner, "The Wisdom Literature," p. 214.
While a shift in the post-exilic period must be
acknowledged, especially when one compares Sirach with
Proverbs, this development should not be read back into
earlier proverbial materials. Murphy correctly labels
this post-exilic shift as a "theologizing" or, as others
would have it, a "torahization" of wisdom.1 This is
clearly evinced in a comparison of Sirach 24 and Proverbs
8, where, for example, Sirach (24:22) identifies wisdom
with the Law of Moses. Does this demonstrate that the
Proverbial material went through a secular-to-religious
evolution or that in the post-exilic period a synthesis
took place, identifying wisdom and the Mosaic Law? It
seems to this writer that the exile may have sparked such
a synthesis.
Rylaarsdam gives a refutation of the rigid
evolutionary scheme. He writes:
We have previously indicated that the phrase [fear of
Yahweh] is a humble acknowledgment by man that he
cannot possess wisdom as God does. This is also true
in the early strata of Proverbs (15:11; 20:24; 24:12;
29:13).
The oldest parts of Proverbs teach that man
discovers wisdom; but it likewise feels that the roots
of wisdom are fixed in the God who is man's Creator.2
It is Crenshaw who has provided the most helpful analysis
____________________
1Murphy, Introduction to the Wisdom Literature of
the Old Testament, pp. 44, 48; and his "Israel's Wisdom:
A Biblical Model of Salvation," Studia Missionalia 30
(1981):34-35.
2Rylaarsdam, Revelation in Jewish Wisdom
Literature, p. 70.
of the dabar/'esa debate. He accepts the notion that the
"prophetic outlook is vertical" and that the sages' is
horizontal, but "the difference is perspective, not amount
of authority." He concludes--against those who would
relegate the authority of Proverbs to a mere recording of
generalized observations of nature--"In short, between
'Thus saith the Lord' and 'Listen, my son, to your
father's advice' there is no fundamental difference."1
Whedbee correctly destroys McKane's fantasy by noting his
failure to take into account the principle of "order"
which was so prevalent in Egyptian materials, a thousand
years prior to Solomon. Thus, the wise man was not
secular, but viewed the creation as "created and
guaranteed" by God.2 Numerous other scholars also have
objected to McKane's position. Kovacs notes the presence
of priest scribes in Egypt, which would suggest that there
was no exclusive division between the religious and
secular. He also questions the procedure of editing out
religious language when it fits perfectly with its
context.3 Crenshaw rejects a rigid evolutionary
approach,
____________________
1Crenshaw, Prophetic Conflict, pp. 119, 123.
2J. William Whedbee, Isaiah and Wisdom,
(Nashville, IL: A. R. Allenson, 1965), pp. 118-19; also
Bruce K. Waltke, "The Book of Proverbs," pp. 229, 238.
3Kovacs, "Sociological-Structural Constraints,"
pp. 306, 313.
based on the present limited knowledge of the forms and
the evolution of those forms.1
Thus, it should be concluded that--supported by
the unity of the text itself, which will be demonstrated
in this paper, and by ancient Near Eastern parallels from
over a thousand years before the text of Proverbs--the
suggestion of an evolution from secular to religious is a
twentieth-century projection back into history.
Conclusion
The purpose of this chapter has been to survey
broad conceptual approaches to wisdom: humanistic,
empirical, rational, eudaemonistic, and evolutionary. The
various authors and positions have been tabulated and some
initial generalized comments made in reaction to these
approaches. In addition, there was a brief critique of
the secular-to-sacred evolution which was suggested in the
____________________
1Crenshaw, "Wisdom," p. 263. Others who reject
this approach are: Roland Murphy, "Wisdom--Theses and
Hypostheses," in Israelite Wisdom: Theological and
Literary Essays in Honor of Sanmuel Terrien, ed. J. G.
Gammie et al. (New York: Union Theological Seminary,
1978), p. 40 (also see Murphy, "Wisdom Literature" p. 51);
Christa B. Kayatz, Studien zu Proverbien 1-9: eine form-
und motivgeschichtliche Untersuchung unter Einbeziehung
agyptischen Vergleichsmaterials, Wissenschaftliche
Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament, vol. 22
(Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1966), p. 2; and
Joseph Jensen, The Use of tora by Isaiah: His Debate with
the Wisdom Tradition, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
Monograph Series, ed. P. W. Skehan, vol. 3 (Washington, DC:
The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1973), p. 30.
wisdom of pre-exilic Israel. The need for a detailed
examination of the "old" wisdom material should be
apparent from such discussions. In order to assess
properly how heavily each of the above should be stressed
and with what qualifications, there must be a detailed
scrutiny of the starting point of these discussions, that
is, the early wisdom itself. Thus, this dissertation will
examine Proverbs 10-15, which is accepted by all as some
of the oldest wisdom material in the canon. While we will
not return to make judgments on these matters, the
foundation of a syntactic analysis will be laid for a
further semantic, literary and theological analysis, which
will have rather pointed implications for many of the
above models. The syntactic analysis will reveal the
literary art, proverbial form and creative genius
exhibited by the wise men as they plied their craft,
recording the truth of the created order as they perceived
it. The wise man himself participated in the creative act
as he isolated, formulated and transformed the order he
perceived empirically into a verbal ordering which modeled
the creation he was attempting to describe. To examine in
detail how he utilized language to accomplish this feat
will bring us one step closer to the underlying principles
on which he operated. To examine how the sage
encapsulated his message will allow us to see how he
harmonized his own expressions with his own observations
on the careful (Prov 15:23; 25:11) and beneficial (Prov
12:25) use of words. An analysis of syntactic form
provides a necessary foundation for the semantic work
which will, in due season, help specify more precisely the
theological tendenz of the early wisdom of Israel. Thus,
this writer proposes a heuristic, cyclical approach by
which the Old Testament theologians offer suggested
insights, based on a general overview of the text. These,
then, must be fine-tuned by a meticulous analysis of the
text. This atomistic, detailed analysis must next be
integrated into the discourse and genre level patterns and
motifs which will, in turn, lead to the modification of
how the analysis itself is to be understood.
CHAPTER III
THE CANONICAL SETTING OF WISDOM
Introduction
While wisdom's role in the canon thematically and
presuppositionally has caused Old Testament theologians no
little concern, Old Testament exegetes have also gone
through a transition from asking "where may wisdom be
found?" to "where is wisdom not found?" This rather
recent recognition of the prolific influence of wisdom
within the canon will be surveyed, focusing on the
methodology used, rather than on the specific
argumentation for or against whether a particular passage
should or should not be designated as a text which
manifests the intellectual tradition of wisdom. The
purpose of this chapter will be (1) to survey areas where
wisdom studies have concentrated, pointing out the need
for an exact knowledge of what features characterize
wisdom before claiming its presence elsewhere, and (2) to
indicate the preponderance of the intellectual tradition
within the canon. The most balanced and discriminating
accounts of this area of study are found in an article
by Crenshaw1 and in a book by Whybray.2
Recent lists of suggested wisdom passages often
include: Genesis 1-3, 37-50 (the Joseph narrative);
Deuteronomy 1-4, 32; 2 Samuel 9-20 and 1 Kings 1-2 (the
succession narrative); 1 Kings 3-11 (the Solomon
narrative); Psalms 1, 19b, 34, 37, 49, 51, 73, 90, 92,
104, 107, 111, 112, 119, 127, and 128; Isaiah 1-39;
Jeremiah; Ezekiel 28; Daniel; Hosea; Amos; Habakkuk;
Jonah; and even Esther.3
While this inventory is by no means exhaustive, it
does give the impression of the rising awareness of wisdom
influences/traditions outside of the Solomonic and Joban
wisdom corpus. It is interesting that Whybray and
Crenshaw, scholars who have specialized in wisdom studies,
____________________
1James L. Crenshaw, "Method in Determining Wisdom
Influence upon 'Historical' Literature," JBL 88
(1969):129-42.
2R. N. Whybray, The Intellectual Tradition, pp.
71-155. Whybray will scrutinize the vocabulary approach.
He also gives a rather extensive bibliography to this
whole discussion on p. 1. Crenshaw, "Method in
Determining Wisdom Influence upon 'Historical'
Literature," p. 129.
3Vid. Whybray, The Intellectual Tradition, p. 154
and Crenshaw, "Method in Determining Wisdom Influence upon
'Historical' Literature," p. 129. Cf. also Kovacs,
"Sociological-Structural Constraints," pp. 173-182. For
an extensive list categorized by form, theme, vocabulary
and references to the wise, vid. Donn F. Morgan, "Wisdom
and the Prophets," in Studia Biblica, ed. E. A.
Livingstone, JSOT Supplement Series, 11 (1978), pp. 229-32.
rather than encouraging the spread of wisdom throughout
the canon, have actually immured it. Indeed, the infusion
of these new texts into the wisdom tradition has resulted
in the blurring of some of its distinctive features.
Methodology
Morgan correctly notes that there are four
criteria employed in determining wisdom's influence in a
non-"wisdom" text. These are: (1) vocabulary, (2) theme/
motif, (3) form/style, and (4) references to wise men.1
Vocabulary Approach
The vocabulary approach has been one of the most
commonly-used methods for establishing wisdom's presence
in a text. While some have given long lists of "wisdom
vocabulary,"2 abuses of this method have resulted when
some have viewed these words as technical terms through
which--using a simplistic, mechanical, concordance-like
process--wisdom's influence is detected. One must be
careful to exclude the "common cultural stock."
____________________
1Donn F. Morgan, Wisdom in the Old Testament
Traditions, p. 68; idem, "Wisdom and the Prophets," p. 229;
and Whybray, The Intellectual Tradition, p. 71.
2H. Duesberg and I. Fransen, Les scribes inspires:
Introduction aux livres Sapientiaux de la Bible (Belgium:
Editions de Maredsous, 1966), pp. 934-35. They list 200
words (dabar, elohim, etc.). This list is obviously too
broad. Scott, The Way of Wisdom, pp. 76-77, lists about 70
words which he considers "characteristic vocabulary."
Alonso-Schokel correctly objects to a strict vocabulary
approach, suggesting that a text must embrace wisdom's
"structures and mentality as well."1
It was Whybray's contribution to examine closely
the weighting of vocabulary in the determination of
suspected wisdom texts. He gives numerous ground rules
for ascertaining the terminology of the "intellectual
tradition": (1) "it must be clearly established which
terms are characteristic of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes
and may thus properly be used as criteria"; (2) "only
words of central significance for the main concerns of
these books should be included"; and (3) there must be a
separation of words which are mainly confined to the
wisdom corpus and those which, while used extensively in
wisdom texts, are also found frequently elsewhere in
Scripture simply as a result of their being part of the
common cultural stock. Whybray further demonstrates his
semantic sensitivity to shifts in word meaning when he
notes that the meaning of a word may be genre-dependent,
to some extent. Thus, one must not only isolate the words
used by the wise, but also determine whether the meaning
is constant in the text being examined.2
Whybray's own analysis of wisdom vocabulary is the
____________________
1L. Alonso-Schokel, "Sapiential and Covenant
Themes in Genesis 2-3," in SAIW, p. 470.
2Whybray, The Intellectual Tradition, p. 75.
best found anywhere. He divides his list into four
perceptive categories: (l) "Words Occurring Only in
Proverbs, Job and/or Ecclesiastes" (e.g., hasar-leb,
'asel, sikelut, and tahbullot); (2) "Words Occurring
Frequently Both in Proverbs, Job and/or Ecclesiastes and
Also in Other Old Testament Traditions" (e.g., 'awen,
'enos, 'orah, 'asere, bin, da'at, derek, hebel, musar,
mezimma, ma'gal, masal, nabal, 'awla, netiba, sod, 'esa,
rason); (3) "Words Characteristic of Proverbs, Job and/or
Ecclesiastes, but Occurring Occasionally in Other Old
Testament Traditions" (e.g., 'ewil, 'iqqes, heqer, 'orma,
peti, skl, tebuna, tokahat); and (4) "Words Apparently
Exclusive to the Intellectual Tradition" (e.g., bina,
ba'ar, kesil, les, leqah, nabon, sakal, 'arum, tusiyya).
He especially highlights the root hkm as characteristic of
wisdom texts.1
Motif Approach
The common motif approach is quite frequently used
to demonstrate wisdom's presence in a text. Although
Ranston does not use his catalogue of ideas this way, he
does give what he considers to be recurrent wisdom thought
forms: (1) humanistic and universalistic outlook,
(2) primarily practical rather than abstract,
____________________
1Whybray, The Intellectual Tradition, pp. 124-42.
His overemphasis on hakam is revealed in the Psalms (vid.
p. 92).
(3) observations concerning man (individually,
psychologically, and socially) and nature, (4)
indifference to the cult, and (5) perceptions of problems
with divine providence.1 Following Mowinckel, Perdue
notes these motifs in wisdom: theodicy, retribution, and
the contrast between the righteous and wicked.2 Murphy
adds "the two ways" and "the fear of the Lord" themes as
well as an emphasis on conduct (diligence, responsibility,
avoiding evil women). To these could be appended the
viewing of torah as a source of delight and proper/
improper speech.3 Several observations may be made on the
motif approach: (1) the motif must be clearly and
concisely defined within the wisdom corpus itself, if it
is going to be used as a criterion; (2) it must be shown
that the idea being used to detect wisdom's presence is
not characteristic of other traditions; and (3) careful
scrutiny must be given as to the transformations which the
____________________
1Ranston, The Old Testament Wisdom Books and Their
Teaching, pp. 22-25.
2Perdue, Wisdom and Cult, pp. 262-64.
3Roland E. Murphy, "A Consideration of the
Classification,'Wisdom Psalms'," VTSup 9 (1963):160. Cf.
also Kenneth J. Kuntz, "The Canonical Wisdom Psalms of
Ancient Israel--Their Rhetorical, Thematic and Formal
Dimensions," in Rhetorical Criticism: Essays in Honor of
James Muilenburg, Pittsburgh Theological Monograph Series,
no. 1, ed. J. J. Jackson and M. Kessler (Pittsburgh: The
Pickwick Press, 1974), pp. 186-222; also Kuntz, "The
Retribution Motif in Psalmic Wisdom," ZAW 89 (1977):
223-33, and Kaiser, "Wisdom Theology and the Centre of Old
Testament Theology," p. 133.
concepts will go through when they are interfaced with
historical, psalmic and prophetic genres.
Form Approach and Summary
While the forms of wisdom will be treated in
detail later, it may be noted here that common structures
are used to trigger the recognition of the wisdom
tradition. Numerous catalogues of forms have been
prepared and the following are most commonly recognized as
wisdom forms: (l) the 'asre formula, (2) numerical
sayings, (3) better sayings, (4) an address of a teacher/
father to a "son," (5) alphabetic acrostics, (6) the use
of similes and metaphors, (7) rhetorical questions,
(8) admonitions, and (9) riddles.1 Lindblom, in his
seminal article on the prophets, also adds the use of
proverbs/traditional sayings and parables.2 These will be
examined later.
Thus, four criteria--(1) vocabulary, (2) forms,
(3) themes, and (4) explicit reference to wise men--are
taken as indicators of wisdom influence. While none of
____________________
1Kuntz, "The Canonical Wisdom Psalms of Ancient
Israel," p. 191; Crenshaw, "Wisdom," p. 250; Scott, The
Way of Wisdom, p. 197; Morgan, Wisdom in the Old Testament
Traditions, p. 127; Perdue, Wisdom and Cult, pp. 263-64;
Murphy, Introduction to the Wisdom Literature of the Old
Testament, p. 41; and "A Consideration of the
Classification 'Wisdom Psalms,'" p. 165.
2Johannes Lindblom, "Wisdom in the Old Testament
Prophets," VTSup 3 (1969):201.
these by itself will be conclusive, the intersection of
any of these will strengthen the case. A brief survey of
works which attempt to validate wisdom's presence in the
canon will move diacanonically from the Law and the
historical sections, to the Psalms and Prophets.
Wisdom and the Pentateuch
The relationship between wisdom and torah has been
frequently discussed.1 Kline obviously reflects a lack of
sensitivity to wisdom, when he writes, "The central thesis
of the wisdom books is that wisdom begins with the fear of
Yahweh, which is to say that the way of wisdom is the way
of the covenant."2 Nel is more perceptive, viewing both
law and wisdom as mutually declarative of the order and
will of Yahweh.3 While the law and wisdom are explicitly
connected in Sirach (39:17b-20; 2:16; 19:20; 23:27;
24:23),4 some have consanguineously juxtaposed specific
legal stipulations and proverbial materials (Exod
____________________
1Jensen, The Use of tora by Isaiah, p. 15.
2Meredith G. Kline, The Structure of Biblical
Authority (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co., 1972), p. 65.
3Nel, The Structure and Ethos, p. 95; cf. also
Scott, The Way of Wisdom, p. 17.
4Wolfgang Roth, "On the Gnomic-Discursive Wisdom
of Jesus Ben Sirach," Semeia 17-19 (1980):59-77; Fox,
"Aspects of the Religion of the Book of Proverbs," p. 69;
and Kaiser, "Wisdom Theology and the Centre of Old
Testament Theology," p. 136.
22:21-24; Deut 10:18; 24:17-22; Prov 15:25; and 23:10).1
Others have noted the common thread of "the fear of
Yahweh" (Lev 19:14, 32; 25:17, 43).2
Gemser early observed the connection between the
legal material and Proverbs, especially the proverbial
character of Exodus 23:8 (Deut 16:19; Prov 17:23) and its
condemnation of bribery. He also points to a parallel
about falsified weights (Lev 19:35 and Prov 11:1).3 The
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