Concluding Remarks
It has been the purpose of this writer not merely
to enumerate, ad nauseam, lists of sources, but, rather,
to demonstrate the vitality of these comparative studies
and to locate where the appropriate bibliographic
materials may be found. One must agree with Nel's
comment: "No adequate understanding of the biblical
wisdom literature is possible without a thorough knowledge
____________________
1Mitchell Dahood, "The Phoenician Contribution to
Biblical Wisdom Literature," in The Role of the Phoenicians
in the Interaction of the Mediterranean Civilizations, ed.
W. A. Ward (Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1967),
p. 143. Cf. W. F. Albright, "The Role of the Canaanites in
the History of Civilization," in The Bible and the Ancient
Near East, ed. George E. Wright (Garden City: Doubleday
and Company Inc., 1961), p. 351. John P. Brown,
"Proverb-Book, Gold-Economy, Alphabet," JBL 100 (June
1981):171, 178.
2John P. Brown, "Proverb-Book, Gold-Economy,
Alphabet," pp. 169-91.
of non-biblical wisdom literature."1
It is important to see the book of Proverbs in its
Sitz im Literatur and to follow, if only briefly, the
perdurant history of the proverbial form for over two
millennia. One should also appreciate the international
character of the wisdom which has been found in Sumer,
Mesopotamia, Boghazkoy, Ugarit, Palestine and Egypt.
Thus, when the biblical sage picks up his pen to
encapsulate a proverbial truth, he knowingly participates
in international and well-structured artistic genres which
were over a thousand years old in the time of Solomon. A
final function of this chapter was not only to locate
where previous wisdom work has been done but also to
suggest the need for advanced work in the analysis of the
text of Proverbs itself, which is still an open field. It
appears to this writer that the works of Marzal, Gordon,
Alster,2 et al. show a level of analysis which could yield
rich results if applied to the biblical proverbial corpus.
____________________
1Philip J. Nel, The Structure and Ethos of the
Wisdom Admonitions in Proverbs (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter,
1982), p. 5.
2Robert S. Falkowitz, "The Sumerian Rhetoric
Collection," (Ph. D. dissertation, University of
Pennsylvania, 1980). While Falkowitz's translation and
analysis of the Sumerian is excellent, his sensitivities in
pareomiological studies are not nearly as refined as
Alster. His main thesis, that the Sumerian "proverbial
collections should better be understood as rhetorical
collections, has not proven itself satisfying to this
writer.
CHAPTER II
THE CONCEPTUAL SETTING OF WISDOM
Introduction
The second spark which has rekindled the fires of
wisdom studies has been the recent fascination of Old
Testament theology with wisdom motifs. The interest seems
to be generated from an inability to handle wisdom--the
last horizon in biblical theology. This chapter will
survey the movement of theological studies, from a tacit
neglect of wisdom, to the "incorporation" of wisdom into
Old Testament theology, via links with creation theology
and order (ma'at) principles. It will be demonstrated
that, although much work has been done on the Weltan-
schauung of wisdom, the need for an examination of the
text of Proverbs itself, as a heuristic check on these
more motif-oriented approaches, has only just begun.
After briefly surveying the state of wisdom within
the purview of Old Testament theology, two directions will
be pursued. First, three realms of wisdom's "uniqueness"
will be scrutinized: (1) the relationship of wisdom to
salvation history; (2) its humanistic/secular/
individualistic character; and (3) the relationship
between religious and empirical/rational bases.
Second, the next chapter will examine wisdom's
relationship to the rest of the canon. A survey of recent
literature will reveal that wisdom, once the orphan of the
Old Testament, has been "discovered" throughout the Old
Testament, to the point that "the entire Hebrew canon is
in danger of being swallowed."1 The first series of
studies will concentrate on the "splitters," who emphasize
wisdom's uniqueness, while the second focuses on the
"lumpers," who find wisdom in almost every genre of the
canon. Ancient Near Eastern parallels will help balance
the first group and a scrutiny of methodology will help
rectify the second.
Neglect of Wisdom in Past Old
Testament Theologies
Though wisdom has been bemoaned as the "orphan" of
the Old Testament and spurned by most Old Testament
theologians, this neglect is being reversed. G. E.
Wright's oft-quoted observation highlights the anomalous
character of wisdom. "In any outline of biblical
theology, the proper place to treat the Wisdom Literature
is something of a problem."2 Murphy also cogently
comments, that over twenty years later, the "marriage
____________________
1Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom, p. 41. Roland E.
Murphy also notes the same problem ("The Interpretation of
Old Testament Wisdom Literature," Int 23 [1969]:290).
2George E. Wright, God Who Acts, SBT 8
between wisdom and Yahwism has been an uneasy one in the
pages of scholarly writings."1 Recently, however, von
Rad, as a premier Old Testament theologian, has made
significant contributions to the integration of wisdom and
Old Testament theology.2 While some have tried to blur
the distinctive character of wisdom,3 others have tried to
reshape the renitent nose of wisdom to fit the face of
____________________
(London: SCM Press LTD, 1952), p. 115; cf. J. F. Priest,
"Where is Wisdom to be Placed?" JBR 31 (October 1963):275.
1Roland E. Murphy, "Wisdom and Yahwism," in No
Famine in the Land: Studies in Honor of John L. McKenzie,
ed. J. W. Flanagan (Claremont: The Institute of Antiquity
and Christianity, 1975), p. 117. Worrell is correct in
exposing the former absence of wisdom from Old Testament
theologies. Worrell notes that, in 1909, Girdlestone
totally ignored it. More recently, Eichrodt and Wright
have done little with it (George E. Worrell, "The
Theological Ideas of the Old Testament Wisdom Literature"
[Th.D. dissertation, Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary, 1962], pp. 2-3). Gerhard Hasel critiques G.
Fohrer as late as 1972 for treating wisdom "too briefly"
(Old Testament Theology: Basic Issues in the Current
Debate [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,
1972], p. 95). Vid. Walther Eichrodt, Theology of the Old
Testament, vol. 2, OTL, trans. J. A. Baker, (Philadelphia:
The Westminster Press, 1967), pp. 95-96, for a rather weak
theologized treatment of wisdom from late non-canonical
sources and his non-existent treatment of the sage in
Israel, in his first volume.
2Gerhard von Rad, Wisdom in Israel (Nashville:
Abingdon, 1972) and also von Rad, Old Testament Theology,
vol. 1 (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1962), pp.
418-59. Murphy is right when he critiques von Rad's
suggestion that wisdom be viewed as "Israel's response"
(von Rad, Wisdom in Israel, p. 307; vid. also Murphy,
"Wisdom and Yahwism," p. 117).
3Frank Eakin, "Wisdom, Creation, and Covenant,"
Perspectives in Religious Studies 4 (Fall 1977):237.
their alleged Mitte of Scripture. Such Procrustean
methods treat wisdom motifs in a superficial manner.1
Creation Theology
More productive than taking a Mitte to the text is
to examine the text and let the Mitte present itself.
Waltke, following the lead of Zimmerli and others,
develops the ideas of God's rule and creation theology as
the nexus between Proverbs and the rest of Scripture.2
Because creation theology has provided a needed interface
between biblical theology and the text of Proverbs, a
number of scholars have embraced this position.3 This
____________________
1David Burdett, "Wisdom Literature and the Promise
Doctrine," Trinity Journal 3 (Spring 1974):13. Burdett
opts for wisdom literature as describing "the kingdom
man," the weaknesses of which are apparent. W. Kaiser
deals with the fear of God concept. He then leaps to the
concept of promise referred to via the term "life," with
the history of redemption being referred to by the title
"the way." Much better is Walter Kaiser's, "Wisdom
Theology and the Centre of Old Testament Theology," EvQ 50
(July-September 1978):146 (also cf. Kaiser, Toward an Old
Testament Theology [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing
House, 1978], pp. 175-77). Such simplistic "solutions"
are unsatisfying and fail to come to grips with the
essential character of wisdom's uniqueness.
2Bruce K. Waltke, "The Book of Proverbs and Old
Testament Theology," BSac 136:544 (October-December
1979):316. Walther Zimmerli, "Ort und Grenze der Weisheit
im Rahmen der alttestamentlichen Theologie," Gottes
Offenbarung. Gesammelte Aufsatze zum Alten Testament,
TBu 19 (Munich: Kaiser, 1963), p. 302.
3Priest, "Where is Wisdom to be Placed?" p. 282;
O. S. Rankin, Israel's Wisdom Literature (Edinburgh: T. &
T. Clark, 1954), p. 9; Robert W. E. Forrest, "The Creation
Motif in the Book of Job" (Ph.D. dissertation, McMaster
University, 1975), p. 17; Donald E. Gowan, "Habakkuk and
shift in the thinking of Old Testament theologians
reflects actual wisdom texts (Prov 3:19-21; 8:22-31; Job
28:23-37 cf. Sir 4:6; 18:1-7; 39:21-35) and evinces a
significant broadening from an approach which stressed
salvation history, institutions, cult, covenant or the
election of Israel to the portrayal of God as the
sovereign Creator.1
Creation theology views God as the creator,
concentrating on His acts of creation rather than on His
mighty acts in redemptive history. Creation theology
views man as an individual who must harmonize his life
with the structure of the creation, rather than as one who
participates in a covenant community and is bound by its
stipulations. Thus, the individual is responsible to
analyze situations experientially, empirically and
rationally and then to act in accord with his perception
of the creation (Prov 6:6-8; 30:24-31).2 Hence, wisdom
has been envisioned as cosmodynamic whereas myth/cult is
____________________
Wisdom," Perspective 9 (1968):165; and von Rad, Wisdom
in Israel, pp. 174-75.
1Toombs, perhaps overstating the case a little, is
correct when he states that as long as the focus of the
Mitte was on these it would exclude wisdom by definition
(Lawrence E. Toombs, "O. T. Theology and the Wisdom
Literature," JBR 23 [1955]:195); cf. also Donn F. Morgan,
Wisdom in the Old Testament Traditions (Atlanta: John
Knox Press, 1981), p. 22.
2Leo G. Perdue, Wisdom and Cult (Missoula,
MT: Scholars Press, 1977), pp. 135, 137.
cosmostatic.1 Creation theology looks at God's creation
paradigmatically whereas a Heilsgeschichte approach is
more syntagmatic.
In wisdom, Yahweh is presented not only in terms
of the original cosmic creation (Prov 3:19-20), but also
as the One actively working in the social and ethical
spheres of creation. For example, the rich
and--especially emphasized--the poor (Prov 14:31; 17:5;
22:2; 29:13) are the products of His creative acts. Thus,
one is to be merciful to the poor, recognizing that the
Creator has made both rich and poor.2
The Creation concept affects not only the cosmic
and social spheres but also has ethical overtones,
particularly in terms of moral order (justice; Prov
16:11), which is inherent in the creation itself (Job
4:17; 36:3). Sirach repeatedly juxtaposes creation hymns
and theodicy (Sir 16:24-17:14; 39:15-35; 42:15-43:33).
Creation theology incorporates the creation of the cosmos,
the development of the social order and a just moral
order, by which the creation reflects the character of the
Creator.
____________________
1Julien Harvey, "Wisdom Literature and Biblical
Theology," BTB 1 (1971):311. Contrast with Buccellati,
"Wisdom and Not: The Case of Mesopotamia," pp. 35-41
2Hermisson, "Observations on the Creation Theology
in Wisdom," pp. 45-46. For material on the poor in wisdom
vid. T. Donald, "The Semantic field of Rich and Poor in
the Wisdom Literature of Hebrew and Accadian," OrAnt 3
(1964):27-41.
Man is not autonomous with certain innate
abilities to know and understand, but is dependent on the
Creator, who has endowed man with senses by which he is
able to perceive the created world (Prov 20:12). Murphy
comments that "the proper sphere of wisdom is man as man,
as creature made by a supreme Being."1 Murphy also sees
that the creation is used not as a basis for discovery of
the order of the universe, but that there is a
"coordination" of the created world and life's experience,
with each illustrating the other (Prov 16:27; 26:14).2
Thus, he and others see the strong connection of wisdom
and the dominion passages in Genesis 1-3 and Psalm 8. Man
as creature, who is responsible to live in harmony with
the created order, is a theme also developed by
Brueggemann.3
Crenshaw most aptly sums up, when he writes:
Creation, then, assures the wise person that the
universe is comprehensible, and thus encourages a
search for its secrets. Furthermore, creation
supplies the principle of order that holds together
the cosmic, political, and social fabric of the
universe.4
____________________
1Murphy, Introduction to the Wisdom Literature of
the Old Testament, p. 36.
2Murphy, "Wisdom and Yahwism," p. 121.
3W. Brueggemann, In Man We Trust (Richmond: John
Knox Press, 1972), p. 24; Ronald D. Cole, "Foundations of
Wisdom Theology in Genesis One to Three" (Th.M. thesis,
Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1978), pp. 133-34.
4Crenshaw, "Prolegomenon," in SAIW, p. 34.
This is not a return to natural theology, as Murphy well
notes, in that wisdom's significance is truly felt only
within the community of faith by those who fear Yahweh.
It also provides a point of contact to those outside of
that community as well.1
Hermisson has been a perceptive guard against an
overemphasis on creation theology and his statements are
generated from an extended exposure to the proverbial
material. He critiques Zimmerli's approach that wisdom is
unable to speak particularly and of the covenant.
Instead, Hermisson suggests that it is within the covenant
community that "God's relationship to the world and to
humanity could become concrete and be immediately
experienced." He further expounds this notion, in
Christological and salvific terms:
The other answer--if in conclusion, with a great leap,
the comprehensive theological context should at least
be indicated--was the foolishness of the cross, as
God's wisdom (I Cor 1:17-18), whereby God came to man.
Not that the ancient creation theology of wisdom
became invalid and obsolete; rather it was only in
this way that it could be maintained.2
Crenshaw is correct when he points out that "In reality
____________________
1Roland E. Murphy, "What and Where is Wisdom?"
CurTM (October 1977):287.
2Hans-Jurgen Hermisson, "Observations on the
Creation Theology in Wisdom," in Israelite Wisdom:
Theological and Literary Essays in Honor of Samuel
Terrien, ed. J. G. Gammie et al. (Missoula, MT: Scholars
Press, 1978), p. 55.
one cannot speak of creation faith in Prov."1
Verses cited to support a creation theology
approach often deal with present empirical observations
about the ordered world as it stands, often with little
explicit mention of the act of creation (Prov 6:6). The
righteous/wicked contrast, which is so pervasive in
Proverbs, reflects not on the vacillations between chaos
and creation, but on the moral/social order--which is
observed in the world as it functions presently--and the
violation of that order. One may, indeed, correctly argue
that the order concept is built on the foundation of God's
acts as creator, but the explicit emphasis of the text is
more on the inherent order than on the creative act
itself.
Cosmic Order
Introduction
Perhaps the most salient insight in recent wisdom
studies has been the development of creation theology in
the direction of the cosmic order or ma'at, as the
Egyptians called it. This model places biblical wisdom
into the conceptual environment of the international
phenomenon of ancient Near Eastern wisdom. The present
____________________
1James L. Crenshaw, "The Eternal Gospel (Eccl.
3:11)," in Essays in Old Testament Ethics, p. 32. He then
goes on to list the few times it does occur: Prov 14:31;
16:4, 11; 17:5; 20:12; and 22:2.
point of discussion is not to rehearse all of the detailed
analyses that have led to this synthesis, but merely to
summarize them and cite appropriate sources where these
fructuous ideas have been generated and refined.
H. Schmid has suggested that man's purpose in
wisdom literature was to live consistently with the world
order.1 This divine order is cosmological in that it was
established by the Creator at the inception of the
creation and is, with no dichotomy, also ethical in that
man is obligated to live in harmony with that order, both
in cosmic and in societal relationships. Since this order
was inherent in the creation, it is binding for all time.2
Hermisson corrects a modern misunderstanding of such
____________________
1Hans H. Schmid, Wesen und Geschichte der Weisheit:
eine Untersuchung zur Altorientalischen und Israelitischen
Weisheitsliteratur, BZAW 101 (Berlin: Verlag Alfred
Topelmann, 1966); and his classic work on the subject:
Gerechtigkeit als Weltordnung: Hintergrund und Geschichte
des alttestamentlichen Gerechtigkeitsbegriffes, in Beitrage
zur Historischen Theologie, ed. Gerhard Ebeling (Tubingen:
J. C. B. Mohr, 1968). James L. Crenshaw, "Popular
Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel," ZAW
82 (1970):383. This ma'at approach has been made popular
by the efforts of Gese and von Rad: Hartmut Gese, Lehre
und Wirklichkeit in der alten Weisheit (Tubingen: J. C. B.
Mohr, 1958), pp. 11-21; von Rad, Wisdom in Israel, pp. 153,
167, 174; and Roland E. Murphy, who makes this observation
in a review of Studien zu Proverbien 1-9, by Christa
Kayatz, in JBL 86 (1967):122.
2Roland E. Murphy, "Assumptions and Problems in Old
Testament Wisdom Research," CBQ 29.3 (1967):414; Murphy,
"What and Where is Wisdom?" p. 283; Murphy, Introduction to
the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament, p. 16; and John
A. Wilson, The Culture of Ancient Egypt (Chicago: The
phenomena, when he writes:
This world, however, is unitary, although for us it
may customarily divide into nature, regulated by
(seemingly firm) natural laws, and history, which is
more or less contingent, ancient wisdom starts from
the conviction that the regularities within the human
and historical social realm are not in principle
different from ones within the realm of nonhuman
phenomena.1
The belief in the world order was not unique to sapiential
materials; but, what was characteristic of wisdom was that
man could, by responsible choices, bring his life into
harmony with this order--resulting in life and security--
or, by violating this order, could incur poverty,
destruction, and insecurity. This principle, then, calls
man to responsible action in his Creator's world.2
Ma'at in Egypt
The ma'at principle is the fundamental leitmotif of
Egyptian wisdom.3 Portrayed as a goddess, her order was
____________________
University of Chicago Press, 1951), p. 48.
1Hermisson, "Observations on the Creation Theology
in Wisdom," p. 44.
2Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom, p. 24; W.
Brueggemann, In Man We Trust p. 52; and Ernest Wurthwein,
"Egyptian Wisdom and the Old Testament," in SAIW, p. 119.
3Leonidas Kalugila, The Wise King: Studies in
Royal Wisdom as Divine Revelation in the Old Testament and
its Environment, ConB, 15 (Lund: CWK Gleerup, 1980), pp.
12, 16, 31, analyzes the relationship of ma'at to Re in
creation as he banishes chaos and also demonstrates
through numerous citations that the king was the one who
upheld ma'at.
observed by both the gods and the king. The king was the
guarantor that the principles of ma'at were maintained,
rewarding those who observed it and punishing those who
violated it.1 Thus, naturally, the retribution principle
is a supporting sub-theme in wisdom.2 von Rad compares
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