Weaving Wisdom: Prov. 8:22-31

"The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
23 Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth—
26 when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
27 When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28 when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30 then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
31 rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race."

Introduction--Wisdom Then and Now

This arresting but familiar passage needs to be understood both in its ancient and modern context. Three major literary expressions which reflect three different "worlds" vied for recognition or authority in ancient Israel/the Old Testament. On the one hand there is the language of law and sacrifice. Priests/Levites were interested in this language and would use it to define the world and support their authority. Law came from God; therefore the priests, who put this law into practice and interpret it, are the ones who should be the recognized authorities. Then there were the prophets. They claimed to have received words directly from God (the phrase "thus says the Lord" appears more than 1,000 time in the OT); thus their words should carry more than mere human authority. But then there was also wisdom, a tradition quite different from the prophetic and the legal.

The wisdom tradition emphasized the authority of knowledge that could be derived from reflection on human experience. Human experience showed that people acted in certain predictable ways; that you should avoid some people and be open to others. Human experience sometimes meant that you also observed creatures in the natural world (such as the ant) to learn from them (cf. Prov. 6:6). In short, the world of wisdom, which may have found a home at the royal court, was one of the many voices competing for recognition in the complex world of ancient Israel. In my judgment the three traditions are ultimately compatible--they all will see themselves under the authority of the one God, but they definitely provide different emphases or tones to the sacred literature of Israel.

I will try to define the world of Israel's wisdom more precisely below. But first I want to say a word about wisdom today. Wisdom, or reflection on practical experience, is one of the most valuable but seemingly least prized characteristics a person can have. Our media today emphasizes youth and glitz, while celebrating those who have made a lot of money. It does so because those things "sell" in our world. But when you actually scratch a little below the surface of life, you realize that what people really want in the world is wisdom--practical insight on how to understand the world and to live well. And wisdom is needed at all levels of society--from those who counsel the President, to those who serve on corporate boards of directors, to those who raise children. Wisdom (biblical wisdom that is) is normally expressed in short, pithy aphorisms, but these aphorisms have only arisen after long study and acquaintance with the world. It is refined thinking, gold with all the dross separated from it. By studying the Book of Proverbs and the Biblical wisdom tradition, we are in a better position to have our lives be guided by wisdom and even to be useful in a complex society today.

Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs--Three Levels

The passage for the morning appears in the first long section of the Book of Proverbs. Though we can divide Proverbs into about seven sections, the best "broad strokes" way to look at it is to see chs. 1-9 as a series of exhortations to seek wisdom while chs. 10-31 give practical advice or aphorisms about the way life should be lived. Thus, chs. 1-9 consist of long discourses encouraging the reader to pursue wisdom, while chs. 10-31 often give the short sayings which we normally associate with the notion of a proverb. Actually, I have long thoughts that the form of the Book of Proverbs is illustrative of the way that we need to approach wisdom. About 1/3 of the task of wisdom-seeking is protreptic--i.e., to become motivated to pursue wisdom. We flag in zeal; other tasks obtrude. Wisdom seeking is a slow and laborious process. It often seems to lead nowhere. Thus, the very structure of the Book of Proverbs, where almost 1/3 is exhortation, tells us the reality of life--we need to be seekers and longers for wisdom almost as much as we need to try to learn the content of wisdom.

Wisdom is a three-fold thing in the Book of Proverbs. At its most basic level it is a series of sayings that illustrate something important about life. Pick almost any verse after 10:1. "Rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing" (12:18). Or "A wise child loves discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke" (13:1). Each one of these invites our own reflection and encourages us to draw on our life experience to see how this might be true. There is always the linguistic task, to be sure, to make sure we understand what "discipline" is in 13:1 for example, but the larger task is to internalize these statements to become better people. It takes us a while to realize the truth of 12:18--that our rash words are, indeed, like sword thrusts. We seemingly are so powerful when we wield our words, but when we realize that they can simply rip people apart, then we learn how to husband our words, to speak gently, to realize that a whispered word often shouts louder than one of may decibels.

The second level of wisdom in Proverbs is of a person -- woman that seems to call out for those to follow it. The word for wisdom in Hebrew (hokmah) is feminine, and the author of Proverbs has picked up on this gender designation to contrast the allure of feminine wisdom with the false allure of other feminine things in the world. That is, the one who is portrayed as learning wisdom in Proverbs is a young male, a male who also is lured by the "strange" or "loose" woman. Thus, wisdom is one of the voices which calls for the allegiance of young men in the midst of competing voices. We see this clearly in Prov. 1:20,

"Wisdom cries out in the street;/ in the squares she raises her voice./ At the busiest corner she cries out;/ at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:/ 'How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple/ How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?/ Give heed to my reproof;/ I will pour out my thoughts to you;/ I will make my words known to you..." (Prov. 1:20-23).

Wisdom needs to call out to the young men because there are other voices that also try to lure them--and these other voices call them to destruction.

"Say to wisdom, 'You are my sister,'/ and call insight your intimate friend,/ that they may keep you from the loose (strange) woman,/ from the adulteress with her smooth words" (Prov. 7:4-5).

This other woman is portrayed as a prostitute, wily of heart, who decks out her couch with coverings, colored spreads of Egyptian linen. She perfumes her bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. She urges the young man to "Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;/ let us delight ourselves with love" (7:18). The Book of Proverbs exhorts the yong to avoid this type of person, a person whose life will lead them to destruction.

Before we jump up and down and cry "Gender Foul" because the world Proverbs assumes was a "male" world, where the young men receive instruction and where the good and bad examples before them are portrayed as females, we ought to try to "translate" this broader message to our culture today. I think it is true today that young people of both genders need lots of guidance as they try to make their way in the world. Actually, my experience as a parent, and my consultation with friends, generally confirms the view in Proverbs that guys need a bit more guidance than girls. It is harder, in general, for boys to "grow up" and find their way in the world. More resources, in my judgment, need to be expended on them in order for them to land "on their feet." But both boys and girls need counsel and example to guide them in their way.

The third way that wisdom is portrayed in Proverbs is in the pasage for the morning. Here wisdom is not simply a series of aphorisms or even one of the competing voices calling young men to listen to her. Wisdom in also the foundational principle of the universe. Wisdom was there before the covenant people were created, before there was Torah, before a prophet was chosen, before the Word of God was spoken to the prophet. Wisdom was there before the world was created and, in fact, was a figure rejoicing with God from the beginning of time. God created wisdom, and created the world by wisdom. Let's look more closely, then, at 8:22-31 and see the rich biblical cadences and majestic language of the text.

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