Proverbs: Fear of the Lord

High School

My senior year of high school, I took a class called "Holocaust and Genocide Studies." The first period of the day, it started at 7:15 a.m., roughly two hours before teenagers are meant to get up. But I was fascinated by the course. Dr. Buchanan, the teacher, exposed us all to the basest atrocities of humankind and the ravages or war and genocide. A combination of history, literature, psychology, and philosophy, this was one of the few classes that left a lasting impression on me after high school. To know that humankind was capable of so much evil, and that others had endured such suffering... It changed my perspective.

One of the basic questions of the class was a simple ethical quandary: Is it all right for a person to steal a piece of bread to feed his/her starving family? A moral absolutist would assert that it is wrong to steal anything at all, and therefore it is wrong for a person to steal bread, even if his/her family will die as a consequence. The Hebrew Scriptures show us that moral absolutism is not the answer - that stealing depends upon the situation that gave rise to it.

To show partiality is not good -
yet for a piece of bread a person may do wrong.
(28.21)

Now, I am only assuming here that I am applying my ideas correctly to the biblical lesson. But this interpretation seems to make the most sense to me.

Teaching

In any case, Proverbs gives us a lot of different teachings on the nature of wisdom and obedience. Unlike most of the text prior to this point, however, Proverbs emphasizes obeying human commands, rather than those of God. God does have a number of rules that are mentioned in Proverbs, but for the most part this is a teacher speaking to a pupil.

If we wish to read God into the bible (that is, place God in a place where he otherwise might not be easily noticed), we may do so by saying that God acts as the undercurrent for the entire book of Proverbs. In fact, obedience to God is stressed a number of times through the phrase "fear of the Lord." This appears every so often, which we might take as a constant subtle reminder that God is omnipresent. [I do not read it this way myself, but it is an interesting thing to think about.]

If we wish for examples, we have all these:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction
(1.7)

Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
...
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
and be sated with their own devices.
(1.29; 31)

[if you seek and accept the teacher's commandments,]
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
(2.5)

Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
(3.7)

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.
(8.13)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
(9.10)

The fear of the Lord prolongs life,
but the years of the wicked will be short.
(10.27)

In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence,
and one's children will have a refuge.
(14.26)

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
so that one may avoid the snares of death.
(14.27)

The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom,
and humility goes before honor.
(15.33)

By loyalty and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the Lord one avoids evil.
(16.6)

The fear of the  Lord is life indeed;
filled with it one rests secure and suffers no harm.
(19.23)

The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
is riches and honor and life.
(22.4)

Happy is one who is never without fear,
but one who is hard-hearted will fall into calamity.
(28.14)

The fear of others [or "human fear"] lays a snare,
but one who trusts in the Lord is secure.
(29.25)

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
(31.30)

Fear is to be praised, fear causes happiness, fear is good and righteous. Fear's rewards are life and riches. It is good to have fear, but only fear of the Lord.

Teachers

We are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom, but we are also told this:

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever else you get, get insight.
(4.7)

Is that enough tautology for you? Getting wisdom is the beginning of wisdom. That's like saying the first step to cooking spaghetti is to cook the spaghetti.

Thanks, Toothpaste for Dinner!

Thanks, XKCD!

But in all seriousness, these are serious lessons that people should obey. Probably.

Proverbs: Obedience to Family and God

[In this introductory post I lay out some ideas that might seem contradictory to last week's analysis of Psalm 119. I am still trying to work through it. Let me know what you think!]

The Book of Proverbs is a collection of wisdom literature that is customarily attributed to Solomon in light of the tradition of his wisdom. In actuality, write Claudia V. Camp and Carole R. Fontaine in their introduction to Proverbs in the Harper Collins Study Bible: "The sages who first began to write and collect these sayings were court-and temple-based men who served as counselors, bureaucrats, and teachers during the Divided Monarchy." Editing occurred much later, in the 5th to 3rd century BCE,
"by scribes and teachers associated with the Jerusalem temple." Proverbs, Camp and Fontaine argue, therefore, "reflects the worldview of the intellectual elite." (849)

This final assertion seem plausible as we read through the book. There are no elements of the folkloric tales that inform other piece of literature, such as certain Psalms and the second account of creation in Genesis. Proverbs features neither Leviathan nor burning bush, and does not seem at all concerned with cosmology or any other aspects of the divine. The view of Proverbs is centered in human life on earth. Of course, humans are still governed by covenantal (revealed) law, but Proverbs emphasizes wisdom, which informs every aspect of life. These are not the Lord's words to his people, but the intellectual elite's words to other members - particularly children - of the elite. Hence the agent of punishment and reward is not always directly explicated by God. The ultimate duty is to God, and the authors are sure to note this, but individual expressions of duty within Proverbs may be directed toward other individuals. Reading the book piecemeal may give the impression that God is not needed at all.

For example, the prologue of Proverbs informs us:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
(Proverbs 1.7)

The verse informs us that the Lord is the agent of goodness, the source of all knowledge. Yet this fact seems to be obscured by verses like the following:

Hear, my child, your father's instruction,
and do not reject your mother's teaching;
for they are a fair garland for your head,
and pendants for your neck.
(Proverbs 1.8-9)

It seems that the father and mother bestow knowledge - and that knowledge seems to be its own reward. But this deference to parents is only part of the larger instruction of obedience of Law.

I will explore this topic further in the next post. Questions, comments? Let me know below!