Bible 110 Old Testament
Wisdom Literature
A. Wisdom literature is ancient in the Near East. It probably entered Israel first
during Solomon’s rule. This was age of enlightenment, broadening of
international perspective, stabilizing of the state. Ark of state craft was needed.
The amphictyony could not provide the needed bureaucratic structure; Solomon
turned to Egypt to learn state craft.
B. Wisdom teachers were interested in the total personality, total state and
stability. Maxims or sayings were developed to teach (reading and writing) and
to develop personality. Beginning of the development of Proverbs occurred
during Solomon’s time.
C. What is wisdom? Search for the meaning of life; rules of cultivated common
sense. Categories:
1. Practical advice – to young to tell them how to attain a good life; short, pithy
two-line statement; also Babylonian and Egyptian proverbs
2. Reflective literature – attempts to probe the inner meaning of existence. It
becomes skeptical, reactionary, a protest against the norms of life (a protest
against “Do good and you will be happy.” Ecclesiastes, Job
Wisdom literature was absorbed into Yahwism; became the universal
order of God at creation. It becomes religious literature with moral values.
D. Priest – functions in revelation of God in worship (cultus)
Prophet – functions in the influence of God in international politics
Wisdom teacher – shows God was king in the normal, mundane matters of
everyday life.
E. Wisdom literature came into its own during the post –exilic period. Prophecy
died out; wisdom literature filled the vacuum left by the disintegration of
1
Bible 110 Old Testament
prophecy. Wisdom and apocalyptic are the ways in which God is made known
after the death of prophecy.
F. forms of wisdom literature
1. Basic form – 2 line maxim
Simile – liken one thing to another – Prov 11:22
Comparison – compare two objects or things to help the reader discern relative
values. Prov 16:17; 27:10
Exhortation or warning – warn against doing certain things because of what will
happen. Prov 20:13
Statement – describes an action with no exhortation. Prov 20:4
2. Elaboration of basic form
Paragraph wisdom saying – Prov 23:19 ff, 31:10 ff
Personification of wisdom – wisdom becomes a person (woman) who teaches.
She stands on the street corner calling after people to follow wisdom.
Prov 1:20 ff
Autobiography – Prov 4:1 ff; Ecclesiastes
Reflections upon life (I saw . . .) Prov 7:6 ff, 24:30 ff
Autobiography – wisdom teacher’s reflection (Ecclesiastes is outgrowth of
wisdom literature)
Ascending enumeration – Prov 30:18 ff
G. Characteristics of wisdom literature
Hedonistic – guide to social and political attainment
Wisdom as capacity or skill
Knowledge of true values of life
Speculation on the moral government of the world
Identification of wisdom with God – respect or fear of Yahweh is beginning of
wisdom
H. Basic themes or thrusts of wisdom literature

Counsel or advice Prov 13:16, 15:22, 27:12
2
Bible 110 Old Testament

Retribution – unethical actions will bring retribution. Prov 13:21; 26:27

Yahweh controls human destiny – impersonal providence. Prov 15:3,
19:21; 20:24
Generally statements on the cultus or Israelite worship are absent in wisdom
literature except Prov 3:9; 15:8, 21:27. Wisdom teacher did not feel it their
prerogative to deal with worship or cultus; not interested in history. Wisdom must
be balanced by prophecy and by priesthood. Wisdom literature concentrates
more on man than on God; humanistic or Yahwistic humanitarian.
I. Proverbs – anthology or collection of collections. Begin compilation with
Solomon, final compilation ca 180 BC
5th Collection (chs 25-29) “Men of Hezekiah” 8th century
6th – 7th Collections –Edomite, non-Israelite
J. Job – Prose prologue and epilogue; 3 cycles of speeches; Job’s friends are
foils for him (Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar). Elihu is a fourth character.
Integrity of the book is challenged at 4 points:
1. Prose prologue and epilogue – consensus that these are not original to
the book; part of oral transmission
2. Description of third cycle of speeches (Ch 22-28). Job speaks as his
friends would speak. Eliphaz speaks briefly; Bildad and Zophar not at all.
3. Speeches of Elihu (Ch 32-37) These added later, disrupt the cycle and
add nothing. Some say that they refute the whole book of Job.
4. Speeches of Yahweh (Ch 38-41). Some say that they are not original but
without Yahweh, Job does not have meaning.
Job does not answer the problem of suffering. It shows one who
has been righteous and now suffers and questions the moral government of the
universe.
At the end of Job God gives Job a hearing, but God speaks first; Job then
has nothing to say. God speaks and tells Job to gird up his loins like a man. Job
realizes that he sinned: the attempt to make God act like a man. So Job
3
Bible 110 Old Testament
condemns himself in presuming to think that he knows more about running the
world than God (Adam’s sin). In the end, nothing is solved. Job finally can live in
the world with all its contradictions. He was restored and lived again. Man never
encounters God when he feels himself sufficient to explain God; when he feels
sufficient to explain God, he becomes a sinner.
K. Ecclesiastes – attributed to Solomon in 3rd century BC compilation. It is a
unity. Not a skeptical, secular book but it is a deeply religious attempt to
understand the world in which we live. God exists; where do you find him?
Theme: God exists, and man can know only one thing about him – he has
implanted the goal (desire) of happiness in every man. Ecc 3:10.
Man cannot understand the world, and this is the vanity – trying to
discover the wisdom.
Ch. 2 – autobiographical
Ch 3-6 – contradictions of the world
Ch 7 – doctrine of moderation (esp 7:15 ff).
Ecclesiastes is a positive book, arguing that man is to live a manly life in a world
of contradictions. One does not try to explain the contradiction. Life has
meaning in the living of it.
Ecclesiastes answers nothing but enables one to deal with life. Good and
evil are part of the fabric of life.
4