Freshmen Chapter 10
Wisdom & Wit: Seeking the Ways of God
Let’s go back to basics for a minute:
Knowledge: Facts, information, and skills
acquired by a person through experience or
education; the theoretical or practical
understanding of a subject; true, justified
belief; certain understanding, as opposed to
opinion
Religion: A strong belief in a supernatural
power or powers that control human destiny
• A synonym for failure is fiasco: A thing that is
a complete failure, esp. in a ludicrous or
humiliating way
• Success: A person or thing that achieves
desired aims or attains prosperity
Which do you want to be?
• Now we turn to a variety of Old Testament texts
written at various times after the Babylonian exile
• The authors of these books tried to answer these
questions:
What does it mean to be a wise person?
What is the meaning and purpose of life?
Where are we going?
Why do good people suffer and bad people
prosper?
Why should we be good in a world that is unfair?
How can we live good and faithful lives when
surrounded by those who are hostile to our beliefs?
• The Book of Proverbs appeared sometime
after the Babylonian exile during the period
when the second, primitive temple was being
built in Jerusalem
• It contains collections of wisdom teachings
oriented toward teaching the young
• Parts of The Book may date back to the time
of King Solomon
• It is concerned with how to live a good life
• It is full of down-to-earth, practical advice
• How to live a good life according to The Book of
Proverbs: (See pg 246 ff) – Discuss one @ a time
 Parenting
 Communicating
 Attitudes
 Manners at court
 Work
 Conducting Business
 Reputation
 Leadership
 Gossip
 Learning
 Relationships with neighbors
• Notice the literary device used in wisdom sayings:
the same thing is said twice in two different ways,
ex “Misfortune pursues sinners, / but prosperity
rewards the righteous”
• The teachers says the first part of the saying and
the students respond with the second part
• In the original Hebrew it would have been even
more fun with the clever word plays and sounds
unique to the Hebrew language
• According to The Book of Proverbs, success &
prosperity in this life, gained fairly, are the
reward for a virtuous life
Watch video “The Book of Proverbs”
• Notice the focus in Judaism on rewards for being
good come in this life not in the afterlife as in
Christianity
• Honor, dignity, and a good name are a person’s
memorial – there is no hint of an afterlife in
Jewish theology
• If pressed, Rabbis talk about a “collective”
afterlife with God in heaven but there is no
notion of an individual afterlife with God
• Where is God in all this wisdom? – most of the
sayings do not mention God
• The perspective of the Jewish sages (“sage” means a
“wise teacher”) was that true wisdom is from God,
no matter where we find it – even in other cultures
with their appealing wisdom sayings
• The sages saw the world as full of God’s wisdom so it
is not surprising that the sages looked to the
everyday experiences of the world to find wisdom
• The Book of Proverbs often portrays the image of
God’s wisdom as a woman and adds a feminine
voice and quality to the traditional image of God as
masculine and this feminine image of wisdom has
been called “Lady Sophia” after the Greek word for
wisdom
• God is pure spirit – neither man nor woman
• God is personal, but transcends the human
categories of gender
• The Old Testament writers used the terms
“male” and “female” because that’s that they
knew from their everyday experience
• Catholic tradition has often read the passages
on Wisdom in the Old Testament as related to
Mary, the mother of God.
• Mary is called the “Seat of Wisdom” in some
prayers in the Catholic liturgy
• Read together “Ecclesiastes: Is Life Lived in
Vain?” on page 250-251
• Read together “Wisdom: What is Our Final
Destiny” on page 252
• Read together “Afterlife” on page 253
• Watch “Life After Death - a Jewish View“
• From the Book of Job: Why do the Good suffer?
• The dilemma of why the good suffer and the
wicked prosper in this life is known as “the
problem of evil” – and it is a very real problem
• Read together in class the section beginning on
the lower right side of page 249 and continuing
on page 250 up to the section entitled
"Ecclesiastes”
• Watch video “The Book of Job” parts 1 thru 3
• Read together “The ‘answer’” on page 250
• Read together “Ecclesiastes: Is Life Lived in
Vain” on pages 250 to 251
• Watch “Turn! Turn! Turn! Ecclesiastes In
Music”
• Watch video “Ecclesiastes” 1 thru 10
• The Experiences of John Newman as a
Prelude to the Book of Wisdom: read together
on page 252
• The Book of Wisdom:
– Also called The Book of Solomon
– Written in Alexandria, Egypt
– Writer was a scholarly Jew
– Struggles with the problem of Evil
– Says our reward is in the afterlife
– Contrasts fate of rich with fate of the just
• Watch videos “The Book of Solomon” # 1 – 6
• Later Jewish writers assert that the soul
continues to exist after the physical death of the
body
• Read together “Afterlife” on page 253 together
in class
• Read together “The Prayer of Israel: Hope of
Immortality” on page 253
• The Book of Sirach: an alternative approach to
Jewish history
• The Book of Sirach, written by Jesus ben
Sirach of Alexandria, Egypt, focuses on
Israel’s history
• The collection of “Wisdom Books” were
written at various times after the Babylonian
exile when Israel was surrounded by various
foreign cultures: Watch Sirach Chapter #1
• He focused on wisdom as coming from God,
not from Greek philosophy and thought
Stories of Encouragement: Faith,
and Goodness Triumph
• Read the left column of page 257: tales told
after the Babylonian exile
• The book of Tobit was written about 200 BC
but its story is set 500 years earlier during the
Greek occupation
• Tobit is the ideal, loyal Jew
• Watch videos “The Book of Tobit” # 1 & 2
• During the Assyrian occupation, Tobit would
bury the Jewish dead at his own cost
• Read together “Tobit: the Faithful Jew” on
pages 257 – 259
• These stories are meant to tell educational
tales
• The next is the Book of Judith which talks
about courage in the fight to save Israel and
the Temple
• Watch videos “The Book of Judith” # 1 & 2
• Judith represents both courage and piety but also
the use of deceit in a good cause
• Read “Judith” in our textbook on page 260
• The Book of Esther – the story of a fictitious,
timid woman who “tries out” to be queen and is
selected by the King but who does not reveal that
she is Jewish
• The following is a simplified version of the story
• She learns of a plot by the Prime Minister,
Haman, to kill her and all Jews but when she
appears before the King and Haman she faints
• When Ester later again appears before the King
and Haman, she tells the King of the plot and
the King orders Haman hanged
• The Jewish feast of Purim is held to celebrate
the courage of Esther
• Watch video “The Book of Esther”
• Watch video “Purim - The Story and the
Holiday”
STOP