Tag Archives: wisdom literature

Is Ecclesiastes as authoritative as Proverbs?

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Bible passageOK, let me dig up the old alcohol controversy that once dominated this blog. Because the main verses against the use of alcohol come from Proverbs, some of my critics have especially attacked my views on wisdom literature. Specifically, I was accused of dismissing the verses from Proverbs by saying “that’s just wisdom literature.” Hopefully that’s not what I’ve communicated, because that’s not how I see things.

But let’s step back a minute. Let’s accept the premise that we’re going to give equal weight to every verse in the Bible. If that’s true, why do the verses in Proverbs “trump” all that Ecclesiastes has to say? (I shudder at the concept of pitting one verse against another, but we’ll speak that way in this hypothetical exercise) Here are some verses to consider:

Ecclesiastes 2:24    A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
Ecclesiastes 3:13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 5:18    Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 9:7    Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.
Ecclesiastes 10:19    A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.

Now admittedly, only the last two verses specifically mention wine. (And yes, before this comes up, the word “wine” here is the same word used in Proverbs 20:1 and Proverbs 23:31) If you want to be argumentative and claim that the first four passages refer to water, I’ll let you do so. But why would we not give equal weight to the command “drink your wine with a joyful heart” as we do to the observation “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler”?

There are cultural and social reasons for opposing the use of alcohol, especially here in the United States. Let’s not bend the Bible to support those views. People quickly see through such mishandling of the text, and our arguments lose all credibility. Let the Bible say what it has to say, not just what we want it to say.

Finding the Wisdom in Wisdom Literature

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Having effectively quashed all discussion on this topic, I’ll move forward. In the general discussion of how to interpret the Bible, interpretation of wisdom literature warrants special attention. It’s just not as straightforward as some would make it out to be. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the evils of winking? (Prov 6:13; 10:10; 16:30) Read a tract on the dangers of sleep? (Prov 6:4-11; 20:13; 24:33-34) Posted on your Facebook wall the wonderful news that money is the answer to everything? (Eccl 10:19)

Wisdom literature requires special handling. I shared a bit yesterday from Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart. Let me this thought from Leland Ryken (with his son Philip and with James Wilhoit):

Because the wisdom writers primarily observe life, their utterances are not phrased with the same kind of divinge authority that the statements of the prophets have. The prophets speak the voice of God to people. The Bible’s wisdom teachers speak a word of testimony and observation to their fellow humans. (Ryken’s Bible Handbook, p. 271)

What we come down to is this: it seems difficult if not impossible to take every word of wisdom literature as having proceeded from the mouth of God himself. We have the long human speeches in Job, the contrasting viewpoints in Ecclesiastes, the elements in Proverbs and Psalms that seem to espouse viewpoints different from those provided in other biblical books. Can an inspired book contain human teachings? How do we separate them out from the divine proclamations?

In other words, how are we supposed to read wisdom literature?

Here’s my proposal, open for discussion and debate: I’m satisfied with seeing wisdom literature as a faithful telling of the reflections of godly men on God’s truths. Their place within the canon leads me to give them a weight that other human writings don’t have, but their humanness makes me evaluate every teaching in light of the rest of Scripture.

Is that fair?

Working with wisdom literature

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We’re talking about wisdom literature this week. Some helpful discussion yesterday. Hopefully we can continue to thrash through some of this.

Keith said in a comment:

As I understand it, the Middle Easten (especially ancient) view sees scripture as a series of propositions to be discussed, negotiated, haggled over. The thinking is that iron sharpens iron, and by debating scripture’s meaning, we get closer to the truth about God and us — rather than completely comprehending it.

It’s helpful to remember that the Jews had a very different opinion than ours as to the inspiration of the Old Testament. It was believed that the Torah, the Pentateuch, was delivered via plenary inspiration. God dictated every jot and tittle. Other writings were inspired, but their degree of inspiration was judged by comparing them with the Torah.

So books like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes were a step above the rabbinical commentaries on the Torah and on life, but they were not on the same level as the Law itself.

Frank mentioned Fee and Stuart’s How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth, which is one of those must-read books when approaching biblical interpretation. These authors talk about wisdom literature as “suggestive truth.” They state:

So it is with Hebrew proverbs. They must be understood reasonably and taken on their own terms. They do not state everything about a truth but they point toward it. They are, taken literally, often technically inexact. But as learnable guidelines for the shaping of selected behavior they are unsurpassed. (p. 196, emphasis in the original)

Fee and Stuart also offer the following hermeneutical guidelines for interpreting Proverbs:

  • Proverbs are not legal guarantees. That is, the stated blessings of following the suggested course of action are likely to follow. Proverbs does not teach automatic success.
  • Proverbs must be read as a collection. (I’d say that for Ecclesiastes, as well)
  • Proverbs are worded to be memorable, not to be theoretically accurate. That is, they are not written as complete statements of truth. Their goal is offer advice that can be remembered (like “Look before you leap!”).
  • Some proverbs need to be “translated” to be appreciated.

Those are their thoughts. I’ll share a bit from Leland Ryken tomorrow. All of this is to spur the conversation along about how to understand wisdom literature. I’d like to hear your ideas as well.

(I’ll also mention that Jerry pointed out that Patrick Mead is continuing the series I referred to the other day. It’s very worthwhile reading, though I’m not in full agreement with all that’s said there.)

Feeling foolish about wisdom literature

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Counting on the Kitchen to be a safe place for honest reflection, I’m going to share something I feel a bit foolish about. I’m troubled by wisdom literature.

I don’t know what to do with it. I’ve pointed out before that I don’t think reading every line as a commandment from God works. We pick out a command here or there to apply, but we skip the ones that make us uncomfortable. We cite this truism or that truism, but we avoid the ones that, well, just don’t seem true.

Interestingly enough, Song of Solomon bothers me less than other books, partly because there isn’t much there that we extract and try to apply as law. Job gives us a narrative, which helps our Western minds, and points to the end of the book as the part where the real truths are found. (Though that doesn’t stop us from using a quote here or there if it furthers an argument)

Ecclesiastes is somewhat the same way; it seems to be a progression towards real understanding at the end, although divine truths are mixed in with the human elements along the way.

What about Proverbs? Even as we work our way through all of the literary devices (hyperbole, synecdoche and all of those other words we learned in English class), we still detect a real humanness to some of what’s said.

What about Psalms? Some of the Psalms are easy, but some are quite difficult. An obvious example are the imprecatory psalms, where the writer calls down curses on his enemies. Other psalms seem to present a “good people get good things, bad people get bad things” theology that doesn’t fit with other parts of the Bible (like the book of Job!). Yet the Psalms are quoted heavily in the New Testament; Peter even says that Psalm 2 was spoken by the Holy Spirit through David! (Acts 4:25)

So how should we read wisdom literature? How do we understand “inspiration” as applied to such books? How do we know when we’re hearing the voice of God and when we’re hearing the voice of man?

Ecclesiastes: Money is the answer for everything!

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ecclesiastespan·a·ce·a (pān’ə-sē’ə) n. A remedy for all diseases, evils, or difficulties; a cure-all

I found it. The solution for everything. It’s right here in Ecclesiastes:

“A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.” (Ecclesiastes 10:19)

That’s right. Money is the answer for everything. Life is that simple. Seek money. Get money. All problems will be gone.

Or do you think that maybe, just maybe, wisdom literature needs to be read in a special way? Yes, that includes Ecclesiastes.

Wisdom literature needs to be read as such. We can’t merely take everything literally and think that we’re going to hear the message it has for us. We saw that when discussing alcohol. The misreading of Proverbs has led to many misconceptions about Christians and alcohol. In the same way, many yank verses out of context from Ecclesiastes to try and say, “Here’s what the Bible says.” It’s not enough to say, “The Bible says…” We need to get to “The Bible teaches…”

[Nick Gill wrote this week about difficulties in reading Proverbs, touching on some of these same ideas.]

As I continue to present some thoughts on Ecclesiastes, we’ll need to keep these ideas in mind. Wisdom literature needs to be read as the special literature that it is.