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.)