The Wise King: Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes

“Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; Fools despise wisdom and instruction”
-Proverbs 1.7

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job are unique in the Hebrew Bible because of their concern with wisdom. Proverbs opens with the announcement of its purpose “for learning about wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1.2). Job welcomes us into a fascinating story where the source and substance of wisdom is in question (Job 28.12). Ecclesiastes also explores the value of wisdom working from its claim that “in much wisdom is much vexation” (Ecclesiastes 1.18). These three books form the core of what has been called “wisdom literature” and established the foundation of a theological and literary genre that appears in other places in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament (some Psalms, portions of the gospels, and James).

Wisdom is more than intellectual understanding and it is also more than moral action. In fact, wisdom has divine origins that are prior to human attribution. In Proverbs 8, Wisdom is akin to the Word (“Logos”) in the Gospel of John: “The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago” (8.22). Wisdom is pictured as with God at the origin of all things, participating with God as creation is unfolding “rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race” (8.31). In Job, Creation and Wisdom also go hand in hand. As God “puts wisdom in the inward parts,” God also “numbers the clouds” and “tilts the waterskins of the heavens” (Job 38.36-37). God is the source of Wisdom and as the Wise King God shapes Creation in accord with Wisdom.

Our study of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes builds on our ongoing inquiry into the Gospel (John, Romans, Sermon on the Mount), the Kingdom (Acts) and Kingship (Samuel and Kings) by exploring the Lord as Wise, the Creator of Wisdom and the framework within which to comprehend human wisdom. My hope is that during this course of study, Crestview will deepen its understanding of the Wise King and as a result will itself become a community characterized in mind and action by Wisdom.

Resources

We will use John Goldingay’s Job for Everyone to guide us through the book of Job. The Old Testament for Everyone series balances well the concerns of responsible biblical interpretation, theological erudition, and pastoral application. A section of Daniel J. Treier’s commentary on Proverbs and Ecclesiastes will provide the framework for our study of Proverbs 10-29, and two chapters of Tremper Longman III’s commentary on Proverbs will help us get to the heart of the final two sections of Proverbs, chapters 30-31. Sections of this study not covered by these resources will be explored in the study guides linked below. Study guides will be added as they are completed and will be posted at least a week in advance.