Trinity
Journal 13NS (1992) 3-20.
Copyright
© 1992 by Trinity Journal, cited with permission.
IS
TESTAMENT
THEOLOGY?
The famous poem on wisdom in Job 28 asks
a crucial question:
"Where
can wisdom be found, where is the place of understanding?"
(28:12). Although this question
was quite appropriate in Job's
situation of suffering and confusion, it should not
be necessary to ask
"this question any longer. OT theologians know where wisdom can be
found. Wisdom is from God and it is found in his
revelation,
particularly in biblical wisdom
literature. But this response may be
nothing more than a cliche,
for few biblical theologians have given
wisdom ideas equal status with salvation history in their
theological understanding of the OT wisdom theology is
often
simply ignored or purposely excluded; thus, the place
of wisdom in
OT
theology is still a live debate.
This problem would be easier to face if wisdom
literature was
not included in the canon of Scripture or if it was
condemned as
knowledge that contradicted divine insight. Since
this is not the
case, why does wisdom literature appear to be a
stranger in many
OT theologies? In order to address
this problem, several key
questions need to be raised: 1) Why do some
theologians exclude
wisdom literature from OT theology? 2) What solutions
have been
offered to give wisdom literature a firm
position within OT
theology? 3) What are the central themes in the
wisdom theology
of the book of Job? and,
4) What are some distinctive and common
elements between wisdom theology and salvation
history?
I. WHY DO SOME SCHOLARS EXCLUDE WISDOM FROM OT
THEOLOGY?
Although few would argue that wisdom literature
is
unbiblical, its true status is in question because
so many biblical
theologies fail to give it an authoritative place
within their
overall understanding of biblical revelation.1
In some cases there is
*Gary V. Smith is Professor of Old Testament at
Bethel Theological Seminary
in
1 L Koehler, Old Testament Theology (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1957) has
only three references to wisdom in the scripture index
and no discussion of the
theology of wisdom.
4
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no rationale to explain this omission-wisdom is
simply omitted.
By
making only a few references to the wisdom books, OT
theologians shove to the side the concepts of wisdom
literature and
do not treat them as Integral parts of the biblical
worldview. This
repeated omission of one section of the canon is
symptomatic of a
fundamental problem, a weakness in the modern
understanding of
the nature and breadth of
C. Westermann faces
the issue head on and reveals why
wisdom is not a part of his theology. He excludes
wisdom literature
because "wisdom has no place within the
basic framework of an OT
theology, since it originally and in reality does
not have as its
object an occurrence between God and man; in its
earlier stages
wisdom is overwhelmingly secular."3 Westermann's exclusion of
wisdom literature is based on his
"historical" definition of biblical
theology and his "secular" description
of wisdom. Biblical
theology is a "history of God and man whose
nucleus is the
experience of saving";4 thus
"an OT theology must be based on
events rather than concepts."5 Since
wisdom literature does not
describe God's great acts of election, covenant
giving, or redemption
from
theology. G. E. Wright, following von Rad's emphasis on salvation
history, concludes that "Biblical theology
is the confessional
recital of the redemptive acts of God in a
particular history."6
Because
of this definition, Wright admits that "in any attempt to
outline a discussion of Biblical faith, it is
the wisdom literature
which offers the chief difficulty, because it. does not fit into
type of faith exhibited In the historical and
prophetic
literature."7 Is it legitimate to
call one "type of faith" normative
Iand exclude the other? Are these two expressions of
beliefs
exclusive of one another and contradictory? Are
these modem
evaluative statements representative of the broad
perspective of
biblical faith? Can a narrow limitation of beliefs to only
one
stream of tradition be Justified?
Although the salvation history movement has
properly
focused attention on God's unique acts of grace
toward
overstressed
2 C. H. H. Scobie
("The Place of Wisdom in Biblical Theology," BTB
14
[1984] 43) calculates the small amount of space given to wisdom in recent OT
theologies.
3 C. Westermann,
Elements of Old Testament Theology (
1978) 11. In another study (Blessing in the Bible and the Life of the Church
[
in Gen1:26-27."
4 Westermann, Theology, 11.
5 Ibid., 9.
6 C. E. Wright, God Who Acts: Biblical Theology as Recital (SBT 8;
SCM, 1952) 13, 38, 57.
7 Ibid., 103.
SMITH: WISDOM 5
limited revelation to God's salvific
acts on behalf of his covenant
people. B. Albrecktson has
shown that the ancient Near Eastern
religions also described their gods as acting in
history. This was not
a cultural or theological distinctive which was
uniquely Israelite.8
J.
Barr rejected the view that God only reveals himself through
historical acts.9 The a priori inclusion
of only certain approved
theological concepts or literary genres and the
exclusion of wisdom
theology is unwarranted and prejudicial.10
It would be more
appropriate to derive OT theology from all sources
of divine
revelation.
Although wisdom literature has been a part of
the canonical
text for centuries, von Rad
classified the wisdom writings as
"
which raise questions about the revelatory quality of
wisdom are
the absence of the prophetic "thus says the
Lord," the emphasis on
learning from the observation of nature, the
derivation of
principles from the experience of older wise men,
and the discovery
of somewhat similar wisdom texts in
These
factors caused some to conclude that wisdom literature was
anthropocentric, secular,
universalistic, and rationalistic, not
divine revelation that was Israelite in theology. H. Gese observes
that "it is well known that wisdom literature
constitutes an alien
body in the world of the Old Testament."12 Those who hold this
view frequently believe that references to the
"fear of God" in
\wisdom
texts are later additions by post-exilic scribes who were
attempting to make wisdom more Yahwistic
in flavor.13
The ramifications of ignoring wisdom literature
or denying its
revelatory character have devastating implications
for the
authority and character of canonical writings and
on any attempt to
integrate the diverse theological material within
the OT. Preuss's
recommendation that one "must
refuse to give Old Testament
8 B. Albrecktson,
History and the Gods (ConBOT 1; Lund: Gleerup, 1967).
9 J. Barr, Old and New in Interpretation (New York: Harper & Row, 1966)
65-82.
10 See the criticisms of salvation history
in J. T. Clemons, "Critics and Criticism
of Salvation History," Religion in Life 41 (1972) 89-100; and D. G. Spriggs,
Two Old
Testament Theologies (Naperville: Allenson, 1974) 34-59. For the position that
salvation history is not more Yahwistic
than wisdom, see R. E. Murphy, The Tree
of
Life: An Exploration of
Biblical Wisdom Literature (New York: Doubleday, 1990)
123.
11 G. von Rad, Theology of the Old Testament (2 vols.;
(1962) 1.430ff.
12 H. Gese, Lehre una Wirklichkeit in der alten Weisheit (Tiibingen: Mohr [
Siebeck],
1958) 2.
13 G. von Rad, Wisdom in Israel [.Nashville: Abingdon,
1972] .9, 61-64) refutes
the idea that the fear of the Lord sayings were
added at a later time because God
was always understood as having an important part in
all behavioral consequences.
This
is not a late enlightened idea, as he had maintained earlier m his theology.
6
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wisdom a place"14 in OT theology needs
to be corrected, and so must
the trend to ignore wisdom literature. To alleviate
this problem,
several authors have suggested possible ways of
giving wisdom a
significant place within OT theology.
II.
HOW DO SOME SCHOLARS INCLUDE WISDOM IDEAS
WITHIN OT THEOLOGY?
Wisdom theology has been included in OT theology
by: 1)
connecting the "fear of the Lord" concept
in wisdom writings to its
usage in cultic, legal, and prophetic texts; 2)
drawing on the
similarities between the
instructions within wisdom literature and
the laws in the Pentateuch; and 3) making wisdom
theology a part
of creation theology.15 Each of these
approaches offers suggestive
correlation which must be evaluated carefully.
No one doubts that the "fear of the
Lord" is a key idea within
wisdom literature. D. Kidner
calls it the motto of Proverbs, while
B.
Gemser says it is the "keyword of
twofold sense of basic principle as well as the
best fruit of
Wisdom."16 The choice of this
concept is based on the use of "the
fear of the Lord" at strategic locations at the
beginning and end of ;
Proverbs
(1:7; 31:30), the frequency of the root xry in Proverbs (22
times in verbal and noun clauses), and the fundamental
connection
between the fear of the Lord and wisdom.
Although this root IS less
frequent in Job (16 times) and Ecclesiastes (9.
times), .several times it .
is placed at the climax of a section (Job 28.28. Eccl. 12.13).
J. Becker's study of the fear of the Lord
defined three primary
semantic meanings for the phrase: 1) in a moral
context it describes
a human relationship to God that results in
upright behavior; 2) in
a cultic context this relationship to God
produces acceptable
worship and honoring of God; and 3) in a legal
context a God-fearer
obeys God's instructions.17 In each case
fear includes a reverence and
unconditional submission to the
sovereign majesty of God. With the
fear of God comes a deep faith commitment to the
power, holiness,
and wisdom of God. These points of continuity are
present in the
14 H. O. Preuss,
"Erwagungen zum theologischen Ort alttestamentlicher
Weisheitliteratur," EvT 30 (1970)
393-417.
15 Some have attempted other methods, but
these are the three main
approaches. E.g., L. E. Toombs ("O. T.
Theology and the Wisdom Literature," JBR
23
[1955]
193-96) sees wisdom and law as mighty acts of God in response to human needs,
but this has not gained wide support. .
16 D. Kidner, Proverbs (TOTC; London: Tyndale, 1964) 59; B. Gemser,
"The
Spiritual
Structure of Biblical Aphoristic Wisdom," in Studies in Ancient Israelite
Wisdom (ed. J. L. Crenshaw;
LBS;
17 J. Becker, Gottesfurcht im Alten Testament
(
Institute, 1965) 210,
261.
See also the evaluation of Becker in H. Blocher,
"The Fear .
of the Lord as the 'Principle' of Wisdom," TynBul 28 (1977)
7-15.
SMITH: WISDOM 7
usages of the phrase "fear of the Lord," but
this common thread
does not remove the distinctive meanings of this
phrase in its
different contexts.
Although the theme of fearing God is found in
Genesis (
frequently in Deuteronomy (
the theology of the OT simply by showing that the
phrase is found
throughout Scripture. B. Waltke
rejects W. Kaiser's "proposal to
relate wisdom to the rest of the OT by the concept of
'the fear of
God/Lord'
. . . because he [Kaiser] relates this theme to 'promise'
which he seems to define in terms of
history. Wisdom writers do not mention
national promises. . . ."18 If
the fear of the Lord in wisdom literature
was related to
might be possible. A second problem with using the
"fear of the
Lord"
to integrate the wisdom literature into biblical theology is
.that
the phrase is too narrow. It focuses on the ultimate source of
wisdom (its beginning point) and the proper response
of people who
wish to attain wisdom. But this phrase does not delineate
the
principles or internal structure of wisdom
thinking. Job knew the
importance of fearing God, but that did not seem to
help him
understand very.mu.ch about God's wise way of
dealing with him.
As
M. L. Barre indicates: "The basic premise on which
wisdom
operates is that the world is an orderly universe.
Each person
must master the art of how to integrate his or her life
into the pre-
established order of the world. Whoever does this is
'wise';
whoever does not is 'foolish'."19
Fearing God is the key to beginning
this process, but one must move on from submission
and humility
before the all wise God to learning about his wise
governing of his
created world.
A second way of giving wisdom literature an
integral part in
the theology of the OT is to emphasize the
connection between law
and wisdom. This point is explicitly made in Deut
4:5-6:
Behold, I have taught you statutes and
ordinances. ...Keep them
and do them, for that will
be your wisdom and your understanding
in the sight of the
nations, who. ..will say, "Surely this great
nation
is a wise and
understanding people."
D.
Kidner claims that the "relation of Proverbs to
Deuteronomy is
similarly straightforward by Scripture's own
account of itself. . . .
The
harmony between these two parts of Scripture is expressed most
18 B. K. Waltke, “Te
Book of Proverbs and Old Testament Theology," BSac 136
(1979) 303. Scobie ("Wisdom," 43-44) feels that the slender
thread which Kaiser
finds is not successful in integrating promise and
wisdom.
19 M. L. Barre,
"'Fear of God' and the World View of Wisdom," BTB 11 (1981) 41.
8
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clearly in Deuteronomy
Here
is the union of right and good, of obligation and satisfaction.
Centered
upon God's will, wisdom unites with law."20 This
connection is strengthened by reference to the hrAOT ("law") (1:8; 3:1;
Proverbs. G. von Rad
believes that the motive clause in Deut
cause of the innocent"-can be classified as a
wisdom saying.21 E.
Gerstenberger finds many similarities
between apodictic laws in
the Pentateuch and prohibitions in Proverbs and
hypothesizes that
they both developed out of a common source.22
M. Weinfeld sees a
wisdom influence in Deuteronomy because both: are
written by
scribes, use an admonishing style characteristic
of the father/son
relationship, rely heavily on the
motive clause to persuade, are
infiltrated with a strong sense of rewards or
retribution for
behavior, claim that obedience to their
instructions will lead to
life, require that one must fear God, contain common
themes (i.e.,
both are against moving landmarks [Deut
both reject the use of false weights [Deut 25:13-16
and Prov 11:1]),
and use overlapping vocabulary.23 The total association
of torah
and wisdom was most clearly made in the
non-canonical Wisdom of
Ben
Sirach around 180 BC: "If you delight in wisdom,
then keep his
[God's]
commandments" (
Bar
3:37-4:1) For Ben Sirach, torah is wisdom. This same
connection
is made in haggadic passages in the Mishnah.24
This attempt to associate wisdom literature with
law goes
much deeper than the mere association of one key
phrase.
Nevertheless,
Weinfeld's suggestion that Deuteronomy was
written or revised by scribes from the wisdom
school seems unlikely
in light of the non-covenantal nature of wisdom
and the total
immersion of Deuteronomy in covenantal thinking.
Although it
20 D. Kidner,
"Wisdom Literature of the O. T.," in Perspectives on the Old
Testament (Waco: Word, 1970) 118. A. von Rohr Sauer
("Wisdom and Law in Old
Testament
Wisdom Literature," CTM 43
[1972] 600-9) believes wisdom and law were
quite different in pre-exilic times but that the two
became one in the post-exilic period.
21 G. von Rad, Studies in Deuteronomy (SBT 9; London:
SCM, 1953) BO.
22 E. Gerstenberger,
"Covenant and Commandments," JBL
84 (1965) 38-51.
23 See M. Weinfeld,
Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic
School (
Tradition
(Atlanta: John Knox, 1981) 94-106. D. A. Hubbard ("The Wisdom Movement
and
wisdom and law. For a critique of Weinfeld's
views see c. Brekelman, "Wisdom Influence
in Deuteronomy,"
in La Sagesse de l'Ancien
Testament (ed. M. Gilbert;
28-38.
24 von Rad,
Wisdom in
Hermeneutical Construct (BZAW 151; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1980) 60-62, 81, 97. For the
Mishnaic treatment of law and wisdom see E. J. Schabel, "Law and Wisdom in the
Mishnaic System,"
BTB 17 (1964) 104-10.
SMITH: WISDOM 9
would seem to be inappropriate to classify
Deuteronomy as a
wisdom text and minimize its distinctive contribution
to OT
theology, at least wisdom theology seems less
foreign to the rest of
the OT when it is compared with the theology of
Deuteronomy.
What
is needed to complete the connection between these related
theological streams of tradition is a broad
overarching conceptual
framework that will include both wisdom and other
ideas as
legitimate yet distinctive parts within a single
whole.
A third suggestion makes wisdom theology a part
of creation
theology. W. Zimmerli
has proposed this solution because of the
universal character of wisdom. It refers to people
in general, not
Israelites specifically. Wisdom teaches all
people how to master
the realities within human life. To live properly
one must
understand that people were created by God, that
God supplies an
order that gives meaning to nature, and that God
granted people
responsibility to rule and enjoy the
world. Wise admonitions
counsel people ,so that they will know what is
good and what to do
to receive God s reward.25 The great speeches
of God at the end of
I
the book of Job (33-41) and the hymn in praise of wisdom in Proverbs
8
demonstrate that creation was accomplished through God's great
wisdom and that creation played an important part in
wisdom
thinking: Von Rad suggests
that wisdom is "the meaning' planted
by God in creation,” while H.-J. Hermission claims that "creation is
the basis not only of regularity, but of the
meaningful and
satisfactory order of events in the
world."26 Although creation may
provide a basis for some wisdom ideas, it does
not spell out what
one is to do to be wise. L. Bostrom
concludes that creation was a
secondary motif in Proverbs and not "the theology
of OT wisdom."27
W.
H. Schmidt decides that "wisdom thought cannot without
qualification be assigned to a
'theology of creation' unless the
concept is so enlarged that it embraces the
whole of man's
experience of reality."28 God's
creation demonstrates his wisdom in
beginning and ordering the physical world, but
this is quite
different from his wise and just regulation of a
rebellious world of
sinful people.
25 W. Zimmerli,
"The Place and Limits of the Wisdom in the Framework of the
Old Testament Theology," SJT 17 (1964) 146-58. W. J. Dumbrell (The Faith of
[
theology.
26 Von Rad,
Wisdom in
Creation
Theology in Wisdom," in Israelite
Wisdom: Theological and Literary
Essays in Honor of
Samuel Terrien (ed. J. G. Gammie,
et aI.;
46.
27 L. Bostrom, The God of the Sages: The Portrayal of God in
the Book of
Proverbs (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksellintemational, 1990) 83, 87.
28 W. H. Schmidt, The Faith of the Old Testament (
10
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A variation of Zimmerli's
approach to creation theology is H.
H.
Schmid's emphasis on wisdom's attempt to establish
cosmic and
social order in the world.29 He sees
creation theology as the
framework for wisdom, for in creation, order was
established by
God. Creation provides the setting within which
historical events
take place and also the basis for the just order for
human
behavior.30 J. L. Crenshaw supports Schmid's
emphasis on creation
and conceives of it as the basis, the defense, or
the undergirding of
divine justice, which is the central theme of wisdom.31
This
approach makes creation a support for order and
justice in human
affairs.
The value of each of these three proposals may
be compared by
noting the emphasis they receive in wisdom and
non-wisdom texts.
The
fear of the Lord is one of several responses a person can have to
God
in the Pentateuch and in wisdom texts (love, service, obedience,
worship, wise behavior, ethical action, and
enjoyment of life are
other responses), but is the response of fearing God
broad enough to
cover all of these or more central than obedience or
service? Fearing
God
is the starting point, but it does not adequately encompass the
variety of responses that God desires of people
after that initial
step.
The second suggestion draws on the similarities between
the
laws and admonitions in Deuteronomy and wisdom, but certainly"
God's
covenant is broader and more central than the laws, and the
divine desire for righteousness and wisdom is broader
and more
central to wisdom than the style or content of
individual proverbial
admonitions. Although similarities of form, topic,
and hortatory
style may exist, these external comparisons do not
get at the heart
of what wisdom and Deuteronomy are all about.
Making creation the center of wisdom thinking is
also an
inadequate means of integrating wisdom into
biblical theology.
Although
creation is the basis for and starting point of salvation
history, salvation history is not primarily about
creation. Likewise
creation may be the basis of wisdom's order, but
wisdom thinking is
not primarily about creation. The basis for wisdom,
the response of
29 H. H. Schmid, Wesen und Geschichte der
Weisheit (BZAW 101;
Topelmann.. 1966).
30 R. Murphy ("Wisdom-Thesis and
Hypothesis," in Israelite Wisdom,
35-36)
argues against too rigid of an emphasis on the orderly
connection between cause and
consequence.
31 J. L. Crenshaw, "In Search of
Divine Presence," RevExp
74 (1977) 362-65 and
his "Studies in Ancient Israelite Wisdom:
Prolegomenon," in Studies in Ancient
Israelite Wisdom, 26-35. B. S. Childs (Old Testament Theology in a Canonical
Context [
supplement a fuller understanding of the divine
ordering of the world and human
experience."
SMITH: WISDOM 11
the wise person, and the content of wisdom may be
discussed with
great gain if they are all included and put in their
proper place.
Finally, it is necessary to refer to the
outstanding contributions
of
the homogeneous element in
is associated with worship at the temple, God's
giving the law,
the final events of history, and wisdom at the
creation of the
world. Terrien's analysis
demonstrates that the presence of God is a
common element in many literary pieces, although he
focuses more
on the aesthetic and experiential side of wisdom
and does not
adequately deal with the structure of wisdom
theology.
Although none of these suggestions is entirely
satisfactory,
they do point to a possible approach to the problem
of the place of
wisdom in OT theology: finding a broad theme that is
distinctively
developed in wisdom and non-wisdom texts but
constructively tied
to the central theological teachings of both.
III.
WHAT ARE SOME CENTRAL THEMES IN THE WISDOM
THEOLOGY OF JOB?
Although most theologies begin with the great
concepts of
salvation history and try to squeeze wisdom in
somewhere, there is
no reason why one could not begin with a wisdom
text.33 Both
streams of tradition are a legitimate part of the
canon and both are
a normative and necessary part of
the wisdom theology of Job may reveal a theological
framework
that is uniquely expressed in terms of wisdom, but
equally relevant
to the history of God s deeds for his covenant
people. This
procedure is not meant to reject the importance of
salvation history
or to claim wisdom's superiority,34 but
to give both traditions value
in OT theology. If wisdom and salvation history do
not stand
together, all that has been created is a
deceptive illusion based on
human imagination.
The book of Job can be divided into several
sections based on the
different speakers that provide wisdom
instruction. Although the
theology of each speaker is somewhat unique and
at times
contradictory, there are common
understandings of reality that
32 S. Terrien, The Elusive Presence (San Francisco: Harper
& Row, 1987) 3, 35.
33 R. Murphy, "Wisdom
and Yahwism," in No Famine in the Land (ed. J.
Flanagan and A. Robinson;
improper to integrate wisdom into a "Hebrew
theology" which has been formulated
without the input of wisdom, for such an
approach assumes that wisdom has a
subordinate position.
34 W. Brueggemann
(In Man We Trust [Richmond: John Knox, 1972]) seems to
assert the superiority of wisdom, but J. Goldingay ("The 'Salvation History'
Perspective
and the 'Wisdom Perspective' within the Context of Biblical
Theology,"
EvQ 51
[1979] 198-201) appropriately argues against this.
12
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serve as underpinnings for wisdom thinking. If these
common
threads are parallel to the essential underpinnings
of salvation
history, then a broader perspective on OT
theology can be
developed.
A.
THE THREE FRIENDS
Although the three friends who come to comfort
Job do not give
identical advice, they all come from a similar
wisdom
perspecnve.35