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
TRINITY
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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
TRINITY
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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
TRINITY
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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 They differ in their
emphases and in their sympathy
toward Job, but the three friends are essentially in
theological
agreement. Their
theology is found in: 1) their words of praise
about God; 2) their arguments about the fate of the
wicked and the
righteous; and 3) their personal exhortations or
accusations of Job.
Words
of praise about God form the foundation for the friends'
theology (5:9-16; 11:7-11;
extolled because he controls the great forces of
nature that produce
rain. He establishes social justice for the helpless
and frustrates
the plans of the wicked (5:9-16).37 God's wisdom
has no limits, and
people have no way to discover the extent of his
wisdom (11:7-11).
Although
God is in heaven, he knows what people do .(2.2:12-14).
Indeed,
God is awesome and all powerful, having dominion over
everything (25:2-3). The theology within these
hymns seems fairly
clear: God has all power and wisdom, he controls
everything that
happens.
These theological beliefs are basic to the friends'
statements
about God's punishment of the wicked (4:7-11; 5:2-7;
8:8-19;
35;
18:5-21; 20:4-29) and his care for the righteous (4:6-7;
8:5-7,
20-21;
may flourish for a while, soon God will see their
oppression and
destroy them. Although the righteous or innocent
may suffer pain
for a while, they will quickly seek God's help and
be restored to
35 M. Pope, Job (AB 15; Garden City: Doubleday,
1965) lxx. Pope argues that
there is no real movement in the arguments of the
friends; they just grow more
vehement in their attacks on Job. Others do find
more progression of thought. See W.
A.
Irwin, II An Examination of the Progress of Thought in
the Dialogue of Job," JR 13
(1933)
150-64; J. Blenkinsopp, Wisdom and Law in
the Old Testament (
Rapids: Eerdmans,
1988) 39.
N. C. Habel (The
Book of Job [
36 For a summary of the praise of God in
the speeches of the friends see C.
Westermann, The Structure of the
Book of Job (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981) 75-79.
37 Habel (Job, 133-34) sees 5:9-14 as a hymnic doxology which celebrates El as
the "wonderworker, champion of social justice,
rainmaker, and master mind
controlling all wisdom and strategies on earth
SMITH: WISDOM 13
happiness.38 This theological
position assumes that God knows and
controls everything-therefore he can rule the
earth in justice.
The third group of passages includes personal
exhortations to
Job and several accusations of iniquity. Westermann
has noted that
the exhortations are found mainly in the first
cycle of speeches.39
They
apply the theological assumptions about God and his justice
to Job's specific situation. They encourage Job to
endure in hope (4:5-
16),
to seek God's help, to confess his sins (5:8; 8:5-6;
22),
to accept God's discipline (5:17), and to rely on the wisdom of
the wise men (8:8-10).
The personal accusations usually begin with a
rejection of Job's
words (8:1-2; 11:1-4; 15:1-16; 18:1-4; 20:1-4) and
particularly the
claim that he received a secret message from God in a
night vision
(
friends accuse Job of sin (15:5-6; 22:5-11).
These personal responses to
Job
are consistent with the principle that God blesses the
righteous
and curses the wicked. The friends do not base
their thinking on
relationship to mankind that is
similar to covenant thinking. This
suggests that both systems of thinking may be
based on a broader
conception of God's sovereign and just rule of the
earth.
B.
THE JOB SPEECHES
Job's speeches can be divided into three basic
parts: 1) hymnic
descriptions of God; 2) disputations
concerning justice; and 3)
personal lamentations about his situation.41
Job's hymnic
descriptions of God (9:5-13;
to God's great and marvelous power in creating
(26:7-10) but also to
his angry power to upset, rebuke, or set limits on
what he has
created (26:10-15).42 This great God
is also elusive and people are
not able to question or control him (
of the wise men (
power belong to God (
controls the rain, kings, judges, priests,
nobles, and nations. Instead
38 D. Kidner, The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes (
InterVarsity,
1985) 60.
39 Westermann, Structure, 19.
40 G.V.Smith,"Job4:12-21: Is it Eliphaz' Vision?" VT 40 (1990) 453-63.
41 Westermann
(Structure, 25-28,31-66,71-75) calls these sections
praises of God,
disputations, and laments. .
42 The author of 26:5-14 is widely
questioned. Pope, Terrien, Dhorme,
Gordis,
and Habel suggest that
this is the second half of Bildad's speech, since
25:1-6 is so
short. But F. I. Andersen (Job [Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1976]
216) keeps it as a
part of Job's speeches. Westermann
(Structure, 77-79) assigns 26:5-14 to
Bildad and
then transposes it to the end of BiIdad's
speech in chap. 8. H. H. Rowley ("The Book
of Job and its Meaning," in From Moses to Qumran [
163-64)
surveys various opinions about the speakers in Job 25-28.
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of wisdom and prosperity, foolishness and
destruction come on
them. Job, like the three comforters, believes that
God is all
powerful and all wise, but his emphasis is on
God's judgment, his
hiddenness, and the injustices
present in human relationships.
Job's
disputations (chaps. 9-10; 19; 21; 23-24; 26-27; 29; 31) are
motivated by his desire to see justice, his desire
to correct the false
assumptions of his friends (about the way God
rules), and his desire
to understand God. He recognizes the futility of
bringing a lawsuit
against God, for God is all wise, all powerful,
and cannot be forced
into court (9:3-4, 13-20, 32-35; 13:3, 15; 23:1-7).
Yet it appears that
both the guilty and the wicked are treated the same
way and that
God
does not judge the wicked for their evil (
21:7-26;
24:1-25). Job maintains that justice has failed, that he is
Inot guilty of a sin equivalent to the judgment that
he has received
(10:6-7;
12:4; 19:7; 23:7, 12; 27:4-6). He was a respected man in
society who cared for the poor, opposed the
wicked, and avoided
falsehood, immorality, and pride in his riches
(29; 31). In these
speeches Job begins with the same theological
base as the three
friends: God is all powerful and wise. Unlike
the three friends, Job
questions God's administration of justice. in. light of his own
circumstance and rejects his comforters'
application of the theory of
divine retribution to his situation.
C.
THE ELIHU SPEECHES
After
a lengthy introduction (32:6-22) Elihu's speeches in Job
32-37
include a rebuttal of Job and a defense of God. First Elihu
rejects Job's statement that God is far away and
does not speak. God
speaks to people through dreams or visions, through
pain and
suffering, and through a gracious mediator who can
bring
redemption (33:13-28). Elihu
rejects Job's claim that God has been
unjust (34:1-9). Elihu also
believes that God has all power (34:13)
and controls the life of every human being
(34:14-15). Job speaks
wickedly in ignorance of God's ways (34:33-37).
God is righteous, he
judges the wicked who refuse to turn from evil, and
cares for the
righteous (36:1-16). He is the exalted one, his
marvels in nature are
unsearchable. Since his knowledge is
perfect and his power is
unlimited, he is just (36:24-37:24). Elihu rejects Job's claims of
injustice and constructs a justification for God's
rule on the basis of
his power.
D.
THE SPEECHES OF GOD
The two speeches by God (38:1-42:6) question
Job's wisdom about
the creation and ordering of the heavens and the
earth. God has
the power and wisdom to measure and lay the
foundations of the
SMITH: WISDOM 15
earth (38:2-7), set limits on the sea (38:1-11),
arrange the days,
planets, clouds, snow, wind, lightning, and
inner parts of the earth
(38:16-38).
God's wisdom also controls the behavior of domestic and
wild animals (38:39-39:30). Since Job understands
none of these
things, can he understand the basis for God's justice?43
Job does not
have the wisdom or power to judge the proud or the
wicked, and
certainly he has no power over God's creatures,
Behemoth and
Leviathan
(40-41). The God speeches do not explain the full details
of God's plans on earth, but develop God's means
of governing by
arguing from the structural, the functional, and
the celebrative
aspects of God's design of the universe.
"The structural motifs
emphasize the wise order and depth of the design,
the functional
motifs focus on the containment of evil and
providential care, while
the celebrative motifs reach. ..to
the festive and incongruous
dimensions of this design."44 There
is no further doubt in Job's mind
concerning the wisdom of God's rule of the world.45
E.
THE PROLOGUE AND EPILOGUE
The beginning and final sections of the book
(1:1-2:13; 42:7-17)
are key theological components which give something
of the
author's understanding of Job's trial. Here the
curtains of heaven
are drawn back so that a brief glimpse of God s
mysterious ways are
revealed. Job is recognized by the narrator and
God himself as
"blameless, upright, fearing God and turning from evil"
(2:3). Job's
denial that he was receiving just punishment for some
great sin is
shown to be correct, and the theology of the friends
is proven
inadequate to deal with the mysterious heavenly
arrangements
between God and the Accuser (42:7-8). The
narrative prologue
reveals that the divine justice of God is not
destroyed by the
intrusion of the Accuser's destructive work
against Job, for at this
point justice is placed within the broader wisdom of
God's sovereign
plan. God maintains his sovereignty over the Accuser
by granting
him only limited authority for his destructive
work. Dhorme
concludes, "Yahweh is in sovereign control.
He it is who holds in
His
hands all the threads, and moves the actors."46
43 E. F. Sutcliffe,
(London: Nelson, 1953) 118.
44 Habel, Job, 532-33.
45 Schmidt (Faith, 248) believes that "God's
answer (ch. 38ff teaches Job about
God's
government of the world, and makes him aware of the limitations of man.
46 Dhorme, Job, XXXII.
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IV.
DISTINCTIVE AND COMMON ELEMENTS IN THE
THEOLOGY
OF THE OT
Is the wisdom theology of Job foreign to the
theology of the rest
of the OT? Should wisdom literature be excluded
from biblical
theology? If it is an integral part of the
canonical texts of the OT
should be an integral part of its theology. If basic
elements Common
to wisdom theology and other theological
traditions can furnish
solid connections within a single framework, wisdom's
distinctive
contributions can enrich and broaden
the perspective of the whole
without destroying its unity. Although wisdom
literature speaks in
a unique voice, the connections demonstrate the
continuity between
wisdom and non-wisdom texts. Both deal with the
theology of
God's
relationship to humankind and the world, but each type of
literature arises from a different contextual
setting.
The various theologies represented in Job agree
on the
fundamental theological principle that God sovereignly rules over
individuals, nations, and nature. Job, the friends, Elihu, the God
speech, and the prologue witness to God's power and
ability to rule.
He
rules over his creation through his power and his wisdom, over
the nations through wars and famines, and over the
final events of
human history, including death itself. All animals,
all people, and
all nations are controlled by his almighty rule. His creation of the
world and his providential ordering and care for it
are evidences of
his wisdom and power. His amazing power and control
are praised,
and his sovereign rule makes him ultimately
responsible for
bringing suffering or blessing on mankind.
Although Clines is correct
when he claims that the chief issue of Job is
"the problem of the
moral order of the world, the principles on which it
is governed,"47
that problem exists only because there is no doubt
in anyone's mind
that God sovereignly rules
the world.48 If he were not sovereignly
ruling, the issues of his justice and his mysterious
ways would not be
raised.
Two subordinate themes explain how God rules in
the context of
the wisdom theology of Job. One relates to God's
just treatment of
people and the other deals with God's mysterious
freedom and
wisdom. On these points there is controversy and
partial resolution.
The
friends defend God's justice by claiming that it brings
predictable results for both the wicked and the
righteous. Because
47 D. J. A. Clines,
Job 1-20 (WBC 17; Dallas: Word, 1989)
xxxvii; cf. also A. van
Selms, Job, A Practical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985) 14.
48 L. Bostrom (God of the Sages, 177) concludes that
the discussion in Job "never
departs from the assumption of God's sovereignty
even though the question of
whether or not God's activity is limited by
ethical considerations is brought into the
picture."
SMITH: WISDOM 17
Job
did not experience God's justice as he expected it, he began to see
that God's ways of treating people in the real world
were not bound
by the simple theological formulas of the friends.
On these points
the theology of Job probes the deeper issue of the
relationship
between God's sovereignty and his justice. The
limits of
deuteronomic theology are expanded
by wisdom's search for fuller
explanations of seeming
inconsistencies than are given in incomplete
covenant formulations. But wisdom's own limitations
are only too
evident as it confronts the power and presence
of God in this world.49
The prologue, the God speeches, and the epilogue
uncover the
mysterious and marvelous ways in which God works.
In his wisdom
he is free to allow sin, suffering, and the
Accuser to exist; yet still
fulfill his purposes. In the midst of negative
circumstances justice
exists, but it is mysteriously tempered with divine
wisdom and
freedom. This perspective is a unique
contribution that wisdom
theology makes to OT theology, and it is an
essential part of a
wholistic understanding of God's
rule. It forces every person to step
out in faith, humbly fearing God, knowing that God
has the
freedom to use his power and wisdom in ways that
go beyond human
"understanding.5O Joseph
must have wondered about these issues
(Genesis
37-45) and David struggled with them in some of his
laments (Psalm 13), but neither was able to see
beyond his
traditional understanding. Without an understanding
of his
mysterious wisdom and freedom, God would be almost
a puppet,
bound to respond automatically in predetermined ways
to all
behavior, never free to rule in dimensions beyond
human
comprehension (cf
Job 40:1-5; 42:1-3). The revelations about divine
government derived from the theology of Job are
distinctive, yet not
unrelated to other key theological emphases in
texts that focus on
the covenant and God's great acts of grace for his
chosen people in
salvation history.
The Pentateuch, historical books, and prophets
describe God's
relationship to human
beings, and particularly his people.
Salvation
history is rich with its own distinctive themes of God
electing a people, delivering them from
torah, entering into a covenant relationship with
them, giving
them the land, and guiding them through their history.
Each of
these acts is based on a fundamental theological belief
that God
sovereignly rules over
his people as the covenant Lord who is with them
and keeps his
covenant promises, as the lawgiver who provides instructions
on
49 vonRad,
Wisdom in
50 Several emphasize God's freedom from a
mechanistic theology of retribution
See
Terrien, Elusive
Presence, 369-71; and Crenshaw, Ancient Israelite Wisdom,
25.
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how to live as a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation (Exod 19:5-6).
He
is the Lord of history who delivers them from slavery and
defeats other nations and the judge who controls
nature to give rain
and blessing or drought and curse. He is the great
king of the
theocracy who rules with power.
Several subordinate themes playa role in God's
rule over his
people in salvation history. Because God rules over
revealed principles of conduct which influence
future relationships,
issues of justice are basic to the relationship
between the covenant
partners. If
covenant stipulations, God in justice will send
other nations to
destroy the people and send a curse on nature.
But if they love God
and follow his instructions, God will bless the
land where they live
and give them peace with other nations (Leviticus
26; Deuteronomy
27-28).
In spite of this clear teaching, the
relationship between God
and
his love for
mysterious freedom that moves God to choose one
people and not
another. His mercy and deeds of salvation are
praised, but they are
beyond human understanding. These themes are uniquely
developed
in God's positive dealings with
V.
CONCLUSIONS
Both wisdom and non-wisdom traditions have a
distinctive
place in OT theology. They are different, but they do
not contradict
each other. Both point to the same fundamental
relationship
between God and the world. God rules over
everyone and
everything. This agrees with Bostrom's
study of the theology of
Proverbs and its relationship to other OT
teaching.
He concludes
that "it is probably correct to say that a
belief in God's sovereignty
more or less characterizes the OT as a whole and
that the belief in
the Lord as supreme ruler constitutes a basic
shared assumption of
the biblical authors."51 Although
the theological setting of the
book of Proverbs stands in bold contrast to the
context of Job,
Bostrom's conclusion is supported by the
proverbial statements that
describe how God created the world through wisdom
(
31)
and freely controls the plans and lives of every
person according
to his purposes (16:1-9, 33;
life and death. He justly rules over those who are wise
and
51 Bostrom, God of the Sages, 179.
SMITH: WISDOM 19
righteous as well as those who are foolish and
wicked (3:3-12;
23, 8.34-35, 14.31).
The central themes in Job are also fundamental
to Qohelet's
theological substructures, for in spite of all his
feeling of
frustration, ignorance and powerlessness, there is
the overriding
belief that God has made everything, that no one can
change what
he has planned, and that God is somehow observant
of good and
evil (Eccl
wealth, and money) is a gift from God, it is
impossible to
understand the mystery of God's blessings or his
just ways (
4.14, 5.18 6.2, 8.16 17).
This central theme-God rules over
nature-is superior to Goldingay's
dual emphases on creation and
redemption because it encompasses and stands behind
both.52 God's
rule is a broader and more adequate unifying theme
for four reasons.
1)
It does not focus just on the two powerful events of creation and
redemption, but on all God's powerful deeds and
words. 2) It
encompasses not only God's great positive deeds
(creation and
redemption) but his just judgment of nature and
nations and his
daily providential control of history and nature as
well. 3) It is not
focused on a few historical points, but on the
many ways his wisdom
instructions, laws, and prophetic
warning bring about his rule over
individuals, nations, and parts of nature. 4) It
does not depend on
the chronological relationship of creation and
redemption, which
makes one more prominent at one time and the other at
another
time, but applies to all times and in many ways.
God's rule in the perspectives of the wisdom
writings and the
covenant history of
wisdom. His wisdom is revealed in his covenant
instructions,
proverbs, visions, and theophanies
(Deut 4:5-6; Job 33:13-18; 39-41),
through the creation of the world and his
continual control of it
(Proverbs
8; Deuteronomy 27-28), and through his dealings with
the wicked and the righteous. These wise dealings
reveal his
justice and bring the fulfillment of his plans.
But his justice is
tempered with mercy and forgiveness, with
marvelous miracles of
salvation, and with wise decisions that overshadow
the
covenantal and proverbial concepts of retribution
in significant
ways. Life with God cannot be neatly systematized,
but it is not a
blind alley with no light. There is a way that seems
right, but it is
filled with divine surprises. The fool fails to see
the divine ways
as God's rule, the wicked reject his rule, but
there are many like Job
who fear God and strive to know the truth so that
they may be free.
Job's
friends failed to understand the full beauty of God's ways
because they limited God's rule to an inadequate
conception of his
52 Goldingay,
"'Wisdom Perspective,'" 201-7.
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justice and freedom. Theologies which ignore the
wisdom and
mysterious freedom of God's sovereign rule remove
any need for
faith in God and run the danger of being just as
inadequate as the
narrow ideological reconstructions of Job's friends.
This
material is cited with gracious permission from:
Trinity Journal
2065 Half Day Rd.
www.tiu.edu/trinityjournal/index.html
Please
report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt at:
thildebrandt@gordon.edu