The father’s teachings in Proverbs constantly echo Deuteronomy, whose message flows from Yahweh in the heavens, through Moses on Mount Sinai, to parents at the city gates, and into the lives of children in the home. The allusions to Yahweh and Moses here in Proverbs endow the father’s sayings with a sense of tradition and authority.

Here in Proverbs 3, for example, we hear undeniable allusions to the great Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4–9, which begins memorably, “Hear [shema], O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). Moreover, both Deuteronomy 6 and Proverbs 3 use words and phrases such as “hear,” “teach,” “write,” “bind,” “on your heart,” and “do not forget,” all to encourage the young person to internalize law and wisdom. Two other connections between Proverbs 3 and Deuteronomy include the offering of the “firstfruits” (Deut. 18:4; 26:2, 10; Prov. 3:9) and the expectation of the Lord’s discipline (Deut. 8:5; Prov. 3:11–12).

As we can see in the outlines below, Proverbs organizes these themes from Deuteronomy into alternating sets of positive teachings and negative commands, with consequences for each (cf. table 2.4). This alternating rhythm also mimics the pattern of covenant blessings and curses in Deuteronomy 28; 30.

  I.E.  Third Instruction (3:1–12)

1.  The Father’s Teachings (3:1–4)

2.  The Ways of Knowing: Trust, Know, Fear (3:5–8)

3.  Trusting in Sickness and in Health (3:9–12)

Increasing levels of structure emerge when we consider the sequence of positive and negative exhortations. For example, the section as a whole is set off by a pattern of – + – + in the first two and last two pairs of proverbs (Prov. 3:1–4, 9–10). This features the central set of sayings in verses 5–8 (+ – + – +) that emphasize trusting, knowing, and fearing Yahweh with the whole of our human nature and identity (cf. table 2.4).

TABLE 2.4: Exhortations and Consequences in Proverbs 3:1–12

A few scholars eschew such patterns, viewing them as subjective. Patterns and structures are indeed less frequent after chapter 15, and proposed structures are highly debated. But most recognize that chapters 1–9 were clearly written with much more thought for the placement and wording of each saying in relation to others.

Knowledge as Participation

“In all the journeys and paths of life, know him.” Or so we could paraphrase the first part of Proverbs 3:6. The statement should remind us of the similar command in Deuteronomy 6:5, which could also be loosely translated, “Love the Lord with all of your heart, life, and your everything.” Both passages are about the wholeness of our humanity—statements meant to tell us where to find our identity and how to find direction in every dimension of our lives.

And yet, what does this mean? It is important to note that the word for “knowledge” in the OT rarely means what we so casually think of as content or ideas. This data-driven type of knowledge has been furthered in our day by the rapid advance of computers and artificial intelligence. And yet the how and what of human knowledge has little in common with computers or even advanced robots. Nor, on the other hand, is the wording directing us merely to think about God while we go about the mundane things we do in life.

Rather, knowledge in the OT is a matter of participation, like knowing good food, a favorite clearing in the forest, or a close friend. Facts will certainly come to mind when we think of these things, but the actual experience of knowing them involves a host of complex relationships between our bodies, movements, emotions, memories, hearing, and vision. Knowledge is not, in other words, a single thing or marked by a solitary moment in time. Nor is knowledge a matter only of conscious thought.

We could think of this knowledge of God in more like the way we love a person—both in our conscious awareness and emotions as well as in the constant orientation of our actions, conscious and nonconscious.

Such knowledge is also multidimensional, without borders or limits. It might be most helpful to picture knowing God in all our ways as a poetic, artistic, and open-ended endeavor. It is a work of continuous imagination disciplined into our experience of God and his world.

Authenticity Oriented Outward, not Inward

It is no coincidence that Proverbs turns from the idea of knowing the Lord to the specific examples of humility, trust, and generosity. All these examples are virtues that decenter the self, setting aside one’s own needs, worries, and desires. Such decentering emerges as a prerequisite to becoming wise and knowing God. Chapter 3 returns to decentering and generosity in 3:27–30, directed specifically to one’s fellow humans.

How contrary this is to the message of meaning and authenticity on offer today. Since at least Rousseau we have been told to look not outward to God and his story or to neighbors and our relationships but inward to the quiet individual voices within us that make us who we are. But, as Charles Taylor has long observed, there is no inner meaning that can be found apart from our belonging to a people and to a larger story.41

In this instance Proverbs calls us to direct our trust, generosity, and offerings to the Lord. The tithes and sacrifices in the festival practices in Deuteronomy 15–16 and Leviticus 23; 25 may very well be in view, as they were at the heart of Israel’s rhythm of life, work, and worship. That is, remembering the Lord and his provision in the seasonal and liturgical rhythms were always accompanied by offerings saved up from accumulations of wealth and work—the things we cherish given back to God in thanksgiving.

The OT Sabbath is probably the closest parallel to what is imagined in Proverbs 3:9–10. In a world with no refrigerators or grocery stores, where rodents and flies were pervasive, most of the day was needed simply to prepare and protect the food necessary to sustain life. Sickness, spoiled food stores, and laziness posed an immediate danger to the lives of everyone in the family, maybe even in the community. It is into this world God commands an entire day of rest. That is, after a long week, while we are thinking about the food and labor that beckon to us in days ahead, God says, “Trust my provision, rest in my care, and honor me with celebration.”

How instructive it is that Proverbs does not delay in verse 6 with a definition of what it means to know the Lord. Instead it gives us an example taken from the familiar patterns of Israel’s daily, monthly, and annual cycle of life. Significantly, this sheds an extraordinary light on the nature of God’s law and commands, which we tend to think of as arcane or irrelevant. On the contrary, these seasons and practices, says Proverbs, were given to instill wisdom and the knowledge of God.

Knowledge of God in the Wisdom of the Son

In the same way, Jesus comes from the Father to bring the fullest sense of the knowledge of God to those made in his image. Paul puts it this way in his second letter to the Corinthians: “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). Just as God first spoke light into the creation, so he has spoken again in Jesus to make his glory fully apparent to us. For Paul, to know Jesus means to be transformed into his very likeness (2 Cor. 3:18). And in this likeness we come to walk in the ways of wisdom and righteousness. We could say that what proverbial wisdom imagined by knowing God in the ways of wise living, Jesus has multiplied a thousand times. What Lady Wisdom could not do with our fallen state, Jesus has done for us and in us and through us.Proverbs 3:1–12

Proverbs 3:13–20