PAUL KOPTAK, THE AUTHOR of this fine commentary on the book of Proverbs, tells us that in its original setting Proverbs was used as a “course of study designed to foster wisdom, using literary-rhetorical resources” as teaching methods. That is, this book teaches applied knowledge—wisdom.
This makes Proverbs an extremely important book. Wisdom is in short supply these days. Look around and one finds plenty of knowledgeable people. Look in other places and one finds plenty of goodhearted people. But we look hard to find people both goodhearted and knowledgeable—or, put a better way, people who have learned how to integrate their hard-won knowledge with their grace-imparted goodness.
You see, Westerners live in a culture that suffers from having separated knowledge from ethics. Because of the importance and influence of science and technology in our world, we live with the notion that one can know things without knowing how those same things should be used. Scientists working on the atomic bomb, for example, could pretend that all they were doing was extending the frontiers of knowledge when in fact they were creating knowledge that could be used for horrific human ends. No wisdom there, for sure.
Wisdom is not an easy nut to crack, however. If it were so easy, it wouldn’t be in such short supply. What makes it difficult? At least five things:
(1) Wisdom often seems cryptic. That is, it is often hard to understand, not because the content is so difficult but because it is usually radical and subversive. That is, it usually goes against established cultural norms, norms geared toward economic success or political power. It takes ears specially trained in the ways of the gospel to hear the wisdom of many proverbs. “Ears to hear,” Jesus called them. Otherwise, how could you hear someone say, “He who is trustworthy conceals a matter,” without thinking of Enron and concealment and corporate greed and think that the writer of that proverb may be more than just a little bit out of touch?
(2) Wisdom often seems ambiguous. Ambiguity is the very thing one would think wisdom was designed to do away with. But Proverbs teaches us that that is not true. Wisdom is sometimes found in the interaction between two proverbs rather than the statement of just one:
Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes. (26:4–5)
We have to read both, we have to understand both, and then we have to read both and understand them together before wisdom emerges.
(3) Wisdom, like everything else human, is culture specific. Wisdom in one culture is not always wisdom in another. Thus, when we read in Proverbs 7 about the virtues of a good woman, one of the questions engendered is, what are the virtues of a good man? As Paul Koptak shows us, Proverbs contains some wisdom but not all wisdom. It is the product of a culture that didn’t think to warn its daughters about men to avoid, as Proverbs 7 warns young men about women to avoid. It takes some effort to convert this message for twenty-first century women.
(4) Wisdom takes courage to implement. It is not enough to see what action is required by the knowledge you attain. You have to do more than recognize and acknowledge the action wisdom requires, you have to do it as well. It is not enough to say that most basic and earliest Christian creed, “Jesus is Lord.” We must also act in ways that acknowledge that Jesus is Lord—by obeying, loving, and relating to Jesus as Lord.
(5) Finally, wisdom is broadminded. It teaches us that not just any old actions implied by our knowledge will do. Our actions must be measured by the extent to which they contribute to God’s plan: the building of the kingdom of God, human flourishing, the well-being of the whole creation. But trying to work out the ciphers of future effects from today’s causes is not so easy.
Perhaps the greatest of all the lessons of Proverbs is this—that the wisdom it extols is hard to find but most worthy of seeking.
Terry C. Muck