Words of Wisdom
Stephen Terry
Commentary for the February 21, 2015
Sabbath School Lesson
“Pay attention and turn your ear to
the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing
when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips. So
that your trust may be in the Lord, I teach you today, even you.” Proverbs
22:17-19, NIV
The book of
Proverbs purports to be about wisdom, but how do we sort out the difference
between knowledge and wisdom? One pundit, a British journalist, Miles Kington,
quipped, “'Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting
it in a fruit salad.” Perhaps that is the essence of wisdom, knowing how to
properly apply the knowledge we have obtained by education and experience. In
that vein, it may be that Proverbs actually leans in some cases more toward the
imparting of knowledge than wisdom. Wisdom becomes in such cases more a matter
of degree than of specific action. For instance, one proverb states, “Blows and
wounds scrub away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.”[i]
Another one says, “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who
loves their children is careful to discipline them.”[ii]
It does not take much imagination to see how these sayings can be a recipe for
child abuse. In this case, the knowledge that children are to be disciplined does
not impart wisdom unless one understands the moral boundaries to said
discipline. Too often has this counsel been used to justify criminal abuse and
neglect by otherwise well-meaning but unwise parents. Taken to an extreme, religious
counsel intended for good has at times been used to justify many types of
extremely violent behavior. Perhaps this finds its nexus in a deviant interface
between knowledge and wisdom.
We might
wish to be careful about letting a problematic understanding of inspiration lead
us into too literal an understanding of books like Proverbs. Proverbs or
aphorisms, by their nature, tend to be contradictory. They are often applied
based on circumstances rather than some notion of absolute truth contained
therein. We do this regularly without thinking about the contradictions we are
creating. When we want help, we might quote the proverb, “Many hands make light
work,” but when we prefer to go it alone, we may say “Too many cooks spoil the
broth.” Wisdom allows us to see that logically both sayings cannot be true at
the same moment, yet each may be true at certain times according to need. We
might admit that this is the case with secular proverbs but be unwilling to
grant that this may also be the case with the Bible, also. However, we can find
similar samples there as well. For instance, we have the admonition “Do not
answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him,”[iii]
immediately followed by “Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be
wise in his own eyes.”[iv]
This juxtaposition highlights the contrast, perhaps with a purpose. Maybe it is
intended to make clear the role of wisdom in determining the validity of a
proverb in a given situation. If we don’t, if we prefer to view each proverb as
an absolute truth, inviolable in every situation, then pairings like this become
huge speed bumps on our road to faith.
It may be
difficult to make this concession because of the implications it carries
regarding what might be deeply held beliefs, even though those beliefs might
not be strictly biblical. An examination of some other proverbs may help to
understand this point. An example can be found in the saying, “Wine is a mocker
and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.”[v]
An absolutist understanding of this text might see this as a complete
prohibition of all alcohol consumption. When we take such a black and white
position, then we run head on into other, apparently contradictory, passages
such as the miracle at the wedding in Cana,[vi]
and Paul’s counsel to Timothy.[vii]
This apparent conflict is not just with the New Testament, it also seems to fly
in the face of Old Testament counsel as well. In the Pentateuch, we can read “But
if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and
cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put
his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the
silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. Use the
silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink,
or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the
presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.”[viii]
It is difficult to reconcile these passages and others like them with the prohibition
of the absolutist. As a result, contrived etymologies are used in an attempt to
create reconciliation, not with what verses like Proverbs 20:1 are actually
saying, but with what the prohibitionist may wish it to be saying.
Interestingly, if we remove the idea that the verse is a prohibition against
all alcohol consumption, the apparent inconsistencies immediately vanish. The textual
understanding is no longer forced.
Another example
of a need for a more relaxed approach to application of the various proverbs
can be found in the statement “The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are
their children after them.” On the surface, this might seem to be supportive of
a perfectionist doctrine, but it seems to be in conflict with Paul’s statements
in his epistle to the Romans about the universal nature of sin.[ix]
But that isn’t the only conflict, for in the very same chapter of Proverbs we
have “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin’?”[x]
Fortunately, the Bible is more transparently consistent here when we understand
that righteousness comes from God. Through the impartation of that
righteousness via Christ it is possible to be blameless and yet sinners, albeit
covered with grace. It is that grace that eliminates the blame for the
righteous,[xi]
who are righteous not of their own accord but through the cross.
Perhaps the most egregious examples of turning malleable proverbs into iron
rules are those that pertain to wealth. Repeatedly, Proverbs associates wealth
with industriousness and implies that failure to achieve prosperity is the result
of laziness, with the resulting implication that those who are wealthy are
somehow more industrious and even more righteous than the rest. While we have
excellent examples of philanthropy to be found in individuals like Bill and
Melinda Gates, there are many more who are niggardly and who are exploitative
of both employees and customers in their grasping for ever more wealth. These
are far from examples of righteousness. They may even invest heavily in
purchasing political influence in order to create a favorable legal environment
to continue exploiting others for gain. Sadly, they may point to their wealth
and status as evidence of their value, even, at times, citing the Bible as
justification for their elitism. These are often the individuals that
continually refer to “the lazy poor” who would prefer to be on the dole rather
than gainfully employed. Yet, they willingly overlook that it may be their
hiring practices that have made it difficult, if not impossible, for those poor
to find employment. What is heartbreaking about this is that some poor people
who are employed and poorly paid will even recite the same approbations about
the lazy poor without realizing that they are condemning themselves in the
process. They perhaps don’t understand that those same hoarders of wealth would
consider them the lazy poor as well. The reasoning being that if they were not
lazy they would be wealthy as well instead of working for such poor wages.
Perhaps the
bottom line is that many proverbs are like a wax nose and may be twisted in
whichever direction suits the one citing them. They may be used as in the last
example to justify oppression. They may be used in a controlling manner to
preach perfectionism, with those who buy into such teaching placing their lives
and their families under the control of others claiming the right to lead them
on the pathway to heaven. They must only obey everything they are told to believe
and do by their controller as though it were coming from God.
Proverbs may
also be used as a false legal standard, prohibiting behavior that the Bible
nowhere universally forbids. In so doing, the burdens created can often drive
pilgrims to abandon the path to heaven altogether. Instead of loading others
with burdens, we are instructed to be lifting their burdens, and in so doing,
fulfilling the Law. Perhaps if we approach the book of Proverbs with the intent
of doing that instead of finding additional requirements to put upon one
another, we can all find our burdens lighter and our community more loving.
