by Stephen Rodgers

Comparative Outlines of the Wisdom Books

Having briefly dealt with the historical books, we now turn our attention to the third major section of the OT: the wisdom books. Remember, the OT (as it appears in the Protestant Bible) can be broken down into four major sections:

1. Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
2. History (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther)
3. Wisdom (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs)
4. Prophecy (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)

The 5 wisdom books were written over a period of approximately 700 years (although excluding Job and Psalms would give us a much more manageable range of 40 to 245 years, with the bulk of the writing done in the first 40), and comprise some of the most beautiful, controversial, and confusing passages of Scripture.

It should be noted at the outset that scholars do not agree on the proper classification of books of this section. Some would make a distinction between what they consider to be “poetical works” and “wisdom literature.” Even in the Hebrew Tanakh, while all five books can be found within the broad section of the Kethuvim, they are divided among the Poetical Books and the Five Rolls (along with Ruth, Lamentations, and Esther). To keep things simple, I’ve opted to treat the poetical works and the wisdom literature as a single category.

AUTHOR & COMPOSITION

Unlike the Pentateuch (but like the historical books), the historical books do not have a single author. Job’s author is anonymous, the Psalms had multiple authors (including Moses), and the remaining three books were written primarily by Solomon. As previously mentioned, they were written over a period of more than seven centuries by some rather disparate authors.

THEMES

The ESV Study Bible highlights five major themes of the wisdom books:

1. The Fear of the Lord – This expression (or one similar to it) appears more than 60 times throughout the wisdom books. It appears early in Job (Job 1:9), brackets the Psalms (Ps 2:11; 147:11), permeates Proverbs (Prov 1:7; 14:27) and shows up even in Ecclesiastes (Eccl 5:7; 8:12; 12:13)
2. The Limits of Human Wisdom – This theme forms the natural foil to the first one. The rhetorical question “who knows?” if often set against the omniscience and omnipotence of the LORD both explicitly and implicitly.
3. The Righteous and the Wicked in Relation to God – An early form of the Problem of Evil is explored throughout the wisdom books, echoing earlier passages such as Genesis 18:23. The contrast is thoroughly worked out in Psalms 37 and 73, Job’s dialogues, Proverbs 10-12, and exceptions are noted and addressed in Ecclesiastes (Eccl 7:15).
4. The Nature of Suffering – Obviously this is fully addressed in Job, but a number of Psalms are structured as laments (Psalms 3, 4, 6, 10, 13, etc.). Even Song of Solomon contrasts the delights of love fulfilled with the agonies of unrequited love (Song 5:6-8; 8:6-7).
5. The Nature of True Piety – Job and the Psalms (25, 26, 31, 84, etc.) often ask the question in one form or another: is it possible to worship God with integrity? As we’ll see when we get to those books, the answer is “yes.”

GENRE

The wisdom books are predominantly poetry, and that requires some explanation, as ANE Hebrew poetry was quite different from poetry as we know it today.

Unlike English poetry, where each line of the poem is commonly given its own line on the page, Hebrew poetry gives no such visible cues.  Instead, it’s presence is most commonly understood by the presence of various literary elements including rhythm, rhyme, terse expression, freedom in word order, and an absence of typical prose particles. Furthermore, a prominent feature of Biblical poetry not commonly found in English poems is the “seconding sequence:” a line in two parts, where each part has a particular relationship to the other (explained momentarily), along with certain commonalities of sound, syntax, and sequence.  Again, this can be difficult to understand and explain since sound and syntax typically do not survive translation.  However, the sequential elements typically have one of the following structures:

• Synonymous – The second line restates/reiterates the first line (Psalm 19:1; 113:7; 147:10)
• Antithetic – The second line provides the opposite of the first line (Psalm 1:6; Prov 10:1)
• Synthetic – The two lines have neither a strictly coordinate or contradictory relationship (Psalm 52:9)

Other Works Referenced:

• ESV Study Bible, “Introduction to the Poetic and Wisdom Literature”
• Reformation Study Bible, “Introduction to the Hebrew Poetry”
• Reformation Study Bible, “Introduction to the Wisdon Literature”
• The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook, “The Wisdom Books and Psalms”
• Driscoll, A Book You’ll Actually Read On The Old Testament
• Knight, The Layman’s Bible Handbook