Do I Have to Know This for the Exam?

 

Sometimes students don't have a good appreciation for all the work that goes into that Monday morning English class. Long before the student was worried about missing the bus or staying awake in class, curriculum writers set educational goals for the student. What skills should he master at his age? Which concepts are still over her head and which can be safely introduced? The writer has then taken those goals and developed a scope and sequence - a plan to navigate from here to proficiency safely. The teacher has taken the textbook, the scope and sequence, and her knowledge of the student, and prepared Monday's lesson.

Older students show more interest in the direction of their education. College and graduate students begin to look at the educational goals with more care. Why should I take this course? Is it required? What will I learn? Because they are paying for the course, they want to know what the course will do for them.

The book of Proverbs also begins with educational goals. The author sets out his strategy right from the beginning:

“The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline;

for understanding words of insight;

for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,

Doing what is right and just and fair;

for giving prudence to the simple,

Knowledge and discretion to the young-

Let the wise listen and add to their learning,

and let the discerning get guidance-

For understanding proverbs and parables,  

the sayings and riddles of the wise."-Proverbs 1:1-6

          Solomon tells the student right up front what he intends to teach. The student knows immediately the benefits he will receive as a result of his mastery of the subject matter. The benefits are in the realm of wisdom, moral discipline, and discernment. Wisdom, as we have already seen, is the art of steering, a person's ability to navigate life successfully. Discipline is the training of the moral nature, the discipline of the will. Discernment is the ability to choose between options, not just right and wrong, but good, better, and best.

Stop for a moment and think about the ramifications of what Solomon has just said: The following chapters have the ability to move us from simple to prudent, from naive to discerning, from lazy to disciplined. How would our relationships be different if we were wise in our management of them? What if our decision-making were more objective, if we had the ability to see through emotion and competing interests? What if we had the discipline to do what is right once we knew what it was?

Anyone who has insomnia has seen the courses advertised on late-night infomercials: Through these notebooks, videotapes, and CDs we can lose weight, get rich through real estate, improve our memories even do complex math problems in our heads. Because they are advertisements, I have my suspicions about them. I've never ordered their products, but I've wondered in the back of my mind, what if they really do work?

Because our whole American culture is image-driven, we have a right to be suspicious. But, we ought not bring our suspicions to this book Solomon writes that this book can accomplish its goals. This book will deliver on its promises! Consider: It was written by the wisest man of his time (ask the Queen of Sheba). Behind the king is God, the Lord of the universe, guiding his hand, inspiring words, prohibiting error. The book we have before us has the seal of approval of the Sovereign Creator,

How to Read a Proverb

It will help us in our study of Proverbs to understand its forms and the art involved in Hebrew poetry. Instead of rhyming, Hebrew poetry uses parallelism. This type of poetry sets one line artistically next to another to communicate a single point. Look at the following proverb (14:32):

"When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge. "

Solomon shares one idea in two artistic ways: Your moral character will determine whether you stand or fall when trouble comes, For the wicked, trouble will be their undoing. For the righteous, they cannot ultimately be undone. There is a refuge waiting, even in death!

Elements in the first line can be found in the second: "Righteous" corresponds to

"wicked," "brought down" to "have a refuge," and "calamity" to "even in death." This provides balance in the poetry and aids our understanding of the proverb. Take the following example:

"A wise man brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother,"

-Proverbs 10:1

I heard a sermon once which talked about the pride of a father when his son is wise and how his foolishness brought grief to his mother. It seemed as if the mother received no joy if her son was wise and the father shed no tears if the son was a fool. Such an interpretation could have been avoided if the reader tried to summarize the lines into one clear idea: The character of the child will affect the parents either positively or negatively. Can you see the elements in the proverb?

 

 

Wise man	Brings joy	To his father
Foolish son	(brings) grief	To his mother

The Character             Affects positively        The Parents of the child                        or negatively

 

The lines in Hebrew poetry can restate the same idea again to enhance its meaning. This is called synonymous parallelism:

"A quick-tempered man does foolish things and a crafty man is hated" (14:17)

"Evil men will bow down in the presence of the good and the 'wicked at the gates of the righteous." (14:19)

"A mocker resents correction;

He will not consult the wise" (15:12)

Most of the proverbs enhance the idea by antithetic parallelism, the second says the opposite of the first:

'The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, But the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness. " (11:5)

"A man is praised according to his wisdom

But men with warped minds are despised." (12:8)

Sometimes the proverb will have three or more lines (emblematic) or won't seem to have much of a relationship at all (formal), Some proverbs draw the comparison by stating that one element is better than another:

"Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife." (21:19)

Hebrew poetry is sometimes beautiful, sometimes humorous, and most of the time right on target! The concrete expressions are memorable like "a jewel in a pig's snout" or "dwelling on the corner of a rooftop," Can you remember what the comparisons were? Such vivid expressions helped in retaining the lesson and remembering it when needed.

Proverbs are Life Observations

The Proverbs of Solomon arc life observations. They are general principles drawn from lifc the way God created it. Diligence can always be expected to bring wealth. Because we have a sovereign God, however, God may do something different in our individual circumstance Ask Job. Habakkuk complains to God, "Why do the wicked prosper?" In Proverbs, the wicked always get their due. Why? Proverbs is teaching us how we ought to live. It doesn't always, however, give us clues to what God may be doing. Consider this Proverb:

"Train up a child in the way he should go

And when he is old, he will not depart from it."

I know of more than one parent who is depending on this Proverb as a promise from God that a wayward child will return home. The Life observation that the proverb is pointing to is that the child will see the value in the training of the home and never depart from it. Proverbs are life observations to build a life on, not always specific promises to an individual.  The words of a proverb are carefully chosen so that they stick in a reader's mind or heart.

          Solomon is about to take us on a journey.  Not so that we may know more things, but so we can live out the wisdom he teaches.  His school is unlike any other, but the results are eternal.  And yes, we have to know this for the exam!

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