Adapted from “The Holy Scriptures: God’s Word, Written in Human Words,” an updated version of Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, trans. Henry Zylstra (Eerdmans, 1956), chapter 7.
Does God’s Word have anything to say about ordinary life? Not just the great sweep of history or the deep places of the soul, but the everyday stuff: marriage and parenting, friendship, work and business? The Old Testament’s answer is a resounding yes. And the part of Scripture that says it most directly is its wisdom literature.
The Art of the Proverb
Alongside prophecy and psalmody, the Old Testament gives us the chokma: the art of the proverb, or the wisdom literature.
Like prophecy and psalmody, this kind of writing has roots in natural gifts. You can see that in the fable of Jotham (Judges 9:7ff), the riddle of Samson (Judges 14:14), the parable of Nathan (2 Sam. 12), the conduct of the woman of Tekoah (2 Sam. 14), and the like. Clever sayings, riddles and stories were part of life in Israel.
But wisdom literature received its special, dedicated character above all from Solomon.11 Kings 4:29-34. It was then carried on in the proverbs of other wise men (Prov. 22:17ff.) and in the books of Job, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon, continuing until after the exile.
Three Ways of Hearing God’s Will
So how does wisdom fit alongside the prophets and the psalms? Think of it this way.
Prophecy reveals the will of God as it works itself out in the history of Israel and the other nations.
Psalmody gives voice to the echo that the carrying out of God’s will produces in the souls of his saints.
Wisdom literature relates that same will of God to practical life and conduct.
Wisdom, too, rests on the foundation of divine revelation. Its starting point is that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7). That’s crucial. Biblical wisdom isn’t just common sense or good advice. It begins with reverence for God.
So each of these three has its own focus, but none of them floats free. Prophecy, psalmody and wisdom all rest on the same revelation of God’s will, given principally through Moses. Wisdom simply carries that revelation somewhere the other two don’t go as directly.
Prophecy discloses God’s will in history, psalmody echoes it in the soul, and wisdom applies it to daily life.
Faith for the Ordinary Day
What makes wisdom literature different is where it applies God’s revelation. It doesn’t connect it to the history of nations, or to the inner experiences of the soul. Instead it applies it to ordinary, daily life: the life of man and woman, parents and children, friendship and society, business and profession.
It’s honest about its limits. It doesn’t operate on the high plane of prophecy, and it doesn’t see as far. Nor does it explore as deeply as the Psalms. But it notices something they might pass over. It pays attention to all the ups and downs of life, the kinds of experiences under which people tend to give up in despair, and it lifts people up above them.
How does it do that? By faith in the righteousness of God’s providence. When life seems unfair or overwhelming, wisdom points us to the God who governs all things justly. That’s why this literature has a significance for people everywhere, and why, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, it has been preserved for all ages.
The Prophet, the Singer and the Sage
Step back and the whole picture comes into focus. The revelation, the law and the will of God, set out mainly in the books of Moses, reach their completion in the Old Testament through three voices: the preaching of the prophet, the song of the singer and the maxims of the sage.
Here’s a memorable way to put it: the prophet is the head, the singer the heart, the sage the hand.
The prophet shows us the mind of God at work in history. The singer gives voice to what God’s work stirs in the heart. The sage puts it to work with practical hands in the everyday world. In this way the prophetic, priestly and kingly offices fulfilled their calling under the Old Covenant.
A Treasure Now Shared With the World
And there’s one more thing. This priceless treasure of holy literature didn’t stay locked within Israel. In Christ it has become the common property of the world. What began as Israel’s holy literature, the prophet’s preaching, the singer’s song and the sage’s maxims, now belongs to everyone.
That means the wisdom of Proverbs, the questions of Job and the reflections of Ecclesiastes belong to every believer. The next time you face a hard decision at work, a strain in a friendship or a puzzling turn in life, remember that God has given you wisdom for exactly those moments, grounded in the fear of the Lord and in confidence that his providence is righteous.
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- 11 Kings 4:29-34. ↩︎