![]() ![]() Reading regularly, studying daily, memorizing, and meditating often. God’s wisdom is “more valuable than riches.” “More important than anything else you can desire.” How do we bankroll wisdom? How do we become wise? How do we establish a rich database of wisdom and knowledge? How do we learn to make wise decisions consistently? How do we become wise people? One way: God’s Word. Today, we study and reflect on Proverbs 8. As you read through the Proverbs, I urge you to reflect, pray, and apply these devotional bits of encouragement to your own life. * The final appeal of Woman Wisdom to her disciples is similar to the appeal of the father in 7:24– 27.Join me this year in a new study on the Proverbs: God’s Wisdom for Today. 30– 31 unifies the four lines and underscores the analogy between Woman Wisdom’s intimate relation to the Lord and her intimate relation to human beings, i.e., “delight” + “playing” parallels “playing” + “delight.” She is God’s friend and intimate and invites human beings to a similar relationship to God through her. I was his delight: the chiastic or ABBA structure of vv. The most likely explanation is that ’āmôn is artisan, related to Akkadian ummānu, legendary sages and heroes who brought divine gifts and culture to the human race. There have been three main opinions: (1) artisan (2) trustworthy (friend) (3) ward, nursling. * Artisan: the translation of the Hebrew word ’āmôn has been controverted since antiquity. * Perhaps the formless mass from which God created the heavens and the earth cf. * Formed: since the other verbs of the origin of Wisdom in these verses describe birth, it is likely that the somewhat uncertain verb is to be understood of birth as in Ps 139:13. The pre-existence of Woman Wisdom with God is developed in Sir 24 and in New Testament hymns to Christ, especially in Jn 1 and Col 1:15– 20. The first cosmogony emphasizes that she was born before all else (and so deserving of honor) and the second underscores that she was with the Lord during the creation of the universe. 22– 26 and 27– 31) is to ground Wisdom’s claims. 22– 26), when God planned and created the universe, adorning it with beauty and variety, and establishing its wonderful order (vv. She is represented as existing before all things (vv. * What is here predicated of Wisdom is elsewhere attributed to God ( Jb 12:13– 16). ![]() “Straight” and “crooked” in Hebrew and English are metaphors for true, trustworthy and false, deceitful. The intelligent understand and accept this. They can neither deceive nor tolerate deception. * The truth and sincerity of wisdom are absolute because they are of divine origin. Writers in the patristic period used the language of pre-existent wisdom to express the idea of the pre-existent Word with God. The Gospel of John portrays Jesus in the language of wisdom in Proverbs: Jesus, like Wisdom, calls out to people to listen to him, promises to tell them the truth, seeks disciples, invites them to a banquet, and gives them life. The most explicit and lengthy biblical comment is in Sir 24 it too has thirty-five lines in seven five-line stanzas and develops the theme of Wisdom’s intimacy with God and desire to be with human beings. ![]() There she spoke harshly, giving a promise only in the last line here she speaks invitingly, giving a threat only in the last line.Ĭhapter 8 is the best-known chapter in Proverbs and has profoundly influenced Jewish and Christian thought. 8 is the companion piece to Wisdom’s first speech in 1:20– 33. The poem has four sections, each (except the fourth) with two parts of five lines each: I. ![]() Finally, she promises life and the favor of God to those who are devoted to her, death to those who reject her. 12– 21), for she was privileged to be present at the creation of the world (vv. 1– 11) to be attentive to her salutary influence in human society (vv. She exalts her grandeur and origin, and invites all (vv. Wisdom is here personified as in 1:20– 33. * Chapter 8 is Wisdom’s longest speech in the book. So that the waters should not transgress his command ģ6But those who pass me by do violence to themselves When he fixed fast the springs of the deep When he marked out the vault over the face of the deep When there were no fountains or springs of water Ģ5Before the mountains were settled into place,Ģ6When the earth and the fields were not yet made,Ģ7When he established the heavens, there was I, h The forerunner of his deeds of long ago fĢ4 * When there were no deeps I was brought forth, b]ġ3ġ9My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,Ģ2 * “The L ORD begot me, the beginning of his works, 2On the top of the heights along the road,ģBy the gates at the approaches of the city,ĩAll of them are straightforward to the intelligent,Īnd no treasures can compare with her. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |