Reference: Wisdom
Hastings
The great literary landmarks of the 'wisdom' teaching are the Books of Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Sirach, and the Wisdom of Solomon. This literature, in its present form at least, belongs to the latter half of the Persian period and to the Greek period of Jewish history. But behind this latest and finest product of the Hebrew mind there lay a long process of germination. In the pre-exilic history there are traces of the presence of the 'wisdom' element from early times. This primitive 'wisdom' was not regarded as an exclusively Israelitish possession, but was shared with other nations (1Ki 4:30-31; Ge 41:8; Jg 5:29; Jer 10:7; Eze 27:8). In Israel it was confined neither to rank (1Ki 10:28; De 16:19; Job 32:9) nor to sex (2Sa 14:1 ff; 2Sa 20:22); but it was particularly characteristic of 'the elders' (De 1:16; Job 12:12; 32:7), and in course of time seems to have given rise to a special class of teachers known as 'the Wise' (Jer 18:18).
Early 'Wisdom' was varied in character and of as wide a scope as the range of human activities. It thus included the most heterogeneous elements: e.g. mechanical skill (1Ki 7:14), statecraft (1Ki 5:12), financial and commercial ability (Eze 28), political trickery (1Ki 2:6), common sense and tact (2Sa 14; 20:14-22), learning (1Ki 3:16-28), military skill and administrative ability (Isa 10:13), piety (De 4:6), and the creative energy of God (Jer 10:12). In short, any capacity possessed in an exceptional degree was recognized as 'wisdom,' and was regarded as the gift of God. But there was already manifest a marked tendency to magnify the ethical and religious elements of 'wisdom,' which later came to their full recognition.
In pre-exilic Israel, however, 'wisdom' played a relatively small part in religion. The vital, progressive religious spirit exhausted itself in prophecy. Here was laid the foundation of all the later 'wisdom.' Not only laid the prophets hand down the literary forms through which the sages expressed themselves, e.g. riddle (Jg 14:14-18), fable (Jg 9:3-15), parable (2Sa 12:1-3; Isa 5:1-5), proverb (1Sa 10:12; Jer 31:29), essay (Isa 28:23-29), lyric, address, etc., but they also wrought out certain great ideas that were presupposed in all the later 'wisdom.' These were: (a) monotheism, which found free course in Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, and Deutero-Isaiah; (b) individualism, or the responsibility of the individual before God for his own sins and for the sins of no one else
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The king was upset the next morning. So he called his magicians and wise men and told them what he had dreamed. None of them could tell him what the dreams meant.
I charged your judges to hear the cases between your countrymen and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger with him.
Carefully obey the laws. For this will show your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations. They will hear all these statutes and say: 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'
Never pervert justice. Always be impartial. Never take a bribe, because bribes blind wise people and deny justice to those who are in the right.
The wisest of her ladies answered her, and she told herself over and over,
His mother's relatives talked to the men of Shechem about this for him. The men of Shechem decided to follow Abimelech because: He is our relative. They gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men to join him. read more. He went to his father's house at Ophrah. There on top of a single stone he killed his seventy brothers, Gideon's sons. Gideon's youngest son Jotham hid and therefore was not killed. All the men of Shechem and Bethmillo got together and went to the sacred oak tree at Shechem, where they made Abimelech king. Jotham heard about this. He stood on top of Mount Gerizim and shouted out to them: Men of Shechem, listen to me and God may listen to you! The trees went out to anoint a king over them. They said to the olive tree: 'Be our king.' The olive tree answered: 'I would have to stop producing my oil in order to govern you. My oil is used to honor gods and human beings.' Then the trees said to the fig tree: 'Come and be our king.' The fig tree replied: 'I would have to stop producing my good sweet fruit that I may govern you.' Then the trees spoke to the grapevine: 'You come and be our king.' But the vine answered: 'I could not govern you for I would have to stop producing my wine. It makes gods and human beings happy.' So then all the trees said to the thorn bush: 'You come and be our king! The thorn bush answered: 'If you really want to make me your king, then come and take shelter in my shade. If you do not, fire will blaze out of my thorny branches and burn up the cedars of Lebanon.'
He said: Out of the eater came something to eat; Out of the strong came something sweet. Three days later they still could not figure out the riddle. On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife: Trick your husband into telling us what the riddle means. If you do not, we will burn your father's house with you in it. Did you invite us here to rob us? read more. Samson's wife approached him in tears and said: You do not love me! You just hate me! You told my friends a riddle and did not tell me it's meaning! He said: I have not told my father and mother. Why should I tell you? She cried about it for the whole seven days of the feast. She nagged him so that on the seventh day he told her what the riddle meant. Then she told the Philistines. On the seventh day, before Samson went into the bedroom, the men of the city said to him: What could be sweeter than honey? What could be stronger than a lion? Samson replied: If you had not been plowing with my cow, you would not know the answer now.
A man from that place asked: Who is their father? So it became a proverb: Is Saul one of the prophets?
Jehovah sent Nathan to David. Nathan came to him and said: There were two men in a certain city. One was rich and the other was poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle. read more. But the poor man had only one little female lamb that he bought. He raised her, and she grew up in his home with his children. She would eat his food and drink from his cup. She rested in his arms and was like a daughter to him.
Joab son of Zeruiah knew the king was still thinking about Absalom.
She went to the people of the city with her plan. They cut off Sheba's head and threw it over the wall to Joab. He blew the trumpet as a signal for his men to leave the city. They went back home. Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.
You know what to do. You must not let him die a natural death.
One day two women who were prostitutes came to the king. One of them said: Your Majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby boy at home while she was there. read more. Two days after my child was born she also gave birth to a baby boy. Only the two of us were there in the house. No one else was there. One night she accidentally rolled over on her baby and smothered it. She got up during the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She took him to her bed and put the dead child in my bed. The next morning I woke up and was going to nurse my baby. It was dead. I looked at it more closely and saw that it was not my child. The other woman said: The living child is mine, and the dead one is yours! The first woman answered back: The dead child is yours, and the living one is mine! They argued before the king. King Solomon said: Each of you claims that the living child is hers and that the dead child belongs to the other one. He sent for a sword. When it arrived, he said: Cut the living child in two and give each woman half of it. With a heart full of love for her son the real mother said: Please, Your Majesty, do not kill the child! Give it to her! But the other woman said: Do not give it to either of us cut it in two. Then Solomon said: Do not kill the child! Give it to the first woman. She is the real mother. The people of Israel heard of Solomon's decision and were all filled with deep respect for him. They knew then that God had given him the wisdom to settle disputes fairly.
Solomon was wiser than the wise men of the East or the wise men of Egypt. He was the wisest of all men. He was wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, and the sons of Mahol. His fame spread throughout all the neighboring countries.
Jehovah kept his promise and gave Solomon wisdom. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon for they made a treaty with each other.
Huram was knowledgeable and skilled in making things out of copper. He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father had been from Tyre. He went to do all of King Solomon's work.
Solomon's string of horses came from Egypt and from Kue. The king's traders got them at a price from Kue.
Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?
I said: 'Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.'
It is not the old that are wise, nor the aged that understand what is right.
Jehovah created me in the beginning of his way, before his works of antiquity. I was made from long ago, before the earth began. read more. When there were no depths or fountains abounding with water, I was brought forth. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was brought forth: He had not made the earth or the fields or the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there. When he circled the face of the deep: When he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his command, when he appointed the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside him, as a master workman with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. I rejoiced in the inhabited earth. My delights were with the sons of men.
Let me sing to my loved one a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug the soil all around and removed its stones. He planted it with the choicest vine. And he built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it. Then he expected it to produce good grapes, but it only produced worthless ones. read more. Now then, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah, judge between my vineyard and me! What more could have been done for my vineyard than what I have already done for it? When I waited for it to produce good grapes, why did it produce only sour, wild grapes? Here is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge and break down the wall that protects it. I will let wild animals eat it and trample it down.
The king of Assyria says: By the strength of my hand I have done it. By my wisdom and understanding I have done it! I am prudent! Also I have removed the boundaries of the nations. I have robbed their treasuries. I have brought down people like a mighty man!
Give ear and hear my voice. Listen and hear my speech. Does the plowman keep plowing all day in order to sow seed? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods? read more. When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow the black cummin and scatter the cummin, plant the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place? He instructs him in right judgment and his God teaches him. The black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin. But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, and the cummin with a rod. Bread flour must be ground. Therefore he does not thresh it forever, break it with his cartwheel, or crush it with his horsemen. This also comes from Jehovah of Hosts. He is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.
Who would not respect you, O King of the nations? It is your right! There is none like you among all the wise men of the nations.
He who made the earth by his power, and established the world by his wisdom; also stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
Then they said: Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise man, nor the divine word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike him with our tongue, and let us pay no attention to any of his words.
When that time comes people will no longer say: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and their children's teeth are set on edge.'
The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers. Your wise men, O Tyre, were aboard. They were your pilots.
Watsons
WISDOM is put for that prudence and discretion which enables a man to perceive that which is fit to be done, according to the circumstances of time, place, persons, manners, and end of doing, Ec 2:13-14. It was this sort of wisdom that Solomon intreated of God with so much earnestness, and which God granted him with such divine liberality, 1Ki 3:9,12,28. It also signifies quickness of invention, and dexterity in the execution of several works, which require not so much strength of body, as industry, and labour of the mind. For example, God told Moses, Ex 31:3, that he had filled Bezaleel and Aholiab with wisdom, and understanding, and knowledge, to invent and perform several sorts of work for completing the tabernacle. It is used for craft, cunning, and stratagem, and that whether good or evil. Thus it is said by Moses, that Pharaoh dealt wisely with the Israelites, when he opposed them in Egypt, Ex 1:10; it is observed of Jonadab; the friend of Ammon, and nephew of David, that he was very wise, that is, very subtle and crafty, 2Sa 13:3; and Job 5:13, says, that God "taketh the wine in their own craftiness." Wisdom means also doctrine, learning, and experience: "With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding," Job 12:12. It is put for true piety, or the fear of God, which is spiritual wisdom: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply or hearts unto wisdom," Ps 90:12; "The fear of the Lord that is wisdom," Job 27:23. Wisdom is put for the eternal Wisdom, the Word of God. It was by wisdom that God established the heavens, and founded the earth, Pr 3:19. How magnificently does Solomon describe the primeval birth of the eternal Son of God, under the character of Wisdom personified; to which so many references and allusions are to be found in the Old and New Testament! "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth," Pr 8:22-25. The apocryphal book of Wisdom introduces, by a reference to this passage, the following admirable invocation, Wisdom 9:9, 10:
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We must outsmart them or they will increase in number. If war breaks out they will leave the country and join our enemies to fight against us.
I filled him with the Spirit of God (my power). I gave him understanding, skill, and ability for every kind of artistic work.
Amnon had a friend named Jonadab. He was the son of David's brother Shimeah. Jonadab usually knew how to get what he wanted.
Give me the wisdom I need to rule your people with justice. Help me know the difference between good and evil. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great people of yours?
I will do what you have asked. I will give you more wisdom and understanding than anyone has ever had. There has never been nor will ever be anyone like you.
The people of Israel heard of Solomon's decision and were all filled with deep respect for him. They knew then that God had given him the wisdom to settle disputes fairly.
He catches the wise with their own craftiness. The plans of schemers are quickly halted.
Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?
Men will clap their hands in derision (ridicule) and hiss him out of his place.
Teach us to number each of our days so that we may present to you a heart of wisdom.
In wisdom Jehovah founded the earth. In understanding he established the heavens.
Jehovah created me in the beginning of his way, before his works of antiquity. I was made from long ago, before the earth began. read more. When there were no depths or fountains abounding with water, I was brought forth. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was brought forth:
Then I saw that wisdom is better than foolish ways just as the light is better than the dark. The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the foolish man walks in darkness. Yet I saw that the same event happens to them all.
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'A gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Wisdom is justified by its actions.
Look! I am sending you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will torture and kill. Others you will torment and persecute from city to city.
It is for this reason the wisdom of God said, 'I send to them prophets and apostles and they will persecute and kill some of them.'