Proverbs 30:1 – Textual Variants

At the start of this passage is a difficult textual problem.  If you have the NIV translation (or one of several others) you will read this:

The sayings  of Agur son of Jakeh—an oracle :

This man declared to Ithiel,

to Ithiel and to Ucal

 

            I am preaching today from the English Standard Version, because it reads verse one this way.

The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle.

The man declares, I am weary, O God;

I am weary, O God, and worn out.

            When the Hebrew of the Old Testament was first written down, they wrote down only the consonants, not the vowels.  And further, they did not put spaces in between words.  Paper, animal skins and stones were hard to come by, so they used up all the space.  Later, scholars put in the spaces and added vowels to help people read the text.  However that could lead to different understandings.  Don’t get me wrong, almost all the time, the sense of the text is clear, but sometimes you can get more than one reading.

            A traditional reading was that Agur spoke to a man named Ithiel, and Ithiel spoke to someone named Ucal.  (Ucal is the only person in the bible to be named after an American university.)

            Along with many scholars, I prefer the reading in the ESV.  I do so because the traditional reading makes no sense – we don’t know who these people are!  The ESV reading fits the text well.  Agur is a scholar at the end of his endurance.

The man declares, I am weary, O God;

I am weary, O God, and worn out.

            Why was Agur so weary?  We will see in the text.  Basically because he was a seeker of wisdom, and he had been looking – not just for knowledge, but for wisdom that explained life and gave it meaning.  He had been seeking, but he had not found.  No mater how far he ran, or walked or crawled, he could not get to this place of wisdom. Look at Proverbs 30:2-3

Surely I am too stupid to be a man.

I have not the understanding of a man.

 I have not learned wisdom,

nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.

            This is the irony of human life.  On the one hand we are created in the Image and Likeness of God.  We are “a little less than the heavenly beings.”  On the other hand, we are always seeking, but never finding.  In the words of Ecclesiastes 3:11

    He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

            Despite his search, Agur could not discover wisdom and further he could not acquire knowledge of the Holy One.

            This is the history of human understanding.  We have discovered and created many things.  The grand total of human knowledge increases daily and no one person can understand even 1% of it.

            However, the more we know, the less we are certain about the meaning of life, or when life begins, or what happens after someone dies.  Further, philosophers have argued for the existence of a Designer, a First Cause, a Prime Mover, but none of them have been able to find God.

            So at the end of what we know, there is a question mark surrounded by a cloud.

Genesis 3 – Hard Times

It is interesting to see what we can uncover in a familiar passage.  Is there any story more familiar than the Temptation scene in the Garden of Eden.  You know, the serpent, the apple and first couple.  Here is a Fresh Read Sermon – Hard Times.gen3

Mark 6: 48 Why Pass By?

It is curious that in the incident of Jesus walking on the water, as recorded in Mark 6, that it says that “He was about to pass by them.”  As the 12 are struggling on the lake, rowing against the wind, why would the Lord pass them by.

Maybe it is to show off – see how much superior divine transport is to human transportation?   Maybe it was to get a closer look, because it was 3:oo am. 

I think it was to reveal his identity.  There are several aspects of this story that link to the feeding of the 5000 and to Moses.  Verse 52 says that the disciples did not make the connection between their problem and the previous miracle.  Could the Lord of creation, who multiplies bread, not also deal with the wind?

Also the Feeding has several references to Moses:  Feeding a crowd in the wilderness with miraculous bread (like Mana), organizing the people in groups of 50s and 100s (see Exodus 18), and Moses request to “see” the Lord’s glory. (ex 33:19-20)  The Lord replies by “passing before him” and proclaiming his name. (Ex 34:6-8).  This passage in Exodus is cited in other OT passages at least half a dozen times.

Finally the Lord says to them, “It is I”.  The Greek construction is “ego eimi” wich is how the Greek Old Testament (LXX) typically translated the name of God ‘”I AM”.

The Lord was passing by in the story to demonstrate his power over nature (the wind, previously the bread) and to identify himself  with God, who alone has power over the Creation (see Ps 24:1).

Goldilocks among the Commentaries

“Oh this one is too boring.  This one is too dry.  But this little commentary is just right.” 

Regarding Proverbs 7:

So I have a very big commentary and an almost very big commentary that had the unfortunate habit of putting me to sleep.  Well, I struggled on anyway.  However, my very small commentary was a hit on this text.  So if you use tools, such as commentaries, get a bucket load so that you have a shot at getting one that hits.  I found a great deal in Derek Kidner’s Proverbs commentary in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Series.  These are smallish books, but well worth the price most of the time.  Anything by Kidner is interesting.  I found this quote to be quite satisfactory:

“…the best advice is useless against strong temptation unless it is thoroughly taken to heart and translated into habits.”  p. 75.

Proverbs 7 pits the clueless young man against the relentless woman seeking a sexual partner.  Her speech is shockingly compelling which makes the point quite well that the illicit can sound wonderful, but the reality falls short.

I wonder if “tying the instruction to your fingers”  (v. 3) was the origin of the idea of tying a string to your finger to remember something. 

Well Fresh Read is back from vacation and the family wedding and plans to be posting regularly.  Thanks to the readers for pushing us to the exalted heights of almost 8,000 blog lifetime readers.

Summer Schedule

Well, Fresh Read has been busy with finishing the church and school year, and gearing up for September.  Hence the infrequent posting recently. After this week, we will be on a three week vacation, so the schedule will continue to be slow.

In the Fall we will be preaching a year long series entitled “We Believe” that follows our Statement of Faith.  Each month will bring a new topic.  So Fresh Read will jump about a bit for the next year.

The summary we have constructed of our Statement of Faith forms the titles to these monthly series:  God Created…and spoke…to Humanity…about Jesus…our Savior.  The Spirit…unites us..in love…in hope and in Mission.

We will follow texts of different genre that explore the themes of Creation, Revelation, The Human Condition, the Identity and Work of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church, Love of God and Love of Neighbor, the future and the urgency of the message.

It should be fun.

Proverbs and the charge of sexism

Often we hear that the book of Proverbs is very male oriented.  We hear that it is, because of that and it’s age, quite sexist.  What are we to make of that?

the main teaching of the first 9 chapters is a discussion between a father and son on the lessons of wisdom.  So from at that point the charge has some merit.  Yet, there are several points that mitigate.

It is clear that in several ways, women play a key role in these chapters.  Both Mother and Father are involved in instruction: In 1:8  Mother and Father are in parallel, and also in the father’s recollection of his education in  4:3. 

Women are presented in these chapters as either the personification of Wisdom (1:20-33;3:13-18; 4:4-9; 8:-36; 9:1-6) or as the personification of seduction or folly (2:16-22; 5:3-14; 6:24-35; 7:6-27; 9:13-18).

Yet men can be represented by the various characters we find in the book – the wise, the prudent the diligent worker as opposed to the fool, the simpleton, the scoffer and the thick headed.

In the genre of Wisdom Writings, it is frequent that the format is the father teaching a son, but that does not make the wisdom irrelevant to women.  The dual character of both men and women to be either wise or foolish is depicted in a rather even handed manner.

Proverbs can not be considered a text-book for totaly egalitarianism, yet it does not by that earn the charge of sexism.

Proverbs 2:1-5 – Colossians 1:9-11

Proverbs 2 calls the reader to seek wisdom avidly, with the promised result that we would understand the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God.  This struck a chord, in that the prayer in Colossians 1 seeks a movement from knowing God’s will (similar to wisdom) and results in “increasing in the knowledge of God.” 

Knowledge is a broad concept in English, but we can distinguish between knowing about someone (i.e. his will, his attributes, his history) and knowing someone personally.  Spanish uses saber for knowing things and conocer for knowing people.

Compare these two texts for yourself.

Proverbs 2:1-5 - ESV
    My son, if you receive my words
        and treasure up my commandments with you,
    [2] making your ear attentive to wisdom
        and inclining your heart to understanding;
    [3] yes, if you call out for insight
        and raise your voice for understanding,
    [4] if you seek it like silver
        and search for it as for hidden treasures,
    [5] then you will understand the fear of the Lord
        and find the knowledge of God.

Col. 1:9-11 – ESV
    And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, [10] so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. [11] May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy…

Proverbs 1:7

We like M. Fox for his careful analysis of the text of Proverbs 1-9 and we also like the balance of the more conservative approach of B. Waltke.  It is interesting that both, and everyone else that we know of, agrees that Prov 1:1-7 is a purpose statement for the book of Proverbs, and that verse 7 in particular is the key to the interpretation.

Proverbs 1:7
    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
        fools despise wisdom and instruction.   (ESV)

 This is a good case of parallelism. 

The first half verse is in contrast to the second.  Fools are contrasted with those who have “the fear of the Lord.”  So there is a moral/spiritual basis to Wisdom and Knowledge, not just an intellectual base. 

We see that wisdom and instruction is thereby mostly synonymous with knowledge.  The kind of knowledge that this verse is talking about is not merely informational – even the Bible would agree that mathematicians do not need to fear the Lord to know that 2+2=4.   In this verse the second half moves forward the definition of “knowledge” with the pair of words “wisdom and instruction.”

So then, since neither wisdom nor foolishness is about mere intelligence, this book is talking about an ability to lead a successful life based upon the premise that a life without the Lord’s approval and blessing is NOT all it can be.

D. Garrett makes an interesting comment, that the Wisdom literature of the nations is brought into Proverbs, but that it is screened and placed under the idea of “the fear of the Lord.”  M. Fox makes a similar comment, that this is unique to Israelite (biblical) wisdom in comparison to its ancient near eastern cousins.

Sermon On the Mount Outline

Once after a long sermon series a member wondered why there was not a summary at the end.  So this week, at the end of the SOM, here is a summary.  It also fits the final verses of the text which call the reader not only to be aware of the words of Jesus, but to listen to them.

Sermon on the Mount Outline  is here: summary-of-the-sermon-on-the-mount   The texts of the sermons are available at www.bethanyfreechurch.org under “recent sermons”.

What I am now going to work on is a 50day study, suggested by the comments of U. Luz that the Lord’s Prayer is the center of the sermon.  It would see that a study of the 7 parts of the prayer by means of the various parts of the sermon would be a good spiritual exercise.  Stay tuned.  An outline of that idea is here:  lprayerdiagram

Ephesians

So, to follow up the idea of reading in another language.  I found that in this passage, that the movement is from the eternal, heavenly realm to the earthly.  I noticed that there is an internal logic to the effects: redeemed AND forgiven (so not merely a change of slave ownership).  Informed (so as to be agents no objects) and Sealed by the Spirit (so as to be marked in the terrestrial with the celestial).  It reminds us of the title “Redemption: Accomplished and Applied” that we read in Seminary.  It was accomplished in eternity and applied in time. 

Ephes. 1:3-14
    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, [4] even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
    [5] he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. [7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, [8] which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
    [9] making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ [10] as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
    [11] In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, [12] so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. [13] In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.