Which Books or Passages of the Bible are Great Wisdom Literature?

[Sunstone]

Which books or passages of the Bible would you consider to be great wisdom literature?

By "wisdom literature" I mean literature that provides wise advice for negotiating life. That is, that is applicable to actual day to day practice. Idle insights need not apply, no matter how profound.

You should use your own judgment as to what constitutes "great" when answering the question, but -- if you're in a position to do so -- please feel free to compare the Bible to other great wisdom literature, such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Teh Ching, or the Dhammapada.

As to my own view, it's open to modification, but I currently am largely unimpressed with the Bible as wisdom literature. There are passages I admire, of course, but they seem to me isolated. Overall, I'd say I am far more impressed with many other religious and secular works than with the Bible.

 

[Skwim]

I think 2 Kings 2:23-24 is a superb illustration of the wisdom in not mocking one's elders.

2 Kings 2:23-24
23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.


And while the proverb "curiosity killed the cat" is attributed to the British playwright Ben Jonson in his 1598 play, Every Man in His Humour, I have no doubt its wisdom had its genesis in 1 Samuel 6:19 where god wisely brought home its message by slaughtering over 50,000 men.

1 Samuel 6:19
19 And He smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; even He smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men. And the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
(I don't quite understand why slaughtering 50,070 people was necessary---surly they all couldn't have taken a peek---guess it was guilt by association or something.)

.

 

[Geoff-Allen]

I like Corinthians -

Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 13:4-13 - New International Version

But a lot of the Bible is far less inspiring ...

Cheers!

 

[wizanda]

Which books or passages of the Bible would you consider to be great wisdom literature?

Having studied most religions for this goal of seeking what wisdom it contains...

The Bible has Proverbs, and Yeshua's teachings that compare with Buddha's and Lao Tzu's in terms of selflessness, charity, kindness, connection to the divine, etc (0neness).

The main bit of the Bible that teaches wisdom is the deception prophesied within it, as it is a massive riddle across the book; yet unfortunately people are not wise enough to have recognized it on their own.

Thus will explain again quickly, Law, Prophets and Yeshua (Synoptic Gospels) Vs Pharisees (Paul, John and Simon)...

When we understand all the conflicting statements, we become wiser, as it is through comparison of fundamental differences, that we then notice hypocrisy with inside ourselves.

When we even understand the riddle, and how it is placed together, we'll have a mind like a computer programmer from undoing all the knots within it.

Whereas most followers are going along like the Bible is a Rubix cube, that we can only use for a Lego brick.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Ecclesiastes 3:1–8

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Psalm 137 7-9

How they are interpreted is generally quite informative on a person's beliefs, as they relate to Christianity.

 

[Kemosloby]

It's really not geared towards wisdom to help people survive this life, since everybody is going to die anyway. But it is wise enough to recognize that, rather than BS about it like other religions. Soloman seems to be geared more towards the wisdom of this world than any other, Ecclesiastes 2:17 "life is vanity and vexation of spirit" i.e. everything of this world amounts to squat.

 

[wizanda]

See this is what i mean about people and wisdom, Ecclesiastes is made up rubbish in my opinion, and shows a very naive outlook compared to the real bits.

 

[Augustus]

By "wisdom literature" I mean literature that provides wise advice for negotiating life. That is, that is applicable to actual day to day practice.

Pretty much all of Ecclesiastes (minus a handful of sentences that haven't aged well) is fantastic and relates to practical advice that many modern people don't follow.

Following such advice would have prevented many problems of the modern world: 20th C utopian totalitarianism, financial crises, scientism, excessive consumerism, etc.

I can't think of a wiser piece of writing of comparable length.

 

[Brickjectivity]

In general its not meant to be read. You can have fun doing 'Word studies,' but this does not result in a real moral lesson. Everything depends on you, so you can read it an not get any wisdom out of it. There are glimpses of old culture, and you can integrate that with archeology. You can put together life from the past which is a History lesson, and History is wisdom literature.

You get what you put into it, but there are some interesting analogies with nature in Ecclesiastes. Here is a favorite, full of thought-y thoughts:

"...All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun..." (NIV Ecclesiastes 1:7-9)

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

 

[viole]

Which books or passages of the Bible would you consider to be great wisdom literature?

By "wisdom literature" I mean literature that provides wise advice for negotiating life. That is, that is applicable to actual day to day practice. Idle insights need not apply, no matter how profound.

You should use your own judgment as to what constitutes "great" when answering the question, but -- if you're in a position to do so -- please feel free to compare the Bible to other great wisdom literature, such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Teh Ching, or the Dhammapada.

As to my own view, it's open to modification, but I currently am largely unimpressed with the Bible as wisdom literature. There are passages I admire, of course, but they seem to me isolated. Overall, I'd say I am far more impressed with many other religious and secular works than with the Bible.

Nothing new under the sun.

I do not mean your post. I mean what I consider a piece of Biblical wisdom.

Always been a fan of Ecclesiastes....


Ciao

- viole

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Whatever wisdom it may contain seems to be heeded far less by many of its adherents than all the other nonsense it contains.

 

[whirlingmerc]

Jesus has become wisdom for us, says Corinthians
and all the Bible touches on wisdom but the wisdom books are:

Job is wisdom about suffering
Proverbs are wisdom about life in general
Ecclesaiates is about wisdom in success
Song of Solomon is wisdom in romantic relationships
Psalms is wisdom to shape thoughts and emotions

Job: Journey from Moral Man to Wise

 

[rusra02]

"All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, so that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16,17)

 

[Skwim]

"All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, so that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16,17)

Including, I assume, those god kills so as to make his point. Lucky them; they sure won't making their mistake again. See post #2.

.

 

[rusra02]

I think 2 Kings 2:23-24 is a superb illustration of the wisdom in not mocking one's elders.

2 Kings 2:23-24
23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.


And while the proverb "curiosity killed the cat" is attributed to the British playwright Ben Jonson in his 1598 play, Every Man in His Humour, I have no doubt its wisdom had its genesis in 1 Samuel 6:19 where god wisely brought home its message by slaughtering over 50,000 men.

1 Samuel 6:19
19 And He smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; even He smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men. And the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
(I don't quite understand why slaughtering 50,070 people was necessary---surly they all couldn't have taken a peek---guess it was guilt by association or something.)

.

The boys who were mocking God's prophet were showing great disrespect for Jehovah, whom Elisha represented. This account does show the outcome to those who mock God, IMO. (Galatians 6:7)
Regarding the men of Bethshemesh, "Exactly how many died on that occasion is not certain. The Masoretic text reads: “So he struck down among the people seventy men—fifty thousand men.” This ambiguous construction might suggest that “fifty thousand men” is an interpolation. The Syriac Pe****ta and the Arabic say that “five thousand and seventy men” were struck down. The Targum Jonathan reads: “And he struck down seventy men among the older men of the people, and fifty thousand among the congregation.” The Greek Septuagint says that “seventy men among them, and fifty thousand of the men” were struck down. Josephus mentions only seventy men as being killed.—Jewish Antiquities, VI, 16 (i, 4)." Source
Regardless of the number, they were guilty of violating God's plain command not to look upon the ark; "They must not come in and see the holy things even for an instant, or they will die." (Numbers 4:20) To me, this emphasizes God's holiness, and the need to approach him only in the way he approves, not in an unauthorized way, as the men of Bethshemesh did.

 

[Skwim]

The boys who were mocking God's prophet were showing great disrespect for Jehovah, whom Elisha represented. This account does show the outcome to those who mock God, IMO. (Galatians 6:7)
Regarding the men of Bethshemesh, "Exactly how many died on that occasion is not certain. The Masoretic text reads: “So he struck down among the people seventy men—fifty thousand men.” This ambiguous construction might suggest that “fifty thousand men” is an interpolation. The Syriac Pe****ta and the Arabic say that “five thousand and seventy men” were struck down. The Targum Jonathan reads: “And he struck down seventy men among the older men of the people, and fifty thousand among the congregation.” The Greek Septuagint says that “seventy men among them, and fifty thousand of the men” were struck down. Josephus mentions only seventy men as being killed.—Jewish Antiquities, VI, 16 (i, 4)." Source
Regardless of the number, they were guilty of violating God's plain command not to look upon the ark; "They must not come in and see the holy things even for an instant, or they will die." (Numbers 4:20) To me, this emphasizes God's holiness, and the need to approach him only in the way he approves, not in an unauthorized way, as the men of Bethshemesh did.

Okey dokey, but it should be obvious that 50,000 men couldn't have all looked into the ark. In fact, from what your linked site says, it appears that almost all of 50,000 were struck down simply because they happened to be around. Like I said: Guilt by association.

Now that's a message! God tells us that one need not actually be guilty of a crime in order to suffer its punishment.

.

 

[rusra02]

Okey dokey, but it should be obvious that 50,000 men couldn't have all looked into the ark. In fact, from what your linked site says, it appears that almost all of 50,000 were struck down simply because they happened to be around. Like I said: Guilt by association.

Now that's a message! God tells us that one need not actually be guilty of a crime in order to suffer its punishment.

.

I didn't see anything to indicate that anyone who did not look upon the ark was killed.

 

[Skwim]

I didn't see anything to indicate that anyone who did not look upon the ark was killed.

Going to your source, it reads:

The Masoretic text reads: “So he struck down among the people seventy men—fifty thousand men.” This ambiguous construction might suggest that “fifty thousand men” is an interpolation. The Syriac Pe****ta and the Arabic say that “five thousand and seventy men” were struck down. The Targum Jonathan reads: “And he struck down seventy men among the older men of the people, and fifty thousand among the congregation.” The Greek Septuagint says that “seventy men among them, and fifty thousand of the men” were struck down.—Jewish Antiquities, VI, 16 (i, 4).
​

indicating that 50,070 men were struck down. Fine, but I find it almost impossible that 50,070 men would have lined up and peeked into the ark. That's one hell of a lot of people.

And, unless god had waited until all 50,070 were done looking before striking them down, most would have seen the others peek and be struck down, which would have certainly stopped them from looking. So my conclusion is that while god did strike down 50,070 men, not all of them were guilty of looking. I think the first 70 took a look, and then god did away with them and all the rest.

.

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