Alastair's Adversaria - Biblical Reading and Reflections: March 10th (Proverbs 9 & Philippians 4)

Episode Date: March 10, 2021

Lady Wisdom and the Woman Folly's competing invitations. Final exhortations to the Philippians. If you are interested in supporting this project, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (https://bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or buying books for my research on Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/36WVSWCK4X33O?ref_=wl_share). You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035?mt=2.

Proverbs chapter 9 Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beasts. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table. She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.

To him who lacks sense, she says. Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and live, and walk in the way of insult. Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. For by me your days will be multiplied, and ye will be multiplied, and ye will be, years will be added to your life. If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you scoff, you alone will bear it. The woman folly is loud. She is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house. She takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. And to him who lacks sense, she says, stolen water is sweet. and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheal. Proverbs Chapter 9 concludes the prologue of the Book of Proverbs, especially towards the latter half of the prologue, the juxtaposition of the foolish woman and Lady Wisdom is pronounced. This was the case in the preceding two chapters, where there was a diptic with the forbidden woman accosting the young man at the dusk on the street in Chapter 7,

and Lady Wisdom in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 draws the juxtaposition between these figures to its height, presenting us with a diptic of Lady Wisdom and the now personified woman folly. In such a diphtick, two adjacent passages of Scripture need to be read alongside each other, as they present two related things that can be mapped on to each other in a manner that accentuates the similarities and the differences.

An example of a diptic in biblical narrative would be Genesis chapter 18 and 19. These are two passages concerned with hospitality. Both begin with a similar yet contrasting encounter, an offer of hospitality. One of the accounts ends with a barren wife being made fruitful, and the other with a wife being turned into a pillar of salt. Reading the two accounts separately, you can see a lot, but if you read the two accounts together, you can see a lot more.

In this chapter there is another diptic with two offers of hospitality. These are closely paralleled invitations in verses. 1 to 6 and 13 to 18. These also frame some instruction in the intervening verses. Bruce Walkey observes the tight structure that both wisdom and folly's invitations share. These move from the preparation of a meal, which can be broken down into the designation of the figure, their activity and attributes, the call and the location, to the invitation, to the gullible, to the brainless, and an offer of symbolic foods, to the conclusion of either life or death. The image behind all of this is, as Michael Fox notes, life as a banquet or feast.

Connecting wisdom and folly with the offer of food might also bring the hero's mind back to the Garden of Eden and the forbidden fruit. A feast forms a bond of communion between the host, the guest, and their companions at the table, and such a meal would be part of the formalization of a covenant. Eating as a source of sustenance and life, but eating bad food can have very damaging effects. As a metaphor, eating is often closely associated with sexual relations. The fact that we have two women offering invitations to their meals in this chapter suggests an offer of intimacy which, even if not sexual, implies something of the closeness and the union that we would associate with that.

The image of a woman building her house by wisdom is found at a couple of points in the later chapters of Proverbs. In Proverbs chapter 14 verse 1, the wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands. tears it down. Proverbs chapter 24 verses 3 to 4. By wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established. By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Jesus concludes the sermon on the mount with a similar image of building a house by wisdom, contrasting the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the man building it upon the sand. The house here is not so much the physical edifice as the household. The wise woman in Proverbs is a woman.

who oversees and establishes her household as a site of social influence and industry. The modern household is typically relegated to the margins of society. It's a realm of shared consumption and retreat, of leisure and recharging for a small family whose members spend the significant majority of their days outside of it and of its orbit. The household described here is quite different, however. It would be more like a small business, a centre of community life and activity, a place of hospitality and conviviality, a realm for an extended family in their life together,

and much else besides. The wise woman would be like the queen and the creator of this realm, and Lady Wisdom is here the great mistress of her household, and the great hostess. Her house has seven pillars, it is spacious and grand, and the number perhaps recalls Wisdom's part in the original creation, with its seven days. Whether this is the case or not, the number suggests completeness and perfection. She prepares a great and bounteous banquet for her guests, slaughtering, or perhaps overseeing the slaughter of cattle, mixing wine, presumably with honey, herbs and spices, and preparing a great table. She sends out her servant girls to summon guests to her feast. They are servant

girls rather male servants, or servants of both sexes, in order to associate them more strongly with wisdom herself. We should also consider the way in which actual women are associated with wisdom and folly, and in the young man's choice of a wife, he may ultimately be pursuing either the invitation of wisdom or of folly. They call out from the highest part of the town, perhaps the walls of the town are intended here. Alternatively, we might think of a hill at the heart of a town, where a religious site might be situated. Wisdom's invitation is extended to the simple and to those lacking sense. These are people who are untought and informed, who need instruction and have to commit themselves to a particular path. They are not yet fools in need of correction, but nor are they on the path of wisdom.

Wisdom summons them to turn to her in her house and to commune with her. Receiving the invitation requires a turning aside from their current path and entering into communion. They must leave their simple ways and walk in the way of insight instead. The meal offered is bread and mixed wine. This is one of several occasions in the Old Testament where bread and wine come together, and we should not be reluctant to connect this to the meal to which our Lord invites us as his followers. The invitation is generally and freely offered to all, as in Isaiah chapter 55 verses 1 to 2. Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Verses 7 to 12 intervene between the invitation of Lady Wisdom and of the woman folly. In these verses we have a contrast between the teachability of the wise man and the unteachability of the scoffer and the wicked man. The scoffer endures himself against instruction. He responds to any instruction or rebuke with mockery. The mockery insulates him against correction.

It is a way of deflecting anything that would challenge him in his path. Like the scoffer, the wicked man strikes out at the person who would try to correct him. He's not willing to hear. The more that you rebuke a scoffer, the more that he will hate you. Indeed, the effort to try and teach such a person or to rebuke him can be counterproductive. It hardens and confirms him in his way as he reacts against you. Often it's best to disengage from people who are acting in folly, because you'll just make their situation worse.

They won't listen to you. they won't receive any correction. By the starkest contrast, the wise man loves reproof. He is one who receives reproof gladly. Any correction enables him to commit himself even more fully to the way of wisdom. The wise man grows through correction and instruction. While some wicked people might devote their skills to avoiding the task of learning wisdom, the wise man devotes his wisdom to the learning of more wisdom.

At the centre of this section is the great thesis state, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Such a fear of the Lord corresponds to the knowledge of the holiness of God. The fear of the Lord involves a reverence and awe before the Lord and also a corresponding humility and teachableness on the part of the worshipper. The consequence of such a posture, which is the way by which someone can find wisdom, is the multiplication of someone's days and the adding of years to their life, Even if the fool lives for as long as the wise man, he wastes his time.

He squanders his days and his life in ignorance. The life of the wise man, by contrast, is enriched and grows through his wisdom. His days and years are characterized by accumulation. In verse 13, we reached the characterization of the woman folly. To this point, we've had the concrete foolish woman, the forbidden woman who appeals to the gullible young man in the street in Chapter 7. But here, behind the concrete forbidden woman is the woman folly. She personifies the appeal of foolishness.

Reading this is a diptic with the invitation of wisdom helps us to notice significant features of the characterization of folly. She has built no house for herself. She has prepared no great feast. She is boisterous and ruling and brazen. And her appeal is through an ignorant seduction. She has no servants to send out. She has to do all the appealing herself.

She loudly cries out from a seat by her door and from a raised seat on the high places of the town. She is similar to Wisdom in some respects, but also quite different, and her invitation is of the same type. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here, and addressing those who lack sense. She is calling to the same people as Wisdom is calling to. They are competing for the attention of these people. Wisdom offered bread and wine, but Folly offers stolen water and bread eaten in sea. She does not have the slaughtered cattle, the beautiful laid table, she does not have the mixed wine of Lady Wisdom,

and so all she can offer is simple fare. However, the appeal is the forbidden character, the water is stolen, and the bread is eaten in secret. Her food would not be anywhere near as appealing, were it not so illicit. Precisely because the things that she offers are illegitimate, they are sweet and pleasant. It is precisely because they are forbidden that they are so much. that they are so desirable. Such is the perversity of rebellion. However, the simple person who turns aside at her invitation does not realise the folly of his choice. The contrast between wisdom and folly is ultimately the contrast between life and death. Wisdom adds years to people's

lives, but folly brings them down to death. Even if they live, they are bound by her. Her offer of freedom and pleasure ultimately turns out to be hollow. True pleasure and pleasure and freedom is found only in the way of wisdom. A question to consider, how does this closing passage of the prologue help to sum up the prologue's themes? The Lippians chapter four. Therefore my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. I entreat Eudia and I entreat Sintechi to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have laboured side by side with me and the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen

in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity, not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble, and you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church. entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditis the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his

riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever, amen. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Philippians Chapter 4, the conclusion of this epistle, begins by returning to themes from earlier in the letter. Paul had begun his treatment of appropriate Christian behavior in Chapter 1, verse 20, to 28 with the following charge. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in

anything by your opponents. Now, in the first verse of this chapter, he returns to the charge to stand firm in the Lord in the manner that he has described, summing up the main body of the letter. Paul describes the Philippians as those whom he loves and longs for, his joy and his crown. Paul's heart is knit to the Philippians. When Paul speaks about the people to whom he ministers, it is very clear that he relates to them in an intense and intimate manner. He regards them as his children. He yearns for their growth in the Lord.

He constantly prays for them. He experiences anguish or deep sorrow at news of their sins or failings. He rejoices to hear of the prospering of God's truth among them. Paul is no mere teacher of an ideology or religious system or philosophy. He is like a mother bearing children. He's concerned above all to see their health and their growth. He rejoices and boasts over their growth, like a grandmother might speak of her young grandchildren's milestones,

taking the greatest of vicarious delight in their well-being. It seems as if there were two women in the church who were at odds with each other, Eudia and Syntakeyke. Paul speaks of them gently. They have both served the gospel. with Paul and his fellow workers and are to be honoured for their labours. He addresses each of them personally in treating them to settle their differences and agree in the Lord. Their lack of agreement was presumably causing problems in the church, where they were prominent

and important members. He also addresses a particular person referred to as his true or loyal companion to help the two of them to settle their differences and to pursue their ministries in the church. Who is the loyal companion? From the grammar we know that it a man, but his identity is not clearly specified. Most likely it was Apaphroditis, who was bearing the letter, was also referred to within it, and would be present when it was read. Rather than rebuking the women, Paul appeals to and exhorts them, and he asks Epaphroditis not to discipline them, but to help them, to reconcile and presumably also more generally, honouring them on account of their previous labours. Their names are in the book of life, a fact that, when considered, will encourage Apaphroditis

to treat them appropriately as a help to them in their growth to godliness. Once again, Paul calls the Philippians to rejoice. This is an exhortation to which he has returned on a number of key occasions in the letter. He began by speaking of the way that he himself rejoiced in his circumstances. Then he summoned the Philippians to join him, and in chapter 3 verse 1, call them to rejoice in the Lord. He wants their gentleness or reasonableness to be known to everyone. As Christians, they should be known for their meekness. everyone around should see their kindness and their forbearance with others.

The Lord is near, both near to all who call upon him, and near in the sense of the imminence of his judgment. The Philippians should not be marked by anxiety, but should bring their concerns to the Lord in prayer. Just as their gentleness should be made known to everyone, their needs should be made known to the Lord. The result of their following these instructions would be a state of peace, a peace that comes from God himself,

which cannot be accounted for by any merely human, explanation. Such a peace would guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Christ can still the stormy waters of our hearts and minds, when others around us are stirred up by anger, resentment, antagonisms, and tensions, fear and anxiety. We can know the calm that enables us to think clearly and to act wisely. Paul is very clear about where such peace comes from. It comes from turning our attention to God in prayer and thanksgiving, from learning to rejoice, and practicing gentleness with our neighbours. It comes from God's work within us.

The resulting peace guards our hearts and minds in situations of conflict. When there is conflict and trouble without, it is this peace that reigns within. Our hearts and minds will be protected from being caught up in all of this strife. We will be able to think and act with wisdom and grace when others are losing their composure, their wits or their clarity of mind. This section, concerned with rejoicing, prayer and thanksgiving, focuses upon key elements of worship and piety. In verses 8 to 9, however, Paul's attention turns to virtues that were more generally recognized among the pagans,

as commentators such as Gordon Fee and Mauna Hooker have noted. He takes the language of Hellenistic moralism, but situates it within a very different frame, one established by the Christian gospel. The expressions that he uses here are common in Greco-Roman moral thought, but very unusual in Paul. Paul has earlier revealed a stark contrast between a Greco-Roman moral vision and the gospel, but now he shows the way that the gospel allows us to appropriate some of the riches of the Greeks and Romans. Fee argues that the words translated think about these things would be better translated as take into account these things. Paul's point is not so much to think on higher

things, but as those who are living in two worlds and as those who have counted as lost things that formally gave them a sense of their worthiness and things which they highly valued, the Philippian Christians should carefully assess their heritage. Rather than completely writing off their Greco-Roman heritage, they ought to evaluate it more closely according to the Gospel, and the criteria that Paul here enumerates, each of which must be considered in the light of the gospel itself. In the radical reassessment to which he has called them,

they should not jettison everything. Paul's criteria are as follows. whatever is true, that is, whatever things can be conformed to the truth of the gospel, and aren't shrouded in lives, whatever is honourable or noble, whatever is worthy of respect, irrespective of its origin, whatever is just, that is whatever is right and in concordance with God's righteousness, whatever is pure, in other words, whatever is consistent with the holiness of God and the holiness to which his people are called, whatever is lovely. This is perhaps the most surprising of the criteria. It probably has to do with those things that

properly excite our love and admiration, things that are beautiful, delightful, and admirable. This isn't an essentially moral criterion, suggesting that it is good and appropriate for us to find things in God's world pleasing, and a sort of faith that would abandon such things is not healthy. Christians should enjoy good music, for instance, not just for some moral end, but simply because it is good music. whatever is admirable. Again, whatever rightly wins people's praise and admiration. Paul elaborates these two criteria a little by speaking of things that have excellence or are worthy of praise. Paul had not just taught the Philippians in such matters. He had also presented himself as a worked example to them,

as he had practiced these things in his own life. They should practice these things, and they would know the presence of the God of peace with them. Paul had received a gift of support from the Philippians through Apaphroditis, something that would presumably have meant a very great deal to him while in prison, and now he expresses his rejoicing in the Lord on receiving it. However, the nature of Paul's thanksgiving is surprising. Rather than directly thanking the Philippians, he rejoices in the Lord for the new expression of their concern for him.

Then he downplays his need. He has learned to be content in whatever situation he finds himself in. He has been given such a sense of sufficiency by God himself, who provides him with the strength that he needs, a strength sufficient to whatever situation he finds himself in. He emphasises the generous participation of the Philippians in his ministry, not just in their most recent gift, but in the past. Their most recent gift was a renewed reminder of a partnership that he shared with them over many years. Again, Paul's response to the Philippians' gift is surprising.

He explicitly declares that he does. does not seek the gift, but rather the fruit that increases to the Philippians' own credit. Rather than expressing his thanks directly to them and claiming that he is in their debt, as most people would do, he declares that God will supply their every need. As Peter Lightheart observes in his book, Gratitude and Intellectual History, the Christian approach to gratitude is profoundly subversive, especially within patronage cultures, where political and social advancement and dominance arise in large measure through

unilateral imposition of obligation and the gaining of honour by means of gift-giving. Within the first century world, the New Testament's teaching concerning gift-giving and reception was a threatening one, not least in how persistent it was in directing thanksgiving to God above all others. This determined rendering of thanks to God undermined the leverage of the powerfully obliging reciprocities that dominated social life and the hierarchies that they produced and sustained. It made positive. the ingratitude of departing from tradition, of leaving father and mother to follow Christ, and of reneging on the imposed social debts by which patrons and powerful benefactors secured their

social power. By firmly directing gratitude to God, it resisted the supposed entitlement of the wealthy to employ God's gifts to them as means of accruing power by imposing debts upon others. The new form of gift economy established by Christ and the apostles led to the assuing of of honour competitions, to releasing others from debt, and to the replacement of the vicious asymmetries of hierarchical patron-client gift relations with relations of mutual patronage. Lightheart remarks upon the Apostle Paul's practice of thanksgiving in his letters, the manner in which it demonstrates the distinctive character of resolutely God-directed gratitude. Paul's expressions of thanksgiving in his letters, he observes, are offered almost exclusively to God alone,

and Paul offers such thanks for benefits received by others, no less than for those he has received himself. Perhaps most startling to his contemporary ears would be the way in which he responded to gifts given to him, not least when he expresses his appreciation for the support of the Philippians in this chapter. When he says, I thank my God for your remembrance of me, in reference to their support of him in his ministry, Lightheart remarks, by Greco-Roman standards, it is not adequate thanks, Paul was the one who received, the Philippians the ones who gave, and yet Paul's thanks are offered to a third party, the father, the patron of both Philippians and apostles. Paul acts as if their gift was not directed to him at all. He calls it a sacrifice whose fragrant aroma is well-pleasing to God. Paul doesn't employ the language or perform the cultural courtesies associated with indebtedness.

rather than placing Paul in the Philippians' debt, their gift is a token of their communion with him in his gospel ministry. Paul nowhere expresses an expectation or obligation on his part to repay them, but he directs their attention to God, their common benefactor, who acts as the guarantor of any debt that his servant Paul might incur, and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Lightheart writes again, in the community of Jesus the only debt is the debt of love.

Thanks is owed, but it is owed for rather than two benefactors. Recipients of gifts are not indebted to the givers. They do not owe return payment. Givers do not impose burdens of gratitude on their beneficiaries. They cannot use their gifts to lord over recipients. The church's continual practice of thanksgiving cultivates a well-directed sense of gratitude, which has liberating political potential.

When we repeatedly recognise and honour our great divine benefactor as the ultimate generous giver of every good and perfect gift, whatever hands we may have received them from, the power of lesser benefactors to wield control over us by their gifts is considerably weakened, as they can no longer command the sort of gratitude and obligations that belong to God alone. The economy of gifts ceases to be an engine of hierarchy and social inequality, when our thanks and obligation for all gifts is ultimately seen to belong to God alone. All others are, at best, channels of and participants in God's act of giving. Furthermore, when God is understood to be the guarantor of debts, giving to the poor can be regarded as a matter of lending to the Lord,

as we see in Proverbs chapter 19, verse 17. Rather than placing the recipients of charity in a relationship of indebtedness to the givers, it frees both to engage in the transaction, trusting that repayment would be provided by a third party. As John Barclay suggests, the conviction that God would repay those who gave to the poor was complemented by the agency afforded to the recipient of charity in blessing the giver,

or seeking recompense against the uncharitable, a principle that we see in Deuteronomy Chapter 24 versus 13 to 15. In such a manner, the hierarchy of the cultural form of patronage was replaced by a mutual patronage, one reinforced by the Christian teaching that the one gift of the spirit was represented in the many spiritual gifts of the members of the body of Christ.

Such a practice of gift can produce the loving unity that Paul calls for, disarming the logic that drives antagonism and hostile competition. In verse 20, Paul concludes the section with a doxology, directing all towards God's glory. And the epistle ends with greetings. Paul wants his greetings in Christ Jesus to be conveyed to every Christian in Philippi.

The brothers with him, presumably his fellow workers, greet them. Also the wider body of Christians there, especially those in Caesar's household, presumably various servants and officials, extended their greetings. The reference to Caesar's household lends support to the idea that Paul is imprisoned in Rome. Finally, he invokes the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, desiring that it might be with their spirit. question to consider, how might we practically go about applying Paul's criteria to certain aspects of our own culture?