BibleProject - The Quest for Wisdom - Wisdom E1

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

Starting point is 00:00:17 and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it in, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds, and please transcribe your question when you email it in. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode.

Starting point is 00:00:37 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and He said it was good. He created man, Adam, and woman, and placed them in the garden. And their job was to be his image, to carry on his creative force and to rule the world, expanding the garden. All of this goodness, all of this potential, but there's still something missing. For humans to rule the world well as God's partners, they need wisdom to discern between good and evil.

Starting point is 00:01:10 But the question is how, how are they gonna get that wisdom? And so the humans are faced with a choice. They can either take from the tree of knowing good and evil, the tree that God told them not to take from, or they can trust God's command and live by His wisdom. That decision is the core decision for every human, every day. And this scene here in the first pages of the Bible is crucial to understanding a whole section

Starting point is 00:01:38 of books in the Bible that are often called the wisdom books. Proverbs, ecclesiastes, song of songs and joke. Each of these books explores from a different perspective what it means to be a human sitting in front of the tree of knowing good and evil. And how do I navigate knowing good and evil in a way that leads to life and not to exile like that? I'm John Collins and this is the Bible Project podcast. Today we start a new series talking about the wisdom literature. There are a handful of books in the Bible all about man's quest for wisdom.

Starting point is 00:02:14 What is true wisdom? How do we find it? And how do we live by it? Thanks for joining us. Here we go. We're beginning a new series of conversation. Yes, we are. Which is for a video in the How to Read the Bible series.

Starting point is 00:02:31 Or at the part of the Bible that we call the Wisdom literature. Yes. Yeah, and how to read series. This is episode 14. We're taking our time. Yeah, it's been a while, yeah. A couple years. It's going to be, I a 20 part series. Yeah. Yep.

Starting point is 00:02:47 Sometime in 2020. It'll be finished. 20, 20. That's right. And in the series, we're trying to assume a viewer with basically no knowledge right from the beginning. Yeah. So it's brand new book. What is the Bible? Where to come from? What's the main storyline? Different types of literature in the Bible and then how to read. All those different types of literature and then the different main sections of the Bible. We are diving into what I often call the wisdom books of the Old Testament. Wisdom books. Yeah. What are the wisdom books? That's a wonderful question. I have here with me three of the kind of main introductions to biblical wisdom literature. If you were to go to

Starting point is 00:03:26 take a religious studies class at university, biblical wisdom literature or seminary, odds are you'll be assigned to read one of these. One's by Derek Kiddner called the Wisdom of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. So that's pretty clear from the title. Yeah, cut to the chase. Yep, so he has an introduction to, what is the wisdom literature. He isolates these three books and then thinks of them as three different perspectives on wisdom that are in dialogue with each other. And that inspired our... Our Wisdom Series video.

Starting point is 00:04:00 Yep, that perspective. Yeah, which we, what two years ago, maybe two and a half years ago, made a series of videos, three videos, one on these three books, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and then Job. Yeah, I love those videos. It's a great set. Yeah. And how they all work together and they're filling out in their own unique way, what does it mean to live the good life. That's right. Yep. So, Kidner was a real helpful resource in that, and I liked his way of framing it. Roland Murphy has an excellent introduction called The Tree of Life, an exploration of biblical wisdom literature.

Starting point is 00:04:36 And what he covers is Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes. Then he's also writing thinking of the whole Jewish literary tradition. So he includes two later wisdom works from the late second temple period, the wisdom of Ben-Sierra, and a work called The Wisdom of Solomon. Both of those are in the Dudro Canon or Apocrypha, Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Then he also has a chapter saying about wisdom's echoes, and it's a chapter on the song of songs and then also later other books of the Hebrew Bible that have key wisdom themes in them but the main feature there is song songs and that raises the interesting issue.

Starting point is 00:05:15 What is the criteria? To be a wisdom book. For, but yeah, yep. For including a book within the wisdom literature. The last, and I recommend all three of these. Just, last introduction is by William Brown called Wisdom's Wonder. And he includes Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and that's it.

Starting point is 00:05:35 So he goes, he's kind of like Kiddner. Okay. So the different table of contents of those three introductions to wisdom literature, yeah, points up something, namely the difficulty of knowing what makes something to wisdom literature. Yeah, points up something, namely the difficulty of knowing what makes something a wisdom book. Is it just you count the number of times

Starting point is 00:05:50 the word wisdom appears? Because you're gonna find wisdom in all the books of the Bible, the word wisdom appears everywhere. So the book in question, it seems like, is Song of Solomon. Oh, right now the difference. Yeah, okay, this is exactly right. So, okay, this is exactly right.

Starting point is 00:06:05 So, okay, so here's two criteria you could go with. One is two of the classic, well not classic. Two of the wisdom books that they talk about are proverbs and ecclesiastes. They're both connected to Solomon in some way. So, okay, let's go with Solomon. He's the king of praetra wisdom, and he was said to rule with greater wisdom

Starting point is 00:06:23 than any of the kings of Israel, than any of the kings in the world. Solomon. Yeah. Spook 3000 Proverbs, what the accountant first king says. So if we make Solomon, the common denominator, then song of songs. There's three books of the Hebrew Bible that are connected to Solomon. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, song of songs.

Starting point is 00:06:42 Thing is, song of songs actually doesn't have the word wisdom in it. Okay. So then it makes us ask, like, is that a wisdom book? Is something a wisdom book because of its association with the wisest king? Or does the book have to be about wisdom as such? So let's say we do make Solomon key criteria. Then we have to figure out how Song of Songs fits in to the wisdom literature.

Starting point is 00:07:07 But there's also another book, the Hebrew Bible, that's usually included because it's one of its main themes as wisdom in the fear of the Lord, and that's the book of Job. But the book of Job isn't connected to Solomon, at least explicitly. So you see, this is kind of a conundrum. Asians will not rise and fall

Starting point is 00:07:23 on the balance of this question. Yeah. But it's of this question. Yeah. But it's an interesting question. What counts as wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible? Well, and so when we tackled this before, we did probably Ecclesiastes and Job. Yeah. And we didn't talk about Song of Solomon.

Starting point is 00:07:37 We did not. We did include it in the series. We did include it. Where would you put that book in the Hebrew can? Like how would you categorize it if it wasn't in the wasimilar? Song songs? Yeah. Oh, well, right now, in the Jewish tradition, in the organization of Tannak, Torra prophets and writings, it's among the writings, and it's among a

Starting point is 00:08:00 five-part collection of short books in the writings, called the Megilote, just just means scrolls. But it's five short books, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and Esther. Oh yeah, Lamentations. Interestingly, all five of those books have either a title that is a feminine noun or a main female character. Hmm. Rooster. Esther. Yeah, song, songs, which we love it. What about Clisiesti? Clisiesti begins with a feminine noun.

Starting point is 00:08:30 What do you mean? The title of a Clisiesti is the words of a figure called cohellet. And cohellet is... The teacher. Well, we've called him the teacher. I'm going to problematize that a little bit when we get to Clisiesti.

Starting point is 00:08:41 But it's a feminine noun. Oh. Grammatically feminine noun. And remember, grammar and languages have... Yeah, male and female. That's right. It doesn't always map on to the actual gender of the thing in question. Sometimes it does.

Starting point is 00:08:54 Right. Sometimes not. And then, lamentations, the main character is lady, lady Zion or lady Jerusalem. Anyway, so on that organization, song of songs and ecclesiasties are in a little hub in the writings, but Proverbs is also in the writings and so is Job. So all of those aren't in the Megalote or whatever. But not in the Megalote. But here's the thing, in the organization of the Tanakh, the Genesis through Kings, it's all one sequential narrative from creation to exile. Then the prophets come in and they're all have those little headings that are hyperlinked back into that narrative. And so the last section, the ketoveme, is

Starting point is 00:09:36 really... Yeah, and the sequence, it matters at some points, but it's really, by that point in the Hebrew Bible, you're just supposed to know where things fit. And so by the opening lines of each of the books in the ketovim, you're meant to follow the hyperlinks, to attach it to its appropriate place in the narrative. So to speak. So three of them begin with a Solomon connection, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. Can you walk me? Okay, I don't want to get bogged down, but like I just want to make this clear in my mind. Yep, yep, yep. In the Tanakh, which is how the Hebrew Bible

Starting point is 00:10:09 was traditionally organized. Correct. There is three sections. Correct. Three main sections. Yes. The Torah, Genesis through Dutra and Me. Genesis, Dutra and Me.

Starting point is 00:10:18 Yep. And then the prophets, Correct. Which starts in Joshua, Yes. And goes to where? Malachai. Which is the minor part. That's right, so it goes to where? Malachi. Which is the Myer prophets.

Starting point is 00:10:26 So it goes, prophets have two sections. What we call historical books, and the Christian tradition, or a New Jewish tradition called the prophets. Joshua, judges, Samuel, and Kings. Because all those stories are being told from the perspective of the prophets. Correct. And then you've got the major prophets.

Starting point is 00:10:44 The 15 books. And the Myer prophets with the 15 books. That's right. So that's the profits. Yep. And the everywhere for that is. Never, never, never, never, never, never, and now you've got this third section, which feels like a grab bag, in a sense, which is you said the megalot is in there. Yep. That's, yep. That's right. And then there's all sorts of other songs, Proverbs, Job, Ezoran, Nehemiah, Daniel, Chronicles, and then the megalote. And when you get to the Ketavim,

Starting point is 00:11:17 Correct. You are supposed to have just understood the story so much that when you're in there, it's hyperlinking back. Yeah, the opening lines of each one of the books in the Ketavim and actually the whole of all the books is hyperlinking all the way back into different parts in the Torah and the prophets. So you're meant to mentally link them into different points of the narrative. And there are three books in the Ketavim that begin with hyperlinks to Solomon. That is Ecclesiastes.

Starting point is 00:11:49 Proverbs. It's Song of Songs. Yeah, that's right. It's Song of Songs. That's right. But tell me about the, what's the tradition behind doing just the three-parter within adding four words in there? That's right.

Starting point is 00:12:00 So the tradition of saying, ah, here are the wisdom books of the Bible, Proverbs, Joseph, and Cleviastes. It's a modern construct. It's a modern invention. So there's a scholar, Will Kines, who actually just wrote recently, I actually put off launching this video until I could read his book. It's called, in obituary for the

Starting point is 00:12:25 Wisdom literature and he has traced the origin of treating Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes as a little island of books called the Wisdom literature that are really separate from the rest of Hebrew Bible in terms of theme and tone to, I forget his name, to a German scholar in the mid 1800s. Before then, people didn't talk about the wisdom literature. And his case in the book is actually that it's a modern invention that has distorted our view of these books. We're perpetuating that then. No, nope, because we're going to include song songs in this.

Starting point is 00:13:04 What this video is going to you about actually is a reframe. It's gonna be a different perspective than our current wisdom series. His point in the book, and he's right, is that what we call the wisdom books, are books that are anchored in the Eden narrative, in the Abraham narrative, and the drama of wisdom and the knowing of good evil that leads to life and learning how to know good and evil by living by the fear of the Lord, wisdom that is the fear of the Lord, which is a main theme in all of these books. But if you begin with the Eden story, then all of a sudden, a song of song fits right in at home with these books.

Starting point is 00:13:45 So this video that we're going to make, I'm not just taking kind's work, will kind's book on board, but that was very helpful, it's going to be about how the wisdom literature is actually playing. It's universalizing the garden narrative. Universalizing the garden. The wisdom books of the Bible are inviting readers of the Bible to see themselves and their own life stories as reenactments of the Adam and Eve story. So when you finish the book of Proverbs, you see yourself standing at the foot of the tree of knowing Good-Nevil

Starting point is 00:14:19 with a decision of how you're going to learn Good-Nev evil by your own wisdom and taking it and what's good in your own eyes or living by the fear of the Lord, which means doing what he says even when it doesn't seem intuitive or wise to me. So I'm excited about this video. Yeah. So as we talk about how to read the wisdom literature, we're not talking about like a genre per se, as much, because they're written in different genres like certain poetry, there's some narrative, there's proverbs. Correct. So as we talk about how to read them, we're going to be thinking more about what? This video is going to be about the narrative framework within which these books make sense

Starting point is 00:15:04 and make their contribution. Okay. It's going to be about this. It's about each which these books make sense and make their contribution. Okay. It's going to be about this. It's about each of these books explores from a different perspective what it means to be a human sitting in front of the tree of knowing good evil. Cool. And how do I navigate knowing good evil in a way that leads to life and not to exile and death?

Starting point is 00:15:23 The wisdom books do that primarily through the lens of the Solomon story, which is why three of these books that we're talking about in this video are linked to Solomon. For the record, they're actually, as you get later in Jewish tradition, the entire Hebrew Bible is conceived of as wisdom literature, not a section within the Bible, but the entire thing. What does that mean? Here, one is Psalm 119, which is a very late meta-reflection on the whole Hebrew Bible. So it's a Psalm, it's the longest chapter in the whole Bible. Psalm 119.

Starting point is 00:16:26 Like 177. Is it the Alliance, the Eliteration, or the Alphabet? Yeah, it's one big, long alphabet poem. And every single line contains some kind of reference to the scriptures. God's Word, God's instructions, and commandments, your precepts. And it's a part of the scriptures that are reflecting on the nature of the scriptures. It's meta-reflection. It's a chapter in the Bible that's reflecting on the significance and meaning of the Bible. It's awesome.

Starting point is 00:16:57 It's on 119. But from 119 versus 98 to 99, say this, your instructions, this is the word Torah your instructions Okay, make me more wise than my enemies for they are ever mine I have more insight than all my teachers because your testimonies are my meditation This is envisioning the entire Hebrew Bible as meditation literature that the longer you sit with it and by longer meaning years your whole lifetime. It's wisdom. It gives you wisdom and insight such that you'll be more wise than your teachers. So that's interesting. The whole thing is wisdom literature.

Starting point is 00:17:41 The whole thing is wisdom literature. Yeah. By that do you mean that's the main purpose of the Hebrew scriptures? It's all rooted in the Eden, in the Garden of Eden's story. For humans to rule the world well as God's partners, they need wisdom to discern between good and evil. But the question is how? How are they going to get that wisdom? Not the tree and evil. But the question is how, how are they gonna get that wisdom? Not the train in the middle of the garden. And who gets to define what that wisdom is?

Starting point is 00:18:10 Dude, welcome to the story of the Bible. It's just one huge train wreck of people doing what is wise in their own eyes. There's been a number of conversations where I feel like we reflect on the story of the Bible through a different question. And I think the question here is, how do you become wise? Yeah, how do you become wise so that you live and don't die? How do you become wise so that you experience the good life? Yeah. Instead of destroying. Well, so that you can rule with God.

Starting point is 00:18:45 So that you can rule with God and be his image bearer in the world. Right. Which we would then assume is a good life. Correct. The good life is living in covenant partnership with my creator, submitting to his guidance and wisdom so that I can gardenize the world around me. You were designed to rule and to create Eden in the world to spread the goodness of Eden. To create. To create.

Starting point is 00:19:17 We've talked before about the story of the Bible as of what do you do with power because to be created to rule means you have power. That's an interesting way to talk about the level. But this we're talking about, how do you attain true wisdom? Yes. I don't know what's the right thing to do. And the right decision to make as you go about building your life, which affects other people's lives. And right? Yeah. It's hard to know what the right thing to do is sometimes. Yeah, where do you get that wisdom?

Starting point is 00:19:50 I think most people would say, no, I know what the right thing to do is. I might not always do it, but I could tell you what it is. But then think about life scenarios where you did what you thought was the right thing. And it turned out to be the wrong thing. And maybe it was the wrong thing because you just were short-sighted. You didn't have all the information, right? Or things didn't go the way you anticipated. Right.

Starting point is 00:20:20 Or you realized later on that you had motives driving you that you could not discern at the time. Yeah, how often does that happen? And you look back and be like that was actually a real selfish act. And I was so deceived about my own motives that I couldn't see that I was acting out of some terrible place in my heart. That's the trace of the matter is, is we are easily deceived by ourselves and by the powers and principles. It's interesting. Yeah, and even using the word deceived,

Starting point is 00:20:53 we're starting to use the language of the Garden of Eden story. But some people might want to frame it differently. They might want to say, well, you just didn't have enough information. Sure. You didn't know your biases. Didn't know your biases. You didn't know your biases. You didn't

Starting point is 00:21:06 know all the factors and the complexities. But yeah, in the biblical story, it's saying, no, there's a moral element to it. Our knowledge isn't morally neutral. And our desire to know some things rather than other things, our desire when we make a decision. I'm going to account for these factors and these people, but I conveniently happened to not think about those people with the decision and take that information on board. Right, we're always sifting information when we make decision. Totally.

Starting point is 00:21:36 When I make a decision, let's say I make a decision about, this is silly, we just think this morning. Oh, okay, yes. Jessica and I tag team breakfast for the boys. a boy. They're little still learning. They don't make their own breakfast yet And so I made a decision this morning because we were coming here to have this conversation That I was gonna be laser focused Mm-hmm. I'm gonna wake up make coffee and then I'm just gonna make my smoothie and get out the door I got out before the family was up.

Starting point is 00:22:09 And so I made a decision to prioritize this conversation right here over what I often do, which is like start making something for the boys so that Jessica doesn't have to. And my wife experienced that as a moral decision. Yeah, because she was like, what, you left me to make their lunch and their breakfast? Yeah, yeah. And get their clothes out. And I was like, oh, and I couldn't even see it

Starting point is 00:22:36 because I woke up thinking, I have this conversation with John today. Yeah. This is awesome. I need to get to work like a little bit sooner. And I was neglecting her and it affected her negatively. Define morality for me real quick. Oh, well, sheesh.

Starting point is 00:22:51 Okay. Sounds like what you're saying is a decision that affects someone else. Correct, yeah. How my decisions are going to affect other people. Or is it, how do my decisions bring justice and peace and love or bring chaos and destruction? Well, there's that.

Starting point is 00:23:08 Okay, yes. I guess if we're talking about a moral decision, is a moral decision that somehow in alignment with the cosmic principle of justice and goodness rooted in God's character. On that account, my decision to prioritize this conversation over my wife was a failed moral decision. I wasn't loving my neighbor as myself. I wasn't loving my wife as I love myself. It was wise in my own eyes until I was like ready to walk out the door and I realized I'd just left her hanging with all this extra stuff that normally we share. So the point I mean.

Starting point is 00:23:44 The point of the story is that any decision we make is a moral decision. Would you say that every decision we make is a moral decision? Maybe different layers. There's different layers of morality. But every decision we make affects not just ourselves but other people. Some of our decisions are small, but they're cumulative.

Starting point is 00:24:02 Yeah. Because they're habit forming. And so it might not be till the thousandth time that I make a certain decision that it starts effect somebody else. But yeah, none of our decisions are made in a vacuum. They all affect the people around us. And that's the thing. It's the butterfly effect problem, which is how do you know what you're doing right now,

Starting point is 00:24:21 even though it's so small, what's the effect that's gonna have on you and the people around you. And we try our best to project that forward and imagine what that'll be. That's right. But life is just way too complex. How could you know? And so we have these guidelines,

Starting point is 00:24:37 we kind of, you know, this is good, this is bad, these are good habits, these are bad habits. But even as best as we try to create these categories, just life is really messy. Yes, it is. And so how do you know what the right thing to do is and any given moment? Yeah, what is the book of Genesis

Starting point is 00:24:55 except a cascade of poor decisions of parents that get passed down to their children who themselves inherit the mess of the previous generation and then make their own short-sighted poor decisions that hurts them, the people around them, and then passed on to their children. That's four cycles, main cycles in Genesis. And yeah, that's it.

Starting point is 00:25:21 How do you know what is the wise thing to do that will lead to life in the garden versus exile and pain and death? This is the drama of the Garden Narrative, and this is the drama that the wisdom books are trying to help you see. This is the drama of your own life. Your own life is a playing out of the Eden story.

Starting point is 00:25:42 It's the goal of these books. The deceptive nature of our nature. There's another layer to that to which when we are good at projecting things out, we could actually use that for our advantage. Correct. And so just because you are good at knowing what's good and evil.

Starting point is 00:25:59 Yes. I could actually be really wise and know, if I do this and this will likely happen and this person will think this Correct then I'll be able to do this and you can project out like yep a whole scenario Yes, yes, and then you can go I'm gonna use this for my advantage. Yes, that's right. That's why Wisdom is not a morally neutral thing. Mm-hmm. You have really bad people in the biblical story who are wise? The snake the snake is the first is the first wise one. The snake is the first wise character. He's a root. Yeah. Well, good job.

Starting point is 00:26:31 Humans are clever. You have these huge craniums. Yeah. For this amazing thing in our heads. It's, yeah, we're kind of balancing these two ideas, which is one we're incapable of truly being able to do all this 3D chest kind of stuff, you know. But the, in the other hand, we're actually, we actually have large brains.

Starting point is 00:26:52 Remarkable creatures. And we can do a lot with our imagination and our rationality. And we can use that for evil learning. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So the question is, how, what's the mode of our learning wisdom and making wise choices? We can do it in submission to the fear of the Lord and his wisdom, or we can do what is wise and our own eyes. Okay, here you go. Actually here, can I read a paragraph from Roland Murphy, is introduction to the Tree of Life?

Starting point is 00:27:23 Yeah, it's great. Within the Hebrew Bible, the wisdom literature is exciting because it deals directly with life. We have some friends who run the Bible app, the main Bible app. Yeah. You've heard of it. You version, the Bible app, most people's smartphones. And remember, they told us that one of the most searched for terms for Bible

Starting point is 00:27:46 searches and reading plans within the app is the word wisdom. This was years ago, they told us this. That's right. But the wisdom literature, these books are very accessible. Some of the more accessible books of the Old Testament. Right. Yeah. Oh yeah, I think many, because they're actually men for whatever reason, like make it a habit of reading through the Proverbs. Yeah, chapter a day. Chapter a day. It's just, they're very accessible and practical.

Starting point is 00:28:10 Yep, that's right. So Murphy, Roland Murphy, says, the wisdom literature is this way, because it deals directly with life. The sages, he goes on, the sages of Israel were concerned with the present, how to cope with the challenges provoked by

Starting point is 00:28:25 one's immediate experience. The choice between life and death that Moses dramatically places before Israel in Deuteronomy 30, remember, choose this day, life, death, blessing, curse, when you go into the Promised Land. He says that choice is re-eccoed in the Sages' emphasis on the wisdom that leads to life. The life and death situation is expressed in the image of the tree of life. Proverbs chapter 3, 8 verse 18, Wisdom is a tree of life to all who grasp her, think of Genesis 3. How fortunate are those who embrace her.

Starting point is 00:29:01 He goes on, this image is well known from its appearance in Genesis. The first dwellers of the garden were kept from that tree, the tree of life, less do they live forever. Remember, they took from the tree of knowing a good evil, and then they're prevented from taking of the tree of life. In a vivid turn of metaphor, wisdom and proverbs has become the tree of life, and is personified as a woman. Proverbs 8 verse 35, long life is in her right hand, in her left or wealth and honor. She boasts that the one who finds her finds life, and the one who fails to find her is ultimately in love with death.

Starting point is 00:29:36 And the brother of death. The brother of death. Yeah. That's what she says in Proverbs 8. So he concludes, one must hear wisdom obediently, but one must also pray for the gift that she is. Embracing the gift of wisdom is precarious, however, because according to the sages, we are easily deceived. Proverbs 26, verse 12, there is more hope for a fool than for those who are wise in their own eyes. That's a good proverb. It is.

Starting point is 00:30:02 for those who are wise in their own eyes. That's a good proverb. It is. So he's saying the drama of the garden is being represented to us in the wisdom books. And anyone can be wise. The question is, will you be wise in the way that leads to life as opposed to self-deception? Yeah. And wise in your own eyes is Is was that an idiom? Hmm. Yeah. I'm, why is in your own estimation? It's what we're talking about earlier. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:30:32 It seemed wise in my own eyes. Yeah. To prioritize getting to work a little earlier so we could have this conversation. Yeah. But I was not taking into account the people that I live with. And the opposite of that in this proverb is the full, and that's to really make a big hyperbolic point. But what would be the opposite of wise and neuronize? Oh, like yeah. Those who are wise by learning the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. Proverbs 1, verse 7. Yeah. Yep. And so we're going to talk about that first

Starting point is 00:31:08 year of the Lord. Yeah. Yeah. In a way. I'm asking that question. Correct. Okay. Yeah. The story of the Garden of Eden is of humans being wise in their own eyes, leading to exile and death. And so the drama that's played out has a turning point in the story of Abraham who is the first character to make a decision not based on his own wisdom but based on the fear of the Lord. And when Abraham's the first character who lives by the fear of the Lord and when he does it releases the blessing of Eden out to the nations. Genesis chapter 22. Living by wisdom that submitted to the fear of the Lord is the way to the life of Eden. It's all in here, man. Okay, we've talked about Genesis 1-2-3 a lot. A lot, and here we are again.

Starting point is 00:32:27 It's all in here, man. The whole Bible springs out of these first two pages. So we're going to do some things that we haven't quite done before. Nail some things down that we've done intuitively, but I want to nail them down. First the concept of good and evil. The tree of knowing good and evil. Yeah. So first, let's back up. Sorry. You remember the, how do I know what is good? The Hebrew word for good is tov. And before I even learn what evil is, that Hebrew word

Starting point is 00:32:58 for that is raw. So tov and raw. Page one, Genesis one has Tove all over the place. In the seven, there's, in the seven-day structure, and then God saw that it was Tove has repeated seven times in the chapter. So I finished Genesis one. God's provided. I've seen a lot of good. Yep, and God has provided what is good

Starting point is 00:33:23 without God doing what he does in Genesis 1, it would just be, right? It would be darkness and disorder if God doesn't create in Genesis 1. So goodness came. Because God is the author of goodness. He's the provider of Tove in that narrative. But also he's the one who sees that it's Tove.

Starting point is 00:33:44 You watch God make something, he provides it, but then he evaluates it. Which requires knowledge. Right? Yeah. To see it means to be like, ah, that's what's good. Meaning, I know the opposite of good, and I don't want that, I want what is good. Yeah, it's interesting how much you learn about the character of God and Like if you know nothing about what no category for God and you start here. Mm-hmm. You're like, okay

Starting point is 00:34:14 Well, he's he's powerful powerful But the things I was just picking up on is when he creates yeah He his propensityities to create goodness. That's right. That's not necessarily... Yeah, that's not a given. No, there's many religious worldviews where both good and evil are contained within the ultimate deity,

Starting point is 00:34:40 especially Eastern worldviews. That's like ying and yang, those good and evil, are contained within ultimate being. Yeah, different than the depiction of God in Genesimism. He provides what is good by over, by containing and removing what is not good. Yeah. And after he does that, he reflects on it and defines it and evaluates it. Yes. And that's also not a given. I guess you could just have a god who, some force, some whatever, some abstract force that just creates good, that's just how it's wired.

Starting point is 00:35:20 Or you could have a deity who is subject to forces greater than even themselves. Sure. Right. In which case they're not the ultimate wise one. Yeah. But this deity has this consciousness, yeah, whatever, that's our word that can then reflect. Correct. He's both powerful and he's wise. I think that's what we're saying. Yeah. In Genesis Genesis 1 God is both powerful. He can create life and good powerful death and he's good and he's wise and he's wise. Yeah, that's right. That's right. All those things. Correct. Yeah, that's right. I go into Genesis 2 and God is also the first one to identify something as low-tove, not good. So God, I watch this watch God provide and define good on Genesis 1.

Starting point is 00:36:06 Genesis 2, God identifies also, He knows what is not good. And what it is is a human alone. Yes. So page Genesis 1, God created the image bears, male in female, He created them and says, be fruitful and multiply. Genesis 2, you have a single human, it's the word Adam, human, and a single human is not good. A single human cannot accomplish the ideal for humanity on page 1, which is to be fruitful and multiply and rule the world together. Yeah. Can't do that alone. No.

Starting point is 00:36:45 You could if you're an earthworm. Yeah. What's that, Polly? I don't know the technical term. There's a technical term. Yeah, both male and female. Yeah, species that can self-generate anyway. Because an earthworm, she could also cut it in half.

Starting point is 00:37:01 That's right. Yeah. They could be whatever they wanted to be. That's right. So we weren't, we were made. That's one thing. She could also cut it in half. That's right, yeah. And then they could be whatever they wanted. That's right, yeah. So we weren't, we were made. That's right. In other words, if I'm following the repetition of the word good, God provides it. He has the wisdom to evaluate it and know it as such.

Starting point is 00:37:16 And he has the wisdom to know what is not tov. And then remedy that. He splits the atom. Whoa. Whoa. You know, this is significant. The first thing he does is he forms that animals, this is Genesis 2, he forms the animals out of the ground and he brings them to the human to see what the human would name them. So God is now, what God did in Genesis 1, which is to bring life and order out of darkness and

Starting point is 00:37:51 nothingness, and God names, he's God's the one naming. Oh yeah, Genesis 1. He calls things. He calls it God. He calls it night. He calls it sky. He calls it the seas. So God's organizing and naming and providing what is good.

Starting point is 00:38:05 Now God says, here's something that's not good. A human can't do what I call them to do alone. So he needs companions, co-workers. Or in Hebrew, Azer Connecto, a help that corresponds to him. Oh yes, right? That's what God says. He needs a help that corresponds to him. Oh yes, right? This is what God says. You need to help that corresponds to him. The English word help does not help us.

Starting point is 00:38:30 Because when helper or help gets us into like assistant world, the only other character that's called an Azer, a help. Oh, let me guess. Spirit, Holy Spirit. Oh, let me guess. Spirit. Holy Spirit. Is Yahweh Himself? You are, David will say, you are my help.

Starting point is 00:38:50 You are my Azer. You are the one, in salvation. Salvation. Yeah. That's a help. Yeah. Help in Hebrew means to do for something, do for someone what they cannot do for themselves. Yeah, okay.

Starting point is 00:39:07 That's what Azer means. So... We must have a word for that. Oh man. Help I guess just can do either. Like it can mean just stand. Oh I understand. It can just mean like...

Starting point is 00:39:18 I need some help. Well, I can't, but usually if I need help, it's I can't do it alone or I don't want to do it alone. But you can think of the kindergarten class, where it's like, who's going to be my helper today? And helper, totally. And that's where, yeah, this phrase helper in our English translations of Genesis 2

Starting point is 00:39:33 loads all kinds of gender issues into that story of, oh yes, woman is the helper. No, dude, woman is salvation for this lone human. Another who is different from but corresponds to is salvation for the lone salvation in that it wasn't good. Low-tove. Not good. A human alone can't do what God calls humanity to do. what God calls humanity to do. And so who is the one? David will say, you know, I cried out for Azer. As my enemies were against me, you are my Azer.

Starting point is 00:40:15 God makes an Azer corresponding to the... I mean... Praise God for women. But even that, it's not just like, oh, because women are great, the introduction of the woman is to provide for humanity what humanity cannot do by themselves. It's like, he brings the animals as the first like trial companion. But one layer of what God's inviting human to do is to start exercising his own wisdom. God was naming and identifying in Genesis 1. God identifies what is not good.

Starting point is 00:41:17 So let's fix that around here. Hey human, will you share with me in beginning to organize and order? God is the one who provides the the dry land in the garden. Then he put the human in the garden and says join me. Yeah, you work it and keep it too. Yeah, that came bright before this and then God and Genesis one was naming Mm-hmm and organizing and now and now he's giving to the human chance to name and organize Yeah, so it's he's inviting humans into the divine project of bringing order. Yeah. But it can't be done without an aser. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:41:55 They can't be done. Humans can't be fruitful and multiply alone. Yeah. So what God does, You say humans plural. I mean, they're human, Adam. Mm-hmm. Human. That's right. Yeah. So what God does is humans plural, I mean, they're human, Adam, human. That's right.

Starting point is 00:42:06 Yeah. So what God does is he splits the Adam. Already, already used that one. He splits the Adam. This is interesting. The word rib in Hebrew is a very common word and it's the word for side. Oh right. Right.

Starting point is 00:42:23 This meaning the whole side of a building. Oh, okay. It's a very common Hebrew word for the side of a building, the side. All right. This meaning the whole side of a building. Oh, okay. It's a very common Hebrew word for the side of a building, the side of a tent, the side of a rock. Okay. So, he took from one of his sides. Yeah. A couple of a half.

Starting point is 00:42:37 I think that's what we're supposed to imagine. And then he closes up the flesh in its place. That's what it says. He took from one of his sides. How many sides does a human have? That's what it says in Hebrew. And then he builds, it's the architectural word, he builds the side from which he had taken from Adam into a woman and brought her to Adam. Yeah, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. Yeah, And then he says, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. Okay, and I get this. And then the two, God's now made two. Yeah. So those two are now, okay, in God's estimation, it's low tov, not tov, to have one. We need two for humans to

Starting point is 00:43:17 be what I call them to be on in Genesis one. But those two have to become one so that as one who is yet to can do the thing that I called them to on page one. So unified, the two unified as one can do what I called them. And that can be the image of God. That's right. And then becomes man and woman. I get this is all going to be crucially important for the wisdom literature. Okay.

Starting point is 00:43:41 Trust me. Okay. Okay. So the two as one, Tove, Garden, we're going to, we can make babies. Trust me. Okay. Okay. So the two as one, Tove Garden, we're gonna, we can make babies. We can multiply. We have an Azer for the man, the one without which he cannot do what he's called to do. That's all there it is. Yeah. There it is. This is awesome. And they're naked and there's no shame. This is important for a song of songs.

Starting point is 00:44:05 The man and the woman together in the garden, naked, completely vulnerable and open to each other, no shame. One with God, one with each other, this is Eden. Yeah, there you go. It lasts two pages. Yeah, it doesn't last long. No, it doesn't.

Starting point is 00:44:21 Okay. Is nakedness in that culture shameful to be naked? Oh, I think it is in many cultures. Yeah, I would say it is in many cultures. Yeah, it is in the biblical tradition. Okay, yeah, it's not in all cultures. Not all cultures. And certain parts of the body being exposed

Starting point is 00:44:39 activate different things in different cultures. Yeah, but in the biblical tradition. To say they were naked in a shame, they'd be like, what? Yeah, well, it would be a shame if they were naked. Correct, yeah, naked, to be naked and vulnerable to someone who's not my family is publicly shameful. Correct, yep.

Starting point is 00:44:58 Okay, so step one. Next step is how it all goes terribly wrong. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Bible Project Podcast. This conversation on Wisdom is part of a longer set of conversations on how to read the Bible. You've got a whole list of videos, podcasts, and other resources, helping you understand all the different genres of biblical literature. You can find all those resources at thebiboproject.com. The Bible Project is a crowdfunded nonprofit, we're in Portland, Oregon. We believe the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus.

Starting point is 00:45:35 We can make all these resources for free because of the generous support of people like you. So thank you so much for being a part of this with us. Hi, this is Cynthia Davis. I'm from Virginia. And one of the things I love about the Bible project is the simplicity and the fun that it brings to scripture. It just makes things so crystal clear.

Starting point is 00:45:54 And that just helps me every day in my personal Bible study with what I'm learning. We believe the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus, where a crowd-of-funded project by people like me find free videos, study notes, podcasts, and more at thebibelproject.com. you

BibleProject - The Quest for Wisdom - Wisdom E1

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