awaiting death at the hand of Gideon, cite a popular proverb, _For as
the man, so is his strength_. David in his conversation with Saul says,
_As runs the proverb, "Out of the wicked cometh forth wickedness"_ (I
Sam. xxiv. 13). Frequent references are also found to wise men and
women, and examples are given of their prudence and insight Thus Joab,
David's iron-hearted commander, brings a wise woman from Tekoa, the
later home of the prophet Amos, to aid him in securing the recall of the
banished Absalom. By her feigned story she succeeds in working upon the
sympathy of the king to such a degree that he commits himself finally to
a principle which she at once asks him to apply to the case of his own
son (II Sam. xiv. 1-24).
[Sidenote: _Basis of Solomon's reputation for wisdom_]
The stories told in I Kings iii. 16-28, to illustrate the wisdom of
Solomon, suggest the historical basis of the reputation which he enjoyed
in the thought of succeeding generations. Such stories also indicate, as
do the other early examples of the work of the wise, the conception of
wisdom held in that more primitive age. Such wisdom does not necessarily
include ethical righteousness or even practical executive ability, for
the true Solomon of history was lacking in both; but rather a certain.
shrewdness, versatility, and keenness of insight which enable its
possessor to discern what is not clearly apparent. First Kings iv. 29-34
contains the later popular tradition of Solomon's wisdom:
(29) And God gave Solomon wisdom and insight in plentiful measure, and
breadth of mind, even as the sand that is on the seashore, (30) so that
Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the eastern Arabians and
all the wisdom of Egypt. (31) For he was wiser than all men: than Ethan
the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame
was in all the surrounding nations. (32) And he uttered three thousand
proverbs, and his songs were five thousand. (33) And he spoke of
different varieties of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to
the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of beasts, of
birds, of creeping things, and of fishes. (34) And there came some from
among all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, deputed by all
kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
[Sidenote: _Reason why all ancient proverbs were attributed to him_]
A popular proverb, like a primitive oral law, usually grows out of
common human experience, and is gradually formulated and moulded into
its final literary form by successive generations. No one man can claim
it as his own, and even if he could, the ancient Semitic East, which
cared so little about authors' titles, would have quickly forgotten his
name. That Solomon did utter certain brilliant aphorisms, embellished by
illustrations drawn from animal and plant life, cannot be doubted;
and that some of them have been preserved in the book of Proverbs is
probable. These facts and the popular tradition that tended to exalt his
wisdom clearly explain why all Hebrew proverbs were attributed to him
(Prov. i. 1), in the days of the final editing of the book of Proverbs.
[Sidenote: _Evidence that Proverbs comes from many different writers_]
That our present book of Proverbs is the work of many unknown sages,
and consists of a collection of smaller groups coming from different
periods, is demonstrated by the superscriptions which recur throughout
the book, such as, _These are the proverbs of Solomon_ (x. 1), _These
also are the sayings of the wise_ (xxiv. 23), _These are the proverbs of
Solomon which the men of_ _Hezekiah king of Judah copied out_ (xxv. 5),
_The words of King Lemuel_ (xxxi. 1), The same proverbs also recur In
different groups, indicating that originally they were independent
collections, gleaned from the same field. When the first collection was
made, the title _Proverb of Solomon_ evidently meant a popular maxim
handed down from antiquity and therefore naturally attributed to the
most famous wise man in Israel's early history. It is an instructive
fact that later proverbs, the immediate superscriptions to which plainly
state that they come from many different sages, are still called
_Proverbs of Solomon;_ it betrays an exact parallel to the similar
tendency, apparent in the legal and prophetic literature, to attribute
late anonymous writings to earlier authors. This is also further
illustrated by such late Jewish books as _The Wisdom of Solomon_ or the
_Psalms of Solomon._
[Sidenote: _Testimony of the individual proverbs_]
The individual proverbs confirm the general conclusion that they come
from many different authors. Those which commend fidelity to one wife
and kingly consideration for the rights of subjects, qualities in which
Solomon was sadly lacking, do not fit in his mouth. Many are written
from the point of view of a subject, and describe what a man should do
in the presence of a ruler. Furthermore, the ethical standards upheld
are those of prophets who lived and taught long after the days of the
Grand Monarch who fascinated his own and succeeding generations by his
brilliant wit rather than by his sterling virtues.
[Sidenote: _Real nature of Proverbs_]
The book of Proverbs is far more than an epitome of his versatile
sayings: it represents at least ten centuries of experience divinely
guided, but won often through mistakes and bitter disappointments. It
contains the many index hands, set up before the eyes of men to point
them from error to truth, from folly to right, and from failure
to success. Like most of the Old Testament books, it embodies the
contributions of many different teachers writing from many different
ages and points of view. Their common aim is well expressed by the sage
who appended to Proverbs the preface:
To acquire wisdom and training,
To understand rational discourse,
To receive training in wise conduct,
In uprightness, justice, and rectitude,
To impart discretion to the inexperienced,
To the young knowledge and insight;
That the wise man may hear and add to his learning,
And the man of intelligence gain education,
To understand a proverb and a parable,
The words of sages and their aphorisms.
[Sidenote: _The first edition of Proverbs_]
The structure and contents of the book suggest its literary history.
Like the New Testament, it appears to have passed through different
stages, and to have been supplemented repeatedly by the addition of new
collections. The original nucleus is probably found in x. 1 to xxii.
16; this is introduced by the simple superscription, _The Proverbs of
Solomon_. The form of the proverb is simple; the atmosphere is joyous,
prosperity prevails, virtue is rewarded; a king who loves justice and
righteousness is on the throne (xiv. 35, xvi. 10, 12, 13, xx. 8, xxii.
11); the rich, and poor stand in the same relation to each other as
in the days of the pre-exile prophets; and the teaching of their
prophets--righteousness is more acceptable than sacrifice--is frequently
reiterated (xv. 8, xvi. 6, xxi. 3, 27). While this long collection
doubtless contains many proverbs antedating even the beginnings of
Israel's history and possibly some added later, the indications are that
they represent the original edition of the book which the Jews carried
with them into the Babylonian exile. This early collection was perhaps
made under the inspiring influence of the reign of Josiah.
[Sidenote: _Dates of the other collections_]
Undoubtedly the remaining collections also contain many very ancient
proverbs, but as a whole their literary form and thought is more
complex. The descriptions of the kings suggest the Persian and Greek
tyrants who ruled over the Jews during the long centuries after the
exile (_cf._ xxv. 1-7, xxviii. 2, 12, 15, 28, xxix. 2, 4, 16, xix. 14),
The age of the prophets has apparently been succeeded by that of
the priest and the law (xxix. 18). Already the Jews have tasted the
bitterness of exile (xxvii. 8). There are also certain points of close
contact with proverbs of Ben Sira, written about 190 B.C. The sages as a
class are very prominent, as in the later centuries before Christ. These
and many other indications lead to the conclusion that the different
collections were probably made after the exile, and that the noble
introduction, i.-ix., and the two chapters in the appendix were not
added until some time in the Greek period,--not long before 200 B.C. The
date, however, when these proverbs arose and were committed to writing
is comparatively unimportant, save as a knowledge of their background
aids in their interpretation, and as they, in turn, reveal the life and
thought of the persecuted, tempted Jews, whose religious life centred in
the second temple.
[Sidenote: _Teaching of the Song of Songs_]
Probably in the Greek period also a poet-sage collected and wove
together certain love and wedding songs of his race. The result was
called the Song of Songs, that is, the Peerless Song. According to one
interpretation, it presents, in a series of scenes, the heart struggle
of a simple country maiden with the promptings of a true, pure love for
a shepherd lover and the bewildering attractions of a royal marriage;
and true love in the end triumphs. Whatever be the interpretation, it is
clear that this exquisite little book, so filled with pictures of nature
and simple country life, was intended to emphasize the duty and beauty
of fidelity to nature and the promptings of the human heart. This
thought is expressed in the powerful passage which seems to voice the
central teaching of the poem:
Love is strong as death;
Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol;
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
A very flame of Jehovah.
Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can floods drown it:
If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
He would utterly be condemned.
XI
THE WRITINGS OF ISRAEL'S PHILOSOPHERS
[Sidenote: _Discussions the problem of evil_]
An intense interest in man led certain of Israel's sages in time to
devote their attention to more general philosophical problems, such as
the moral order of the universe. In the earlier proverbs, prophetic
histories, and laws, the doctrine that sin was always punished by
suffering or misfortune, and conversely that calamity and misfortune
were sure evidence of the guilt of the one affected, had been reiterated
until it had become a dogma. In nine out of ten cases this doctrine was
true, but in time experience proved that the tenth case might be an
exception. While most of the teachers of the race denied or ignored this
exception, certain wise men, faithful and unflinching in their analysis
of human life, faced the fact that the innocent as well as the guilty
sometimes suffer. Their quest for the answer to the eternal question,
Why? is recorded in the books of Job and Ecclesiastes.
[Sidenote: _The primitive story of Job_]
The basis of the book of Job Is undoubtedly a primitive story. Traces
of a tradition somewhat similar have recently been discovered in the
Babylonian-Assyrian literature. The Babylonian treatment of the moral
problem that it presents is even more strikingly similar. Ezekiel also
refers to a well-known popular Hebrew version of the story of Job (xiv.
14): _though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it_
(the guilty land), _they would deliver simply their own lives their
righteousness, saith the Lord Jehovah_ (_cf._ also xiv. 20). Evidently
in Ezekiel's day these names represented three ancient worthies, each
conspicuous for his superlative piety. The Hebrew word here used also
indicates that the righteousness attributed to them was conformity to
the demands of the ritual. This agrees closely with the representation
of the prose version of the story found in Job i. ii. and xlii. 7-17;
here the supreme illustration of Job's piety is that he repeatedly
sacrifices burnt-offerings, whenever there is the least possibility that
his sons have sinned (i. 4, 5). Also in describing his perfection (i.
1), the same unusual term is employed as in the priestly narrative of
Genesis vi. 9, where Noah's righteousness is portrayed.
[Sidenote: _Original teaching and application of the prose story_]
It seems probable, therefore, that the ancient story of Job was committed
to writing by some priest during the Babylonian exile. Since Job and his
friends live out on the borders of the Arabian desert to the east or
southeast of Palestine, it seems clear that the tradition came to the
Hebrews originally from some foreign source; but in the prose form in
which we find it in Job, it has been thoroughly naturalized, for Job is
a faithful servant of Jehovah and the law. Ignoring for the moment the
poetical sections (iii. 1 to xlii. 6), we find that the prose story has
a direct, practical message for the broken-hearted exiles, crushed
beneath an overpowering calamity. Jehovah is testing his servant people,
as he tests Job in the story, to prove whether or not they _fear God for
nought_ (i, 9). If they bear the test without complaint, as did Job, all
their former possessions will be restored to them in double measure
(xlii. 7-17).
[Sidenote: _The problem of the poetical sections of Job_]
This prose story has apparently been utilized and given a very different
interpretation by a later poet-sage in whose ears rang Jeremiah's words
of anguish, found in chapter xx. 14-18 of his prophecy (_cf_. Job iii.),
and to whose ears came also the cry of the pious voiced in Malachi ii.
17: _Every one who does evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he
delighteth in_ _them. Where is the God of justice_? The old solutions
of the problem of evil were being openly discarded. _They who feared
Jehovah_ were saying (iii, 13, 14), _It is vain to serve God; and what
profit is it to have kept his charge or to have walked in funeral garb
before Jehovah of hosts? Even now we must congratulate the arrogant;
yea, they who work wickedness are entrenched; yea, they tempt God and
escape!_ With a boldness and thoroughness that must have seemed to his
contemporaries dangerous and heretical, the great poet-sage presents the
problem in all its intensity.
[Sidenote: _The role of Job and his friends in presenting the problem_]
He adopts the popular story, utilizing it as his prologue and epilogue:
but as we pass to chapter iii, the simple, pure Hebrew yields to sublime
poetry, shot through with the words and idioms and ideas of a much later
age. The designation of God is no longer _Jehovah_ but _El_ or _Eloah_
or _Shaddai_. The character of Job suddenly changes; instead of being
the patient, submissive servant of the law, he boldly, almost defiantly,
charges God with injustice. The role of the friends also changes, and
they figure as champions of the Deity. In their successive speeches they
present in detail the current dogmas and the popular explanations of
suffering. In his replies Job points out their inapplicability to the
supreme problem of which he is the embodiment. The action and progress
in this great drama is within the mind of Job himself. By degrees he
rises to a clear perception of the fact that he is innocent of any crime
commensurate with the overwhelming series of calamities which have
overtaken him; and he thus throws off the shackles of the ancient dogma.
From the seemingly cruel and unjust God who has brought this undeserved
calamity upon him, he then appeals to the Infinite Being who is back of
all phenomena.
[Sidenote: _The message of the book_]
The reply to this appeal, and the author's contribution to the eternal
problem of evil, are found in xxxviii. I to xlii. 6. It is not a
solution, but through the wonders of the natural world, it is a fuller
revelation to the mind of Job, of the omnipotence, the omniscience,
the wisdom, and the goodness of God. Even though he cannot discern the
reason of his own suffering, he learns to know and to trust the wisdom
and love of the Divine Ruler.
I had heard of this by the hearing of the ear;
But now mine eye seeth thee (xlii. 5).
[Sidenote: _Teaching the Elihu passage xxxii-xxxvii_]
Faith triumphs over doubt, and the problem, though unsolved, sinks into
comparative insignificance. Apparently another poet-sage has added, out
of the depths of his own experience, his contribution to the problem
of suffering in the speeches of Elihu (chapters xxxii-xxxvii). It is
that suffering rightly borne becomes a blessing because it is one of
God's ways of training his servants. This indeed is an expansion of the
explanation urged by Eliphaz in v. 17, _Behold, happy is the man whom God
correcteth_. While these speeches of Elihu are written in a different
literary style and have, in fact, no vital connection with the original
poem of Job, they nevertheless contain a great and intensely practical
truth; they have rightly found a place in this marvellous book.
Similarly the sublime description of wisdom in chapter xxviii. makes
good its title; it can, however, be studied best by itself apart from
Job's impassioned protestations of his innocence (chapter xxix.).
[Sidenote: _Probable history of the book of Job_]
Thus the book of Job, like so many other Old Testament writings, has its
own literary history. Somewhere and sometime, back in an early Semitic
period, there doubtless lived a man, conspicuous for his virtue and
prosperity. Upon him fell a misfortune so great and apparently
undeserved that it made a deep impression, not only upon his
contemporaries, but also upon the minds of later generations. Thus there
grew up a common Semitic story of Job which was in time thoroughly
naturalized in Israel. Probably a Jewish priest in the exile first
committed it to writing in order to assure his fellow-sufferers that
could they but be patient and submissive Jehovah would soon restore them
to their former prosperity. The painful experiences that came to the
Jews, especially to the pious, during the middle and latter part of the
Persian period (sometime between 450 and 340 B.C.), convinced a poet-
sage that the old interpretations of the meaning of suffering did not
suffice. Accordingly into the heart of the familiar story of Job he
injected his powerful, impassioned message. Later writers, inspired by
his inspiring genius, added their contributions to the solution of the
perennial problem. Hence by 200 B.C., at least, the book of Job was
probably current in its present form.
[Sidenote: _Age and point of view of Ecclesiastes_]
The same ever-recurring, insistent questions regarding the moral value
and meaning of life led another later wise man to embody the results of
his observation and experience in what we now know as the book of
Ecclesiastes. Although i. 16 and ii. 7, 9 clearly imply that many kings
had already reigned in Jerusalem, the author seems to put his
observations in the mouth of Solomon, the acknowledged patron of wisdom
teaching. The evidence, however, that the book is one of the latest in
the Old Testament is overwhelmingly conclusive. The language is that of
an age when Hebrew had long ceased to be spoken. The life mirrored
throughout is that of the luxurious, corrupt Greek period. If not
directly, at least indirectly, it reflects the doctrines of the Stoics
and the Epicureans. It was a crooked, sordid, weary world upon which its
author looked. It is not strange that a vein of materialism and
pessimism runs through his observations and maxims. _All is vanity_ is
the dominant note, and yet light alternates with shadow. He loses faith
in human nature; yet he does not give up his faith in God, though that
faith is darkened by the desolateness of the outlook. While the book has
practical religious teachings, perhaps its chief mission, after all, is
vividly to portray the darkness just before the dawn of the belief in a
future life and before the glorious rising of the Sun of Righteousness.
[Sidenote: _Significance of the later additions_]
Its teachings naturally called forth many protests, explanations, and
supplements, and these have found the permanent place in the book that
they rightfully deserve. Its fragmentary structure and abrupt
transitions also made later insertions exceedingly easy. These are the
simplest and the most natural explanation of the sharp contradictions
that abound in the book (_cf. e.g_., ii. 22 and iii. 22, or iv. 2 and
ix. 4, or iii. 16 and iii. 17, or viii. 14 and ix. 2, or iii. 1-9 and
iii. 11). The preacher, whose painful experiences and prevailingly
pessimistic teachings are the original basis of the book, appears to
have been consistent throughout. He ends in xii. 8 with the same
refrain, _Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!_ In a divine library like
the Old Testament, reflecting every side of human thought and
experience, such a book is not inappropriate. Its contradictions provoke
thought; they beget also a true appreciation of the positive notes thus
brought into dramatic contrast with the ground tones of pessimism which
resound through all literature and history.
XII
THE HISTORY OF THE PSALTER
[Sidenote: _Nature of the Psalter_]
Corresponding to the book of Proverbs, itself a select library
containing Israel's best gnomic literature, is the Psalter, the
compendium of the nation's lyrical songs and hymns and prayers. It is
the record of the soul experiences of the race. Its language is that of
the heart, and its thoughts of common interest to worshipful humanity.
It reflects almost every phase of religious feeling: penitence, doubt,
remorse, confession, fear, faith, hope, adoration, and praise. Even the
unlovely emotion of hatred is frankly expressed in certain of the
imprecatory psalms. The Psalms appeal to mankind in every age and land
because, being so divine and yet so human, they rest on the foundations
of universal experience. Whenever a heart is breaking with sorrow or
pulsating with thanksgiving and adoration, its strongest emotions find
adequate expression in the simple and yet sublime language of the
Psalter.
[Sidenote: _Influence of the prophets upon it_]
In the familiar doings of Mary and Zacharias, found in the opening
chapters of Luke, we may trace the beginnings of the hymn literature of
the early Christian Church, a literature which later became one of the
Church's most valued possessions. If the canon of the New Testament had
been closed in 1000 instead of 400 A.D., its books would doubtless have
included a hymnal which would have corresponded closely to the Psalter
of the Old. Just as the Psalms represent the application of the great
doctrines of the Hebrew prophets in the spiritual life of the community,
so this new hymnal would represent the personal application of the
teachings of Jesus and the apostles to the religious life of the Church
and the individual. The Psalter is also what it is because its
background is a period of stress and severe trial. In the hot furnace of
affliction and persecution the psalmists learned to appreciate the
truths which they so confidently and effectively proclaim. Then the
spiritual teachings of the earlier prophets, which were contemptuously
rejected by their contemporaries, were at last appropriated by the
community. The Psalter as a whole appears, therefore, to be one of the
latest and most precious fruits of the divine revelation recorded in the
Old Testament.
[Sidenote: _Evidence of distinct collections of psalms_]
In its present form, the Psalter is divided into five books or
collections. At the end of each collection there is a concluding
doxology (xli., lxxii., lxxxix., cvi). The last psalm (cl.) serves as a
concluding doxology, not only to the fifth collection, but also to the
Psalter as a whole. Certain psalms are also reproduced in two different
collections with only slight variations. For example, xiv. is
practically identical with liii., except that in the first _Jehovah_ is
always used as the designation of the Deity, and in liii. _Elohim_ or
_God_; again Psalm xl. 13-17 is reproduced in lxx.; lvii. 7-11 and lx.
5-12 are together practically equivalent to cviii. These and kindred
facts indicate that the Psalter, like the book of Proverbs, is made up
of collections originally distinct. The division into exactly five
groups appears to be comparatively late, and to be in imitation of the
fivefold division of the Pentateuch.
[Sidenote: _The oldest collection_]