Short break

I’m out of town most of this week, so the blog will be inactive until next Monday. I tried to convince Colin to post all by himself, but he assured me he would forget!

One good turn brings another (Sirach 3:31)

פועל טוב יקראנו בדרכיו ובעת מוטו ימצא משען

po-AYL TOV yik-RE-nu b’-dar-KAV u-b’-AYT mu-TO yim-TSA mish-AN

Whoever does a good deed, it will find him along the way; at the time he falls, he will find support.

This proverb is not quite equivalent to “one good turn deserves another,” which is a warning against ingratitude. Nor is it quite the same as “Do unto others as you would have them do to you,” which is a warning against being nasty toward others. This proverb seems rather an encouragement to do good with the promise that when you need help it will be there in return. I can only vaguely recall some TV commercial and a country and western song that both based on this idea. Most of the time, however, this sort of think is explained in terms of karma or law of attraction. No doubt Sirach thought instead in terms of God’s justice: everyone receives their “come-uppens,” and for the sages this was generally, and somewhat idealistically, thought to happen in this life.

Contentment (Aḥiqar 136)

אל תבסר זי בעדבך ואל תרגג לכביר זי ימנע מנך

Do not despise that which is not your lot, and do not covet some great thing that is withheld from you.

Contentment has always been a challenge. This proverb warns on the one hand of sour grapes, and on the other hand of jealousy. However given our modern culture of “militant consumerism” (Brueggemann’s term), this notion is radical. No one should have to accept a “lot” in life, nor should I ever have a thing “withheld” from me. If I do, I’ll sue!

At our Ash Wednesday service our priest reminded us that the Day of the Lord does not turn the world “upside down,” as it is often describe, but “right-side up,” back in its proper order. The sages recognized certain things are “proper” and “improper” in a world ordered by God’s wisdom. The role of mortals is to look to God and find contentment in their place in the order of his world. This is not, however, fatalistic; the sages go on to offer sound advice, derived from the wisdom of God and the ages, on how to navigate life successfully. But this instruction cannot begin from a militant consumerist mentality!

Plans in mind, plans established (Proverbs 19:21)

רַבֹּות מַחֲשָׁבֹות בְּלֶב־אִישׁ וַעֲצַת יְהוָה הִיא תָקוּם׃

ra-BOT ma-cha-sha-BOT b’-lev-EESH va-a-TSAT a-do-NEYE HEE ta-KUM

Many plans are in the mind of a mortal, but the counsel of the Lord—that is what will be established.

The contrast in this proverb is not intended to pit human counsel against God’s, as is the case in vs. 30: אֵין חָכְמָה וְאֵין תְּבוּנָה וְאֵין עֵצָה לְנֶגֶד יְהוָה׃ (There is no wisdom and there is no plan and there is no counsel against the Lord). Rather, it contrasts the success of God’s counsel versus the numerous and often fruitless schemes of humans. Compare Prov 16:9: לֵב אָדָם יְחַשֵּׁב דַּרְכֹּו וַיהוָה יָכִין צַעֲדֹו׃ (The heart of a person plans their way, but the Lord establishes their step.)

This seems a fitting proverb at the beginning of Lent: we have all sorts of plans and schemes for solving our own and the world’s problems, but at Lent we seek to understand yet more fully the plan of God in Christ’s suffering and death. This year I’m thinking of Lent in terms of one of Bach’s cantata’s for this past Sunday. Beginning with the passage in Luke where Jesus predicts once again his passion for his disciples, and the disciples understand none of it (Luke 18:34: But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said), the libretto of Bach’s cantata personalizes the scene with the following aria:

Mein Jesu, ziehe mich nach dir,
Ich bin bereit, ich will von hier
Und nach Jerusalem zu deinen Leiden gehn.
Wohl mir, wenn ich die Wichtigkeit
Von dieser Leid- und Sterbenszeit
Zu meinem Troste kann durchgehends wohl verstehn!

My Jesus, draw me to You,
I am ready, I will go from here
and into Jerusalem to Your passion.
Blessed am I if the importance
of this time of suffering and dying
for my consolation can be thoroughly understood by me! (trans. Jones in Dürr)

Training for the future (Proverbs 19:18)

יַסֵּר בִּנְךָ כִּי־יֵשׁ תִּקְוָה וְאֶל־הֲמִיתֹו אַל־תִּשָּׂא נַפְשֶׁךָ׃

ya-SAYR bin-CHA kee-YAYSH tiq-VAH v’-el-ha-mee-TO al-ti-SA naf-she-CHA

Discipline your child when there is hope, and toward his death do not set your desire.

The first part of this proverb may be rendered “for there is hope,” and the interpretation of the last part varies. Murphy, under the influence of the Septuagint (“do not become overwrought”) thinks it warns against beating the child to death. However, the overriding concern throughout the wisdom literature of the ancient Near East is not on killing the child, but on indulging them by withholding the rod of discipline:
חֹושֵׂךְ בְטֹו שֹׂונֵא בְנֹו וְאֹהֲבֹו שִׁחֲרֹו מוּסָר׃
Whoever spares their rod hates their child, but whoever loves them diligently disciplines them. (Prov 13:24)

אַל־תִּמְנַע מִנַּעַר מוּסָר כִּי־תַכֶּנּוּ בַשֵּׁבֶט לֹא יָמוּת׃
Do not withhold from your child discipline; if you beat them with a rod they will not die. (Prov 23:13)

אל תהחשך ברך מן חטר הן לו לא תכהל תהנצלנהי מן באשתא
To not spare your child from the rod, otherwise you will not be able to rescue them from wickedness. (Aḥiqar 81)

הן אמתאנך ברי לא תמות והן אשבקן על לבבך לא תחיה
If I beat you, my child, you will not die; but if I leave you to your own devices, you will not live. (Aḥiqar 82)

אִוֶּלֶת קְשׁוּרָה בְלֶב־נָעַר שֵׁבֶט מוּסָר יַרְחִיקֶנָּה מִמֶּנּוּ׃
Folly is bound up in the mind of a child; a rod of discipline will remove it far from them. (Prov 22:15)

בנים לך יסיר אותם ושא להם נשים בנעוריהם
(If) you have children, discipline them and remove their stubbornness in their youth (Sirach 7:23)

He who loves his son will whip him often, so that he may rejoice at the way he turns out. He who disciplines his son will profit by him, and will boast of him among acquaintances. He who teaches his son will make his enemies envious, and will glory in him among his friends. When the father dies he will not seem to be dead, for he has left behind him one like himself, whom in his life he looked upon with joy and at death, without grief. He has left behind him an avenger against his enemies, and one to repay the kindness of his friends. Whoever spoils his son will bind up his wounds, and will suffer heartache at every cry. An unbroken horse turns out stubborn, and an unchecked son turns out headstrong. Pamper a child, and he will terrorize you; play with him, and he will grieve you. Do not laugh with him, or you will have sorrow with him, and in the end you will gnash your teeth. Give him no freedom in his youth, and do not ignore his errors. Bow down his neck in his youth, and beat his sides while he is young, or else he will become stubborn and disobey you, and you will have sorrow of soul from him. Discipline your son and make his yoke heavy, so that you may not be offended by his shamelessness. (Sirach 30:1–13)

So is this type of discipline still valid or is it invalid (and barbaric!) for enlightened moderns who recognize the abusiveness in spanking?

A day at a time (Proverbs 27:1)

אַל־תִּתְהַלֵּל בְּיֹום מָחָר כִּי לֹא־תֵדַע מַה־יֵּלֶד יֹום׃

al-tit-ha-LAYL b’-YOM ma-HAR KEE lo-tay-DA ma-YAY-led YOM

Do not boast about tomorrow, because you do not know what tomorrow will produce.

The sentiment of this proverb is related to that in Qoheleth 2:18–23 and Sirach 11:19, which speak about the uncertainties of the future and leaving one’s wealth to others. However, the New Testament book of James, which draws on Jewish wisdom, essentially provides a commentary on this proverb:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. (James 4:13–16)

The cure for such boasting is to take the advice of Qoheleth and lay to heart one’s end: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for this is the end of everyone, and the living will lay it heart” (Qoh 7:2).

Optimist or pessimist (Aḥiqar 96)

ברי אל תלוט יומא עד תחזה לילה

My son, do not curse the day until you have seen the night.

This proverb of Aḥiqar* can be understood in a couple of different ways. On the one hand, we are reminded that we should consider well our current situation, for it could be worse. Pessimists say, “It could always be better”; optimists say, “It could always be worse.” This is the saying of an optimist. On the other hand, since the contrast is between day and night, which run in succession, the proverb could be warning us, don’t complain about your current lot, because it is going to worse before the end.

The first interpretation is preferable, because the ancient Near East was not quite so fatalistic in its thinking as the second interpretation presumes. In this case, we need to understand day and night as more generally signifying one’s relatively good lot and one’s relatively bad lot; there is no inevitability of one following on the other.

*For the texts of Aḥiqar, I am using James M. Lindenberger’s The Aramaic Proverbs of Ahiqar. Baltimore: The John’s Hopkins University Press, 1983.

Source of justice (Proverbs 28:5)

אַנְשֵׁי־רָע לֹא־יָבִינוּ מִשְׁפָּט וּמְבַקְשֵׁי יְהוָה יָבִינוּ כֹל׃

an-shay-RA lo-ya-vee-NU mish-PAT u-m’-vaq-SHAY a-do-NEYE ya-vee-NU CHOL

Wicked people do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand completely.

God sets the standard of justice and places a sense of justice in all of us. Therefore, it is logical that those who seek the Lord (i.e., seek guidence and wisdom from him) will also understand justice entirely (not ‘understand everything’). By contrast, those who are wicked by their very character exhibit their lack of understanding of justice. If they truly understood God’s justice they would not commit evil!

Von Rad’s commments on this proverb are worth quoting in full:
The opinion is evidently that turning to Yahweh facilitates the difficult distinction between right and wrong. But this was surely not true only of the narrower sphere of moral behaviour. Faith does not—as is popularly believed today—hinder knowledge; on the contrary, it is what liberates knowledge, enables it really to come to point and indicates to it its proper place in the sphere of varied, human activity. In Israel the intellect never freed itself from or became independent of the foundation of its whole existence, that is its commitment to Yahweh. (Wisdom in Israel 68).

Lazy (Proverbs 26:14)

הַדֶּלֶת תִּסֹּוב עַל־צִירָהּ וְעָצֵל עַל־מִטָּתֹו׃

ha-DE-let tis-SOV al-tsee-RA v’-a-TSAYL al-mi-ta-TO

The door turns on its hinge, and the lazy person on their bed.

This is one of those proverbs that brings a smile to your face; its definitely amusing, and that is part of the reason it caught Colin’s eye. But do we pause long enough to ponder the richness of the metaphor? What is it about a door that makes it humorous and apropos juxtaposed with the lazy person? On the one hand, there is the stationary character of both: the door never leaves its hinges and the lazy person their bed. In this way the two are alike. On the other hand, simultaneous contrast between the two, centered in the shared verb ‘turn’, creates a humorous or ironic comparison. In the case of the door turning on its hinges, this is right and proper; a door functions as it should when it turns on its hinges versus coming loose or sticking. By contrast, the lazy person turning on their bed is anything but right and proper. That the sum total of their labor should be described as no more than what a door does on its hinges is condemning in a humorous way.

Clear of fear (Proverbs 28:1)

נָסוּ וְאֵין־רֹדֵף רָשָׁע וְצַדִּיקִים כִּכְפִיר יִבְטָח׃

na-SU v’-ayn-ro-DAYF ra-SHA v’-tsa-dee-KEEM kich-FEER yiv-TACH

The wicked flees and there is none pursuing, but the righteous are as confident as a lion.

The Hebrew has a mismatch of singular subject ‘wicked’ and plural verb ‘flee’ in the first part. An accidental writing of an extra ו is a reasonable explanation, and the versions have a singular verb.

The wicked person is described here as plagued by guilt or fear or both. Even when no one is pursuing they are anxious and flee. By contrast the righteous are confident as a young lion in their innocence. Biblical illustrations are easy to find, the most notable being Adam and Eve hiding in the garden, even when God was not in “pursuit.” The psalms also mention that the wicked will not (with)stand the judgment with the righteous (Ps 1:5), and are unable to stand before God (Ps 5:5). By contrast, the righteous are safe and confident not because of an absence of wrong, but because they stand in right relationship with God. This is described as “fear of the Lord” in wisdom, “steadfast loyalty” in Psalms. Still, the most extensive description of the plague of guilt and fear on the wicked is found in Wisdom 17, which describes the terrors and specters experienced by those who have done wrong, even wrong in secret.