I had lunch recently with an old friend, an academic like me and a Christian like me. We talked about the struggles of life with smug non-believers on one side and know-it-all church people on the other. He is reading, as I have read, Tim Alberta’s The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism which tells the tale of the fall of evangelicals; the author himself was a card-carrying evangelical.
One of the foundational principles of Christianity is the ‘inspiration’ of Scripture. That word is linked to the word ‘canonization’, the process by which Jewish scholars, then later the church, decided which writings should be included in the official books of the Old Testament. In the process, some books became ‘second level’ scripture, worth reading but not in the starting lineup. You can look them up under the term ‘apocrypha’; books thought to have been written between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D. These 14 books of the Old Testament were included in the original King James Version, but perhaps limited by the cost of publication, they have been canceled, at least in Protestant Bibles.
The official books are often called the ‘Word of God’, but there are different takes on what ‘inspired’ means. In one corner we have those who imagine that the writer sat at a table with a quill in his hand, then his eyes rolled back in his head, and the quill began to move as God wrote the prophetic book. That is called ‘plenary’ (meaning ‘full’) or verbal inspiration. In the other corner we have those who consider the books to be a human production created by inspired writers, not too far from the notion that Shakespeare was an inspired writer because of the quality of the plays he produced. As you might guess, there is a lot of room in between these two. I occupy some of the middle space.
The Book of Proverbs gives us one way to examine the principle of inspiration. Let’s look at two back-to-back proverbs.
26: 4-5. Do not answer fools according to their folly,
lest you be a fool yourself.
Answer fools according to their folly,
lest they be wise in their own eyes.
Well, which is it? Should we answer fools according to their folly or not? These proverbs, if they are infallible guides, certainly seem to be contradictory. What’s going on?
First, consider that we still observe these two strategies in different contexts, on the street when we meet a fool, or in public interviews and debates. If you accept the premises of foolish claims, then you look foolish yourself if you do not question the assumptions and the facts. If you refuse to answer foolish questions, then the fool walks away thinking that he won the debate.
Second, which strategy are we supposed to follow? Do the proverbs really help us? To answer, we have to take a big step back: What are proverbs, and how are they to be used? The best way to answer these questions is to see what the Bible says about proverbs. If we don’t believe what the Bible says about itself, then we don’t believe the Bible.
What does the word ‘proverb’ mean? The Hebrew word used here and elsewhere in the Old Testament is mashal, which is a kind of teaching that can be translated as ‘parable’ or ‘aphorism’. The Septuagint (Greek version of the Old Testament translated around 70 B.C.) uses the Greek word ‘parabole’ to translate mashal. Thus, Jewish scholars, as well as Jesus, were using this form of wisdom teaching in the First Century A.D.
How is the word used in the Old Testament? The human source of parables is often recognized. For example, when Saul was struck by the Spirit, the text says: “It became a proverb, ‘Is Saul among the prophets?’” (I Samuel 10: 12), implying that people who are not prophets could also receive the Spirit of God.
Proverbs were thoughtfully applied. For example, when David crept up on Saul, but refused to kill him while he slept, David said, “As the ancient proverb says, ‘Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness’’; but my hand shall not be against you” (I Samuel 24: 13). So, proverbs were not promises, nor were they applied without consideration of what the speaker intended and the context in which they were used. Proverbs were weighed as to how appropriate they were for this particular occasion. This is an important point as we think about whether proverbs are absolute.
Finally, are proverbs the kind of ‘word of God’ that is a command or a promise, a statement that is always and eternally true? No. Job looked with disdain at the proverbs his three ‘friends’ were throwing at him. Job responded that, “Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay” (Job 13: 12). God later rejected the way the friends used proverbs (Job 42).
God himself puts proverbs in their place through the prophet Ezekiel. “Mortal, what is this proverb of yours about the land of Israel, which says, ‘The days are prolonged, and every vision comes to nothing?’ Tell them therefore, ‘Thus says the LORD God: I will put an end to this proverb, and they shall use it no more as a proverb in Israel’” (Ezekiel 12: 21-23).
Later, God himself used a proverb to make a point about Israel’s faithlessness. “See, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you, ‘Like mother, like daughter’. You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you, and your younger sister, who lived to the south is Sodom with her daughters” (Ezekiel 16: 44-46). This message was sent to Judah to consider why they were condemned to exile in Babylon.
Finally, God offered hope by canceling a proverb that can be traced to his own claim about himself. “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?’ As I live, says the LORD God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine; it is only the person who sins that shall die” (Ezekiel 18: 2-4).
Where did this proverb come from in the first place? Probably from God’s own earlier declaration about himself, “...for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me…” (Exodus 20: 5). The proverb was appropriate in one context, but ill-chosen for another occasion.
This shows us that proverbs are neither commands nor promises. Proverbs are to be used with care, chosen as they are appropriate to the current context and as they function to make a point at this particular time. Both of our proverbs for today are true, if they are thoughtfully applied on the appropriate occasion. Of course, behind all is God’s Spirit who guides us always in the proper application of Scripture.