[Post is a Work in Progress]
I’ve been at PBCC for over a year now, and I’ve had the amazing privilege of studying Scripture with many strong Bible teachers.
- Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, and much more with the Lawry’s
- Psalms, Ruth, and later parts of Genesis with Brian Morgan
- Various sermons by Ray Stedman (including two series on prayer, Ecclesiastes, & Esther)
- now Proverbs with Bruce Waltke (listening to recordings online)
Indeed, I’ve been extremely spoiled in the abundance of food available to me. I sometimes wonder if I’m over-nourished and under-exercised…
The little book of Proverbs has long held a special place in my heart. When reading it (whether the introduction in ch 1-9 or the proverbs themselves) it feels like I’m talking to an old sage, not only wise and a revealer of long-term outcomes, but also a dear friend of the soul. Someone who truly cares about me.
I must admit, for a while in my Christian journey I neglected the book a little: it felt low in “spiritual” content. Indeed, much of it felt merely like moral advice. Where’s Jesus in this? The power of the Spirit for sanctification, new life, service, and joy? It wasn’t until I heard Ray Stedman’s 1 sermon lightning overview of the book that I found the key to its interpretation: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, fools despise wisdom and instruction”. Aha! All of the proverbs must be read in light of the fear of the Lord, otherwise we can have no accurate knowledge of them. Then my enjoyment and appreciation of the book really took off.
So when I heard one of Waltke’s major life works is his thorough investigation of Proverbs, I couldn’t resist but to dive in.
It’s really quite amazing when you look at it. David penned a bulk of the Psalms and Solomon penned a bulk of the Proverbs. I wonder if the Proverbs are also to be read with the Psalms as the “backdrop”. Thankfully I get to learn the Psalms from Brian and the Proverbs from Bruce :)
I’m following Waltke’s Proverbs lectures on BiblicalTraining.org. These are notes on the first lecture: https://www.biblicaltraining.org/transcriptions/lecture-1-introduction-4
the Book of Proverbs remains the model curriculum for humanity, especially youth, to learn social skills in relation to God and others. As such, the Book of Proverbs invites serious study to teach and to understand its wisdom in a world characterised by mediocrity, superficiality and blatant foolishness.
There will be a lecture on safe guarding wisdom but the safe guard is being able to read Proverbs(!)
The key to the book is the fear of the Lord and how to develop a fear of the Lord. Chapter 2 of Proverbs is very fundamental in understanding Proverbs and perhaps the most important chapter in the book.
The woman of the night in chapter seven stands in contrast to wisdom of women who stand in daylight at the city gate; so you have the woman of the night who operates secretively and stays in the dark; it is death and then you have the woman of wisdom.
Note that the Proverbs are written in a way to develop a way of thinking; you have to think about them. It is a way of developing your mind. It is not as simple as it appears. It is more complex than that. For example in Proverbs 10:2b, ‘but righteousness delivers from death.’ Whose death? Yours death or someone else’s death or both; there is an ambiguity built into them that makes you explore it.
- Key to understanding the book is understanding the meaning of the original Hebrew words – it is how they think
- e.g. the difficulty of translating Psalm 1: “does not stand in the way of sinners…”
- translations differ by the target audience
- “accredited grammatical historical approach”
- E.g. 1 Sam 9:9 — seer (ra’ah) and prophet (nabiy). The text defines what a prophet is, the Bible defines terms it thinks the audience doesn’t know.
- e.g. the difficulty of translating Psalm 1: “does not stand in the way of sinners…”
- Memory verses:
- Proverbs 1:7, ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.’
- Proverbs 3:5-6, ‘trust in the Lord with all you heart; and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.’
- Proverbs: 4:7, ‘wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and whatever you acquire, acquire understanding!’