Bible In A Year: Wisdom Literature

The Wisdom Books—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon—teach God’s people how to live with wisdom, fear the Lord, and trust Him in every season of life. These books address suffering, worship, righteousness, love, justice, and the meaning of life. They show that earthly life includes both joy and hardship and repeatedly call people to trust God rather than rely on what they see. The Wisdom Literature reveals that true wisdom begins with fearing the Lord and living according to His truth.

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Big Question

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachme the Bible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. My name is Alex Wolf. Again, I'm here with Dr. David Klingler, and we are continuing to walk through the Bible in a year. We thank you for joining us and for sticking with us this far. We find ourselves today in wisdom literature. And so that is a whole section of the biblical story that uh has got a lot of debate around it. You know, people are always trying to figure out how does it fit into the story. And so that's what we want to talk about today. How do how do these books that are kind of classified as wisdom books fit into the story? And how can we begin to wrap our minds around them? Yeah. And people might not even know what wisdom, what books are wisdom literature. Realize that's what I was saying.

The Five Books Called Wisdom

Dr. David Klingler 1:14

What on earth does that does that mean? There's so much um there's like a language uh that you've got to learn to talk about the Bible. Yeah. Yeah. There's a language of the language. And uh and so so when we talk about wisdom literature, what we're talking about are you know really five books Job, book of Job, uh, Psalms. So we have 150 Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. Right. They're not um they're not history, they're not narrative literature, they're not story, and they're not the the prophets. And so it's kind of the catch-all, you know, the the the rest of the rest of you books. And so remember uh last week we were talking about the the different uh divisions of Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, Torah, the law, Navaim, the prophets. And remember we said that in um in the uh in Hebrew Bible, prophets are former prophets and latter prophets. And then the last section uh is kettavim writings, Katav is to write, though the the the writings. Uh and so the writings kind of are the the catch all. In the in the writings section, uh you you'll have all of these books. Actually, Psalms begins. Uh Psalms begins this uh section. Uh and so Jesus will say, All of the law and all of the prophets and all of the psalms speaks of me or something like that. He's really just uh walking and talk uh talking through the three divisions of Hebrew Bible, uh Torah, prophets, and and writings. And so what do we do with these books uh called the the the writings or the the wisdom literature, poetry, sometimes it's called uh poetry. Uh psalms are are really songs, um songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, right? Uh and so there's you know the there's these this work we call the Psalms. Uh then there's Proverbs, and and you know, we say, you know, kind of that would make more sense for wisdom literature, you know, when we think wisdom literature, probably you're thinking of of Proverbs. Right. Uh and then we've got Ecclesiastes, which isn't a book that a lot of people spend a lot of time in, Song of Sa Uh Solomon, even less, and the book of Job. Uh we're familiar with the story of Job, but but how do these fit?

SPEAKER_02 3:39

So um and then and kind of like in the Bible scholarly world, the this is sort of like the test to figure out if your system of reading the Bible fits with all of scripture because you know, wisdom literature in particular, uh people struggle to say, how does this fit into the story?

Dr. David Klingler 4:01

And so this will be more than uh than you care to know, but but you know, we in Old Testament world, Old Testament scholarship, they talk about Old Testament theology and what is the center. Uh and and so they're trying to find a way to to group all of the Old Testament books under one you know heading, under one theme. Right. Uh, and it's difficult to do when you're trying to pick a theme because uh you pick one theme and some parts don't fit.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Right.

Where These Books Sit In Tanakh

Dr. David Klingler 4:31

Uh and and so usually it's the wisdom books uh that don't that don't fit their theme. But what we're saying is that the Bible isn't thematic, uh, it's a story. It's a story, that's that that that what carries the uh the old uh the old testament and the new testament is the plot. Uh and so this Genesis chapter three, coming of this Messiah, this this promised one of Genesis chapter three that's coming through the nation Israel, that uh that really is the the unifying theme, right? The setting, the problem, and then the development. Right. And so when we talk about the wisdom literature, talking about these five books, we're talking about Job, uh pro uh uh Psalms, Proverbs, uh, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. Uh the best way uh that I think to think about these uh is these books reflect on what is. You know, uh in light of the fall, in light of the reality that uh, you know, Satan, uh, you know, evil is ruling the nations, um, wickedness seems to prevail as you wait for this promised one who will fix this mess that is. Uh these are uh books that reflect on here's the situation uh and here's what we need to do in light of the situation. Right. One other thing that we ought to mention uh before we jump into each of these uh five uh five works individually, uh, is the way that poetry works in uh in Hebrew Bible. So in in English, you know, we have um at least for me, good poetry rhymes in English. Probably because I'm not a connoisseur of poetry. So if it doesn't start with roses or red, violets are blue, uh I'm an idiot, and so are you, or something like that. You know, if it doesn't home, yeah, if it doesn't rhyme, then it's not that's not uh you know hot uh uh highbrow uh literature. Um but you know uh but that's not how poetry works in Hebrew. We call it uh Hebrew parallelism, right? So uh so the the the author will state something in part, you know, like uh uh a good example of this is uh is uh Psalm 19, right? In Psalm 19 it begins, the heavens are telling of the glory of God and the expanse, their expanse is declaring the work of his hands. Okay, and so those are two lines, uh, and they are in parallel. So there's a relationship between the first line and the second line, and you as you reflect on the relationship between the first line and the second line, it kind of deepens the meaning, right? So the heavens are in parallel with their expanse, or telling of the glory, uh declaring of the work, uh the glory of God, the work of his hands. And so there's three parts there in that first line, and there's three parts in the second line, and they relate to each other. Here they're saying the same thing or close, and so we call that you know uh synonymous parallelism. It's basically it's saying the same thing twice, yeah, in a little different way, so that you understand more.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

In some cases, you might have more the first might be more general and the second more specific or something like that. Yeah.

Wisdom As Reflection After The Fall

Hebrew Poetry And Parallel Lines

Dr. David Klingler 7:56

Yep, and sometimes they contrast, you know. Right. Uh so when we get into the proverbs, you know, the way of the wise man is this, but the way of the fool is that. Okay, so that would be contrastive parallelism. So you're gonna have these these two lines that go together. Uh they're gonna either complement each other, say the same thing, deepen the meaning, or even uh contrast. And when they when they can when they when there's a contrast there, uh then it it the second line that contrasts with the first gives more meaning to the first. And so so we'll talk about that when we get to the proverbs. But uh but the heavens are the declaring of the work of uh the glory of God, their expanse is uh is declaring the work of his hands. Uh day-to-day porthores speech, night to night reveals knowledge. And so uh both uh so there's two lines both day and night reveal something about uh this glory of God, they're telling of the glory of God, they're declaring whether it's the sun, the moon, the stars, the the creation is revealing something, declaring something about God, but there is no speech. In other words, it does it without words. There are no words, their voice is not heard. So there is no speech, there are no words, their voice is not heard. That's actually three lines, right? All in parallel to make the point. Uh, and so these lines are also building on each other, uh, and they're building the meaning, and so day and night, uh pouring forth uh speech, uh revealing, but they do it without words. Uh their line has gone out through all the earth, or or um maybe uh their sound has gone out through all the earth. That's probably uh a better way to understand that. Their sound has gone out through all the earth, their utterances to the end of the world. In them he has placed a tent for the sun, which is a bridegroom that runs uh coming across uh out of his chamber, it rejoices as a strong man as it runs its course. And so all of this is uh this is developing. And so verses uh one through uh six um talk about this revelation of God uh in couplet lines, uh two lines, three lines altogether, developing a thought, and that one through six actually is a contrast with seven through sixteen. Wow, or seven, I'm sorry, seven through fourteen. And so so um the the creation day and night, the sun running its course, the the night, the stars, it all screams out, it declares the the majesty, the work of uh of this uh creator God, yeah and the work of his hands, um, but there is no speech, there are no words. And then it goes for in verse seven to the law. The law is perfect, restoring the soul. Wow, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. So you've got the law of the Lord is in parallel with the testimony of the Lord. It is the law of the Lord is perfect, the law of the Lord, uh, the testimony of the Lord, it is sure. Uh it restores the soul, it it makes wise the simple. Uh the law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, they are perfect, they're sure, they're right. They restore the soul, they make wise the simple, they rejoice the heart. Uh most people don't think about the law in this way. Right? Uh the commandment of the Lord, law, testimony, precepts, commandment of the Lord, it is pure, it gives light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord, in parallel with the law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, the commandment of the Lord, the fear of the Lord, it is clean, perfect, right, pure. It restores the soul, it uh makes wise the simple, it rejoices the heart, it enlightens the eyes, it endures forever. Um the the heavens and earth will pass away, but the law of the Lord endures forever. Right, and so there's a contrast between uh as ma as amazing as creation is, when you go and you look at the sun, the moon, the stars, uh uh mountain range, uh, the work of his hands, uh, you know, kind of Psalm 8, uh, you know, the work of his hands. Um, and it it reveals uh about this character of God, about this majesty of this creator God. Uh but uh the psalmist here, uh David in verse uh in Psalm 19 is saying, but it pales in comparison to the law. Wow. Uh it will pass away, the law will not. Um the the judgments of the Lord, they are uh they are true, they are righteous altogether, they're more desirable than gold, than fine gold, sweeter than honey. For by them your servant is warned, in keeping them there is great reward. And so he concludes the psalm in verse uh fourteen with Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. So the hope of David uh is uh in the law because the law reveals the character of God and it reveals the rock, the Christ, the Redeemer that that's coming. Um and uh uh and so Yeah, that's so the the in Psalm uh in Deuteronomy chapter six uh the the law is to be on your heart and you shall speak of them.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 13:57

Uh and so all of these psalms uh are a reflection of what is. You you have to know the story, you have to know Deuteronomy, you have to know what has been said up till this point, so that you can reflect on it. And and it deepens the meaning, it it really adds significance to the meaning. Go go to Psalm 1, look at Psalm 1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. Uh that is uh kind of actually contrastive with the Shema, right? Uh you know, Hero is for the Lord is our God, the Lord alone, and you shall love the Lord God with all of your heart. Uh these words which I am commanding you today will be on your heart, and you shall speak of them as you walk, and as you sit, and as you lie down, as you rise up. Well, uh, this is the one who blessed is the man who does not do the opposite of that. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and he meditates on it day and night. He will be like a tree planted by firm waters. And so uh so uh or uh living waters. So uh if you know the law, if you know the story up to this point, and then you can uh are aware that there's parallelism going in on here. Uh the psalms, uh the wisdom literature, these are not books that you can read quickly.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 15:20

Uh these are, you know, Psalm 1, you need to reflect on this for all day.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Yeah. Right. Well, you think about too, uh, if David's writing many of these psalms as the king who is supposed to write a copy of the law and meditate on it day and night, right? We're seeing the outworkings of some of that here. And and uh yeah, that sheds a lot of light on this.

Psalm 19 Creation Versus The Law

Dr. David Klingler 15:44

Yeah, and so these uh the the this wisdom literature is literature uh that needs to be thought about deeply. And so that's how Hebrew poetry works. It it's very reflective, it causes you to think more deeply about a subject. And so, so uh Psalms, uh, you know, we've got uh 150 psalms. Uh these are you know songs, these were songs that uh were written often in many of these psalms it will say for you know for for the choir director on the stringed instrument or something like that. So these were songs uh that were sung, and uh it amazes me that we have um um so many bad songs in church uh when we got 150 sitting here that are pretty good. Pretty good. Inspired. I don't know how you get better than inspired. You never sing songs. Yeah, yeah. You you would always be uh you'd always be right. Um so so that's Psalms. Proverbs is uh is a a bit of a different animal. Now, uh one of the things that I always hear, or I was uh taught and uh interacted with uh in with some of my professors about Proverbs. They I always heard this general truth. General truth. Proverbs are general truth. And I thought, well, um that's not very comforting to me to have a general truth, right? Yeah. Um it's generally true that if you don't look both ways because you cross before you cross the street, you won't get run over.

unknown 17:11

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 17:12

Until you do. You know, so you know, let's say that these are like 80% of the time they're true. Well, I don't know that that's particularly comforting to me to, you know, one out of five times you're gonna get you know hit by a car or something. That's that's not uh right.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Train your child up and the way you should go and he won't depart from it. Yeah.

Psalm 1 And Slow Meditation

Dr. David Klingler 17:32

Yeah, and of course, yeah, that that's that whole verse needs to be right put in this context. So so in uh in the story, there are is the the Genesis 3 15. I will put enemy between you and the woman and your seed and her seed. Uh and so the hope of this woman is a future hope. Okay. Uh and this is this will pull in Ecclesiastes as well. Uh and even the book of Job, that um that the present reality is that evil wins. Um uh in Psalm, uh in Proverbs chapter 10, uh 10-2, it says, ill gotten gains do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. I say, okay, now wait a second, let's just look at this straight away. Let's not spiritualize it. Let's actually think and say, is this true? Ill-gotten gains don't profit. Apparently the psalmist was not familiar with the ill-gotten gains that have been achieved through all of history, mostly through you know, through people of power, governments, right? Governments and people in power and our present look at our present political system. Right. There's all kinds of ill-gotten gains, and they profit just uh just fine. But righteousness delivers from death. When? When does uh Cain killed Abel? Abel was righteous by faith and killing Cain killed him. So when does righteousness deliver from death? Um the the righteous have always been persecuted. Uh righteousness didn't uh deliver Jesus from death, didn't deliver Paul or Stephen or uh Peter or any of the you know the last time I checked, the death rate's one per person, right? Right? Right um uh the Lord will not allow the righteous to hunger, but he will thrust aside the cravings of the wicked. Well, to understand how these verse and so what I'm saying is these are not general truths, these are absolute truths. They're true all the time with this caveat. So so in in in chapters one through nine, uh Solomon writes to his son uh the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, the king of Israel, and he writes uh so that wisdom and instruction can be discerned, to disturb uh to discern the sayings of understanding, to receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice, and equity, to give prudence to the to the naive, to the simple ones, uh to the young, knowledge and discretion. The wise man will hear an increase in understanding, a man of understanding will uh acquire wise counsel, hear the parallelism here uh to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and the riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and there we're back to the fear of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord is revealed in the law. So he's talking about the law, the the fear of the Lord, the the understanding of the law is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. So he says in verse uh verse eight, hear my son, um uh your son, your father's instruction, and do not forsake your mother's teaching. Uh and so then he continues, if sinners entice you, don't go their way. Uh, because the way they're going to entice you is they're gonna say, Hey, come with us. We always win, the righteous always lose, we'll steal all their stuff, and we'll split the spoil. And there's no judgment, right?

SPEAKER_03 21:04

Wow.

Dr. David Klingler 21:05

We'll win. We we'll win again. Uh, and so the righteous are always waiting for the deliverer uh to come to establish righteousness. Uh Isaiah 40 to 66, the the Jesus in the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. Uh, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. We've been waiting since Genesis 3 for righteousness to appear, and it just hasn't come. Habakkuk. We we talked about Habakkuk uh um last week with the uh with the prophets, and and he's saying, you know, Lord, uh wickedness is everywhere uh around me in Israel. And the Lord says, Yeah, I'm on it. Well, he judges the wicked with the more wicked, but he doesn't cause righteousness to appear while in Christ righteousness appears. And so uh and so life in this uh in this whole Bible. Isn't just best life now. It's not how to get through the day, how to have stuff today.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 22:07

But true life is resurrection life, returning back to the tree of life, returning back to the gardens. And so the point of Proverbs is, my son, don't let your eyes deceive you. It looks like the wicked win. But their feet run to evil and their path leads to death. Now, what kind of death? Eternal life, and it's eternal death. They're going to be resurrected to death, eternal destruction. And so it looks like the ill-gotten gains profit. I'm telling you, they don't. In the long run, after, you know, when all the dust settles, uh, the the guy who's over there who has enticed the the the my son, come with me. Uh, you know, when sinners entice you, don't go their way, their feet run to evil. It's gonna look like they're winning. They don't.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

They don't.

Proverbs As Future Certain Truth

Dr. David Klingler 23:05

Uh in and in the end, righteousness does deliver from death because it resurrects. And you only know that through reading the law. Through reading the story. So all parts of this story, all parts of the Bible are assuming that you know the setting, the problem, the plot that's developing, and so the book of Proverbs is written in light of the reality that is, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

It kind of puts into I guess uh it gives us picture of living by faith. And not by sight. Right. Living by faith in what God has said rather than what seems to be. Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 23:46

Because uh, if you go through here, uh uh the poor uh is uh he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Well, yeah, I I see a lot of people not doing anything and collecting checks or or cheating people. And so there's just uh uh all kinds of uh uh stuff here. So so because our eye is on the eternal, because we understand that God will keep his promises in the end, that informs us on how we are to live today. Uh and and so this isn't just a 100% future looking uh in the sense that it doesn't matter for today. No, the reason why we live the way we live today is because there's a future reality that's coming. And so don't let your eyes deceive you. Um this is the reality when all of the uh when all the dust dust settles, this is the way it will uh will end. And so so you've got this uh uh reality that you see in Proverbs, in Ecclesiastes, in Job, that this is the present reality, even in lament psalms, right? The lament psalm goes basically like this. Uh so some some of the psalms that we have individual what we call lament. They're uh basically it's a complaint psalm, right? Hey Lord, I don't know if you're paying attention, uh, but but the evil guys are winning. The bad guys are winning, uh, and I'm not real happy about it. Okay, and I'm not so sure you're not asleep at the wheel, but I will trust in you. What other, you know, what choice do I have, right?

SPEAKER_03 25:22

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 25:22

Um you'll hear this in uh, you know, in in Jesus interacting with uh with his disciples, and it's a hard teaching, and and uh Jesus turns, you know, his disciples are leaving him, and Jesus turns to the 12 and says, Well, are you leaving too? Uh and Peter says, Where else will we go? Lord, only you have the words for eternal life. And so you'll see this reality that is, this expectation of a future hope. Uh and so you'll see this in the uh in the Psalms, uh, in the Proverbs, Lament Psalms in Proverbs in Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes basically is um uh this story uh of Solomon. Solomon uh who's this uh king uh of Israel, he's gonna go over there and see what the sons of men, what what the Gentiles, what you know, what Satan's side is up to. What what what occupies their days? Well, um, you know pursuit of money, wealth, uh pursuit of uh of you know worldly wisdom, right? All of these worldly sayings that seem to be wise, but but ultimately end in death. Um building big buildings, make a name for yourself, you know, fame, fortune, riches, uh, you know, these are the things that they're still up to. Uh they've been up to this the whole time. They're trying to have their best life now.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

Yeah.

Ecclesiastes On Vanity And Death

Dr. David Klingler 26:52

Um and he's saying it all ends in death. The death, you know, what happens to the famous? Uh they die.

unknown 27:00

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 27:00

What happens to the rich man? Um he dies and leaves his wealth to people that are going to squander it. What what happens to the you know? So he's going through each of these categories and saying it all ends in death.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 27:11

So what's the point? Uh vanity of vanity, it's all vanity, literally, Abel of Abel. It's it's Cain and Abel. Abel's name, uh Abel of Abel, all is all is able, it's all futile, it's all worthless. Uh and then at the end of the book, uh, he he concludes that when it is all considered, uh when when when all the dust has settled, right, he's gone through each of these categories, uh, and he says, um uh that uh in conclusion, when all has been heard, fear God, keep his commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything that is hidden, whether it is good or evil. So in the end, right, you're over here doing all this stuff, and it's just futility, right? And we can get caught up in the pursuit of the same things, even in ministry. You know, uh, you know, you I always wonder when did we start putting pastors' names on church signs, right?

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Billboards.

Job Refutes Prosperity Theology

Dr. David Klingler 28:18

Yeah, on billboards, and uh and you know, uh I I I don't think uh Paul writing to the Corinthians would say, Hey, come to Paul's church, right? Come to Apollos' church. He would say, Do you not know that we are all members of one body, the body of Christ? And uh and so, you know, uh building bigger buildings, uh you know, uh come to my ministry, or or you know making millions in the business world, or whatever it is, or uh I guess now it's billions or whatever it is you you're supposed to you're supposed to make, or or building uh buildings and putting your name on it. Uh it always interests me that that happens even in Christendom, right? Where we big buil build big buildings and put our name on it. Uh and I'm thinking, um that's as old as the Tower of Babel, right? Maybe we should be able to do that. To make your name great. And maybe we should be about making one name great. But anyway, and and so it's real easy to get caught up in these things. Uh and so uh Ecclesiastes, uh song, uh, you know, uh Solomon um says, you know, when it's all considered, uh the the people over there on Satan's side have been doing the same thing the whole time, and it's always failed, and it still still will. And so when you know the story uh and you know the future hope, uh that's uh that's the hope.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

That's great.

Dr. David Klingler 29:39

Um in uh a book, book of Job, uh Job basically that's a this is a fascinating one. Job uh is selected, right? So we know the, you know, if you've been around the Bible for a little while, you know about the story of Job that uh that the way that the story begins, Satan is out, you know, kind of running the countryside and wrecking stuff, and the angels are coming in and giving a report uh to the Lord, and Satan comes in and and the Lord says, Have you considered my servant Job? He's a righteous man, blameless in all of his ways. And uh and uh and Satan says, Well, the the reason why he is the way he is is because you bribe him. Um it is uh accusing God of not being what he reveals himself to be in Deuteronomy chapter 10, uh compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness of truth, uh Exodus 34, 6 and 7. Uh, and uh that he is in fact doesn't show partiality or take a bribe. He in fact does, as uh Satan says, No, you you you show partiality and you bribe him. The only reason he follows you is because you protect him, you put a protective hedge around him.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

He's rich.

Dr. David Klingler 30:54

Yeah, he he has the cash, he has the stuff, take away his stuff, and let's see if he blesses you. And so uh he does, and uh uh Satan goes out and and strikes all of his uh stuff and kills his kids, uh and uh Satan comes back in and says, Well, you know, have you the Lord says, Have you considered my servant Job? He says, Well, yeah, but you know, let me tell you about Job. Uh Job didn't care about those kids. Job didn't care about those animals, Job just cares about himself, right? That's how selfish he is. So if you strike him, then let's see if he will bless you to your face. Um and off he goes, strikes Job, and in all this, Job did not sin. Uh and uh Job's wife comes to him and says, What are you doing? Will you still hold fast to the integrity of your faith? Will you uh the strength of your faith? Um, what what are you doing? Uh you know, uh your kids are gone, your possessions are gone, your health is gone. The only thing left is to uh, you know, is to bless God and die. You know, all the way through they they translate it, curse God and die, but it's actually barak to bless God and die. Uh he said, uh, you bless the Lord, he takes your stuff. You bless the Lord, he takes your kids. You bless the Lord, he takes your health. What's left? Bless God and die. Uh and Job's response is, you speak as a crazy woman speaks, right? Because there is no hope for a future salvation, deliverance, eternal life in any other God. And so along come Job's friends, and here's the this is why Israel needs to hear this story. Along come Job's friends, and they say, You know, uh, we know how God works. You must have done something wrong because good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people. Good things don't or bad things don't happen to good people, and good things don't happen to bad people. Um, well, excuse me, but open your eyes.

SPEAKER_03 32:55

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 32:56

And and so there the Job's friend's theology is if you serve God, he will bless you with stuff now. Um and that's not the blessing that this story is looking for. It's looking for an eternal blessing, not a temporal one. Uh, and so there's this equation if you do good, God will do good to you now. Uh and that's in fact not how it works. But that's how Satan has been enticing people all the time. Yeah. Uh best life now, stuff now, cash now, health now, wealth now. That is still alive. And it's still alive and well, it's still uh the theology, and it's very alive and well in the church. Yeah. Yes. Uh and so uh you know, you'll hear stories of uh here's you know, uh uh um someone comes down with cancer, and the friends say, Well, there must be some kind of unconfessed life uh sin in your life because you know you know bad things don't happen to good people.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

Well, I'll one up you there. I've I heard recently a story of of a group of elders in the church who, if somebody falls sick, they gather around the bedside and they say, What'd you do? Yeah, what do you need to confess? And then they'll start anointing them with oil and doing all kinds of stuff. Yeah, out of uh out of James chapter five. Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 34:12

Uh when um you know, I I remember thinking about this, I remember thinking, um, not only is the death rate one per person, both with believers and unbelievers, uh, but I don't see any statistics that say that believers live longer than unbelievers. Or they are um you know richer than unbelievers. Or um I just you know the cancer rate between believers and unbelievers, I'm guessing, is the same, right? Uh but the hope of the believer is not in life now, health now, wealth now. It is eternal health and wealth. Uh it is eternal resurrection, it is eternal blessing, not temporal. Yeah, and so uh the book of Job, Israel needs to hear this, yeah, right? Uh and uh and so uh the Lord is not partial, he doesn't take bribes, uh he is God all by himself, uh, and uh and he has made promises and he will keep them. And in the end, Job uh so James, uh we talk about uh chapter five of uh of James, uh in James chapter five, he mentions Job. Uh uh you know, uh we count those as blessed who endured. And so for James, a one who is blessed, and we'll get into this in uh later on in this year, um, when we get in the epistles, but but the one who's blessed is the one whose faith is perfected. And Job's faith was perfected, his faith in the resurrection, his faith in the Lord is perfected uh in this story. And so James says we count those as blessed who endured. Consider Job and the outworkings of the Lord's dealings with Job. And so the book of Job uh is about uh uh the the reaffirmation of the character of God, that he doesn't show partiality, he doesn't take a bribe, and that outside of the land and outside of the kingdom, you can't look at someone's physical circumstance and tell anything about whether or not they are serving the Lord, yeah, uh apart from um being you know the being judged by the Lord for tearing down the church. If you're tearing down the church, and we'll get into this in 1 Corinthians, yeah, you you're you're in a whole nother category. You're tearing down the body of Christ.

SPEAKER_03 36:30

Right.

Song Of Solomon And Covenant Love

Encouragement Next Topic And Partnering

Dr. David Klingler 36:30

Uh and so just uh up until we get to to Corinthians, uh let's just say this. Uh if you're tearing down the church, stop it. Yeah, right? It's not it's not going to go well for you. Uh so Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, uh, all of these are wisdom uh books uh that reflect on the reality that is, and then we come to the song to Song of Solomon. Uh and admittedly, this is the most difficult uh book uh to deal with. Song of Solomon is about uh the the debate is is it about a physical marriage, a a you know, literal marriage, or is it uh ha you know more a reflection of Christ in the church? Well, I would say that that all marriage in the Bible is to be a reflection of God's covenant relationship with Israel and Israel's uh coming Messiah uh that will lay down his life for his people Israel, and not only his people Israel, but for the nations. Uh and so uh the uh husband, wife, Christ, uh, you know, bride and bridegroom imagery is all the way through the Bible. It's predicted in the beginning in Genesis chapter three, uh, and it runs all the way to the end, and we'll get into more of that uh as we talk about uh the book of Ephesians uh again later on this year. Uh but uh uh so I don't think it's an either-or, I think it's a both and that in the uh that individual marriage is to be a reflection of God's covenant uh relationship uh with his people, with his people Israel, Old Testament, with the church uh in the uh in the new. And so uh and so the the wisdom literature, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, this is a section of of the writings, the Kettavim, the writings, uh, that uh are to reflect on what is. And so if you need uh some encouragement or some time to reflect on what is, uh there's where you go. You you you read the Psalms, right? Uh the Psalms, the Proverbs, have always been books of encouragement. Um you'll you'll even I don't advocate this, but but they used to print copies of Psalms, Proverbs in the New Testament, right? Uh which really is uh here's where you go to reflect on the hope that's coming, and here's the hope that has appeared and is still coming.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

It's still future looking. Well, it makes a lot of sense that the early persecuted church would turn to these psalms to encourage themselves about what is and what is coming. Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 39:19

And really you can look to anywhere in the story uh and you're going to see the same thing. Uh in between Genesis chapter three, after the fall, and Revelation chapter 19, um, it appears the wicked are winning all the way through the story. Um, and the righteous are persecuted, uh, and the righteous need to walk by faith and endure uh as they await for the promised one who's going to fix it. And that's basically and and and so that's just the reality of life as the believer. Uh and so when Paul says something like, All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, well, hello. Uh that's not a new uh thanks, Paul, for that statement of the obvious. That's been the the the case since Cain and Abel. That's right, and it will be until the end. Yep. Uh, but we tend to forget that. And so these books are good reminders of that. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 40:10

All right. Well, we bit off a lot there. Um, but hopefully that gives you a framework to be able to jump into these books and and again reflect on the story, reflect on reality, uh, gather some encouragement through uh what we know to be the reality. So um, yeah, thank you for joining us again as we continue on through the story of the Bible. Uh, next time we will be in what we call the exilic prophets, looking at prophets speaking to Israel while they're enduring the judgments and the discipline of the Lord. And so uh tune back in next time for that as we continue to walk through.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

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