BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
10 WISDOM LITERATURE, I
POETIC BOOKS
1. Job: Why do the righteous suffer?
2. Psalms: How do we praise God?
3. Proverbs: How do we live a Godly life while on Earth?
4. Ecclesiastes: What is the purpose and meaning of life?
5. Songs of Solomon: What does a loving relationship look like?
HEBREW POETRY
Poetry = visual art
•Couplets (2 lines) as the basis for Hebrew poetry
•2nd line will complete, deepen, or contrast the 1 line
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•The Hebrew poets weave patterns into their visual art with their words
•Imagery: vivid descriptions to liven our imagination
•Metaphor: help illustrate the meaning of what the poet is trying to convey
Praise God for:
•Creation (Psa. 19:1)
•Salvation (Psa. 16:1)
•Providence (Psa. 139)
•Blessings (Psa. 103)
•Redemption (Psa. 49:15)
•Lovingkindness ( ) (Psa. 51:1)chesed
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
Purpose of poetry:
•Convey wisdom ( )hochmah
•God is the source of wisdom
•Wisdom: rationale of cosmos – the logic of God
•“Fear of the Lord” – beginning of wisdom
•The poets convey wisdom through proverbs (wise sayings), riddles, analogies,
and songs
JOB:
•When? Patriarchal period (around the time of Abraham)
•Theme: the purpose of suffering
•Purpose: there are exceptions to the general idea that you reap what you sow
•Job shows that sometimes suffering comes from persecution from Satan or the
fallen world.
•However, God is ultimately in control and sovereign over all things
Job’s Affliction
•Satan will afflict Job to try to prove that Job only worships God because God had blessed
him.
•God allows this to occur but stops Satan from killing Job
•Job loses all ten of his children, all his money, and his health
•Even through all of this, Job holds to his faith in God
The accusation of Job’s Friends (4-31)
•Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar sit and comfort Job for seven days
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
•Then they try to figure out why God allows these events to happen to Job in three rounds
of questions
•Eliphaz: Job has sinned, and God is punishing him
•Bildad: Job should repent
•Zophar: Job deserves worse
•Job’s wife also suggests he should curse God and die (remember, she has also lost all of
her children)
•Elihu: kinder but does the same
God Answers (38-41)
•God focuses on His divine sovereignty and His role as Creator
•God is God and Job is not
Job Restored(42)
•God not only restores what was lost, but he doubles what he had
•God gives him ten more children
•Reveals how Satan was wrong and Job remained faithful (even amidst his doubts and
questions)
Job: a future resurrection (19:25-26)
Application
1. Sometimes bad things happen because of our own sin and consequences.
2. God will reward our faithfulness, but not always with financial success.
3. We need to be very careful about judging others’ circumstances when we are not certain
about why events are happening.
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
Job & Jesus
•Jesus as the Sovereign God
•Jesus as Living Redeemer
PSALMS
•Authorship: David (majority), Moses, Solomon, Asaph, Heman and Ethan
•When? Time of Moses to the return after the exile (a period of 1,000 years)
•Psalms as an expression of what it looks like to live out the Torah
•Psalms 1-2 introduce book & its themes
•Psalm 1 how to be a blessed person (love God by meditating/following Law)
•Psalm 2 Davidic king’s relationship to God as God’s Son
•Psalms shift from psalms of David to Messianic psalms (poems of God’s people
meditating on the coming Messiah)
The Psalms are hymns of praise and prayer
•Praise God for his love, faithfulness, protection (Psalm 18, 100)
•Praise God for His Law (Psalm 119)
•Praise God for who he is (Psalm 8)
•Prayers for deliverance-– Psalms of Lament (Psalm 6, 22)
•Praise God for the future coming Messiah(Psalm 110)
The Psalms & Jesus
•Jesus as the object of our praise
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
•Jesus the Messiah whom the Psalms eagerly await
•Jesus quotes the Psalms while on earth and while dying on the cross
