The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature

Murphy, Roland E. The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.

Roland Murphy has written a very helpful introduction to wisdom literature in the Bible and somewhat beyond. The book includes the usual discusses of the classis wisdom books of the OT: Proverbs, Job, and Qoheleth. Beyond these he also includes surveys of Ben Sira and the Wisdom of Solomon. He concludes the book by looking at wisdom’s echoes in other parts of the Hebrew Bible, the theology of wisdom literature, and Lady Wisdom. The book seems to be designed for those with a basic background in Old Testament who desire to know more about wisdom literature.

The format of this book is unique, in a way which I suspect was unintended at the beginning of the book’s writing. The first edition went through the topics in the sequence listed above. In the second and third editions of the book Murphy simply added updated sections to each chapter as a collection at the end of the book, leaving the original edition untouched. While one could cynically say that he was just lazy and did not want to do the hard work of revising, the resulting product was actually quite enjoyable for me to read. Because we read Murphy at different stages of his academic journey, we get to see him interact with himself as well as show how the field is progressing through the years. It did make the book somewhat disjointed when reading, however, since I had to go to the back of the book after every chapter to find the two updates.

Murphy begins in the introductory chapter by giving some background to wisdom literature. He thinks the origin of wisdom thought is more to be found in family and tribe rather than a school or royal atmosphere (4-5). Wisdom literature contains a variety of forms, so that it is difficult to identify a wisdom form. Wisdom literature does not present absolutes, but the sages themselves know the limitations inherent in the system (10-12). The supplements discuss the identity of the sages and of wisdom itself (both a gift of God and something to be pursued [232]).

Proverbs is naturally the first substantial topic to be covered by Murphy. He travels through the book by major section: the vision of 1-9; the Solomonic collections; the Amenemope section; and the other collections. Proverbs 1-9 seeks to “persuade the reader to the path of wisdom/justice” (19). Proverbs 1:7 is a motto (for the book?) (16). While no overall order can be seen in the Solomonic collections, some proverbs seem to purposely relativize neighboring proverbs (19). The best way to read this section is not to read them all at one time, but to select a few at a time (20). The book offers life or salvation to its readers, focused particularly on life in the here and now. Wisdom calls and humans must respond. This positive teaching is in conflict with Job and Qoheleth, but such diversity should not bother the careful reader of the Old Testament (28-29). In the Supplement, Murphy is unimpressed with attempts to give a grand organization to Proverbs and with R. Albertz’s attempt to show a divide in the postexilic upper class between those who favored the poor and those who did not. Recent feminist criticism on Proverbs, new dating proposals, and the relationship of Proverbs to ethics are described. Wisdom comes to be codified in the laws of Israel and are authoritative of themselves, especially in the context of the persuasive speech of Proverbs 1-9.

Job is not patient, but he is steadfast. Job does not seem to be a historical person (35). The prologue is based on the dark side of God: that divine agency is behind all that happens. “The purpose of the dialogue is to allow the author to develop fully the best thought on the problem of the suffering of a just person” (37-38). Although Job wins the debate among the four friends, the author strives to present the best possible argument for the traditional view: God deals with us according to our deeds. A significant difference between Job and the three friends is that the friends never talk to God, while Job does so on a regular basis (38). The friends and Job seem to be talking past each other, not really understanding what the other was saying (39). The chapter on wisdom (28), while perhaps not part of the original work, has an integral role in the argument: “God alone knows where wisdom is” (41), so the question of suffering should not even be asked. The Elihu speeches bolster the arguments of the friends and transitions to Yahweh’s speech by bringing in creation (42). God does not teach Job more intellectual truth but is nevertheless transformed before the theophany (43). As far as the message of the book as a whole, it might very well be a betrayal to say anything at all. But at least a few thoughts are offered up by Murphy, such as that divine justice is not comprehensible (46). While the traditional theory is wrong when applied to Job, that does not mean it is wrong entirely (34). The supplements contain mostly descriptions of new studies on Job. Murphy seems to like Newsom’s case that the book of Job is polyvocal, containing many meanings. For example, does not the rewarding of Job by God conform to the theology of the friends, which God has just rebuked (204-205)?

Murphy dates Qoheleth to about 300 BC and determines that the amount of Hellenistic input is too difficult to determine (49). The book is “somewhere between a treatise and a collection of sayings and thoughts” (50). Murphy tends to be against viewing parts of the book as later additions (except for the epilogue of 12:9-14), since he sees contradictions as part of the heart of the book (51). Murphy seems two summaries in the book itself: everything is vanity of vanities (the pessimistic direction) alongside the importance of fearing the Lord (the positive direction) (52-53). While Murphy recognizes the joy statements in the book, he views them not as absolute statements but as statements of resignation: in light of the utter despair of life, there is nothing better than to have joy. While Qoheleth criticized the wisdom tradition, he did not reject it entirely, but worked within its boundaries. Murphy thinks that the idea of the fear of God is only present in the added epilogue; he gets around 8:12 by viewing it as only the recognition of a view that Qoheleth himself does not hold (56). Qoheleth does not rebel or complain against God, but simply accepts what God gives on faith, emphasizing the mysterious nature of God (58-59). The supplements discuss extensively the date of Qoheleth and the amount of Hellenistic influence, as well as the structure of the book. In the latest supplement Murphy helpfully sets out his view of the book: “the bottom line for Qoheleth is this: any happiness is uncertain because we cannot understand what God is doing. Should any good come your way (your ‘lot,’ or heleq), take it as part of the ‘vanity’ of life, the ‘gift’ of a mysterious and inexplicable God, who removes it as easily as he gives it” (248).

Murphy moves on to Ben Sira as his next subject. He begins by discussing the usual topics of author, date, textual history (complicated for this book), and structure. He looks in detail at three areas of Ben Sira. In the area of retribution, he does not seem to have noticed Job or Qoheleth, as he takes a traditional view of suffering. Ben Sira simply takes suffering as given by God and does not question God on the issue. In a second area Ben Sira is an innovator: he puts wisdom literature together with the traditions of Israel, even to the point of identifying Wisdom with Torah (76-78). Thirdly, Ben Sira emphasizes the fear of the Lord as wisdom (in line with Proverbs). The supplements are shorter for Ben Sira than the previous chapters because less literature has been published on this non-canonical book.

The last full book to be studied is the Wisdom of Solomon, a book with clear Hellenistic influence. In the context of the Old Testament, the explicit teaching on immortality is striking (86-87). The second half of the book, like Ben Sira, combines wisdom and more traditional themes of Israelite history, in this case the plagues in Egypt. While Proverbs argued that wisdom brought life, the Wisdom of Solomon argued that it brought eternal life.

After looking at full books of wisdom, Murphy examines other books in the Old Testament which show wisdom influence. He lists three methodological considerations: vocabulary, literary forms (which he finds unconvincing, since the sages drew upon common forms which were also used in other genres), and content. Murphy thinks that several of the psalms could be classified as wisdom psalms based on their themes and vocabulary (1, 32, 34, 37, 49, 112, 128). He notes the similarities between Deuteronomy and wisdom: life, fear of God, and some of the commands (do not move a boundary stone, etc.) and is not sure which direction the influence flows. He views the Song of Songs in a new light because of the connection of eros and wisdom: “its echoes reach beyond human sexual love to remind one of the love of Lady Wisdom” (107), a move which I think the least convincing in this chapter. In the supplement he affirms his word choice in the chapter title: the echoes of wisdom are best way to describe wisdom in the rest of the Old Testament (221). In the second supplement he goes against his earlier view and rejects the very idea of a wisdom psalm, although some psalms still are best understood against a background of wisdom (271).

The final two chapters of the book deal with the theology of wisdom: the first chapter in a broad overview and the second focusing on Lady Wisdom. The first area of theology is the sages understanding of reality. They do not reject history (although they do not refer to the great traditions of Israel), but draw on daily experience as a foundation, which is itself a part of history. The sages also saw humans in a dynamic relationship with their environment, which included not only creation but God as well, preventing their viewpoint from being secular. “[T]rust in the patterns of human experience was trust in God, who was responsible for the reality that confronted the sages” (114). The second area of theology is the search for order, an area supported by the Egyptian idea of ma‘at. The sages sought to explain why the world worked the way it did. But Murphy qualifies this view to some degree, particularly in his recognition of good/bad results coming not just from good/bad actions, but also from God himself (117). The third area is creation. Wisdom does not deal to a great extent with origins, but the world as it is was important to the sages. “It was through the experience of the world, of creation so perceived, that the Old Testament sages were stimulated (in contradistinction to stimulation from the events of sacred history)” (120). The final area of theology is Yahwism and wisdom, a proposal to fit wisdom into the Old Testament theology. One possible direction is to place wisdom under creation, flowing from Genesis 1. Von Rad saw wisdom as Israel’s response to God. In contrast to most approaches, Murphy against viewing the historical events of God as central in the Old Testament and then trying to explain wisdom in light of them. Instead, he argues that wisdom is a faith experience. “God drew the people, through their daily experience of themselves and creation, into the mystery of God’s dealing with each individual human being” (125). The sages believed in Yahweh and his saving acts, but these do not play a significant role in their work; indeed, one cannot separate out what is specifically due to Yahweh in the wisdom books. Unfortunately, Murphy then takes his model to an inclusive model of salvation in which one does not need to know Yahweh or Jesus to be saved, but can have faith through creation and wisdom (126). In the supplement Murphy comments that wisdom and the traditions are not two heads, but only one faith in Yahweh which is expressed in a variety of ways (225). In the second supplement he argues against a “crisis” in wisdom with Job and Qoheleth, terming it a “purification” or “self-criticism” instead (274). The last paragraph tells of the value of wisdom literature: “its immediate goal is to form character, to answer the question, what sort of person should I be” (277)? In contrast to this, key religious truths (such as the historical traditions of Israel) do not get involved with daily life, a claim that I find staggering in its lack of insight.

The last chapter is on Lady Wisdom. Murphy moves through the five passages that discuss her. Job 28 claims that only God can find wisdom. Proverbs 8 is the basic text for Lady Wisdom, as she gets to speak for herself. She is identified with both creation and God. Sirach 24 and Baruch 3:9-4:4 identify her directly with Torah. Wisdom 7-9 presents a prayer for wisdom as well as the strongest language yet in the worth of wisdom and her connection to God. The most important observation about Lady Wisdom is that “Wisdom speaks with divine accents” (147). A discussion of the feminist literature takes up most of the supplements, including a change in wording from “Lady Wisdom” to “Woman Wisdom.”

The book ends with an appendix in which Murphy describes wisdom in the Ancient Near East. Each important ANE work related to wisdom is briefly described, with most of the attention naturally given to Egyptian works. Hellenism is also examined by means of looking at the amount of Hellenistic influence in the later wisdom books (Qoheleth, Sirach, and Wisdom). His conclusion in the appendix is that Israelite wisdom literature had precedents in other ANE cultures and that “a great similarity lies in the didactic situation that is common to all” (175). While he does give quite a few pages to the topic of ANE wisdom, it does not seem to play much of a role in his interpretation of Israelite wisdom: the topic is put into an appendix in what seems to be almost an afterthought.

Murphy has written a helpful introduction to the scholarly discussion about biblical wisdom literature. The inclusion of later non-canonical books will be helpful for evangelicals who do not usually read those works. The later works also help to show the trajectory of wisdom literature, particularly in how wisdom became identified with Torah. Murphy happily goes with the final form of the text on most occasions, preventing him from getting bogged down in endless speculation. One problem I encountered at times in the book is that Murphy quotes so many other scholars that he does not present a very coherent view. Usually he helpfully critiques the views of others, showing their strengths and weaknesses, but sometimes it became a blur (especially in the supplements). Another problem is that he does not give much help as I would have liked in understanding each of the wisdom books with the kind of understanding a pastor would need to preach them. I suppose this was not really his point, but I am not sure just how helpful this book would be to a pastor by itself. Other books would be needed alongside this one to help the pastor present the wisdom to their churches.

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