Texts in Conversation
Jesus’s call to ask, seek, and knock in Matthew echoes earlier wisdom traditions like the Wisdom of Solomon, where wisdom is easily found by those who seek it. Both use the language of actively searching to describe a diligent pursuit of wisdom.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Wisdom of Solomon 6:12
Deuterocanon
10 For those who have kept the things that are holy in holiness will be made holy. Those who have been taught them will find what to say in defense. 11 Therefore set your desire on my words. Long for them, and you will be instructed. 12 Wisdom is radiant and doesn’t fade away; and is easily seen by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. 13 She anticipates those who desire her, making herself known. 14 He who rises up early to seek her won’t have difficulty, for he will find her sitting at his gates.
Date: 50 BCE – 50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Matthew 7:7
New Testament
5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 6 Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces. 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The unit is held together by an inclusion (verse 7: ask ... given, and verse 11: given ... ask). It opens with an exhortation: ask ... be given, search ... find, knock ... be opened. This language is typical of speech about prayer. Compare Jeremiah 29:12-14: call ... hear; search ... find; seek ... find; Isaiah 65:1: sought ... ask ... found ... seek; b. Megillah 12b: 'he knocked at the gates of mercy and they were opened to him.' ... Just as all six sentences of the Lord's Prayer are petitions, so here prayer is understood as asking. It is assumed that disciples appear before God as 'humble receivers from a generous Father.' Is this an affirmation of the efficacy of unrestricted prayer? Or is its meaning more restricted by the context? The latter, I think, in this context. The language is typical of prayers for wisdom. Consider, for example, Proverbs 8:17 - Wisdom says: 'those who seek me diligently find me'; Wisdom of Solomon 6:12 - Wisdom 'is found by those who seek her'; James 1:5 - 'If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.' The language seems to say that those who ask for divine wisdom will be heard and given this treasure ..."
Charles H. Talbert, Reading the Sermon on the Mount: Character Formation and Decision Making in Matthew 5–7 (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, 2004), 134.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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