Texts in Conversation
Job and Proverbs share an ancient Near Eastern wisdom pattern that links knowledge with reverence and order. Proverbs treats wisdom as something people can learn and observe. Job pushes back, portraying wisdom as hidden and beyond human reach.
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Proverbs 1:7
Hebrew Bible
5 (Let the wise also hear and gain instruction, and let the discerning acquire guidance!) 6 To discern the meaning of a proverb and a parable, the sayings of the wise and their riddles. 7 Fearing the Lord is the beginning of discernment, but fools have despised wisdom and moral instruction. 8 Listen, my child, to the instruction from your father, and do not forsake the teaching from your mother. 9 For they will be like an elegant garland on your head, and like pendants around your neck.
Job 28:28
Hebrew Bible
25 When he made the force of the wind and measured the waters with a gauge, 26 when he imposed a limit for the rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, 27 then he looked at wisdom and assessed its value; he established it and examined it closely. 28 And he said to mankind, ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
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Notes and References
"... The Wisdom Speech (Job 28) certainly fits with the style of much of the Joban poet(s). It contains the same penchant for the obscure and esoteric that marks much of the dialogue. However, the words of the Wisdom Speech seem to be out of place on the lips of the suffering Job. The Wisdom Speech harmonizes with the larger corpus of wisdom literature in its conclusion that (“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” [Job 28:28]). Proverbs affirms the same type of orthodoxy (Prov 1:7). Yet the character Job has served as an anti-wisdom until Job 26. Job specifically contradicts Bildad and Proverbs 13:9 (Job 21:17). It seems bizarre that Job would radically change his argument so quickly, yet revert to his original argument in the subsequent chapters (Job 29–31) ..."
Swinney, James Kipp
Intertextual Discourse and the Problem of God: The Intersection of the Speeches of Job and Deuteronomy
(p. 23) Abiline Christian University, 2016
* 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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