CHAPTER XIII FORMS OF WISDOM LITERATURE 'Wisdom' Literature THIS fifth book is reserved for the Philosophy of the Bible; that is to say, for the wide range of Scriptural literature which is the counterpart of our modern Philosophy and Science. These two names, however, are scarcely to be found in the sacred writings; the literature we are to consider is, in the Bible itself, uniformly designated 'Wisdom.' The word is suggestive of one, if not both, the main distinctions which separate Biblical Philosophy from modern thought. If it be not pressing the word too far, there is a picturesqueness in the name 'Wisdom' that harmonises with the picturesqueness of form never absent from Scriptural literature of thought. Modern works of science confine themselves strictly to severe prose style. But the literature of Wisdom borrows often the form of lyric, and sometimes even of dramatic poetry, and where it is furthest removed from these, it still leaves the impression of attaching as much consequence to the artistic form as to the thought. More important than this is the suggestion in the name 'Wisdom' that its literature will have a practical bearing on human conduct. A great part of such writings is made up of specific observations or precepts in matters of social and family life, of business management, public policy, and general self-government. And where such works as Ecclesiastes or the Wisdom of Solomon1 are occupied in 1 I assume throughout this part of my subject the Apocryphal books of Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus. The distinction implied in the word 'Apocryphal' is one of theology: according to the Anglican formula, "the Church doth read [them] interpreting history, or reading the riddle of life, they make it clear that the argument is followed with a constant reference to the bearing of the whole on conduct. It is only when comparison is made with the kindred department of Prophecy that we see the right of Wisdom literature to be classified under the head of Philosophy, the organ of reflection. Prophecy also is concerned with conduct; but it starts always with a Divine message, on which all that it contains is based. Of course Wisdom is in harmony with the revelation contained in Law and Prophecy, but it never appeals to it. The sayings of the Wise come to us only as the result of their own reflections, in combination with the general tradition of Wisdom. Varieties of Wisdom Literature The present chapter is occupied with the various literary forms in which this Wisdom literature of the Bible and Apocrypha is conveyed to us. The two chapters that follow will treat the separate Books of Wisdom as they stand. The Proverb dent in the Bible. The starting-point for this whole class of literature is the Proverb. There were two sources of Hebrew proverbs: Folk-lore, and the sayings of the Wise Men. The popular proverbs that float from mouth to mouth appear only by acci"Out of the wicked cometh forth wickedness"! is an ancient saying hurled by David at Saul, in the wilderness of Engedi, when Saul's groundless suspicions of him had just been exposed. "Is Saul also among the prophets?" is a proverb that has descended from those days to Popular Proverbs our own. One form of popular proverb was the Riddle; and, just as great part of the intercourse between the Wise - between Solomon and Hiram, or Solomon and the Queen of Sheba consisted in hard questions to be interpreted, so popular festivities made opportunities for the guessing Riddles for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine." As doctrinal questions are excluded from this work, the distinction does not here apply. The two books are of the highest literary interest. Judges IV of riddles. One cycle or 'game of riddles' has been preserved complete in the Book of Judges. It connects itself naturally with Samson, whose magnificent frame and redundant high spirits make him the nearest approach in the Bible to a humorous personage. Samson, it will be recollected, loved a woman of the Philistines, and after asking her hand through his father went down to Timnah to the wedding feast. The feast lasted a week, during which the hero had to endure the company of thirty guests from the Philistine people he hated and despised. Denied the vent of physical violence, his irritation took the form of a wager: the amount, thirty linen garments and thirty changes of raiment; the subject of contention, that the Philistines would not guess his riddle. The wager was accepted and the riddle put forth. Out of the eater came forth meat, And out of the strong came forth sweetness. According to modern notions of riddles, Samson was not playing fairly, for his question involved information exclusively his own. On his walks to and fro between his home and the home of the bride he had one day met a young lion; the lion roared at him, and Samson, by a sudden impulse, was led to seize the brute with his bare hands and tear it in pieces; the next time he passed he found a cluster of bees settled in the torn carcase of the lion, and actually tasted their honey: this strange conjunction was the foundation of his riddle. But the Philistine guests, in their turn, could violate fair play; they brought pressure upon the bride, and she coaxed the secret out of her lover. At the end of the seven days the Philistines came to answer the riddle; and their answer, like the original question, makes a single couplet: What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? Samson turns upon them with a repartee couched in the same form: If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, Ye had not found out my riddle. |