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{"id":71194,"date":"2025-06-15T01:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T05:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=71194"},"modified":"2025-05-22T08:26:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T12:26:54","slug":"wisdom-literature-part-eight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2025\/06\/15\/wisdom-literature-part-eight\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisdom Literature– Part Eight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

The sage has confidence in God, that he will protect his \u2018little ones\u2019 and \u2018faithful ones\u2019 hence \u201cas a bird for wandering, as a swallow for flying away, so a groundless curse will dissipate, not come to pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes, these proverbs are simply riddles like 26.4-5\u2013 \u2018Do not answer a dolt in his folly, lest you become like him.\u2019\u00a0 \u00a0 And then, \u2018Answer the dolt by his folly, lest he seem wise in his own eyes.\u2019\u00a0 \u00a0As Alter points out the Hebrew word translated folly is iwelet,\u00a0 but the word translated \u2018dolt\u2019 by Alter is a totally different word.\u00a0<\/em> I agree with Alter\u2019s alteration from the usual translation which simply has a fool in his folly.<\/p>\n

So what do we make of this?\u00a0 The first saying warns that one may dishonor yourself if you say something as foolish as the fool has just said.\u00a0 But the second saying is about shaming the fool. In other words perhaps mocking the fool by repeating what he said in a sarcastic way hence the phrase answering \u2018by his own folly\u2019.\u00a0 \u00a0In other words, there is an occasion for both retorts\u00a0 and this is not simply a flat contradiction in two Hebrew phrases.<\/p>\n

Vs. 11 is a familiar, and disgusting, proverb\u2013 \u2018like a dog returning to his vomit, is a dolt returning to his folly\u2019.\u00a0 \u00a0What our sage is not after living life by what we call \u2018common sense\u2019, but rather according to godly sense, being wise in a Biblical sense.<\/p>\n

But it is not just the fool that is critiqued in this chapter, it is also the sluggard.\u00a0 \u201cThe sluggard is wise in his own eyes than seven who answer with good sense.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cA door turns on its hinge, and the sluggard on his bed.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Think the Big Lebowski and you will have a picture of the kind of person the sage is critiquing here.<\/p>\n

This same chapter critiques the grumbler and deceiver \u2018without a grumbler, strife falls silence\u2019 (vs. 20).\u00a0 But the sage has confidence that the deceiver will get his just rewards\u2013 \u2018Though he makes his speech fair, do not trust him, for seven loathsome things are in his heart\u2019 (vs. 25).\u00a0 \u2018Who digs a pit will fall into it, and who rolls a stone will find it rolling back on him.\u201d (vs. 27).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"