The Wisdom Books

The wisdom or poetical books, as is commonly known, are the most loved and read among the Old Testament books of the Bible, notably Psalms and Proverbs.

Jewish poetry generally exhibits four distinct features, namely, rhythmic structures, figures of speech, vivid imageries, and intense emotional expressions. The most common form uses what is known as parallelism—a pair of statements or verses that emphasize or reinforce an idea. Figures, on the other hand, convey indirect meanings and can include symbols, metaphors, similes, metonyms, sarcasm, irony, etc. Imageries provide rich expression of thoughts that stimulate the reader's mental sensory experiences. The full spectrum of human emotions—joy and sorrow, love and hate, praise and desperation—not only lend voice to our deepest beings but also challenge us to bring ourselves into submission to the Scriptures.

On a superficial level, wisdom is gained through essential life skills by means of observations and human experiences and encompasses both natural and social relationships. Beyond that, wisdom is rooted in God's created order which makes one wise with godly understanding through divine insights and inspiration. The process of acquiring wisdom, however, cannot be divorced from religious commitments, as evident from the many references made to the Scriptures to arrive at a right interpretation of life's experiences. And while we are limited in our ability to fully discern the wisdom and ways of God in the midst of life's perplexing anomalies, the wisest thing we can and should do is maintain a constant reverential fear of God in humble dependence.

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

 

Tanakh: The Hebrew Old Testament

 

OT: The Writings

To

THE ANCIENT OF DAYS

Whose going forth

is from everlasting to everlasting

and Whose glorious praise

is ever upon the lips of angels and mortals.

To

The PRIESTHOOD of BELIEVERS

elected and redeemed

to worship in the beauty of holiness

sanctified and made holy

to serve in His heavenly Presence.

 

Preface to Volume 3

Following the Law and the Prophets, the third major division of the Old Testament is known as the Writings, or Ketuvim in Hebrew, from the root word katav, meaning 'to write.'

The Writings, beginning with Psalms, comprises twelve books arranged into three parts:

• The wisdom books—Psalms, Proverbs and Job.
• The five scrolls—Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther.
• The historical books—Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles.

Notice that the arrangements and categorization of books are very different in the Hebrew canon compared to that found in the English Bible. For example, the latter grouped Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon along with Psalms, Proverbs and Job under the wisdom or poetical books but the former included only the last three.

The book of Daniel, considered a major prophet in the English Bible, is oddly stashed in the historical books of the Writings instead of the prophetical books in the Prophets collection.* It serves to reveal a disparity in the Jewish and Gentile mindsets —which is not surprising. Perhaps that could possibly explain why many Christians arrive at different interpretations when it comes to reading the prophetical books of the Bible!

Another curious deviation is how the English Bible considers Ezra and Nehemiah as separate books, whereas the Hebrew OT lumped both into one single scroll. The former attributes such division based on authorship; the latter, however, views both as a coherent continuity that recorded the Jews' return from captivity and their restoration.

These few distinctions alone should make it sufficiently clear that we need to read the Old Testament in light of its original cultural background and settings, not according to our modern perception and understanding. Jesus and His disciples were well acquainted with the Hebrew scripture in its organization, and so were the Jewish Christians and New Testament writers that followed years after. Reading the Writings based on the order prescribed by the Jewish scribes may possibly offer a fresh look and better appreciation of the ancient text.

As you embark on this enriching journey of 87 days through the Writings of the Old Testament, may you rediscover the awe and beauty of Hebrew poetry, prose and prophecy, walk with the saints and psalmists of old in their trials and triumphs of faith, and come face to face with the Author Who faithfully preserved His writings for posterity to experience Him in their own generation.

Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:7-8)

* Most of these prophets focused mainly on Israel and Judah, with three peripheral references to two other nations (Assyria and Edom) that directly or indirectly affected God's people. Daniel, however, is basically concerned with Gentile kingdoms in the grand scheme of human history under the time-table of God's sovereign rule.

Malachi

Malachi ministered in the days of Nehemiah and directed his message to a nation plagued with corrupt priests and practices, and a people that had lapsed into a false sense of security in their privileged relationship with God.

Using a question-and-answer approach, the prophet revealed deep underlying problems of superficial devotion and worship, self-centered lifestyle, blatant mixed marriages and divorces, and a prevailing arrogance of self-conceit in the leaders and people. The nation as a whole had sunk so low that God's Word no longer had any effect on them. As a result, no prophetic voice was heard for four hundred years after Malachi—until John the baptist appeared.

What had caused the returned Jews to degenerate to such a sad spiritual state? It seems that the people were impatient to wait for the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah to be fulfilled, and had become disillusioned and doubtful their faith gave way to cynicism. Like many Christians today, the Jews wondered if it's worth fearing and serving God, while outwardly they carried on a meaningless empty ritual fraught with insincerity and irreverence. They offered God blind and lame sacrifices, short-changed God on tithes and offerings, and exhibited temerity against Malachi's protest on their callous attitude: "Oh, come on, it's not that bad!"

When our view of God grows dim, materialism and externalism invariably supplant true devotion, and we end up with either ritualism or rationalism. Obligations and duties soon replace our love for God and devotion becomes a drudgery instead of delight. No wonder Malachi ended his message with the bitter word 'curse' as the final word in the Old Testament!

OUTLINE OF MALACHI

1. God the Prosecutor (1:1-2:9)

a. Against the Priests who despise God's Name

b. The Priests are cursed

2. Malachi the Prosecutor (2:10-3:15)

a. Against the People

Idolatry | Divorce | Rob God | Doubt God

b. God will judge the People at His coming

3. Commendation of the Righteous (3:16-4:4)

a. The Righteous are heard

b. A distinction will be made

c. The Day of the LORD shall come

d. The Righteous shall prosper

e. Remember the Law of Moses

4. Coming of the LORD's Messenger (4:5-6)

a. Elijah shall come

b. He shall bring restoration

 

Zechariah

Zechariah was a young contemporary of Haggai. Haggai's approach was more concrete and concise in addressing the present concerns through reprimand and exhortation, whereas Zechariah's was more abstract in portraying future promises as he reminded and encouraged the people.

Though young in age, Zechariah was fearless and firmed in proclaiming God's message, and ultimately paid the high price with his life, as mentioned by Jesus in His indictment against the Jews of His time:

Matthew 23:35
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you slain between the temple and the altar.

Zechariah is the major Minor Prophet, being the longest among the twelve, and is second only to Isaiah in terms of messianic passages. The book is rich and varied in content, with a total of eight visions, four messages, and two burdens. The focus shifts from Gentile dominion to Messiah's rule, from persecution to peace, and from impurity to holiness.

The prophet appealed to the people to repent and return to God, and not to repeat the failure of their forefathers who rejected God's Word and warnings. About three months later, he received eight visions in one night, five of which are visions of comfort, and three of judgment.

Zechariah's visions covered the work of the Messiah in both advents, and his oracles outlined God's program for His people from the times of the Gentiles until the reign of Messiah on earth. Let's look forward to reading this great prophetic book.

OUTLINE OF ZECHARIAH

1. Eight Visions (1:1-6:15)

a. The Call to Repentance (1:1-6)

b. The Collection of Visions (1:7-6:8)

1:  Horses among the Myrtle Trees

2:  Four Horns and Four Craftsmen

3:  Man with the Measuring Line

4:  Cleansing of Joshua the High Priest

5:  Golden Lampstand and Two Olive Trees

6:  Flying Scroll

7:  Woman in the Basket

8:  Four Chariots

c. The Crowning of Joshua (6:9-15)

2. Four Messages (7:1-8:23)

a. The People's Inquiry on Fasting (7:1-3)

b. The Lord's Response (7:4-8:23)

Rebuke : Spiritual Hypocrisy

Repent : Disobedience

Restore : The People and the Land

Rejoice : Revival of True Worship

3. Two Burdens (9:1-14:21)

a. Rejection of Messiah (9:1-11:17)

Judgment on Surrounding Nations

First Advent | Second Advent | Rejection

b. Reign of Messiah (12:1-14:21)

Salvation—Physical | Spiritual

Final Siege of Jerusalem

Second Coming of Messiah

Messiah's Kingdom

 

Haggai

Haggai was one of the three prophets that ministered in the post-exilic period of Judah's history. Zerubbabel led the first group of returning Jews—42,360 of them—in the first year of Cyrus, the Persian king.

The new generation of Jews, with some of the elderly Jews who survived the captivity, looked forward with great anticipation and hope to their homeland. But optimism soon gave way to despair as they witnessed the desolation of the city and temple —70 years since Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Jerusalem. To make matter worse, their attempt to rebuild the temple was met with oppositions from neighboring nations.

Consequently, the temple rebuilding work stopped soon after the foundation was laid, and the people became preoccupied with building their homes and cultivating their fields. Living conditions were tough and the land unproductive from years of neglect, compared to the comfortable lives they left behind in the Babylonian province that is now under Persia. Pessimism led to spiritual lethargy and the people carried on with their daily life while the temple stood neglected and unfinished for another 16 years.

God sent Haggai to rebuke the people of their spiritual apathy and challenged them to rekindle their fervor for the restoration of the temple, as well as to renew their faith in the God who could restore their livelihood now and bring forth hope of a brighter future in the Messianic kingdom.

OUTLINE OF HAGGAI

1. 1st Message: Rebuke–Reflection (1:1-11)

Nice homes | Neglected temple

Much labor | Little harvest

2. 2nd Message: Obedience–Assurance (1:12-15)

Leaders obeyed | The people feared

God encourages | God enables

3. 3rd Message: Courage–Glory (2:1-9)

Man's perspective—Insignificant

God's perspective—Glorious

4. 4th Message: Question–Action (2:10-19)

Attitude—Ceremonial or Committed?

Rewards—Feeble or Abundance?

5. 5th Message: Judgment–Promise (2:20-23)

Man's kingdom shall fall

Messiah's kingdom shall rise

 

Zephaniah

Zephaniah was the great grandson of King Hezekiah, one of the few good kings of Judah and a reformer of the nation to true worship of God. Unfortunately, after the corrupt and idolatrous influence of the next two kings, Manasseh and Ammon, Judah had sunk to a new spiritual and moral low.

Despite Josiah's best effort to restore the nation—his untimely death at the hands of Pharaoh Neco in the battle of Megiddo proved to be the final nail on Judah's coffin. Under such ailing spiritual circumstances, with contamination in worship and corruption in leadership, and the people adopting a lukewarm and nonchalant attitude towards God, Zephaniah set forth to proclaim the swift arrival of the day of the LORD, urging the people to repent and return back to God.

Zephaniah's message, however, was not meant for Judah alone; it was also directed to the surrounding nations who were just as guilty in blaspheming God, being boastful of their abilities, and constantly battering God's people on all sides. Ultimately the day of the LORD will descend upon all people and nation, to bring an end to sin and unrighteousness.

But like the other prophets, Zephaniah ends his message with a promise of salvation. The day of the LORD is not all gloom and doom; rather, it serves to cleanse away the filth of mankind's sin and establish Messiah's kingdom and rule. Indeed, for the meek and poor in spirit, it is a day of joy and comfort; but for the unrepentant, it is a day of grave reckoning.

OUTLINE OF ZEPHANIAH

1. Day of Wrath—Judgment (1:1-3:8)

a. The Whole Earth (1:1-3)

b. Judah the Nation (1:4-2:3)

Reasons | Repercussions | Repentance

c. Surrounding Nations (2:4-15)

Philistia—West | Moab and Ammon—East

Ethiopia—South | Assyria—North

d. Jerusalem the City (3:1-7)

Her Injustice | God's Justice

e. The Whole Earth (3:8)

2. Day of Joy—Salvation (3:9-20)

a. Joy of Conversion (3:9-13)

Cleansing of Filth and Pride

b. Joy of Restoration (3:14-20)

Celebration of Favor and Peace

 

Habakkuk

Are you troubled by the evil and injustice in this world? Have you ever wondered why God seems to be silent and inactive, or turning a blind eye to the atrocities and pains around us and in the news? If God is real, shouldn't He be doing something about it and eradicate all evils from the face of the earth?

Habakkuk's faith was severely disturbed as he witnessed what was happening among his own people in Judah. The rich and powerful got away with their crimes and wrongdoings, while the poor and helpless suffered the brunt of injustice at the very hands of their own brethren turned oppressors. The southern kingdom had sunk into the depths of spiritual and moral decay and God did not seem to care or put a stop to it.

In exasperation the prophet cried out to God for an answer, but what he received in reply was even more shocking: God would punish His people using a more wicked nation—the Chaldeans. This was not what Habakkuk had expected to hear and could not reconcile his faith to. However, God assured the bewildered Habakkuk that He knew what He was doing because He is in full control of everything, even though the prophet could not understand His ways:

Isaiah 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

In the end, Habakkuk learned an important lesson—we are not to question God's ways but to trust His wisdom in whatever He does—and that was enough to make the prophet regained his faith and broke forth into praise of God's glory and power.

OUTLINE OF HABAKKUK

1. The Prayer of Exasperation (1:1-17)

Faith in Crisis—Why?

a. The Prophet's Doubt (1:1-4)

Why does God allow injustice among His people?

b. The LORD's Reply (1:5-11)

God will surely punish His people via the Chaldeans

c. The Prophet's Dilemma (1:12-17)

Why does God use a wicked nation to do His work?

2. The Prayer of Endurance (2:1-20)

Faith in Calm—Because…

a. The Waiting (2:1-3)

Habakkuk's reaction | God's response

b. The Answer (2:4-20)

Babylon's collapse decreed | Cruelty denounced

God is still in control

3. The Prayer of Elation (3:1-19)

Faith in Celebration—Therefore!

a. Prayer (3:1-2)

The tune | The theme

b. Praise (3:3-19)

God's glory and power | Faith's rejoicing

 

Nahum

Who were the Assyrians? They were a Semitic people with a long history of civilization spanning from its old empire (2025-1750 BC) to the new (911-605 BC). Culturally, linguistically, genetically and ethnically they were distinct from the middle eastern people.

The Assyrians, however, were more well known for their war-like nature and greatly feared for their extreme cruelty. It was not uncommon to dismember their enemies out of pleasure, to cook them in boiling oil, burn them in bitumen, being skinned alive, used their enemies' heads to build towers and bodies as the supporting frames. Such inhumane acts soon brought down God's righteous judgment on that nation.

Not long after Nahum's prophecy, in 612 BC, a torrential downpour burst the banks of the Tigris river and collapsed a section of the wall of the impregnable city. The Babylonians took advantage of the breach and plundered the capital. Ironically, the Chaldeans employed the same cruel treatments on the defeated Assyrians. The city was captured, destroyed and it never recovered.

The name Nahum is a short form of Nehemiah which means 'comfort' or 'consolation', but it was not meant for the wicked city but those who were oppressed by it. Nahum's message is an indictment of all who commit acts of atrocities to humanity —past, present and in the future, and a reminder that God will not hesitate to exact revenge on those who spun His grace and disregard His righteousness.

OUTLINE OF NAHUM

1. Proclamation of Destruction (1:1-15)

a. God's Awesome Glory (1:1-7)

He will not tolerate sin

b. God's Awesome Judgment (1:8-15)

He will punish sin

2. Portray of the Destruction (2:1-13)

a. Nineveh's Siege (2:1-5)

God will do what He said

b. Nineveh's Breach (2:6-13)

God will bring it to completion

3. Predestined for Destruction (3:1-19)

a. The Sins of Nineveh (3:1-4)

Cruelty | Whoredom | Incorrigible

b. The Doom of Nineveh (3:5-19)

God's final verdict