Themes in Wisdom Literature

The fear of the Lord

1. +/- 60 times
2. ...is the beginning of wisdom - the foundation
3. Psalm 2:11

• NIV - Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.
• CEV - Serve and honor the Lord; be glad and tremble.
• TM - Worship God in adoring embrace, Celebrate in trembling awe
• ASV - Serve Jehovah with fear, And rejoice with trembling

Psalm 111:10

• NIV - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.

• CEV - Respect and obey the Lord! This is the first step to wisdom and good sense.

• TMV - The good life begins in the fear of God — Do that and you’ll know the blessing of God.

• ASV - The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all they that do his commandments

Prov 1:1-7Prov 14:27Ecc 12:13

Limits of Human Wisdom

Wisdom denotes an understanding of how God has ordered the world and how to live within that orderJob 38-39 give a grand tour of the universe to show Job’s lack of understandingEcclesiastes - Who knows?Ecc 3:21Ecc 6:12

Man in Relation to God

The Righteous vs. The WickedDoes God treat everyone the same?Gen 18:23-25Fate of the Righteous and the WickedPsalm 37 - Contrasts the Righteous with the WickedSets up the basis for Torah Obedience However - Ecc 7:15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.

Justice and the Problem of Suffering

Job is the most prominent witnessInterpretations vary wildlyResolution is found only in the presence of the CreatorPsalms gives voice to lamentPs 3Ps 4Ps 6:2-3Ps 10:1

The Nature of True Piety and Integrity

In·teg·ri·ty | inˈteɡrədē/ | Noun

• the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
  "he is known to be a man of integrity"
  Synonyms: honesty, probity, rectitude, honor, good character, principles, ethics, morals, righteousness, morality, virtue, decency, fairness, scrupulousness, sincerity, truthfulness, trustworthiness
• the state of being whole and undivided.
  "upholding territorial integrity and national sovereignty"
  Synonyms: unity, unification, coherence, cohesion, togetherness, solidarity

Wikipedia: Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles or moral uprightness. It is a personal choice to hold one's self to consistent standards.In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity can stand in opposition to hypocrisy, in that judging with the standards of integrity involves regarding internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding within themselves apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs. The word integrity evolved from the Latin adjective integer, meaning whole or complete. In this context, integrity is the inner sense of "wholeness" deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character. As such, one may judge that others "have integrity" to the extent that they act according to the values, beliefs and principles they claim to hold.Significant attention is given to the subject of integrity in law and the conception of law in 20th century philosophy of law and jurisprudence centering in part on the research of Ronald Dworkin as studied in his book Law's Empire. Dworkin's position on integrity in law reinforces the conception of justice viewed as fairness.