Ketubim: Writings
This was the final section of the Tanak (T is for Torah, N is for Nabim, and K is for Ketubim), to be included in the canon. The final determination of what would be included in the Ketubim took place at a rabbinic council at Javneh in about 80 c.e. The early church accepted the decision of Javneh. We will discuss the role of the discernment of the community in the designation of scripture in class.
Five of these books are called festival scrolls (Megillot) – Ruth, Song of Slomon, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and Esther – because they were read at the five principal festivals of the Jewish liturgical year.
Ruth – Pentecost (a harvest festival)
Song of Solomon – Passover
Ecclesiastes – Tabernacles/Booths
Lamentations – Fast of the Ninth of Ab – the date on which both Temples were destroyed
Esther - Purim
There are many different genre of literature represented in the Ketubim. The first three books that we will discuss – Psalms, Song of Solomon, and Lamentations -- contain the sacred songs of Israel.
Psalms is a collection of songs. Like the hymns we sing in Church, they represent the human voice in response to God. Which kind of psalms do you think are most numerous: praise, lament, thanksgiving, vengeance, confession? If you answered praise, you make a very common mistake. The most numerous are laments. Do the hymns we sing in our congregations represent the Psalter? Read the following selection of psalms to get a sense of their range of themes:
Read Psalm 1 that introduces the Psalter. Like psalms 19 and 119, it affirms the Torah.
Read Psalm 2, an affirmation of God's sovereignty. Also read Psalm 113 (the first of the Hallel psalms 113-118) and 118. Psalm 118 gives thanks for God's deliverance from enemies and is a rich mixture of typology and theology. Take note of verse 22 which Jesus will apply to himself in Mark 12:10 (par. Matt 21:42; Luke 20:17; cf. Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7). Take note of verses 26-27 and how they become the script for the crowd's response to Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.
Read Psalms 23, 3, 51, 109 and 137.
Psalm 23 is also an affirmation.
Psalm 3 is a lament.
Psalm 51 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new right spirit within me" is a confession.
Psalms 109 and 137 call for divine vengeance.
Memorization Assignment: Memorize the 23rd Psalm and at least one other Psalm that you can imagine finding yourself reciting frequently given your own situation or life. See the suggestions below. If the Psalm is more than 18 verses, you may memorize a version abbreviated to 18 verses. If your psalm is less than 6 verses, you must memorize two short psalms that add up to at least 15 verses. Explain why you made your selection and on what sort of occasion you might find yourself reciting it to help express what you feel or to pray to God.
Psalm 6: Prayer for those who suffer from feelings of guilt.
Psalm 8: A prayer of praise for those who need to affirm God's hand at work in their lives.
Psalm 10 or 82: A prayer for peace and service workers who often ask, "Where is God?"
Psalm 11: A prayer for those who practice non-violence to utter when they are confronted by violence and are tempted to flee.
Psalm 12: A prayer for those who despair of the evil times in which we live.
Psalm 13: A prayer for one who is grieving or suffering some emotional pain.
Psalm 16: A prayer for those who are tempted to put their trust in the powers of this world.
Psalm 69: A prayer for those who feel overwhelmed. [I often recite this first verse of this Psalm towards the end of the term.]
Psalm 90: A prayer for those who feel impatient or who feel discontent with life.
Psalm 96 or 100: A song of praise appropriate for those who need words to help them affirm God's majesty in a world that ignores God.
Psalm 101: A song that would be appropriate for anyone who is entering into professional life every morning before work.
Psalm 102: A prayer for someone who seems to suffer from clinical depression.
Isaiah 40 - this is not a psalm, but Professor Joe Liechty has found these to be some of the most faith sustaining verses of the Old Testament.
Song of Solomon (also called Song of Songs or Canticles) is a love song. Its inclusion in the canon was hotly debated. Many held this to be simply a secular love song. Others believed it to be an allegorical treatment of God's love for Israel. The latter carried the day. Read chapters 1-3 and take note of any elements that might warrant its inclusion for modern reasons. What elements might cause people to hesitate reading it aloud in church?
Lamentations - a collection of five poems lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem, set in the Babylonian Exile believed to be the words of Jeremiah or Baruch, his scribe. The book begins:
1:1-2How lonely sits the city
that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces
has become a vassal.
She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.
The themes of the Deuteronomic history are laid out in verse.
4:11-1The LORD gave full vent to his wrath;he poured out his hot anger, and kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations.
The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
It was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in the midst of her.
Blindly they wandered through the streets, so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments.
The book ends with the theme of restoration for Israel but not for Edom:
4:21-22Rejoice and be glad, O daughter Edom, you that live in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.
The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter Zion, is accomplished, he will keep you in exile no longer;but your iniquity, O daughter Edom, he will punish, he will uncover your sins.
The Books of Wisdom: Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes
These books are perhaps the most philosophical of all the Old Testament books and, together with a number of extra-canonical works, are called wisdom literature. They focus upon how to live prudently and explore the nature and meaning of life.
Proverbs is a collection of folk wisdom and court wisdom. The book begins with an invitation to seek wisdom and a warning that if one does not seek wisdom but pursues folly, when need for wisdom comes, it will elude one and folly leads to destruction. Here is one of my favorite proverbs about a fool: "Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who reverts to his folly" (26:11).
Normally we associate proverbs with pithy sayings that express some sort of conventional or folk wisdom. For example, whenever I complained about something my grandmother would say, “Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. “When I try to accommodate the wishes or my colleagues, there is always one who dislikes the plan, and so the platitude, “You can’t please all of the people all of the time,” helps me become resigned to the situation. When my feelings were hurt by my brothers calling me names, I would say, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” Of course, names can hurt and the purpose of the saying was an attempt to save my pride by denying that they could hurt me.
Journal Assignment: Before reading the following proverbs, write down proverb that your parent/grandparent/mentor uses often and the context in which it is used. As you read the following commentary on and excerpts from Proverbs, describe in a sentence or two the difference or similarity between conventional wisdom and biblical wisdom.
In the first section (1-29), most are attributed to Solomon. One of the most quoted verses in Proverbs is 1:7: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." Solomon explains in a variety of ways how fools meet their end. When warning his son of the consequences of heeding sinners, he appeals to a proverb -- "For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on" (1:17) -- that sinners do not heed for, as Solomon says, "yet they lie in wait -- to kill themselves and set an ambush -- for their own lives! Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors."
Solomon teaches his student the source of happiness or blessing in life is not worldly treasure but a life of faithfulness, trusting in the Lord, and understanding wisdom. Wisdom is not our own insight but rather understanding of God's ways: "Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold." (3:13-14)
Wisdom in Hebrew is a feminine noun, Hochmah, and so Solomon refers to Wisdom as though it were a good woman. (The Greek word for wisdom, Sophia. is also a femine noun and so wisdom is also personified as a woman in the Greek wisdom literature.) In some parts of Proverbs, wisdom speaks in the first person. For example: "The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago .... When he established the heavens, I was there .... I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race." 8:22-31
The book of Proverbs is not simply a collection of proverbial wisdom, but it does offer some very good general advice often followed by a specific example:
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, 'Go, and come agian, tomorow I will give it' -- when you have it with you." 3:27-28
Some of his advice may be familiar to you as part of our culture's conventional wisdom:
"Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise. Without having any chief or officer or ruler, it prepares its food in summer, and gathers its sustenance in harvest." 6:6-8
Much of Proverbs is good common sense caste in poetry: "Can fire be carried in the bosom without buring one's clothes? Or can one walk on hot coals without scorching the feet? So is he who sleeps with his neighbor's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished" (6:27-29); "Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautify woman without good sense" (11:22). (Much of Solomon's advice is about avoiding adultery or the temptation of promiscuous sex. Often the loose woman is a symbol for all temptations or satisfaction of desires.)
Much of Solomon's advise is about speech and what we do with it. He repeatedly warns not to be a scoffer or to heed one: "Whoever belittles another lacks sense, but an intelligent person remains silent" (11:12); "Rash words are like sword thrusts, but he tongue of the wise brings healing" (12:18); "Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up" (12:25).
Solomon also encourages his audience to accept discipline and rebuke: "A wise child loves discipline but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke" (13:1). Accepting correction is an important step on the path of wisdom. One of Solomon's proverbs about discipline is often misquoted as "Spare the rod spoil the child." His actual words are "Those who spare the rod hate their children but those who love them are diligent to discipline them" (13:24). Some take the rod to mean corporal punishment, but if you read all of Proverbs, the rod is a symbol for all sorts of correction and discipline. Those of us who know children who are never disciplined by their parents know they are seldom happy children and rarely grow up knowing what makes them happy.
Sometimes a verse taken out of context changes its meaning. For example, Solomon’s saying, "The poor are disliked even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends" (14:20) taken alone might suggest that Solomon is critical of the poor. The following verse makes Solomon's intent clearer: "Those who despise their neighbors are sinners, but happy are those who are kind to the poor" (14:21). The first verse describes the way of the world, and the second verse describes how things ought to be.
These ideas, as well as others, are repeated in various and numerous ways and in no particular order, so few take the time to read each an every verse, but a close reading will be rewarded with many gems such as the following: "The field of the poor may yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice" (13:23); "Bread gained by deceit is sweet, but afterward the mouth will be full of gravel" (20:17); "Do not say, 'I will repay evil'; wait for the Lord, and he will help you" (20:22); "All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart" (21:2); "The rich and the poor have this in common; the Lord is the maker of them all" (22:2); "When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you have a big appetite" (23:1-2).
Sometimes Solomon's words are a haunting indictment of our own complacencies: "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength being small; if you hold back from rescuing those taken away to death, those who go staggering to the slaughter; if you say, 'Look, we did not know this' -- does not he who weighs the hear perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it? And will he not repay all according to their deeds?" (24:10-12).
Sometimes, you might be tempted to write this one down and slip it under your neighbor's door: "Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house, otherwise the neighbor will become weary of you and hate you" (25:17).
Here is a good one to remember: "Like a maniac who shoots deadly firebrands and arrows, so is one who deceives a neighbor and says, 'I am only joking!'" (26:18-19).
The Apostle Paul, from the New Testament, quotes the following words of wisdom: "If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink; for you will heap coals of fire on their heads, and the Lord will reward you" (25:21-22). There is no agreement about what it means to "heap coals of fire" on someone's head. Some think that it will make them feel ashamed; others that it will consecrate them to God.
Sometimes Solomon seems to contradict himself: "Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself. Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes" (26:4-5). The best course can be determined only in the particular context.
Here is a good one to remember, if you are every tempted to spout platitudes when someone makes a mistake: "Like a thorn bush brandished by the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool" (26:9).
The final section (30-31) contains proverbs attributed to Agur and Lemuel, King of Massah, taught to him by his mother. The proverbs by Agur include advice and ideas that tend to be witty. For example, "For as pressing milk produces curds, and pressing the nose produces blood, so pressing anger produces strife" (30:33). The book closes with an acrostic poem in praise of a good wife.
Job addresses the problem of suffering and how people respond to it, by telling the story of a righteous man who suffers because Satan convinces God to put him to the test. The narrative frame of the story prevents the reader from being able to affirm anything that Job's supposed friends have to say. God is not punishing Job. God has no particular purpose in punishing Job. There is no moral lesson for others to draw. God is testing Job, but the narrative makes it difficult for the reader to feel comfortable with God's reasons for doing so. Read Job 1-3. Why does Job suffer? The remainder of Job contains dialogues between Job and his friends. The dialogue begins with Job sitting on a dung heap lamenting the fact that he was born. His first friend ends his words of "comfort" by saying God is just; therefore, Job should be happy he is being punished. (4:2-17). Job responds to this description of God the master planner who has his hand in all things by asking God why he has to concern himself with the goings on of insignificant human beings. If God has a plan, and Job has to suffer in that plan, then Job would be better off if God had not noticed Job in the first place. (7:17)
Bildad, Job's next friend, argues that Job must have sinned because he is being punished. He works with the following faulty logic. Sin leads to punishment and punishment is suffering; therefore, suffering is caused by sin. (8:20) Job protests that he has done nothing to deserve this punishment.