We have reached the point in our liturgical year when the daily readings turn to the sapiential or wisdom literature of the Hebrew Scriptures. This kind of literature is inherently different than the literature of the histories or the prophets. The books that follow the Torah are referred to as the Deuteronomic Corpus. These books and the subsequent oracles of the prophets look to the Temple and to the Sinai Covenant for their foundation. The sapiential literature turns toward the various teachers of Israel. The wise sayings of the Book of Proverbs, for instance, come to us from sages and scribes like Amen-em-ope, Agur, and Lemuel. In a few days we will turn to the Book of Sirach, the written wisdom of another teacher, Jesus Eleazar ben Sirach.
While the Deuteronomic Corpus and the prophets aim at getting us to obey the Law and to observe the traditions of Temple worship, the wisdom literature tries to help us get along with the secular realities of the world. It concentrates upon what we would call common sense and ancient wisdom. What has succeeded for so many years, even centuries, has an exceptional lasting power. It has no special set of prerequisites to understand its message. These teachers simply want us to be open, honest, reflective, humble, strong, and good human beings as were originally created by God and as humanity has spread throughout the world. All the world knows and accepts the wisdom of the Proverbs. We don’t expect to learn anything new in these Bible passages. We are simply being reminded of things that we have been taught by our parents and teachers from the days of our youth.
The Wisdom Literature is very much resembles something I have heard many parents say. Perhaps your parents have said the same thing. “I want my children to avoid the mistakes that I have made in the past.” If we listen to the wisdom of our parents and the teachers of old, we might avoid those mistakes. However, we also know that no matter how many times we are reminded or told, we still tend to forget and make our own mistakes.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator