Faith and Work in the Wisdom Literature

Introduction

The modern faith and work movement’s use of the Old Testament has been understandably and even appropriately focused mainly on Genesis, particularly on work’s status as a creation mandate giving it ongoing importance in the Christian life. Once passing Genesis 3, however, the faith and work literature skips through the Old Testament, possibly landing on Joseph, Daniel, or Nehemiah, but leaving large areas of the Bible completely untouched.

When the faith and work movement does delve into the wisdom literature, it is highly slanted towards a Deuteronomistic^[1] perspective, particularly the book of Proverbs, tending to cite the Bible in ways that forget the broader wisdom literature and its covenantal context. Interpreters often read Proverbs as something of a business handbook, a list of principles by which to organize and run a successful, profit-making enterprise. Seemingly, Proverbs becomes God’s “How to succeed at business” book, and if the man or woman in the workplace follows its dictums, then success should follow.

Nothing is, of course, wrong with such a Deuteronomistic perspective, so long as it is not extended beyond what the whole counsel of God will support. Deuteronomy and Proverbs are both part of God’s inspired, written revelation. However, just as the rest of the Bible counters an overreading of that Deuteronomistic literature, so it must be when approaching the questions of faith and work. The Bible is rich and varied, and the worlds of work and vocation are likewise rich and varied. Wisdom literature, therefore, to not be misused by the faith and work community, needs to be read both cautiously and covenantally.

Wisdom Literature in Faith and Work Publications

References to wisdom literature^[2] in the faith and work literature are heavily tilted towards the book of Proverbs. While it is difficult to provide statistical data on the question, I worked through the books in the library of the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics that were particularly focused on faith and work.^[3] A somewhat distressingly small number had either Scripture indices proper or had Scriptures listed in their general index, so this is merely a small set of anecdotal data.^[4] In that set, 77% of Scripture references to the wisdom literature were references to Proverbs, 17% to Ecclesiastes, and 5% to Job. Even then, many references to Ecclesiastes were simply to note that Qohelet, the preacher, encourages taking satisfaction in work. While this is obviously no comprehensive survey, those who read broadly in the faith and work literature will likely agree that it is probably representative.

Further, faith and work authors tend to use Proverbs as a handbook on how to do work. A few examples taken without attribution, often in multiple works:

• Prov. 3:9–10 seemingly guarantees success if putting the Lord first: “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” ^[5]
• Prov. 10:4 and 12:14 encourage that hard work will be rewarded: “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” “From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him.”
• Prov. 16:3 encourages an approach to the marketplace that focuses on trust in the Lord: “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”
• Prov. 16:11 encourages honesty at work: “A just balance and scales are the Lord’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.”
• Prov. 22:29 expects reward and glory for the person who works well: “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”

Examples such as these abound in the faith and work literature, with authors rightly seeing that Proverbs applies to the workplace. Hannah Stolze, for instance, provides a careful reading of the texts to develop an approach she terms “wisdom-based business.”^[6] Lawrence Reed mines Proverbs for the character traits necessary for poverty alleviation.^[7] Darrow Miller uses Proverbs to discuss the value of saving wisely.^[8] Wayne Grudem and Barry Asmus use Proverbs to analyze the causes of global poverty.^[9] Russell Gehrlein uses Proverbs most prominently as an antidote to laziness.^[10] Philip Clements et al. use Proverbs as a set of guides for business ethics.^[11]

Common to all is an approach that treats Proverbs somewhat like an instruction manual. Representative might be the Theology of Work Project: “Proverbs is a book of sayings, advice, instructions, warnings, and examples to help guide you on the path you have chosen, an instruction manual for life and work.”^[12]

Further, Proverbs has much to say about wealth, which is largely the product of work, particularly in biblical times the work of agriculture and animal husbandry. A survey of Proverbs’ teaching on wealth, then, is practically equivalent to a survey of its teaching on work. A thematic study on Proverbs teaching about wealth and poverty yields the following points, in roughly descending order of their prevalence in the book:

• God gives wealth to the righteous and wise (Prov. 3:9–10, 8:18, 12:27, 14:23)
• Foolishness leads to poverty (Prov. 10:4, 11:7, 21:6, 22:16, 26:15, 28:22)
• It is better to be wise than rich (Prov. 15:16, 16:8)
• Wealth only gets one so far (Prov. 11:4, 23:4–5)
• If one has wealth, be generous (Prov. 28:27)
• Poverty can come from oppression (Prov. 13:23)^[13]

What this bulleted list somewhat disguises, however, is that the first two points are particularly represented in the book and thus constitute the dominant impression upon its readers.

Reading the Wisdom Literature Cautiously

Many faith and work authors, it is vital to say, use the text carefully and well. Hannah Stolze, to use just one example from the above list, has developed a very strong understanding of the book and its exegesis, including delving into the meanings of various Hebrew terms. Many others do as well. While some authors in any field are slipshod, much faith and work literature exegetes the relevant proverbs honestly and effectively.

And yet, the faith and work movement as a whole risks turning Proverbs specifically, and the Deuteronomistic conception of the Old Testament in general, into an equation, a set of principles that God then promises will make everything work out for a flourishing and profitable business. At its worst, the faith and work use of Proverbs quickly descends into something not much different than self-improvement literature or even a “health and wealth” approach to the Bible. As Roland Murphy states, “[T]he true subtlety of the book is seldom recognized in its popular usage.”^[14]

The danger, then, is not that faith and work writers quote Proverbs badly or incorrectly. Instead, the danger is that the readers of faith and work literature will take the biblical truths these authors note and divorce them from the broader wisdom literature, therefore misunderstanding general biblical truths as if they are perfect equations. It is not wrong for the Theology of Work Project to term Proverbs a “handbook,” so long as it is clear at what level and in what ways said handbook applies.

Just as with the broader Deuteronomistic literature, the reason such misunderstandings can occur is because there is truth to claims that proverbs make. Proverbs represent general truths, the way the world usually works, barring unique circumstances. Therefore, on average, life does turn out the way the proverb says, even in a fallen world. Yet, the truth claim of a proverb is that of a general truth, not a rigid, inviolable law of nature. As Murphy states elsewhere:

J. Williams (Gnomic Wisdom, 35–38) has described how the lapidary and piercing style of a proverb bestows on it a certain power. Many proverbs look innocent and a priori, yet they are highly assertive. But they may not be final; rather they act as a goad, a prod to further thought, as explicitly stated in Eccl 12:11. The proverb’s declaratory nature catches our attention, buy it also conceals, for it achieves only a slice of reality. That is the nature of a saying: The one who hesitates is lost / Look before you leap. The truth of a saying—call it a partial truth—usually needs another saying to counterbalance it.^[15].

In fact, reading a given proverb as emphasizing a rigid equation does injustice to the book of Proverbs itself. The book itself emphasizes the general nature of the truths it enjoins. Prov. 26:4–5 provides the classic example:

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. (Prov. 26:4)

Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. (Prov. 26:5)

It beggars belief to imagine that in compiling this collection, the editor^[16] accidentally placed these proverbs in sequence without awareness of their seeming contradiction. The inescapable conclusion is that the editor of the book juxtaposed these two proverbs precisely to challenge the reader of the book to work out which would be true in a given situation, to weigh how each provides a general truth that must be held in tension with the other.

When it comes to faith, work, and wealth, even Proverbs notes complexities and exceptions to the general rule.^[17] What one might term “counterpoint proverbs” cut against the dominant grain of the book. For example, Prov. 22:16 recognizes the way the world actually works, that people do oppress the poor in their efforts to build wealth, efforts that may ultimately fail but do succeed for a time (possibly even a quite long time): “Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.” As noted above, Prov. 13:23 does acknowledge that wealth can come from such oppression: “The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.” As Longman says, “The dominant note of the book should not be allowed to overwhelm the recognition that even Proverbs acknowledges that life is not black and white.”^[18]

The remainder of the wisdom literature fills out this point. Without reducing either Job or Ecclesiastes to a single point (Jerome’s comments about the meaning of the book of Job being a “slippery eel” ought to be kept in mind.), one of these books’ canonical functions is to counter an over-reading of Proverbs.

Axiomatic to the entire book of Job is that Job was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). The reader knows, before the dialogs even begin, that Job did not sin to cause the suffering that would follow. Satan’s accusation in Job 1:9–10 even seems like some faith and work readings of Proverbs: “Then Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.’”

Job’s friends represent a clear retribution theology, that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, a simplistic understanding that matches such an overreading of Proverbs, as well as the remainder of the Deuteronomic corpus. Therefore, if Job is suffering, including extreme financial losses, they conclude he must have sinned. As Longman says, “An initial reading of Proverbs might lead one to the conclusion that those who follow the precepts of wisdom will be rewarded with great success, while those who embrace foolishness will encounter one obstacle after another. Indeed, that is the message Job’s three ‘friends’ and the young Elihu seem to have heard and accepted from the book of Proverbs—at least at first glance.”^[19]

The book of Job explicitly rejects this interpretation by Job’s three friends: “After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: ‘My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has’” (Job 42:7). While Job is eventually restored by the end of the book, even given double, he endures deep suffering and loss even though he has kept a faithful life, even precisely because he has kept a faithful life.^[20]

Similarly, Ecclesiastes represents a sage (Qohelet) struggling deeply with a world that often inverts the seeming equation of Proverbs: “There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity” (Eccl 8:14). In chapter 2, this cry explicitly extends to work:

I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. (Eccl 2:18–23)

And yet, even this, as is typical for the book, is followed by a somewhat more positive spin on the question:

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. (Eccl 2:24–26)

The same pattern repeats in chapter 5:

There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger. Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. (Eccl 5:13–18)

Qohelet emphasizes that chance occurrences can disrupt the general order of how things should be: “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all” (Eccl 9:11).

In the end, Qohelet cautions against what one might call an idolatry of wealth when it comes to work, recognizing that satisfaction in labor must be independent of wealth creation: “Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep” (Eccle 5:12). Ecclesiastes therefore views it as better to work than not, but hardly gives a rosy promise of an easy life. Quite the opposite, work is toil (Hebrew עמל): “Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going” (Eccl 9:9–10).

Job and Ecclesiastes, then, together remind the believer not to apply the general truths of Proverbs mechanistically; there is always room for exception in individual cases. Those truths work, on average, yet at the individual level, life can always yield the reverse. Wisdom literature must therefore be read carefully and cautiously. The book of Proverbs alone is rich and varied, much less the broader wisdom literature, and work and vocation are equally rich and varied, so we need all the proverbs—and all the wisdom literature—to develop a correct understanding.

Reading the Wisdom Literature Covenantally

Academic literature has too often described biblical wisdom literature as areligious. Walther Eichrodt, for example, views wisdom as “strongly secular…only loosely connected with religious faith.”^[21] Certainly, wisdom literature is conspicuously different than the remainder of the Old Testament. It has little, if any, emphasis on the grand themes that dominate much of the rest of the Old Testament, such as the patriarchs, redemption, law, prophetic warning, and history. Further, wisdom literature has a clear dependence on creation, providing almost moralistic lessons from the natural order (e.g., Prov. 6:6–11, 30:24–28) that give practical advice for life in this world. Similarly, wisdom is acknowledged implicitly to be something obtainable, at least in part, by non-Israelite cultures, with 1 Kings 4:30 implying that other cultures also had wisdom, even if far inferior to that ascribed to Solomon.

Such recognition of the value of the created order, however, is hardly secular, and to view it as such is a tremendous post-Enlightenment anachronism. Simply put, nothing at the time of the wisdom sages was considered secular; neither inside nor outside of Israel was any part of daily life seen to be merely natural. John Collins states, “It is doubtful whether any literature from the ancient Near East can really be described as secular… Wisdom theology is creation theology, and is therefore based on a fundamental presupposition of Israelite religion.”^[22] The Israelites always understood that “Behind such pragmatism stood God’s will.”^[23]

Likewise, the wisdom literature itself considers God to be the one who upholds the general truths to enunciates. Proverbs 1:7 is the clearly religious theme of the book: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Therefore, as Crenshaw states, “To begin with, it is essential to reject the common assumption that old wisdom, as it is usually called, lacked religious content altogether.”^[24] Accordingly, any Israelite wisdom was firmly founded in a faith context: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Prov 3:5–6). As Murphy notes, “Sayings about the Lord appear cheek by jowl with sayings about human experience. Ultimately wisdom is never secular, nor does it rest on presuppositions alien to faith in the Lord.”^[25]

Further, to be religious in Israelite faith was to be covenantal. Therefore, if the wisdom sages were operating in a religious worldview, as argued above, they were operating more specifically in a covenantal worldview. In Israel covenant was the very basis for there to be any relationship at all between God and his people, and a covenantal understanding therefore undergirds all wisdom literature. Murphy argues rightly:

It would be a mistake to characterize the wisdom experience as a species of “natural theology” within the Bible. True, it deals with creation and with day-to-day living, but this is in a concrete supernatural situation to which God has called his children; God is available to them through this experience. The Israelite sages were Yahwists. What they learned about the Lord from creation and experience was necessarily associated with what they learned from their historical traditions. The manner and style may have differed, but it was the one Lord who was communicated.^[26]

He continues:

In short, the wisdom experience is to be described as a faith experience. The shaping of Israel’s views of the world, and of the activity of God behind and in it, was done in an ambience of faith, and was characterized by trust and reliance upon God…. Yahwistic belief has doubtless colored and affected Israelite doctrine on wisdom. After all, the sages believed in Yahweh and what he had done for Israel. But it would be impossible (perhaps illegitimate?) to separate out within the wisdom books what is due specifically to Yahwistic belief. The epigrammatic association of wisdom and fear of the Lord (Prov 1:7) is an example of this profound and inextricable unity, because ‘fear of the Lord’ would have certain nuances from Israelite history…and worship…. ‘Lord’ (yhwh) is Israel’s God, the one who is encountered in the wisdom experience, whether or not the ‘official’ name is used.^[27]

The realization that the sages were fundamentally and foundationally covenantal, even if not verbally enunciating that foundation at each turn, helps further condition the use of the wisdom literature for faith and work. Covenantal thinking operates at the level of the visible covenant.^[28] Covenant blessings and curses would come on God’s visible people, the nation of Israel, not person-by-person. This nation was always a mix of those who truly believed (therefore part of the invisible people of God) and those who were merely marked as part of the covenant but did not truly follow God (cf. 1 Kings 19:18, Rom. 11:4–6). When covenant curses such as drought or invasion came upon the nation, faithful believers still suffered, even though they truly followed the Lord. Similarly, when covenant blessings such as a bountiful harvest came upon the nation, merely nominal believers enjoyed those covenant blessings, even though they did not truly follow the Lord.

Covenantal thinking, then, leaves room for and even expects exceptions at the individual level. Blessing and curse come corporately. Individuals who have done no wrong can be swept up in misfortune, and individuals who have done badly can benefit from the overflow of blessing. Whether or not God covenantally judges modern nation-states,^[29] the dynamic is the same: an entrepreneur could rigorously follow the dictums of Proverbs yet be caught up in a broader economic collapse and lose his or her business.

Further, the covenantal relationship between God and his people allows long delays before covenantal curses come to pass. Not only does Leviticus 26 indicate a remarkably long-lasting patience when God brings curses, but many biblical texts summarize his patience in bringing even well-deserved calamity (e.g., Gen. 15:16, 2 Pet. 3:9). Indeed, the whole of 1–2 Kings testifies to a remarkably delayed retribution upon both Israel and Judah for their sins. Even the Northern kingdom of Israel, apostate from the very start, prospered tremendously under kings such as Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:23–29).

The New Testament further complicates this dynamic. The cross immediately invalidates a pure retribution theology, as Jesus, completely faithful to the covenant, is crucified for sinners. John 15:18 indicates that the same should be expected by his followers. Of course, eventually the New Covenant will come to pass with curses on those who reject God, but that will only be upon Jesus’ return, which he chooses to delay (2 Pet. 3:9). Covenant, then, means rewards do come to those who live with wisdom, but those rewards ultimately are guaranteed only in eternity. Christ is the true wisdom of God (Col. 1:24) and in him the kingdom has already come, but it is not yet fully present, including in work.^[30] Temporally, those who do rightly may see great blessing and success in this life, but they may also end up suffering, not seeing immediate—or even ever—success in their temporal lives.^[31]

Faith and Work with Wisdom

The solution is not to use Proverbs any less when approaching faith and work. If anything, the book ought to be used more, just not misused. The truths of Proverbs, as with the rest of the Deuteronomistic literature, are faithful, good, and essential for the Christian life, including but not limited to the workplace. We must teach them rightly and well, enunciating the way God would have us work in the world. And we should still expect proverbial truths to be completely true…proverbially. It will work better to do business God’s way, on average.

The point is balance. Just as this article works to correct one imbalance, it must not feed the opposite imbalance. When Proverbs does provide clear moral directives, those directives are binding, whether or not they lead to worldly success.^[32] Further, God is active in the modern world, upholding and sustaining it. God does act—again, on average—to make things work out in his proverbial ways. Those who follow God should pray for him to work, call on him to work, even expect him to work. The recognition of the complexity of Proverbs and the wisdom literature must not become an excuse for passivity or inaction. Christians at work do not need to protect God by creating low expectations. There can be change, now, in this life.

Yet, as we emphasize the value of working God’s way, we must carefully avoid giving the wrong impression to those we teach, feeling that they now have a roadmap to undoubted commercial and personal success and prosperity. If we allow that impression to endure, we are only setting those we teach up for a crisis of faith should it not work out the way they hoped. The whole of the wisdom literature reminds us that God’s blessings on doing work “his way” are a general truth, not a specific individual guarantee. We must not promise people something more that God does, and we must not become Job’s friends and assume that the man or woman whose business or career is not flourishing has somehow failed to heed God’s word. It might be so, but when it is not, it could be a fallen world waiting to be redeemed.

How do we help people encounter both the text of Proverbs and the broader wisdom literature this way? We start small and build outward. We meditate on a proverb, discerning its general truth, asking the questions of when, where, and how it applies. If it contains moral directives, we purpose to live them out, simply because they are correct. Next, we search the book for every other proverb that also bears on the issue at hand, and we do the same for each of them. We wrestle with cases when two proverbial truths nuance each other. We try to synthesize their teaching, appreciate the nuances, and apply them to our lives of faith and work. Then, we expand the biblical conversation even further, pulling in the remainder of the wisdom literature and ultimately even the entire Bible. We therefore end up cultivating wisdom slowly, over years and decades, in dialog with God through his word. This hard work makes the book of Proverbs, and the wisdom literature as a whole, much more difficult, but much richer, providing us a wealth far beyond riches that “sprout wings and fly away” (Prov. 23:4–5, Luke 12:13–21).

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[1] “Deuteronomistic” means the book of Deuteronomy and others, such as 1–2 Kings, heavily influenced by its theological perspective. In the wisdom literature corpus, this is particularly the book of Proverbs.

[2] The “wisdom literature” traditionally includes Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes as books. To that could be added “wisdom psalms,” typically including Psalms 1, 14,37, 73, 91, 112, 119, and 128, though the genre identification of individual psalms can be and often is debated.

[3] As opposed to much of the collection, which focused more academically on economic history or theory, therefore tending not to be related as much to the intersection of faith and work, nor would such volumes appeal to the majority of the modern faith and work readers. Also note that this library access was before the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics was merged into the Institute for Faith & Culture and then closed.

[4] n=18, in fact.

[5] Biblical references are given in the ESV translation unless otherwise noted.

[6] Hannah Stolze, Wisdom-Based Business: Applying Biblical Principles and Evidence-Based Research for a Purposeful and Profitable Business (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2021).

[7] Lawrence Reed, “A Poverty Program that Worked,” in For the Least of These, ed. Anne Bradley & Art Lindsley (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 207.

[8] Darrow Miller, Life Work: A Biblical Theology for What You Do Every Day (Seattle: YWAM Publishing, 2009), 179–81.

[9] Wayne Grudem & Barry Asmus, The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013), 105.

[10] Russell Gehrlein, Immanuel Labor: God’s Presence in our Profession (Bloomington, IN: Westbow Press, 2018), 162–3.

[11] Philip J. Clements, et al., “Doing Business in God’s World: Business Is a Calling” in Business Ethics Today (Philadelphia: Center for Christian Business Ethics Today, 2011), 207–24.

[12] Theology of Work Project, Proverbs in The Bible and Your Work Study Series (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2014), 3.

[13] Texts given are only examples, not a full inventory. For a similar summary, though derived independently, see Tremper Longman, How to Read Proverbs (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 120.

[14] Roland Murphy, The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 15.

[15] Murphy, Proverbs, WBC 22 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998), xxxv–xxxvi.

[16] Whether one views the compiler as Solomon or a later editor is immaterial to the point.

[17] Raymond van Leeuwen, “Wealth and Poverty: System and Contradiction in Proverbs,” Hebrew Studies 33 (1992): 25–36.

[18] Longman, How to Read Proverbs, 89.

[19] Longman, How to Read Proverbs, 80.

[20] To the question, “Then why does Job have to repent in 42:6?” whatever the proper answer may be, chapter 1 and 42:7 do not allow the interpretation that Job’s repentance validates the friends’ retribution theology. John Calvin’s idea that Job repents for a good case that he then pleads poorly seems a reasonable explanation, though it is not necessary to prove the point made here.

[21] Walther Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament (Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox, 1967), II, 81–2.

[22] John Collins, Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age, OTL (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1997), 3.

[23] James Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom: An Introduction (Atlanta: John Knox, 1981), 85.

[24] Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom, 92. His distinction of “old wisdom” versus more recent wisdom, enunciated first by H. D. Preuss, whether held or rejected, does not impact this point, as the “old wisdom” is the portion of the book alleged by some critics to be secular.

[25] Murphy, Tree of Life, 115.

[26] Murphy, Tree of Life, 124.

[27] Murphy, Tree of Life, 125–6. Note that the universalism Murphy then draws from this fact should be questioned, but he is correct that the sages were Yahwistic.

[28] See Westminster Confession of Faith XXV.

[29] W. Fullilove, “Does God Judge Nation-States Today?,” The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation, and Culture (7 May 2020), accessed 24 Feb. 2025, https://washingtoninst.org/does-god-judge-nation-states-today/.

[30] W. Fullilove, “Failing the Next Generation on Faith and Work,” The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation, and Culture (20 Feb. 2025), accessed 21 Feb. 2025, https://washingtoninst.org/failing-the-next-generation-on-faith-and-work/.

[31] The claim here is not that the author of Proverbs has the eschaton in view, but that reading Proverbs as part of the Christian canon allows an understanding of how individual proverbs do eventually come to full realization in the new heavens and new earth.

[32] Such a recognition, of course, can become legalism, but it need not be legalism to argue that grace received leads to behavioral implications. This is merely the Pauline indicative and imperative.