My son, do not despise the\u00a0Lord’s discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
for the\u00a0Lord\u00a0reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights.
Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
and the man who gets understanding,
for the gain from it is better than gain from silver
and its profit better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called happy.
Proverbs 3:11-18<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This short wisdom poem in Proverbs is the second of three Old Testament readings assigned to the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross vespers on September 14.\u00a0 The first reading is Exodus 15:22-27 and the third reading is Isaiah 60:11-16.\u00a0 The feast has two associations, the commemoration of the historical finding of the true cross by St. Helena in 326 and one of two semi-annual commemorations of the Holy Cross in the Byzantine liturgical cycle.\u00a0 The other commemoration of the Holy Cross is the third Sunday of the Great Fast in the spring.\u00a0 These two commemorations roughly divide the year.\u00a0 This September feast also marks the liturgical shift to reading the Gospel of Luke and the change in Psalter reading assignments until the feast of the Nativity.\u00a0 The Great Fast commemoration of the Holy Cross marks the mid-point of the fast and serves to foreshadow the coming events on Great and Holy Friday.\u00a0 In both cases the Holy Cross serves as a liturgical pivot point and a reminder of the means of salvation.\u00a0 This Proverbs wisdom poem serves to support this liturgical context in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The use of introductory names in Proverbs divides the book into six collections plus the final acrostic poem.\u00a0 This pericope is within the first collection attributed to \u201cSolomon son of David, king of Israel\u201d encompassing chapters one to nine.\u00a0 Within this first collection there is a series of poems extolling wisdom interspersed between sets of instructions marked by the appellation \u201cmy child.\u201d\u00a0 The overall effect of this juxtaposition is to make wisdom the reward for hearing the instructions.\u00a0 The collection ends with two poems describing wisdom and a final poem on her literary foil, folly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This pericope of 3:11-18 is solidly in the middle of this first major unit within the book of Proverbs.\u00a0 The passage opens with that standard appellation \u201cmy child\u201d and one stanza of instruction.\u00a0 The passage closes on the wisdom poem describing her benefits.\u00a0 These benefits culminate with the equation of wisdom to the tree of life.\u00a0 There are two parts to the poem in this division, the opening stanza on instruction and the description of wisdom that opens and closes with the term happy or blessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The poetic structure using keywords in parallel moves the reader from instruction to possession of the tree of life.\u00a0 The poem starts by creating a direct key word link in the first stanza between verses.\u00a0 The next step in the chain is to use a synonymous link between the terms in the same position with the next two verses. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My child, do not despise<\/em> the Lord\u2019s discipline for the Lord reproves<\/em><\/strong> the one he loves, Happy<\/em><\/strong> are those who find wisdom, for her income<\/em> is better than silver, The poems opening stanza has two sets of instructions to \u201cmy child\u201d set in synonymous parallelism.\u00a0 There are two key terms in each pair of lines in the poem, indicated by the italic and underline.\u00a0 The second key word in the first verse (reproof) carries into the stanzas second verse starting a poetic chain of connections through the verses.\u00a0 The bridge from verse three to four is with the two words delight and happy.\u00a0 The two verses for the second stanza set wisdom and understanding into parallel with income and revenue by using these same positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is more precious than jewels, Long life is in her right hand; From here the poet moves to jewels and all the riches one could desire being associated with wisdom and introduces long life as the completion of the pair with riches and honor.\u00a0 The poem then culminates with wisdom as the tree of life itself and the source of peace and happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her ways are ways of pleasantness, She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; The poetic keyword structure has brought the student from instruction by discipline to possession of riches, honor and long life in the person of wisdom who is the tree of life.\u00a0 The invocation of happy bookends the description of wisdom, we open and close the wisdom poem with the son called happy or blessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The poetic chain of these stanzas artfully links a few key themes.\u00a0 The poem connects discipline, wisdom, wealth and life via the keyword structure outlined above.\u00a0 The opening theme of discipline places the reader into the status of son of God.\u00a0 The Lord is equated with the father and the reader with his son.\u00a0 We should interpret the difficulties sent our way as loving reproof to correct our ways.\u00a0 This accepting attitude will make one blessed to find wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wisdom is a common theme as the learning goal of the son in Proverbs and throughout the Old Testament.\u00a0 Following the instruction and discipline of the father will lead to wisdom for the son.\u00a0 A natural outcome from wisdom is prosperity.\u00a0 The theme of wealth is developed in a variety of concrete forms in the poem.\u00a0 The theme of life is also portrayed as a gift of wisdom.\u00a0 The two hands of wisdom hold wealth and life.\u00a0 Life then subsumes wisdom entirely as she becomes the tree of life blessing those who found her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a few interesting details in this Proverbs poem that suggest a connection to the Holy Cross for a Christian reader.\u00a0 Primary among these is the presence of the tree of life.\u00a0 From an early age Christians saw the tree of life and the Holy Cross as \u201cbook-ends\u201d to the story of salvation.\u00a0 In the Genesis account, we are denied access to the tree of life because we sin through the wood of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.\u00a0 The Holy Cross is planted as the new tree of life for the new creation.\u00a0 Where Adam fails Christ succeeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another image that suggests a connection is the verb scourges that occurs in the Septuagint rendering in 3:12.\u00a0 The Lord scourges every son he receives is used in the letter to the Hebrews (12:5-6) as a reference to the passion of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A further implied image of a cross can be seen in the figure of wisdom.\u00a0 The poem describes wisdom as holding life in one hand and riches in the other.\u00a0 Christians see a visual image of a person on a cross whenever two hands are active in Old Testament figures.\u00a0 One can imagine wisdom holding her arms outstretched with these two prizes on display standing in a figure of the cross.\u00a0 When the figure then transforms into the tree of life the allegory is strengthened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This Proverbs reading is part of a movement in three acts about the Holy Cross.\u00a0 In the Exodus reading 15:22-27 the wood provides the water of life to the wandering Israelites by clearing fouled well.\u00a0 The Proverbs poem connects the wood of the cross to the tree of life.\u00a0 The figure of wisdom is seen standing with arms outstretched like a cross holding riches and life.\u00a0 Finally, in Isaiah 60:11-16 we connect the ultimate triumph of Zion and the subjugation of nations with the cross.\u00a0 The passage notes that even though one was forsaken and despised, now the nations and their kings bow before Zion.\u00a0 The cross is originally an instrument of humiliation and torture but is transformed into triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The three vespers readings taken as a whole provide an Old Testament context for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.\u00a0 These three selections from connect the Christian experience of the Holy Cross to a key miracle of the exodus experience.\u00a0 They then allegorize the cross and connect the crucifixion with life in the creation account.\u00a0 Finally, they promise that despite being forsaken and despised the nations will bow down in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 The parallelism implies are repetition of the verb \u201creproves\u201d in this line.\u00a0 The Septuagint sees \u201cand scourges every son he receives,\u201d where the parallelism of the stanza becomes explicit, as in the first verse.\u00a0 The Septuagint rendering is quoted in Hebrews 12:5-6 as an exhortation concerning Christ\u2019s passion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 The Septuagint would render this line \u201cno valuables can match her.\u201d\u00a0 Removing the second person reference from the text.\u00a0 This rendering seems to fit better in the poetic flow as there are no other second person references in the poem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3 The Septuagint expands this verse with \u201cOut of her mouth proceeds righteousness, and she carries law and mercy upon her tongue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally published 3\/15\/2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My son, do not despise the\u00a0Lord’s disciplineor be weary of his reproof,for the\u00a0Lord\u00a0reproves him whom he loves,as a father the son in whom he delights.Happy is the man who finds wisdom,and the man who gets 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\nor be weary<\/em> of his reproof<\/strong>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
as a father the son in whom he delights<\/strong>. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nand those who get understanding,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and her revenue<\/em> better than gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and nothing you desire can compare with her. [2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in her left hand are riches and honor. [3]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nan all her paths are peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
those who hold her fast are called happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThemes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Integrated Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Footnotes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n