Freshmen Chapter 10 Wisdom & Wit: Seeking the Ways of God Let’s go back to basics for a minute: Knowledge: Facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject; true, justified belief; certain understanding, as opposed to opinion Religion: A strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny

A synonym for failure is fiasco: A thing that is a complete failure, esp. in a ludicrous or humiliating way Success: A person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains prosperity Which do you want to be?

Now we turn to a variety of Old Testament texts written at various times after the Babylonian exile The authors of these books tried to answer these questions:  What does it mean to be a wise person?  What is the meaning and purpose of life?  Where are we going?  Why do good people suffer and bad people prosper?  Why should we be good in a world that is unfair?  How can we live good and faithful lives when surrounded by those who are hostile to our beliefs?

The Book of Proverbs appeared sometime after the Babylonian exile during the period when the second, primitive temple was being built in Jerusalem It contains collections of wisdom teachings oriented toward teaching the young Parts of The Book may date back to the time of King Solomon It is concerned with how to live a good life It is full of down-to-earth, practical advice

How to live a good life according to The Book of Proverbs: (See pg 246 ff) – Discuss a time  Parenting  Communicating  Attitudes  Manners at court  Work  Conducting Business  Reputation  Leadership  Gossip  Learning  Relationships with neighbors

Notice the literary device used in wisdom sayings: the same thing is said twice in two different ways, ex “Misfortune pursues sinners, / but prosperity rewards the righteous” The teachers says the first part of the saying and the students respond with the second part In the original Hebrew it would have been even more fun with the clever word plays and sounds unique to the Hebrew language According to The Book of Proverbs, success & prosperity in this life, gained fairly, are the reward for a virtuous life

Watch video “The Book of Proverbs”

Notice the focus in Judaism on rewards for being good come in this life not in the afterlife as in Christianity Honor, dignity, and a good name are a person’s memorial – there is no hint of an afterlife in Jewish theology If pressed, Rabbis talk about a “collective” afterlife with God in heaven but there is no notion of an individual afterlife with God Where is God in all this wisdom? – most of the sayings do not mention God

The perspective of the Jewish sages (“sage” means a “wise teacher”) was that true wisdom is from God, no matter where we find it – even in other cultures with their appealing wisdom sayings The sages saw the world as full of God’s wisdom so it is not surprising that the sages looked to the everyday experiences of the world to find wisdom The Book of Proverbs often portrays the image of God’s wisdom as a woman and adds a feminine voice and quality to the traditional image of God as masculine and this feminine image of wisdom has been called “Lady Sophia” after the Greek word for wisdom

God is pure spirit – neither man nor woman God is personal, but transcends the human categories of gender The Old Testament writers used the terms “male” and “female” because that’s that they knew from their everyday experience Catholic tradition has often read the passages on Wisdom in the Old Testament as related to Mary, the mother of God. Mary is called the “Seat of Wisdom” in some prayers in the Catholic liturgy

Read together “Ecclesiastes: Is Life Lived in Vain?” on page Read together “Wisdom: What is Our Final Destiny” on page 252 Read together “Afterlife” on page 253 Watch “Life After Death - a Jewish View“ From the Book of Job: Why do the Good suffer? The dilemma of why the good suffer and the wicked prosper in this life is known as “the problem of evil” – and it is a very real problem

Read together in class the section beginning on the lower right side of page 249 and continuing on page 250 up to the section entitled "Ecclesiastes” Watch video “The Book of Job” parts 1 thru 3 Read together “The ‘answer’” on page 250 Read together “Ecclesiastes: Is Life Lived in Vain” on pages 250 to 251 Watch “Turn! Turn! Turn! Ecclesiastes In Music”

Watch video “Ecclesiastes” 1 thru 10 The Experiences of John Newman as a Prelude to the Book of Wisdom: read together on page 252 The Book of Wisdom: – Also called The Book of Solomon – Written in Alexandria, Egypt – Writer was a scholarly Jew – Struggles with the problem of Evil – Says our reward is in the afterlife – Contrasts fate of rich with fate of the just

Watch videos “The Book of Solomon” # 1 – 6 Later Jewish writers assert that the soul continues to exist after the physical death of the body Read together “Afterlife” on page 253 together in class Read together “The Prayer of Israel: Hope of Immortality” on page 253 The Book of Sirach: an alternative approach to Jewish history

The Book of Sirach, written by Jesus ben Sirach of Alexandria, Egypt, focuses on Israel’s history The collection of “Wisdom Books” were written at various times after the Babylonian exile when Israel was surrounded by various foreign cultures: Watch Sirach Chapter #1 He focused on wisdom as coming from God, not from Greek philosophy and thought

Stories of Encouragement: Faith, and Goodness Triumph Read the left column of page 257: tales told after the Babylonian exile The book of Tobit was written about 200 BC but its story is set 500 years earlier during the Greek occupation Tobit is the ideal, loyal Jew Watch videos “The Book of Tobit” # 1 & 2

During the Assyrian occupation, Tobit would bury the Jewish dead at his own cost Read together “Tobit: the Faithful Jew” on pages 257 – 259 These stories are meant to tell educational tales The next is the Book of Judith which talks about courage in the fight to save Israel and the Temple Watch videos “The Book of Judith” # 1 & 2

Judith represents both courage and piety but also the use of deceit in a good cause Read “Judith” in our textbook on page 260 The Book of Esther – the story of a fictitious, timid woman who “tries out” to be queen and is selected by the King but who does not reveal that she is Jewish The following is a simplified version of the story She learns of a plot by the Prime Minister, Haman, to kill her and all Jews but when she appears before the King and Haman she faints

When Ester finally appears before the King and Haman she tells the King of the plot and the King orders Haman hanged The Jewish feast of Purim is held to celebrate the courage of Esther Watch video “The Book of Esther” Watch video “Purim - The Story and the Holiday” STOP