As I come to the end of the Book of Proverbs, I must reflect on one of the books most often used figures (aside from those evil and dangerous women, of course); the fool. Throughout the book, “wisdom” is contrasted with the pitiable, wicked fool. The “Fool” seems to be interchangeable with the term “scoffer,” which I take to be synonym for unbeliever. As an agnostic, one who does not accept the wisdom handed down by Solomon, I quickly came to see myself in these undesirable figures. One bit particularly struck me, 18:2 “A fool does not delight in understanding. But only in revealing his own mind.” Ouch! That hits a bit close to home, eh? Yes, I do admit that I did not understand everything in the book, being just a “scoffer,” though I persist with this project; 14:6-7, “A scoffer seeks wisdom, and finds none, but knowledge is easy to him who has understanding. Leave the presence of a fool, or you will not discern words of knowledge.” As I read through the, to me, questionable ideas explored by the Book, attempting to grasp knowledge that I could not obtain I again reflected on my project. Don’t get me wrong, there were messages of charity and generosity, being kind and giving to the poor expressed;I especially liked 13:23, “Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, but it is swept away by injustice,” but the very next passage is “he who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently,” implying love is violence (but I talk more about that later). The rampant sexism in these pages came off even stronger than its teachings against “fools,” which I found surprising.
In the end, to me, the Book of Proverbs was a very strange section of the Old Testament, repetitive and obtuse. Most of the chapters appear to have been compiled by the legendary Solomon, that most apparently “wise” of Hebrew Kings, and seem to be simple lists of the pithy phrases that this fellow seemed to like, many of which he liked so much he repeated them several times (including the hilariously appalling “it is better to live in a corner of a roof, Than in a house shared with a contentious woman,” seen at both 21:9 and 25:24). Well, that, and the child abuse (okay, maybe it might not have been considered abuse back in the Bronze Age to beat your children with “rods” when they angered you, but today? I think that should be considered “wicked” in any circumstances. There has been much violence in the Bible so far, but this one seems the most personal, the closest to our own experiences. That brings up a final thought; rod beating appears at 13:24, 23:13-14 “although you beat him with the rod, he will not die.” Well, probably not, anyway. In other words, I have to question the use of these words of wisdom in the modern world. I have to admit, I would be cautious around someone who took these words to heart. I do not believe most Christians beat their children with sticks when they disobey, but Solomon states in Proverbs very clearly, numerous times, that its okay, indeed, a good thing to do. Most people, Christians and non-Christians alike, love their children and do not beat them with sticks and if they do, they should be stopped. How do faithful people who do not beat their children with sticks reconcile this in the Bible? If they do, could it be considered a religious freedom? As a fool in the eyes the Book of Proverbs and people who might agree with the worlds, I perhaps cannot appreciation this idea of wisdom in any perceptible way at all, and perhaps I even would not want to. So, how am I qualified to discuss this at all? All I can reply upon is my own judgments, developed through my own experiences. This book definitely struck a bit closer to home for me than earlier books, I think, being tied less into ancient mythology and stories that could be interpreted in many different was, but in simple aphorisms of how people should interact, that drew me into how this is seen by various Christian denominations today. This website, ReligiousTolerance.org, has an interesting discussion on what exactly the “rod” is mentioned in Proverbs, including two interpretations that did not occur to me, that illustrate how many ideas can exist about a single word; is the rod a physical beating stick used to chastise the young with pain, or a figurative item of guidance and comfort? I must say, the latter seems much more appealing to me. I’m not really sure how to end this one. Hmm. Well, Proverbs is over! On to the next adventure, the Book of Ecclesiastes! Yay!
I remember being very disappointed by the “rod” passages as well. I was heartened when I heard that, “Spare the rod, spoil the child,” was NOT actually in the Bible — but when I read these passages, I figured it might as well have been. This common “proverb” is just a rephrasing of the proverbs that really do exist equating violence with good parenting.
Comment by Lacey Louwagie — January 27, 2012 @ 9:05 am