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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a LegacyWelcome to Day 1361 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to WisdomMastering the Bible – Wisdom Literature and the Messiah – Worldview WednesdayWisdom - the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. Today is Day 1361 of our Trek, and it is Worldview Wednesday. Creating a Biblical Worldview is essential to have a proper perspective on today’s current events. To establish a Biblical Worldview, you must have a proper understanding of God and His Word. Our focus for the next several months on Worldview Wednesday is Mastering the Bible, through a series of brief insights. These insights are extracted from a book of the same title from one of today’s most prominent Hebrew Scholars, Dr. Micheal S. Heiser. This book is a collection of insights designed to help you understand the Bible better. When we let the Bible be what it is, we can understand it as the original readers did, and as its writers intended. Each week we will explore two insights, and this week we finish up in the Old Testament and begin in the New Testament.


Mastering The Bible – Wisdom Literature and The MessiahInsight Fifty-Three: The Focus of Wisdom Literature is Character, and the Most Praiseworthy Character Comes from the Feat of the LordMost Bible readers who have spent time in the biblical wisdom material (Job. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon) will not be surprised by the topic statement. So much of what one encounters in these books is oriented to personal life skills across a wide spectrum of areas and experiences. I think it’s worth mentioning, though, since we tend to think of wisdom literature like we do the advice column, Dear Abby. It’s more than that.


One of the things that distinguish biblical wisdom literature from simple advice is inspiration. God is behind what we’re reading, and God knows what leads to happiness or regret, failure or success, life, or death. Wisdom literature shows us by word and example how to cope with suffering, character flaws, and tragedy. Instead of providing situational suggestions, it tells us the truth about what is virtuous and what is not. It doesn’t try to make us feel good about ourselves. It lays out the path of the wise and the path of the fool and doesn’t flinch from making sure we know which category we’re in.


Since wisdom is a lifelong pursuit, wisdom literature often finds its context in the home. Parents must guide their children (Proverbs 13:22, 24; 22:6), and children must obey their parents (Proverbs 1:8-9; 15:5). The marriage bond must be protected from adultery (Proverbs 5:1-14; 12:4: 19:14: 31:10-31). The family unit is tasked with passing on principles of morality, virtue, and justice. Children are the beneficiaries (or not) of the cumulative wisdom insights learned from parents. Since the home produces adults with (or without) sound character, it is the foundation of society- industry, relationships, commerce, and leadership. It is a fallacy to assume that the culture of a nation will be virtuous without personal virtue. It’s not an exaggeration to say that human stability depends on wisdom.


Foundational to the home are its leaders’ relationships with God. A constant focus of wisdom literature is reverence for God, his laws, and his design. Proverbs 1:7 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=+Proverbs+1%3A7&version=NLT) famously begins with “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”


The same thought is echoed in Psalm 34:11-12