Wisdom Literature - Course Book (Print)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
I. Introduction to Old Testament Wisdom Literature .. . 1
II. The Challenge of Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
III. Job’s Friends Speak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
IV. Job’s Response to His Friends.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
V. Job’s Arguments With God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
VI. Elihu’s Assessment of Job .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
VII. God’s Final Words for Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
VIII. Introduction to Ecclesiastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
IX. False Philosophies of Life (1) .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
X. False Philosophies of Life (2) .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
XI. False Philosophies of Life (3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
XII. False and True Philosophies of Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
XIII. True Philosophies of Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
XIV. Introduction to Proverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
XV. Solomon on Riches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
XVI. Solomon on the Tongue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
XVII. Solomon on Fornication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
XVIII. Solomon on Purposeful Parenting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
XIX. Introduction to the Song of Solomon . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
XX. Solomon on Marital Sex (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
XXI. Solomon on Marital Sex (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

INTRODUCTION
This book covers the course Wisdom Literature from the
Old Testament. It is what I call the music and poetry
appreciation course in the Bible. I grew up in a family of
scientists and logical thinkers. My dad was a biochemist. My
mother’s college major was biology. She and my dad would sit
at the kitchen table during dinner and discuss my father’s work
in the scientific world. He did research consistently on blood
coagulation and the platinum compounds that were used in
chemotherapy to treat tumors. He was constantly reading
literature about new research and trying to decide what the next
tests would be in his area of responsibility. He was always
looking logically and scientifically at methods that could be
applied to his work. My brother’s PhD is in Physics. He has
worked in the electronics industry for many years. He has
worked on quality control and has developed the computer
programs to test products. His work has to do with logic,
scientific approach, and problem solving. My university degree
is in Electrical Engineering which has to do with problem
solving in design and how things fit together in a logical and
scientific way. We are a family of critical thinkers and
problem-solvers. Our approach is logic and reasoning.