Popular Wisdom in the Bible

Creation began with our Heavenly Father’s word for “The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, established the heavens by understanding”. (Proverbs 3:19) Humans who come to know him will partake of the divine nature. (II Peter 1:3-4) If we read the Bible long enough, it lives in us and nourishes our spirit as food does the body. The body’s well-fed cells enable the brain and muscles to carry out their function. In a similar way, the written word of God enables the spirit to lead the mind and body. Our speech begins to echo the sacred text. In time, the mind also begins to recognize Biblical wisdom in phrases we have heard all of our lives.

Human nature itself is a familiar subject for Bible readers. Jeremiah recognized its constancy while Saint Paul adapted to its diversity. We grow up hearing some slightly altered versions of their observations. For example, “Can Ethiopians change their skin, leopards their spots?” (Jeremiah 13:23) Another common saying is rooted in I Corinthians 9:22, “To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some.” The phrase “all things to all men” rolls more easily off the tongue but the translation above is true to the Greek.

Saint Paul was of course, a great intellect but also a very emotional man. He struggled with anger but was able to distinguish between its just and unjust forms. On one occasion, he advises the reader to not to go to bed mad; “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26-27) We have heard that there is no rest for the wicked. Since Paul often quoted Isaiah, he may have recalled that “There is no peace for the wicked” (Isaiah 48:22 and 57:21) The devil would want us to hold on to our self- defeating anger but other scripture reminds us to kill them with kindness. Romans 12:20 mirrors Proverbs 25:21-22, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” This approach also requires patience reminding us of Job.

Job experienced much worse than burning coals. Having lost children and wealth, he persisted in faith although as he said “My bones cling to my skin, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.” (Job 19:20) He also left no room for the devil who wished him to curse God for his losses. Having understood that everything is a divine gift, he may have recalled Psalm 149. In the King James Version, it is verse 17; “For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.” Job’s most famous quote is “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!” (Job 1:21)

Because “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.“(Proverbs 27:17 RSVCE), Saint Paul made reference to the Old Testament hundreds of times in his letters. He drew on the inspired wisdom given to David and Job as he taught his disciple Timothy. After noting that religion is not for material gain, he reminded him, “For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it. “(I Timothy 6:7). These verses bring to mind the saying; you can’t take it with you.

First Timothy is also the source for one of the most commonly misquoted Bible verses. The common saying is that money is the root of all evil. Here is what I Timothy 6:10 actually says, “For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.” The Greek word philarguria, means literally love of silver, which refers to the coins they used for currency. Currency may be valued for its utility but love of course is reserved for God and His creatures.

We could site many more examples. Popular wisdom is something good and therefore from God since all good giving and every perfect gift is from above as James 1:17 confirms. We cannot be sure in all cases if these gems entered common culture or the Bible first. Saint Luke wrote in the style of a Roman historian and Paul often reminds one of a Greek philosopher. He spoke with ease to their leading thinkers at the Areopagus in Acts 17 and quoted Greek poetry to Titus. (Titus 1:12) Not everything is at the level of scripture but the Bible, since it is of God, purifies whatever human words enter it and sanctifies those who draw from it and pray with it “so that God and man may talk together”. (Dei Verbum 25)

While not all will see the handwriting on the wall (Daniel 5:5), God’s word will become their own. Abraham Lincoln’s earliest exposure to literature was the King James Version. Its seventeenth century terms colored his lofty rhetoric. He may have recalled Psalm 90 verse 10 as he composed the Gettysburg Address; “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly.” All times and cultures recognize one Biblical admonition from Ecclesiastes 1:9; “What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun!”

1. See also; Ecclesiastes 5:14 “. As they came forth from their mother’s womb, so again shall they return, naked as they came, having nothing from their toil to bring with them. “N.A.B.R.E.
All Biblical quotations are taken from the New American Bible Revised Edition unless otherwise noted.