Thursday, August 8, 2019

Daniel J. Estes on a True Learner Needing to Assimilate Wisdom


Commenting on the attributes of a true learner according to the book of Proverbs, Daniel Estes wrote the following which is something anyone seeking to learn about the theology and Scripture should exemplify:

The leaner must assimilate wisdom

The capstone of the role of the learner in Proverbs 1-9 is the assimilation of wisdom as a coherent philosophy of life. As the learner develops a pattern of life organized around wisdom he achieves an internally consistent value system (Gronlund 1985:38). All aspects of life are united by wisdom to form an integrated person living skilfully in Yahweh’s ordered world.

This thorough commitment to Yahweh’s values is described in the metaphors of Proverbs 3:3:

Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.

The learner must keep constantly in mind the values which wisdom endeavours to inculcate in him. In other words, learning is not compartmentalized in one area of life, but it must continually permeate the whole of existence.

In Proverbs 4:23 the heart [lēb] is used again to speak of the centre of the person that controls the rational and emotional life. Farmer (1991:40) summarizes the significance of lēb in this context:

The Hebrew word leb/lebab (translated ‘heart’) can also be translated ‘mind’ because its range of meaning in Hebrew includes concepts we often associate with the word ‘mind’ in English. The ‘heart/mind’ represent the place within the human body where both rational and emotional decisions are made. In vv. 23-27 the instructor’s advice encompasses the heart (v. 23), the mouth and lips (v. 24), the eyes (v. 25), and the feet (vv. 26-27). Each part named represents an activity which ought to be governed by wisdom teachings. Only a concerted effort by the whole person can succeed at wisdom’s task.

The heart is the ‘wellspring of life’, so it must be guarded more than anything else (Whybray 1994b:82). Control of this vital centre of personal existence comes by choice, not by chance, for the learner is exhorted, ‘guard your heart’. The learner is personally responsible to decide to keep his heart aligned to wisdom. When the heart, from which all of lie springs, is guarded, then all subsidiary areas of the person, including hearing (4:20-22), speech (4:24), sight (4:25) and action (4:26-27), are affected. The ultimate result is that the learner stays on the path of wisdom, without swerving to the right or to the left.

The integrating point for the learner’s life must be the fear of Yahweh, the fundamental concept which is the foundation . . .and the goal . . .for wisdom in Proverbs 1-9. It is the fear of Yahweh that is the primary principle of knowledge (1:7) and wisdom (9:10). By contrast, folly refuses to choose the fear of Yahweh (1:29). As Aitken (1986:15) remarks this concept ‘touches the pulse of Israel’s religious faith and practice in all its vitality, embracing reverence for and devotion to God, and, above all, loyalty and obedience to him.’ In order to assimilate wisdom, the learner must organize all of life according to the fear of Yahweh. This commitment integrates every aspect of personal existence into a coherent philosophy of life predicated on wisdom. (Daniel J. Estes, Hear, My Son: Teaching and Learning in Proverbs 1-9 [New Studies in Biblical Theology 4; Leicester: Apollos, 1997], 147-48)