Proverbial Hebrews?

The book of Hebrews does not contain the words “wise” or “wisdom” even one time.

Yet wisdom is nevertheless a major theme in Hebrews. Jesus learned obedience, we should have discernment of good and evil, and then there is the quoting of Proverbs 3:

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

But to think that Proverbs just shows up here is to miss the point. Proverbs is not quoted as a new thing. It is quoted to reveal what has already been going on. Consider the beginning of this section to which Proverbs 3 is quoted as a closing:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

The statement about faith and creation hearkens back to Hebrews 1.2: “in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

Proverbs has a lot to say about this:

The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth,
before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.

And this also is the key to why the author of Hebrews speaks of how faith must believe God “rewards those who seek him.”

Again, the key is Proverbs:

My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.

And again:

I love those who love me,
and those who seek me diligently find me.

So faith seeks God and finds him not in obvious blessings but in trials that bring wisdom.

Finally, the issue of whether or not one will seek God is whether one trusts that God is worth it. The point of faith is to value the faithfulness of the one who promises. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10.23). It is about how one value’s God: “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.”

So in Proverbs the question is whether or not you value wisdom as highly as you should.

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,
and the one who gets understanding,
for the gain from her is better than gain from silver
and her profit better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *