Rooting Path · Old Testament Survey · Lesson 5 of 7 · Poetry and Wisdom: Fearing God in Daily Life · about 18 min
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. These five books are not placed in order on the timeline, because they do not tell a story in time order. Many psalms bear David’s name, and Proverbs opens by calling itself the proverbs of Solomon, so this lesson comes after the age of David and Solomon. What they are about is how people relate to God in good times, in suffering and in ordinary days.
Proverbs opens by saying:
7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
Prov 1:7 · WEB
The first psalm:
1Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers; 2but his delight is in the LORD’s law. On his law he meditates day and night. 3He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.
Ps 1:1–3 · WEB
The end of Ecclesiastes:
13This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
Eccl 12:13 · WEB
The first four lessons told a story: creation, the patriarchs, the exodus, entering Canaan, setting up a king. This lesson pauses. Five books in the Old Testament do not tell the story; they are about how the people in the story lived, how they prayed, how they struggled to understand, and how they came back to God.
These five books share one word: fear. Proverbs says “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,” (Prov 1:7) the Psalms say “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps 111:10), Job says “the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28), and Ecclesiastes concludes: “Fear God and keep his commandments.” (Eccl 12:13) Fear here does not mean being frightened away; it means treating God as God in the things of every day.
Job asks the hardest question: why do good people suffer? Job “was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1), yet he lost his children, his possessions and his health. His friends insisted that suffering must come from sin; but in the end God said to them: “you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has” (Job 42:7). Job did not get an explanation; he got God himself: “the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind” (Job 38:1), and Job said: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you” (Job 42:5).
The Psalms are 150 prayers and songs. In them there is joy and there is weeping; praise and complaint; thanksgiving and confession. The heading of Psalm 51 says David wrote it after the matter of Bathsheba, when the prophet Nathan came to him, and it contains this line: “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me” (Ps 51:10). The king who committed great sin in Lesson 4 tells God the truth here. The last line of the Psalms is: “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!” (Ps 150:6).
Proverbs is wisdom for every day: speech, money, diligence and laziness, family, friends. Its center is “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding” (Prov 3:5). Proverbs speaks of how things generally go, not a guarantee for every case; it teaches us to read the times and to discern.
Ecclesiastes opens with: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Eccl 1:2). It looks at all the toil, wealth, pleasure and learning ‘under the sun’, and finds that if these are all we have, in the end we can hold on to nothing. So its ending comes back to God: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth” (Eccl 12:1).
The Song of Songs is a poem celebrating love between a man and a woman. Through the ages it has been read in different ways, and churches understand it differently; please ask your own church. This lesson remembers just one thing: the love God made has a whole book of poetry in the Bible celebrating it.
After these five books we return to the story: the kingdom of David and Solomon is about to split. In the next lesson the kingdom divides in two, and prophets rise up one after another to speak.
Solomon’s wisdom drew even a queen from far away to hear it. Jesus said: “someone greater than Solomon is here” (Matt 12:42). Paul says that to those who are called, “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24).
Nor are the Psalms only the prayers of people long ago. On the cross Jesus cried with a loud voice: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46)—the very first line of Psalm 22. After he rose, he said to his disciples: “all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning me must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44).
Open each of the five books and read a few verses: Job 1:20–22, Psalm 23, Proverbs 3:5–6, Ecclesiastes 1:1–3, Song of Songs 1:1–4. For each, write one sentence: what are the people in this book asking, or saying to God?
For reference: Job—why do good people suffer? Still blessing God when everything is lost. Psalms—telling God the truth: pleading, confessing, thanking, praising. Proverbs—how to live each day wisely. Ecclesiastes—apart from God, everything under the sun is vanity. Song of Songs—the love between a man and a woman is made by God.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.
Prov 1:7 · WEB
This week read one psalm a day, starting from Psalm 1. After each, write one word: is this psalm rejoicing, weeping, confessing, giving thanks or praising? If you want to read more, read Job 1–2 and 38–42.
Just this one thing. When you do it, tap that day below; if you don’t, that’s all right—try again next week.
Good. Tap each day you do it this week:
Putting down roots is not something you do alone. Find a brother or sister you trust (ideally of the same sex) and talk this question over this week:
When you face hardship, do you tell God the truth? Or only what you think you ‘should’ say?