“Well done is better than well said.”

“God helps those who help themselves.”

“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

These are but a few of our “American proverbs,” all of which came, at least through, if not from, Benjamin Franklin.

Every culture has its proverbs. From Babylon during the days of Abraham we have the following: “Build like a Lord, live like a slave. Build like a slave, live like a Lord.” From Egypt we have this one: “A petitioner likes attention to his words better than the fulfilling of that for which he came . . . a good hearing is a soothing of the heart.”

The culture of Israel in the Old Testament was no different. Solomon himself was said to have spoken three thousand proverbs, and over 300 of them are specifically to be found in the book of Proverbs, part of what is called the “wisdom literature” of the Old Testament. The book of Proverbs has more parallels with ancient literature than any other book in the Bible.

Proverbs has little organizational structure, but may be outlined as follows:

I) Title and aim of the book. 1:1-7
II) The importance of wisdom. 1:8 - 9:18
III) Proverbs of Solomon (374 two liners) 10:1 - 22:16
IV) Sayings of other wise men 22:17 - 24:22
V) Hezekiah’s collection of Solomon’s proverbs chapters 25 - 29
VI) Wisdom from the wise man Agur - chapter 30
VII) Wisdom from King Lemuel 31:1-9
VIII) The Woman of Noble character 31:10-31

Wisdom has to do with “how” we live our lives in order to be successful. Proverbs are wise rules of conduct. They are not “guarantees.” Our proverb, “early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” is a good rule to follow, but not a guarantee. Some labor from dawn to dusk, destroy their health, and never become “wealthy.” But on the other hand, “go to bed late, get up late,” is a prescription for disaster.

Since they are not guarantees, they should not be read or treated as laws. Thus the parent who “trains up his child in the way he should go” can expect that his child will live accordingly. But that is not a guarantee. If a child turns from the wise path later in life, it should not serve as an indictment against his parents. On the other hand, of course, the parent who offers no guidance for his child can fairly well expect him to turn out poorly.

Proverbs offers direction for daily manners, work, sex, family life, friendship, and our relationship with God. These particular proverbs are important because they come to us by the approval of God and as such, provide us not with earthly wisdom, but heavenly.

The longest book of the Bible is the book of Psalms. It is the most cited Old Testament book by New Testament writers (but Isaiah runs a close second). Walter Bruggemann has written: “In season and out of season, generation after generation, faithful women and men turn to the Psalms as a most helpful resource for conversation with God about things that matter most.” He divides the Psalms into three categories:

1) Psalms of “orientation.” I call these “good time psalms,” expressions of the heart when times are going well.

2) Psalms of “disorientation.” These are the “bad times psalms,” expressions of the heart when things are not going well. There is hurt, separation, suffering, and death. Life is ragged. The largest number of psalms are of this type (wonder why that is?).

3) Psalms of “reorientation,” which I call “turn around psalms.” Things have been going poorly, but life has changed and is now headed in a new and better direction.

Of all the Psalms, perhaps none has provided Christians with as much difficulty as those called the “Imprecatory Psalms.” These are prayers that ask God to do horrible things to other people. The most notable are Psalms 55,59,69,79,109,137. How could a person of God ask God to “let death take my enemies by surprise”or make their eyes “darkened so they cannot see and their backs bent forever”? Is it really appropriate for us to pray: “Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name”?

We are much more comfortable with Jesus’ and Stephen’s prayer for their enemies: “Do not hold this sin against them.”

While we would like to pray Jesus’ prayer, and while it is surely more in keeping with his command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43ff), it is nevertheless true that there are times justice seems so trampled on that the imprecatory psalms more accurately reflect the feelings of our heart. The book of Psalms is God’s word to us that whatever we feel about ourselves, about others, and even about God, none of those feelings are new nor unique to us. Great people of God have felt them too. And when they had those feelings, good or bad, joyful or sad, convicted or confused, they didn’t take matters into their own hands. They took their feelings to God. As much as anything else, the book of Psalms provides us with the vocabulary to unburden our heart and approach God in any season of life.

In the 4th century A.D., Ambrose, a preacher and Elder of the church in Milan, Italy, wrote: “Although all scripture breathes the grace of God, yet sweeter than all the others is the book of Psalms. History instructs, the Law teaches, Prophecy announces, rebukes, chastens, and morality persuades. But in the book of Psalms, we have the fruit of these – and a kind of medicine for the salvation of men.” More near our own time, Walter Bruggemann (whom we mentioned earlier) has written: “The Psalms draw our entire life under the rule of God, where everything may be submitted to the God of the gospel.”