February | 2014 | Biblically Apologetic

Apologetic Wisdom

Have you ever considered the amount of apologetic wisdom that can be found in the Scriptures? I find one of the most prolific, insightful, and inspirational groups of writings from the Jewish Scripture are the famous collection of books, Psalms and Proverbs. These two sections of literature are mainly filled with deep expressions of wisdom in the form of prophecy,hymns, and they contains a collection of “spiffy statements” that relate practical truths and advice to the common man (Merril, 1991). This is very interesting considering that we find very strong apologetic material that explains tough issues regarding the person and work of Jesus Christlike if Jesus thought he was “forsaken” by God. Today, we will be going over a few portions of these two books of the Old Testament that I think can give good insight to the Bible believer for personal study and better understanding of the work of Jesus.

Proverbs: What and Why We Need Wisdom

Yesterday, I had a very interesting discussion with a Walgreens clerk named Joe regarding LBGT laws that are currently pending in the courts. As a Christian, I was personally troubled that Joe was appealing to popular axioms of the culture to support the LBGT view point

because these catchy phrases to me only “sounded good”. Before Joe and I got into a very emotional conversation that can be very nasty, I thought to myself: “How should I explain my convictions to Joe that is reasonable and edifying to the conversation?” That was when I remember the basic teachings of the first chapter of Proverbs. In Proverbs 1, we find that the reason why Solomon sets out to pen these passages is to emphasize the importance of wisdom when living for and in fear of the LORD (Proverbs 1:1-7). When I began to share my disagreements with Joe, like the majority I did it in a proverb for objective reasons. I tried to give examples in my view via brief, clear, and contrasting examples that can be grounded in some sense of reason. This is very important concept that also should be considered within your dailywalk as a Christian for they mold your character with the many deep insights of discernment like they express.

Praise Be To Yahweh: The Jewish Hymnal

When it comes to exploring the wisdom works, one can’t say that the Psalms often are themost remember able portions of Scripture because many are written in lyric/song form.Historically, the Jews have always seen this collection of writings as the Hymnal of the Jewish people (Merrill, 1991). It is also believe that these portions of Scripture was memorized by the Jews and sung in the temple, house, and work place. Within the book itself, we find a wide variety of themes. In the Psalter, we find hymns of repentance (Psalms 51), wrath/judgment(Psalms 12), worship (Psalms 150), and Royal/Messianic (Psalm 110) ideals (Merrill, 1991). As

a Christian, we often neglect the abundance of wisdom that is contained within the Psalms.Though this Hebraic music contains many prayers, songs, and wrath hymns to depict the need to be humble to the decrees and truth of God while also serving as a great apologetic instructional guide that can answer many of the Messianic issues within the New Testament witness of Jesus.

Psalm 22 & Jesus’ Crucifixion

When it comes to Christian apologetics, one of the hardest concepts that I had troubles dealing with is why Jesus said “”Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” or “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me” in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34. Until recently, I always thought that Jesus was making a last plea to the Father to save Him form the cross and the excruciating pain that he was experiencing from the torments He received while he was hanging on the cross, but is this really the case? In Psalm 22, we find the origin of these words of Jesus coming from the pen of David. Considering the Psalter was and is the hymn book of the Jews and David was a prophet,is it possible or probable that this passage in its context is the reason why Jesus quotes this passage from the cross? I personally think so. As an African American, I personally see this passage being quoted by Jesus as a sign to the Jewish people who were there to watch Him die to allude to His Messianic role and the fact that in the end of Psalm 22, we find that this passage closes with God announcing vindication of this suffering servant with a coronation for thisservant. Why is this information important? Considering the Jewish leaders of Jesus day wanted

Jesus dead because they thought he was a blasphemer, they never expected for God to vindicate Jesus Christ of the claims He made of Himself.

Conclusion

To conclude, I think that as Christians, we should keep our mind in tuned with abundance of hymns and spiffy statements within the Scriptures. As we believers in the Word we should become more aware of the parallel passages of Jesus like Psalm 22. This type of information is often misunderstood or ignored by the average. Due to adaptive nature of these two collections of wisdom works, we find my insights on how to live a righteous live. Also, we must remember that in the book of Proverbs, we find a very normative lines of reasoning that often appeals to the common man. With this information in mind, remember that through wisdom, guidance comes.Such so, through guidance and wisdom found in the Psalter and Proverbs contained useful general truths in the form apologetic information to personal growth in understating the Truth of the Word of God.

References

Merrill, Eugene. An Historical Survey of the Old Testament

. Second Edition. Grand Rapids, MI:Barker Academic, 1991 (p. 220-222)

Longman, Tremper, Raymond B. Dillard. An Introduction to the Old Testament

. Grand Rapids,MI: Zondervan, 2006

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