The Man Drawer

Of all the descriptions for the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament, the man drawer is one of the most imaginative!



Makes me chuckle every time!

Cell last night continued our look at Proverbs - one of the five Wisdom books.

Proverbs is a book we often overlook; its pithiness makes it awkward to 'study'. Nevertheless, look at Proverbs we did. Now I must be quite honest, I really enjoyed the lesson-esque nature of our cell meeting last night, and I want to give our vicar, Paul, props for doing such a helpful overview of the book - both in his sermon on Sunday and for us to recap at cell.

So here are his notes:

The 'Wisdom Literature' is the name often given to the bunch of books in the middle of the Bible– locate them in your Bible and thumb through to familiarise yourself with their layout. (they are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs).

They are like the 'man drawer' of the Bible, containing books that don't belong anywhere else. We are probably more familiar with the first five books and the histories that follow, and with the prophets. These tell the story of God's dealings with Israel and his speaking to them, 'thus says the Lord'!  The Wisdom literature is more about people reflecting on life with God.

Get hold of the pages of Proverbs and ruffle through to see the structure (dont' spend long on this, just get an overview of how the land lies):

ñ  ch.1-7 – instructions to the reader (addressed as my son) to pay attention to what follows

ñ  ch.8-9 – Wisdom personified as a female calling everyone to come and be instructed.

ñ  ch.10:1 - 22:16 – Proverbs of Solomon – pithy sayings to make you think.

ñ  ch.22:17 - 24:34 – Sayings of the Wise – more anonymous proverbs

ñ  ch.25-29 – more Proverbs of Solomon

ñ  ch.30 – Sayings of Agur

ñ  ch.31:1-9 – Sayings of King Lemuel

ñ  ch.31:10-end – The Wife of Noble Character

Although many of the sayings seem to be in a random order, certain themes emerge. Look up some of these and talk about what they tell you.  (You could get different people to each look up one of the verses in each theme.)

ñ  God and man – for example 9:10; 19:21

ñ  Wisdom – for example 1:1-7; 8:4-11

ñ  The Fool or simpleton – for example 14:15; 1:32; 17:16, 18, 21, 24, 28.

ñ  The Scoffer – for example 21:24; 22:10

ñ  the Sluggard – for example 6:6-11; 26:13-16;

ñ  The Friend – for example 17:17; 18:24; 27:6; 27:10

ñ  Marriage and family life – for example 5:15-20; 19:13; 21:9; 14:1; 31:10-end

Proverbs is about the ordinary stuff in the 'man drawer', the stuff made up of keys and batteries and coins and phones and menus, how we deal with our homes and families, our work and communications, our eating and talking and the stuff that makes up ordinary life.

Not bad eh?