Excursus on Fear of the Lord

Excursus on Fear of the LordBibliographyThe literature on this topic is far too vast to record here. Rather, only the works that influenced the production of this excursus need be mentioned.Barr, M. Fear of God and the World of Wisdom. BTB 11 (1981) 4143. Becker, J. Gottesfurcht im Alten Testament. AnBib 25. Rome: Biblical Institute, 1965. Cox, D. Fear or Conscience?: YHWH in Proverbs 19. Studia Hierosolymitana 3 (1982) 8390. Derousseaux, L. La crainte de Dieu dans lAncien Testament. Paris: du Cerf, 1970. Fox, M. V. Ideas of Wisdom in Proverbs 19. JBL 116 (1997) 61333. Fuhs, H. ary

TDOT 6:290315. Hausmann, J. Menschenbild. 26576. Murphy, R. E. Religious Dimensions of Israelite Wisdom. In Ancient Israelite Religion. FS F. M. Cross, ed. P. Miller et al. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987. 44958. Plath, S. Furcht Gottes. Stuttgart: Calwer, 1962. Preuss, H. D. Einfhrung in die alttestamentliche Weisheitsliteratur. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1987. 5766, 17486. Rad, G. von. Wisdom in Israel. Nashville: Abingdon, 1972. 5373. Schmid, H.-H. Timor Domini Initium Sapientiae. In Ernten was man st. Ed. D. R. Daniels et al. Neukirchen: Neukirchener, 1991. 51931. Vanoni, G. Volkssprichwort und YHWH-Ethos. Beobachtungen zu Spr 15, 16. BN 35 (1986) 73108.

The fear of the Lord (hwhy tary

) is a concept that is central to the biblical wisdom literature, and especially to the book of Proverbs. Its position within the book calls attention to the idea: it is the motto at the beginning, 1:7, and this unites with 9:10 to form a frame for the collection in chaps. 19. A further frame for the entire book is the connection between 1:7 and 31:30. But the idea did not suddenly appear with this book or with wisdom literature. In one form or another fear of the Lord/God permeates the entire Bible. It must be seen in its biblical context if one is to understand it more clearly and especially its place within wisdom. It seems undeniable that fear of God is rooted in a basic attitude of mortal beings before the Numen. That is simply the fear that the Bible expresses so often and in so many ways. Only a few instances can be mentioned here. One of the prime examples is the Sinai revelation and the reaction of the people indicated in Exod 19:16; 20:1518. The role of nature in the theophany intensifies the awfulness of these events. Another expression is the belief that to see the Lord means deatha belief attested all through the Bible. The divine utterance in Exod 33:20 is reflected in one episode after another where, paradoxically, the person concerned lives to tell the tale! The concept of the holiness of the Lord is another expression associated with fear of the Lord. It is a characterization of the divinity as totally other, as being in a sphere of its own that differs from the level in which mortals find themselves. Both the Numinous and the Holy beget certain standards if one is to be able to live in their proximity. This is exemplified in the experience of Isaiah in his confrontation with the Lord in Isa 6:17. The prophet recognizes his sinfulness in the face of this vision of God, but he is purified by the action of one of the seraphim.Already the notion of the fear of God has acquired certain nuances, and that is the tantalizing aspect of the idea within the Bible. It comes to denote several things. Even if these are rooted in the basic stance of mortals before the numinousand this should always be kept in minddefinite new meanings are acquired at different levels of biblical writings. J. Becker (Gottesfurcht, 7584) describes three basic types of fear that develop from the numinous, which he describes as the cultic, moral, and nomistic.

The cultic expression is to be found in the Deuteronomic and Deuteronomistic writings. The dominant aspect is loyalty to the Lord as the God of the covenant, with the corresponding honor that is due to him. As Deut 10:12 puts it, Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? This: to fear the Lord your God, to walk only in his ways, to love him and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. Our common distinction between fear and love is obviously not applicable to this mentality; fear of the Lord also includes love. There is naturally a cultic (which includes the note of proper conduct) sense to be found in the Psalms, and here a communal aspect emerges; the one who fears God is one of the worshiping community. The moral aspect (but without any explicit reference to the obligations of Torah) is found in the book of Proverbs especially, and we shall return to this point. In the famous verse of Job 28:28, against the background of unattainable Wisdom, the fear of the Lord is allied with avoiding evilhence a moral nuance. Qoheleth does not use the phrase, but he uses the verb fear (God) and is unique in his usage (cf. R. Murphy, Ecclesiastes, WBC 23A, lxivlxvi). Finally, the nomistic usage, with specific reference to the Law, is characteristic of Ben Sira.

We are concerned with the usage in Proverbs especially. This is strikingly presented in what has been called the motto of the book in Prov 1:7. The importance of this saying is indicated by its effective repetition in many other places: Prov 9:10; 15:33; Job 28:28; Ps 111:10. First of all, it is the beginning (not the best part, although this is a possible meaning) of wisdom, that is, a training that leads to wisdom, a moral formation to which wisdom contributes while it is also dependent upon it. Second, within the book of Proverbs is a striking parallelism between knowledge () and fear of the Lord: 1:7, 29; 2:5; 9:10; 30:3. In addition to these texts Becker (Gottesfurcht, 22241) has pointed out other ramifications of the phrase. Thus it is associated with retribution in 10:27; 14:2627; 15:16; 16:6; 19:23 and 22:24. In 14:22 it describes one who walks uprightly, and in 15:33 it means training for wisdom. While the notion is considered characteristic of later wisdom (e.g., Prov 19), it is arbitrary to impose a limit since it appears also in chaps. 1029. There is no way of limiting fear of the Lord to a given temporal pigeonhole. Neither can it be considered an infallible sign pointing towards prosperity. According to 15:16 it can tolerate (relative?) poverty, for that is preferable to being overpreoccupied about ones personal state and the problems it begets.

The merit of having explored the full meaning of the wisdom connection and fear of the Lord goes to G. von Rad: The thesis that all human knowledge comes back to the question about commitment to God is a statement of penetrating perspicacity. It has, of course, been so worn by centuries of Christian teaching that it has to be seen anew in all its provocative pungency. In the most concise phraseology it encompasses a wide range of intellectual content and can itself be understood only as the result of a long process of thought. It contains in a nutshell the whole Israelite theory of knowledge. The statement that the fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom was Israels most special possession. But this does not mean that everything is now clear. In a word, her thinking had to operate within spheres of tension indicated by the prior gift of the knowledge of God (Wisdom, 6768). It might seem to be an overstatement to say that the fear of the Lord contains in a nutshell a theory of knowledge. Epistemology sounds too abstract to be linked up to such an attitude. Yet, von Rads perception is basically correct. The oft-maligned wisdom literature is not simply secular or profane or self-centered. It is anthropological and creational, and the pertinence of the divine to these areas should be clearly evident.

This understanding of the fear of the Lord and wisdom is worlds apart from other views that have been expressed, and for which the late H. D. Preuss can be taken as spokesman. He argues (Einfhrung, 57) that the other religions likewise cultivate a fear of the deity, and that in this respect the older wisdom in Israel (specifically Prov 1029) does not differ from ancient Near Eastern wisdom in its conception of the Lord. It would surely be wrong as well as foolish to consider the idea of fear of God as exclusive to Israel; it is a natural response to a Higher Being who cannot be fathomed. But neither is fear of God to be considered merely a common denominator or catchall in the religious understanding of the ancient Near East. Preuss and others have united the expressions of fear into a basic stance before an Urhebergott, or God of origins, a rather theoretical divinity (worthy, indeed, of fear!). This patterning is hypothetical and the product of a deductive method that goes beyond our control of the history and development of ancient texts, both those of the ancient Near East and of Israel. At the present time, a holistic approach, without obliterating historical indications, seems to be the safest way of evaluating fear of God/Lord in Israels wisdom. Certainly it is a key concept in Israelite wisdom literature and even the rest of the Old Testament, when Israels writings are compared to the other writings of the ancient Near East. Its treatment is too extensive, both in Proverbs and the rest of Israelite wisdom, and unique to be dismissed merely as a parallel. One cannot be satisfied with a shortsighted historical approach to the concept and fail to evaluate its function within the present form of the literature. The historical approach merely yields questions, but a holistic approach, as can be exemplified in von Rads exposition, interprets the literature as it stands.

It seems clear that the author/editor of the book regarded 1:7 (The fear of the Lord: the beginning of knowledge; wisdom and instruction fools despise) as central to the work. Fear of the Lord is not opposed to Fear of God. There is only one God for the editor: the Lord. The phrase certainly serves in 1:7 as a kind of motto, as many contemporary scholars hold. It is set off from the first six verses of chap. 1, and from the first appeal to hearken to the instruction of the parents (vv 89), and from the lengthy warning about evil company (vv 1018). The parallel line within 1:7 is also important: wisdom and instruction fools despise. Wisdom (hmkj

) is what the book of Proverbs is about. Its companion is instruction or rswm

, whether in the sense of instruction or discipline, or both. As M. Fox puts it, The wisdom that Wisdom speaks is rswm

(8:33), which refers to all admonitions bearing an ethical and religious message (JBL 116 [1997] 632). It is clear from the warning against the evil way proposed in 1:1018 that the way of wisdom involves a life of responsibility and virtue. A similar admonition is to be found in Prov 24:12, where one is urged to shun evil people. In 1:29 Woman Wisdom complains about those who do not choose fear of the Lord and who hate knowledge. In 2:5 fear of the Lord is paired with knowledge of God. What is this knowledge? It is the practical way of life indicated in 2:9 (cf. 1:3): then you will understand justice and judgment and right. In this context the text of Isa 11:2 (a spirit of wisdom and understanding a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord) should be noted; it predicates of the shoot from Jesses stump these spirit gifts; cf. also Isa 33:6. The saying of Prov 1:7 is given a slight refinement in 9:10; now the fear of the Lord is defined as the beginning of wisdom. Paradoxically, fear of the Lord can be the antithesis of wisdom (Prov 3:7)i.e., a certain kind of wisdom, the wisdom that derives from ones personal judgment (wise in your own eyes; cf. Prov 26:12).

According to Becker (Gottesfurcht, 22128), fear of the Lord is usually associated with retribution in Prov 1022: 10:27; 14:26, 27; 15:16; 16:6; 19:23; 22:4. He considers 15:33 to be an exception, for it is more in the spirit of chaps. 19 in that it is termed wise instruction. I think that chap. 14 of Proverbs is also an exception; see the Comment, with the Explanation, on 14:2, 26, 27. The function of fear of the Lord in 16:6 is particularly important; it enables one to avoid evil. The parallelism within the verse indicates that evil should be understood in a moral sense, and not merely in the meaning of a physical disaster. Both 16:6 and 3:7, examples of early and late texts, affirm this centrality of fear of the Lord. In Prov 19:23, fear leads to life, which is so often promised in Proverbs, e.g., 8:35. Although 8:13 has an interruptive character in Woman Wisdoms description of herself in the first person, it is certainly a valid statement about the way fear of the Lord is understood: the fear of the Lordhatred of evil. Finally, there is the tantalizing appearance of fear of the Lord in the summary description of the woman of valor in 31:30. However this verse is to be translated (see the Comment and Explanation), it seems to be an inclusion with 1:8, and underlines the importance of fear of the Lord in this book.

Murphy, Roland E., Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 22: Proverbs, (Dallas, Texas: Word Books, Publisher) 1998.