Wisdom Traditions in the Hebrew Bible

Abstract

Practical advice on farming, choosing a wife, table manners at court, as well as speculations on the nature of divine justice and the mysteries of nature-- these are just a few of the topics which are covered in the wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible. Together, Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs represent the work of the elite bureaucrats ("wise men") and teachers who kept alive vigorous oral traditions of the villages of the tribal and monarchic periods of early Israel. They served as some of the theologians and editors who brought the people's literature together for preservation during the Exilic and post-Exilic periods. Fontaine looks into the wisdom traditions in the Hebrew bible.