The Wisdom of David

Sun Jul 20th 2025

My dear friends,

This is where the Jacob’s Ladder work starts moving towards the mind of Christ! After some prep work, I have slowly started on what the Bible really shows us – we begin with David, go on to Elijah, and then to the Lord Jesus! It is a journey, as much for me as it might be for you! Every blessing. G.

 

3.I The Wisdom of David

JL Ch 3 on David……

The Old Testament stories about David show us challenging and powerful aspects about being a community-oriented person and having a close relationship with God! Again, the necessary aspects of social holiness and personal holiness! David manages to get on this path, but only for part of his life. His path will become clearer as we move along and as we learn from his achievements.  And his mistakes.

To do this, we must understand a little of the foundation of the wisdom tradition of the Bible. All Pastors are not equally trained, and our denominational tendencies have perhaps not helped as much as they could; further, most pastoral ministry continues to be based on academic training. God’s reality asks much more.  The Wisdom tradition continues to be seen, as it has for a long time, as a collection of poetry and sayings from the Books of Proverbs, Psalms, The Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, et al. But wisdom is far more than poetry in motion.   

There are many bible ‘experts’ who claim to provide interesting academic information, but only a few have the added virtue of spiritual insight. Walter Brueggemann is one of the few. While pursuing research in the Hebrew text of the Psalms, I was referred to his work and learned enough to identify and interpret corresponding forms, even in contemporary music! In the process I learned a great deal about the man and his work.¹

Brueggemann’s discoveries about the significance of events in David’s life reached a high point in the early 70’s, with implications disturbingly relevant to our understanding of church and salvation. Many failed to catch this, having their own agendas. A quote from Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’ always comes to mind – ‘I don’t believe in God.’ ‘It don’t matter, He believes in YOU!’ Thus went the conversation between Nick and Mother Abigail! 

Then, we must journey through the events of David’s life that provide ‘breakaway’ incidents² which will help us see some of the continuity, the issues, the events, the interactions, that run from David to Jesus, and this continuity is essential to understanding the challenges that accompany the prototokos offer that God makes to us all in Jesus!

Wisdom:  A neglected aspect of Biblical Theology

The focus of Brueggemann’s ‘In Man We Trust’ , a frighteningly amazing book he wrote years ago, works to show us what salvation can mean, as experienced through the events of David’s life.³ In the process, its description renders the church’s traditional presentation of salvation as problematic. Why? Because that effort carries a ‘high Christology’ (high view of Jesus) while leaving us with a depressed anthropology  (a low view of us - humanity). Jesus is everything (up high), and I am nothing (down low). Is such a position accidental, or intentional or simply true?⁴   

The Church’s interpretation of the Gospel begins with Paul and works its way down through Augustine, Luther and those who follow. That interpretation portrays God as the Almighty and gracious Father, working through Jesus Christ the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to ‘save’ all of us. Our word of mouth (confession of faith) acceptance of Jesus as Savior provides access to new spiritual life. A wonderful picture is painted, and inspiring words are used. But the claim does not catch fire at the altar of ecclesiology, and then it dissipates into notions of faith and belief and finally dies a slow and painful pseudo-pietistic death. In its place we are left with doctrine, not a real-life experience of love and joy in a livable reality. All you get is a ‘someone said so’. We are told that we are ‘saved’ to await a great and wonderful event which will be experienced beyond this life. And there the ‘being’ of salvation stays. Stuck. It’s not a state of inherent spiritual power? It is unable to do anything other than make the subject feel good about it?  Exactly. A feel-good experience, where we can all feel our hearts strangely warmed!

And what exactly has Jesus saved us from? Why, from our sinful selves, of course! Salvation is received by us as folk who speak from an ‘ I, who have nothing’ perspective.⁵ And what then have we been saved for? Why, a glorious new life of course, in a far, far better place than this one. There’s a place for us, somewhere…a time and a place…hold my hand and we’re halfway there …hold my hand and I’ll take you there……some way, somehow, somewhere.⁶ But that refrain sadly summarizes what little we know about life beyond this one. Not much, really. The audacity of hope? The New Testament teaches that we become a new creation here and now! But how that happens is not clear and has been vague, difficult, and with precious little demonstrated example per the pedagogy and inadequate witness of the traditional church, which reads more like a history of socio-political indoctrination spotted with abuse, than one of spiritual heavenly reality available now.

We have been told that belief and faith affect present reality. That has not happened. It needs to be more than argument, persuasion, and a thought process.  Though historically preached by many, and believed by many, this ‘closer walk with thee’ has been, most of the time, nothing more than a social walk with others.

The traditional Gospel message reduces human value. It defines us as worthless wretches saved from a fate worse than death by amazing grace. But why do we still have to be centuries old in our understanding and practice of religion? Why have we not grown? Can we not move from outdated archaic thinking into actual present-day spiritual experience? Ah, but nothing good is to be expected of us. We must deal with the difficulty of this world as best as we can. Hence, Jim Reeves version of ‘this world is not my home’ becomes a banner anthem, for we are just a-passing through!⁷ We cannot be at home here because this is not our home! Such has been our belief, our faith, our conviction. And our misunderstanding.  And such is the ‘faith’ many if not most, continue to profess.

Wisdom, however, sees such an identity as incomplete and points to a strong image that threatens both the position of the church and the profession of its clergy. Sounds scary, no? And this image and its constituent identity is revealed by the wisdom tradition that lies behind the David story. David gets the opportunity to personify wisdom. He attempts to live his life accordingly, and it is why he sometimes acts the way he does. What does the wisdom tradition stand for? Brueggemann describes Wisdom’s 5 key principles thus:⁸

 

1.      The goal and meaning of human existence is Life in itself. The entire book of Proverbs provides guidance on how to maintain this life in its fullness.

2.      The authority for Life is to be found in our common experience i.e. what is right and good comes through the patient and careful discernment of what we ought to be doing as human community! It is utilitarian. And there are no authority figures! Nor any specific body of learning! It is amazingly radical!

3.      We have the primary responsibility for our destiny, which is decided by our choices.

4.      We are meant for an orderly role in an orderly cosmos and must discern this order and decide on and for our responsible share of it. (shades of Genesis?)

5.      Wisdom celebrates humankind as the crown of God’s creation, and our capabilities and responsibilities relate to our social and natural environments; we are ordained, trusted, endowed and even enthroned by God.

 

What exactly does this mean? For starters, Brueggemann’s distinction about faith existing in culture and not apart from it, is ground-breaking.⁹ But that reality has always been there. We’ve just not been able to see it, having been taught otherwise. And it has been historically convenient for superior economic powers to impose their religious and cultural beliefs upon ‘lesser beings’, shall we say. Analyzing the primary principles Brueggemann presents, we get:

 

1.      The goal of human existence is THIS LIFE in itself. The here and now is our primary goal. Read Proverbs 10:17, 27. 11:10-11, and 13:12; 21; 25. for brief examples. There is much more. And note that Brueggemann links to Matt 6:33 and John 10:10 on life in its key aspects of joy, security, and wholeness. This life is intended to be fulfilling, and we can make it so.

2.      Further, the focus is not on individual, personal life, but on life-in-community, with one central goal: the well-being of all! A critical shift from self-centeredness to ‘other’ centeredness. And when Wisdom speaks of no reward in heaven it is not saying that there is no heaven. The notion of heaven in the Old Testament shifts as the people grow, from the time of Samuel to that of Ecclesiastes. We will find similar contradictions when we come to the New Testament idea of heaven and find that it does not negate this life but speaks of a continuity little understood.

In the here and now, what happens when we get to thinking about ‘heaven’ as a place in the sun where there’s hope for everyone?¹¹ Well, it helps us to live with the injustice of the present order, doesn’t it? Perhaps even to rationalize the experience! (no hope for us down here!) We think about a new order outside of and beyond our historical lives. And our historical experience is accordingly devalued.  A matter of belief, but one that brings hope and so is supposedly audacious. What a profound way to go! But God intends a lot more for us than hope. Our world and its historical and current forms are not the result of God’s will, but of ours. Not God’s style. Not of ‘God’ even, because the word ‘God” as we use it is just a generic catch all term. More as we go.

3.      Community is the authority. Fascinating! No need for leaders who claim to know what’s best. They don’t. And you can add that to every bit of disinformation. And the present model of leadership? A model that claims to be what it’s not. We just took God’s intentions and ran with them, per our own preferences. So, we end up with an Old Testament narrative about magnificent men in leadership, here and there. Is that what it is? Ever notice what ‘short shrift’ is given to the women of the Bible? Even Abraham tried to pass off his wife as his sister. (she was, he claimed, his half-sister). True, but ugh. Preservation of the self, exploitation of the other. But the truth that we need pursue is always found in our common experience. Instead, ‘truth’ has become the domain of the priesthood, and of philosophers et all, including the elected politician. For wisdom, there is no monopoly of the truth by any one person, ever. No secular versus sacred divisions, but of both contributing to a whole. No special people of God, but all of us together.  Can you see now how amazing God really is? You saw shades of this in Chapter 2. God has given wisdom and grace to all. Wisdom is international in its outlook. That blows the claim of all cultures that profess a religion or an educational culture that supports the hegemony of their cause. The last thing we need are more crusades! Perhaps without such claims many would leave their professed religion, for it would no longer serve their socio-political or personal ambitions. And moral failure? That comes out of our irresponsibility. Not that we are rejecting God. Rather, that we are rejecting the expectations that the traditions say God has set for us! No praying for peace, security, justice and happiness either. Instead, we need to make those experiences a reality for ourselves. And we can. We’ve just gotten used to passing the buck. We play ‘we’ll ask the Lord’ and ‘we’ll leave it in his hands’. Then we tell ourselves how much better we feel, having committed the issues to God. But God is watching as we attempt to play change partners on all the challenges before us, as sincere as many might feel that process to be. 

 

4.      Humankind can and must choose. As I work through Brueggemann’s notes, I watch language shifting from the use of ‘mankind’ to a more nuanced ‘humankind’ to a plain old ‘us’. The seventies were fifty + years ago! Choice is always there, and choice = responsible decision making. We must take on the seemingly difficult but worthwhile godly choices. If we do not, we suffer the consequences. But we have avoided this. We would rather God made those decisions and solve our problems for us. After all, how can we sort ourselves out? We’re sinners! Sure, we’re forgiven, and we can rejoice in that. But let’s not forget who and what we really are.  We’re just sheep, aren’t we? Unthinking, incapable sheep that need to be led by the nose. We need the Good Shepherd! Or at the least, a pastoral sheepdog. We’re still too sinful to exercise responsible decision making! Or show creative imagination that results in social innovation. Must have someone else do it for us. And we’ll elect them. Hence the functional notion of Leviathan in political theory.¹¹ But God does not call us to be sheep, but to participate in a God-given creation that is described as being a little less than the angels. (Psalm 8!) Speaking for Wisdom, Brueggemann asks, are we as God intended us to be? Or have we castrated ourselves?¹² A really challenging question for the days ahead.

 

5.      There is an orderly cosmos, and there is order for humankind. But the wealthy and powerful have rejected and twisted this order in favor of personal greed.  Our history consistently demonstrates this. Where does order come from? From right choices. How do we know? We all know. We know what hurts. We know what supports well-being. But we live in a world where a few have everything and decide reality through the monopolies they control, while others have little and can do little to change the status quo. So, most of us are screwed. And we sing, that’s just the way it is…some things will never change...¹³

 

6.      Humankind is the crown of creation. Genesis. Psalm 8. We are trusted, ordained, endowed, enthroned. And creation can be a happy place. Nothing to stop us from recreating Eden except ourselves! We’ve just exploited the heck out of our world. But Jesus demonstrates and fulfills the prototokos potential in each of us! We can unscrew ourselves! Wisdom, way before Jesus, was already singing the original salvation song! It has always been God’s one and only song to us. And it wasn’t amazing grace the way we sing it. It had a couple of other verses about amazing us – fueled by amazing grace! New Testament theology and church tradition, in their haste to adopt medieval self-flagellation, lost sight of that part.

 

We have an orderly role in an orderly Cosmos. But in allowing disorder we have failed to convert negativity into positive, creative options. We need to be co-workers with God. We must disengage our uncritical acceptance of the status quo and change things for the better. Our focus should not be on the historical interventions or intrusions of God as described in biblical narrative, because that approach leaves us in the hapless position of waiting on God to do something. Our focus should be on sustaining and growing human community. And we are God’s good creation – trusted, ordained, endowed, enthroned. But the Gospel that has been proclaimed and that many have accepted, defines us as flawed humans existing in flawed cultures. And what excellent religious culture has replaced these flawed native cultures? Nothing but equally flawed notions!

 

Wisdom sees all of this very differently. We know, intuitively, what needs to be done to make things good and right. We just don’t do it. We fail to grasp and utilize the strength of God given human will. Then we ascribe our failure to our ‘sinfulness’. And we prescribe Christ as the remedy. And that does not work since it just attempts to pass the buck! Hence, the Church has struggled with improving the world it purports to serve. It lacks the spiritual energy to do so. We must look within our own God given selves first, find the godly notion, and choose it. Then we must decide to will it into being, via mind, body and spirit. Then only, does the power of God begin to surge in us. Only then will our self-understanding begin to mature into self-realization and grow into God-realization.

 

A lot to chew over. Items 1 & 2 are unacceptable to historical and current definitions. But you might recall my earlier comment on the Jacob-Ishmael origin and subsequent separation.¹⁴ God does not seek to divide but to unite. Human society has continued to create human division. If you wonder why you never encountered these ideas before, ask your religious advisor or guide! (pastor?) It’s only been a lifetime of work on Brueggemann’s part. And it’s there in front of us, in all of the Books of the Wisdom tradition in scripture. But it requires a spirituality that exceeds the intellectual and emotional aspects of mind and self. Not too many have worked with and listened to this part of scripture, and so it perhaps never generated much discovery.¹⁵ Scripture has always been a traditional order – books chosen by a Council; texts written, edited, redacted. But only in successful lived reality does its truth exist, and not in that which is thought, said or printed. Only in what is doable and really happens in our lives. Wisdom carries an indicator of the real Good News, unconditionally open to all persons, with no restrictions and no conditions because we are all God’s children. No ‘if-then’ conditional clauses. Quite a different apple….

 

FYI…

All JL posts can be found at dreliatjacobsladder.blogspot.com in chronological order;

This is not an enterprise of any sort – just a ‘no frills, no catches’ sharing of one utterly serious Christian journey beyond Christianity into God Almighty!