Exegesis in Wisdom Literature

We are now about half way through the semester at PIU. I am teaching one class this semester, Exegesis in Wisdom Literature. The class is an exegetical practicum in the English text of selected Psalms, Job, Proverbs Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs including an overview of the forms and patterns of Hebrew Wisdom literature. Each week the students take a biblical passage and do a practical exercise in exegesis, interpretation and application to gain experience in the techniques for understanding the genre. We have already worked through several Wisdom Psalms, Job and Proverbs.The last 6 weeks of the class we will work through Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. I have been very encouraged by the depth of insight into the text the students have demonstrated.

This past week the students presented their “theme studies in Proverbs” findings to the class. They worked in teams of twos, except for Joshua Combs (above) who presented his study on being a wise friend, neighbor and citizen solo. On the left Pam Flores and Johnny Esa explain what Proverbs 10-22 says about wise and successful family life, while (right) Daisy Murdock and Jonie Jones discuss what Proverbs says about the “fool,” how to avoid them and how to avoid being one.

Rommel Carino and Ceci Pedro talked about how a wise person handles money and possessions while Josh Ladd and Mike Ihpa gave us a multimedia presentation on the power of words and wise use of the tongue. I think they are ready to preach this stuff.