Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched? – Proverbs 6:27-28 (NIV)
Reflection
While reading in the Proverbs, I encountered the above passage. It is in a section that deals with adultery. After re-reading that passage, I asked myself, “Why didn’t the author quote from the Law?†There is a very clear statement about adultery in the Ten Commandments and a number of other laws that deal with this sin. Proverbs here makes no reference to the Law. Rather it speaks of the natural consequences of adultery. A jealous husband, a lying lover, and fire placed in the lap will bring consequences.
I was intrigued because I live in a very secular community that has little knowledge of the scriptures, and which has little regard for bare commandments. Words like sin, law and covenant are foreign words here. Listeners respond more to indirection and storytelling along the line of the parables of Jesus than to my standing up with the Bible opened to Exodus 20 and stating “Thou shalt not.†Christian scholars live in a setting shaped in many cases by beliefs and values that are alien to ours. We can learn from the biblical approach of Proverbs 6; we can build bridges through careful choice of language and through areas of shared scholarship. [Read more…] about Scholar’s Compass Navigating Wisdom: How I Discovered Wisdom Literature