Dan Phillips' book "God's Wisdom in Proverbs" - or - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Proverbs

Here's a the first of a series of short reviews I intend to write for Dan Phillips' "God's Wisdom in Proverbs" that originally appeared on my Facebook wall:

In his book "God's Wisdom in Proverbs" Dan Phillips remarks how Henry Virkler makes a "startling insight" into proverbs: a simile, if extended, becomes a parable; and metaphor, if extended, becomes an allegory; then if the resultant allegory or parable is compressed, it becomes a proverb. He notes the genius and the peril of this, and here is an excerpt from pg 25 of his book:

"... But this compression factor is PERILOUS to the interpreter, too. If we try to force the compressed form to say everything, we miss the point. A proverb is not always intended to be a guarantee, or an exhaustive statement on any given subject. Rather, it is a pithy pointer, usually designed to drive one truth into the mind. Ryken says it well: "The aim of a proverb is to make an insight permanent." Note well: AN insight; not ALL insight." (caps mine, originally italics, used with permission)

I've been excited to learn how to read Proverbs, a book that for many years has escaped me, and Dan spends an entire chapter teaching how to do just that. Even in the few chapters I've read, it's come to be a valuable tool. Pick one up at Kress or Amazon and support the hard work of a fellow brother and learn something valuable. - 8/14/2012


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Still trucking through "God's Wisdom in Proverbs", and being greatly encouraged, convicted, and educated in the Word. In Chapter 2 Dan Phillips begins to explain what Solomon means by "wisdom" in 1:2a when he says "For becoming acquainted
with wisdom and discipline" and after explaining much on what the Hebrew idea of wisdom is gives this little nugget at the end of pg 39 to the beginning of pg 40:

"The wisdom with which Solomon proposes to acquaint us, then, is SKILL FOR LIVING IN THE FEAR OF YAWEH. It subsumes all under the Godhood of God (Prov 1:7; 9:10; 31:30) and casts every bit of life within that framework. This God-centered wisdom will encompass all our endeavors, including excellence in relationships, in personal pursuits, finances, child-rearing, the "whole shooting match." But the constant backdrop of these living skills will be the imperative of a life lived in reverence for God, in conscious application of His revealed wisdom, and dedicated to promoting His glory." (caps mine, originally italics)

If you have ever been intimidated by Proverbs, or just didn't know how to read the book, this will be a great help to you, and I greatly encourage you to get a copy. Just like his first book "The World-Tilting Gospel" Dan encourages you to open up your Bible beside the book and walk with him through the scriptures (and there are plenty per page, including footnotes at the bottom - I've been 2 weeks in the book and am only on page 42), making God's Word, not his word, the foundation and authority and carefully explains things in a way that's easy to understand. -
8/21/12


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Proverbs has really began to stick to my ribs lately now that I've gained understanding on how to read the book. Honestly I'd read Proverbs, see the wise sayings and go "yeah, but what do I DO with that?" But thankfully our good brother D
an Phillips
has toiled to make a tome to help us understand that's EXACTLY what Proverbs was meant to do - make us think!

Here's another nugget from pg 47, speaking on the 3rd benefit from reading Proverbs from 1:3, namely, receiving intelligent discipline:

"So ask yourself this: Why would Solomon write a book to give us something we could get easier and better by mystical channels? If the formula for wisdom is "just add prayer and mystical openness, and pop! wisdom!" - then why wast all the quills and papyrus? Just tell us to go mentally limp, and you will save a few trees... or, rather, reeds.

This "intelligent discipline" will not come to the intellectually lazy. Intelligent discipline becomes our only as we DILIGENTLY APPLY OURSELVES TO OBTAINING WHAT YAWEH HAS OBJECTIVELY GIVEN, ONCE AND FOR ALL TIME, IN SCRIPTURE. To access it, we must open up, bear down, and accept instruction. Fox well says that the phrase here means "to take it to heart, to absorb it and change one's ways."" (caps mine, Fox reference from his book "Proverbs" 1:59) -
8/27/12


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I intend to write all my subsequent reviews on this blog, and I'll link it at my Facebook wall as well. My hope is that I'll talk enough about it between the two places and folks will begin to catch onto this great help. Proverbs has been so abused by folks trying to justify all manner of unbiblical ideas that, for me at least, it was intimidating. I'm glad that our fellow laborer Dan Phillips has condensed his years of study into this work so that those of us who are young and dumb and immature can see the jewel that the book of Proverbs is and see the intended effect laid out by Solomon, namely that those who are immature would gain wisdom (skill for living in the fear of Yaweh) to the glory of God in Christ.