The Grace Project

There will always be a view that Scripture is linear and uncompromisingly literal but when we come to the Proverbs we are immediately confronted with a different perspective.   Take the opening chapter for example in which Solomon sets the scene for what is to come.  1:5 " A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels to understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings."  How delicious…!    

Who'd have thought that the Bible contains dark sayings" what on earth does Solomon mean.  Well a 'dark saying' is literally a  riddle, or a parable. They are  perplexing questions. 

 

A dark saying is not linear and it's not obvious to the uninitiated; it's a mystery.  According to Wikipedia, a riddle is  a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved.  Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and conundrums, which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer. 

 

So it seems to have wisdom we need more than just information, we need revelation; we need something more than bible knowledge we need divine insight.