Wisdom—Always Concrete, Never Abstract

Psalm 111:10 has a familiar phrase from the OT Scriptures:

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding." 

Wisdom is what we all want—or should. There's so little available it seems. The entire book of Job is about a search for wisdom, as both Job and his companions struggle to find meaning in the death of Job's children and his wretched sickness. But where shall wisdom be found and where is the place of understanding (Job 28:12-20)? Job concludes, "Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom" (Job 28:28). That's a bit different from the psalmist who says the fear of the LORD as the beginning of wisdom.

That noted, what did Job and the psalm writers mean by wisdom? Hebrew or Biblical wisdom most certainly is different from philosophy (Greek - love of wisdom) and from modern science with all its claims to wisdom based solely on human reason. Since this is such a huge topic I'll make but a couple points today.

1. Wisdom begins with the fear (reverence and fear) of the LORD. The LORD is the God who has revealed Himself to His chosen people as their Redeemer. Psalm 107 recounts what God did when He brought His people out of bondage and led them to their promised land. In other words He is to be found not in abstract thought, but in His concrete deeds and in the stories that recount those deeds. In these concrete deeds the LORD reveals His steadfast love. So the psalm concludes, "Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD" (Ps. 107:43). 
2. Notice the admonish to attend and consider . . . To attend (Hebr.- shamar) is to guard, carefully obey, keep the words in your mind and listen diligently (i.e. Exod. 15:25-26). To consider (Hebr. - biyn) is to perceive, discern, understand and gain insight. Its the sort of thing Solomon prayed for when he became king (1 Kings 3:9-12). 
3. In this connection, look carefully at Water in the Desert and the discussion about the Hebrew language. It is critical that you attend to and consider the words—through translation if you must—but consider them carefully if you would gain wisdom. As this writer says, "The Hebrew language is a much richer language than Greek or English or any other known language and one Hebrew word cannot merely be explained by a single Greek or English word. . . every word is linked back to a  root word that is a verb. Any object in Hebrew is linked to an action so that you know what to use the object for." In other words, Hebrew is concrete, never abstract. You must always relate the word to something concrete done, to something you see, feel or taste.
4. Consider the Hebrew word for Bless (berach), as in the Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6:24). To bless in Hebrew means to bend your knee. So how will the LORD kneel down to bless His children? Already in Genesis we read that He blessed the creatures of land, sea and air by causing them to multiply. The same thing is true for mankind. The LORD kneels down to cause him to multiply and hands to him dominion over the creation (Genesis 1:22-30). In turn, we men kneel before the LORD by praising Him with our words, meditating upon His Word and obeying His commands to love only Him and love our neighbors as ourselves (Psalm 119:56-63, etc.). 
5. Finally, remember that the New Testament must be discerned and viewed as a Hebrew document. Though written in Greek, the writers were all Hebrews. They lived and breathed Hebrew thinking. There is an absolutely concrete connection between the Old Testament and the New. 

So much more needs to be said about this, but for now I will simply quote the LORD who in His wisdom became concrete flesh and blood (1 Cor. 1:17-30) to live, die and rise again in our midst,

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come" (John 16:12-14).