Wisdom From The Old Testament

Wisdom From The Old Testament

 
If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. - John 5:46
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Wisdom will praise herself,
    and will glory in the midst of her people.

In the assembly of the Most High she will open her mouth,
    and in the presence of his host she will glory:

“I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,
    and covered the earth like a mist.

I dwelt in high places,
    and my throne was in a pillar of cloud.

Alone I have made the circuit of the vault of heaven
    and have walked in the depths of the abyss.

In the waves of the sea, in the whole earth,
    and in every people and nation I have gotten a possession.

Among all these I sought a resting place;
    I sought in whose territory I might lodge.

“Then the Creator of all things gave me a commandment,
    and the one who created me assigned a place for my tent.
And he said, ‘Make your dwelling in Jacob,
    and in Israel receive your inheritance.’

From eternity, in the beginning, he created me,
    and for eternity I shall not cease to exist.

In the holy tabernacle I ministered before him,
    and so I was established in Zion.

In the beloved city likewise he gave me a resting place,
    and in Jerusalem was my dominion.

So I took root in an honored people,
    in the portion of the Lord, who is their inheritance.

“I grew tall like a cedar in Lebanon,   

- Sirach 24:1-13

Wisdom is speaking about the children of the first Adam (human being) and the last Adam, Jesus Christ who is true God and true Man (Adam). Personal integration is Wisdom, we are called to be Wisdom, meaning we are called to “put on Christ” in the “power of the Holy Spirit.”  Which involves death, our true death is not the cessation of our bodily functions, but the cessation of living for myself.  When we die to self, we transcend space and time; we begin to live in eternity.  

 
Lastly, look to the martyrs, look to the saints, above all look to the Holy Mother of God!

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I will see Him for myself; my eyeswill behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me! - Job 19:27

 
At the end of our earthly pilgrimage we shall all behold the Lord, not as strangers but as being known like we have never been known before.  We will not be strangers, but we will realize that we stand in the House of the Lord, in the house of the one who gave us life, who knows us better than we know ourselves; and who loves us with a perfect love, a divine love.  

 
With our own eyes we shall clearly encounter the one who has loved us and carried us through our earthly sojourn.  In facing the Lord we shall all face ourselves and know ourselves and the fire of divine love will be a refining fire.  

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For Israel is a child and I loved him, And out of Egypt I have called his children. - Hosea 11:1

 
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”  When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,  and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” - Matthew 2:13-15

 
The Evangelist Matthew draws upon the prophet Hosea to express the Holy Family’s flight to and return from Egypt.  We see here a singular and a plural movement. Just as the Patriarch Joseph represents himself and the later Hebrew people who come to Egypt. Then under Moses they flee from Egypt when there arises, “a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph” (Exodus 1:8).  The Flight into Egypt and eventual return is about Jesus, the Holy Family, the Jewish people and the Church. 

 
Like Our Lord Jesus, the People of God are always on the move; to follow Jesus is to always be on pilgrimage, for this world (our Egypt) is not our permanent home and is only at times a place where we can rest for awhile.  Like Our Lord had as a Holy Child, his Holy Mother is with us, Joseph is with us, plus we have the multitude of martyrs and saints who shine as lights on the path to our true and eternal home.   

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Unless the Lord build the house,
    they labor in vain who build.
Unless the Lord guard the city,
    in vain does the guard keep watch. - Psalm 127:1

Psalm 127 certainly resonates in the relation to the present state of our Republic, the United States of America.  Some have said we are the most divided we have been as a nation since the Civil War, or as some refer to as the War Between the States.  The turmoil we are experiencing today, recalls to mind the response of Benjamin Franklin when he was asked if the Constitutional Congress had created a Monarchy or a Republic; “A republic, if you can keep it.”

We can point to many political factors as to why we are in the dilemma we are in, as well as socio-economic factors, unchecked manipulation of technology, often poor educational systems, the crisis of family breakdowns, and more? The root of our turmoil however, is reflected in the words of Psalm 127: “Unless the Lord build the house…”. 

America has in many ways, lost its soul!  “One nation under God”…has become many tribes under different false gods, and a remnant holding fast to the One True God. Recall the words of the late Cardinal Francis George of Chicago:

“I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history” - Francis Cardinal George

Yes, most likely things will get worse before they get better, for we have become a nation drunk on privileges, autonomy, false illusions, and unreal expectations; rather than a nation of personal responsibility, service, respect, family, sobriety, faith, hope, and love.  I do not wish to sound dire, but we Christians must be like Saint John the Baptist; voices crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord!

“Even if you are not a peacemaker, at least do not be a trouble-maker. -  (Hom.50)  - Saint Isaac the Syrian

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Afterwards, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Let my people go, that they may hold a feast for me in the wilderness.” - Exodus 5:1

 
This passage from the Book of Exodus, is a foreshadowing (typology) of Christ and his Church.  

Here Moses and his brother Aaron are images/types of Jesus.  They tell Pharaoh their earthly king and captor, as Jesus tells our earthly king and captor which is evil and sin; that Israel, a type of the Church, must be let go. Set free to worship in Spirit and in Truth in the wilderness, a type of the yet to be evangelized world in which the Church sits as a leaven of salvation in its midst.  

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...for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me. - Psalm 69:9

His disciples remembered that it was written, " Zeal for Your house will consume me ." - John 2:17 

Jesus was zealous in his defense of the holiness of the Temple precinct, where money changers and others had turned the precinct into a secular market.  He knew that place must be kept sacred, where only God would be the focus.  

 
We may ask ourselves if we are zealous for God’s house, but first we must ask ourselves where is God’s house for us Christians.  The answer is multifaceted and each facet is worthy of our attention as we walk this pilgrimage of faith.  

First, our life, our soul, our spirit, our body can be considered God’s temple, in that we were fashioned by Him, and redeemed by Him. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.”-1Corinthians 6:19-20

 
Second, the Church is a temple, for it is the Body of Christ, the People of God, who receive the sacraments of salvation, the sacraments that incorporate us into the very life of God, the Holy Trinity.  “So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” - Romans 12:5

 
Third, “nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:21).  Ultimately, the temple of God is his eternal Kingdom.  

 
So our zealousness must extend to taking care, guarding, and preserving our faith in God’s abiding presence in us, in his holy Church, and in the Kingdom for which we long; our true home.  

 
We must always choose the most perfect. Two good works present themselves to be done, one in favor of a person we love, the other in favour of a person who has done us some harm. Well, we must give preference to the latter. - Saint John Vianney

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“Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” - Psalm 27:8

 
“For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God. For if the manifestation of God which is made by means of the creation, affords life to all living in the earth, much more does that revelation of the Father which comes through the Word, give life to those who see God.” - St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 34, Section 7

 
We were fashioned by God in his image and likeness to seek and find he who made us.  To seek after God means to love him, for we seek after that which we love.  But love is only real when it is free, if God had created us and shown us his eternal glory, we would not be free and therefore we could not love and we would not be his images (free beings).

 
The eternal nature of God is revealed to us (apocalypse/revelation) as perfect relationship; the oneness of Father, Son, Spirit reveals to us that the very foundation and source of all being, God, is relational or love.  Jesus Christ the Word of the Father, reveals (speaks, expresses) the glory of the Father, from all eternity and therefore to us as Savior and Lord, so that we can hear, see, and love the Father through knowing his Son, the Word made flesh.  We are moved by this Word, to love the Father, because the Spirit of the Father dwells within us, groans within us, to turn our hearts, eyes, hands, and voices to the Word who reveals to us the Father.  

 
We come to realize that this terrestrial (earthly) house is not our home, if we long to see his face, then we are renters here not buyers. Our belts stay fashioned and shoes stay on our feet, for we are people on the move, to the Promised Land, our true home; we long to see his face.  To see his face we must die; die to self (ego), give back to the earth what we borrowed from it (flesh), and unite our cross (martyrdom) to the Holy Cross of Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;”(Galatians 2:20).  

 
The paradox of the Christian faith is that in letting go all is given and in dying we find life.  

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Blessed is the man who does not walk

    in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the way of sinners,

    nor sit in company with scoffers.

Rather, the law of the Lord is his joy;

    and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree

    planted near streams of water,

    that yields its fruit in season;

Its leaves never wither;

    whatever he does prospers.

But not so are the wicked, not so!

    They are like chaff driven by the wind.

Therefore the wicked will not arise at the judgment,

    nor will sinners in the assembly of the just.

Because the Lord knows the way of the just,

    but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

Psalm 1:1-6

The first Psalm in a sense reveals the theme of the entire work of the Book of Psalms.  That theme being choosing God and living by his law, so as to obtain a good life, or to live apart from God and his will and living a rootless, reckless life void of wisdom.    

 
The Psalm seems to suggest that the wicked condemn themselves by choosing the path of rebellion: “the way of the wicked leads to ruin.” Yet, the one who finds joy in the Lord’s law, thy mediate on it day and night.  The more one follows the Lord, the more they find joy and happiness in doing so, they become like: “a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season.”

 
As Christians we realize that the law of the Lord is Jesus Christ himself.  The Mosaic Law was a precursor to the living law of God, the eternal Word made flesh.  When we find Christ we become “planted near streams (baptism) of water.” In those streams of baptismal water we are given new life and life eternal.  

 
“I sought to hear the voice of God and climbed the topmost steeple, but God declared: "Go down again - I dwell among the people.” ? Saint John Henry Newman  

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