FdD Notebook - 2/12/25
Who made the world - Egyptian Proverbs - Two chain bike
Bonjour dear readers,
Thank you for all the kind replies to the last newsletter. Violette has been doing very well since her release from hospital, as has the rest of the family. I hope it holds because the period between now and the end of the year is shaping up to be a busy one, but whatever happens we rest in our confidence that “God works all things according to the counsel of his will.”
Thursday evening I attended a get together for guy students at my friend Timothy's house (while the girls met elsewhere with his wife). It was a time for open discussion among guys, and I was greatly encouraged by the seriousness shown by these young men. As we were discussing marriage and the qualities to look for in a wife, I was able to reflect on Chelsea's and my own story. When we got married, we couldn't possibly have imagined what was in store for us, although in the big picture, we’ve done more or less what we originally envisioned. I myself have changed so much in the last 14 years, I'm more the Rick formed by 14 years of life with Chelsea than the Rick that Chelsea chose at the start. Of course I would still say that there’s a place to exercise wisdom in choosing a spouse, but today I feel more like I've been given a wife rather than choosing one.
He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.
Proverbs 18:22
The Deity of Christ
Who created the world?
It was a suprise on Saturday morning to hear the doorbell ring. We weren't even expecting a package, but when I answered, turns out it was the Jehovah's Witnesses. Of course I had time to chat with them! The most important distortion of biblical truth among the Witnesses is the denial of the deity of Jesus. That’s what I wanted to discuss, and the first argument I presented to them starts with the question “Who created the world?” leading to the fact that their conception of creation contradicts God’s own description in Isaiah 44:24:
Who created the world?
That seems like a simple enough question. God created the world.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
But there's more. The Bible also teaches that Jesus created the world.
All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
John 1:3
and
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Colossians 1:16, cf. Hebrews 1:2
How can it be that God created the world and Jesus created the world? (Now if you believe that Jesus is God, that's not so very difficult.) The solution proposed by the Watch Tower Society is this:
Jesus is the only one directly created by God. Jesus is also the only one whom God used when He created all other things.
jw.org
Well, I could understand that. God made Jesus, and he made everything else, so effectively God made everything. But there's still one more verse I want us to look at.
Thus says Jehovah your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: I am Jehovah who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself.
Isaiah 44:24
Jehovah claims that nobody helped him create the world. He did it by himself. But how can we reconcile this with the verses that clearly teach that Jesus did participate in creation? The only possibility is that the name Jehovah includes Jesus, that the one God whose name is Jehovah exists in three persons including both the Father and the Son. This is one of many reasons why biblical christians believe that Jesus was not created but has always existed as eternal God.
Bibliology
The Proverbs of the Bible and Ancient Near-Eastern Wisdom
My Bible reading program had me read through Proverbs in January this year. One fascinating aspect of this book is the fact that it's a widespread genre in the Ancient Near East. For example, there is the Instruction of Amenemope, the work of an Egyptian scribe, where we find particularly striking parallels with the book of Proverbs in the Bible:
Am. ch 1 - Give thine ear, and hear what I say, And apply thine heart to apprehend; It is good for thee to place them in thine heart, let them rest in the casket of thy belly; That they may act as a peg upon thy tongue.
Pr. 22:17-18 - Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge, for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.
Am. Ch. 6 - Remove not the landmark from the bounds of the field ... and violate not the widows boundary.
Pr. 23.10:11 - Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.
Am. Ch. 7 - Toil not after riches; If stolen goods are brought to thee, they remain not over night with thee. They have made themselves wings like geese. And have flown into the heavens.
Pr. 23:4-5 - Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
Am. Ch. 23 - Eat not bread in the presence of a ruler, And lunge not forward(?) with thy mouth before a governor(?). When thou art replenished with that to which thou has no right, It is only a delight to thy spittle. Look upon the dish that is before thee, And let that (alone) supply thy need.
Pr. 23:1-3 - When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
There are others, but this is a sample of the more interesting ones. These parallels suggest that one of the two sages was inspired by the work of the other. Not all scholars agree whether it's Amenemope borrowing Hebrew proverbs or whether it goes in the other direction,1 but the majority opt for the latter.
Would it a problem for our understanding of the Bible as the Word of God if, indeed, some biblical proverbs had their origin in Egyptian wisdom? My answer is no, this possibility fits perfectly with the theology of the Bible.
According to the Bible, all human beings are created in the image of God, and all humans have a certain measure of wisdom and discernment to understand the world around them. We all have a certain awareness of God (Rom 1.19), of his moral requirements (Rom 2.14), and a wisdom for living in this world, wisdom that ultimately comes from God (Isa 28.23-29). It's not surprising, then, if Egyptians have insights that God's people can benefit from; it would actually be surprising if they didn't.
Of course, the wisdom of Amenemope is shot through with paganism. Without God, the best of human wisdom always turns to folly (1 Cor 1.20), but since the whole creation is destined to be redeemed (Rom 8.21), and since the treasures of all peoples will have their place in the New Jerusalem (Rev 21.24), the jewels of Egyptian wisdom, washed and purified by the Spirit, can find their place in the biblical revelation.
Reading
I'm still working through The Eye of the Beholder by Lydia McGrew which is fantastic. McGrew argues that the Fourth Gospel is historically reliable reportage, and not a collection of theological reflections loosely inspired by the life of Jesus. Here's an amusing excerpt:
The Pool of Bethesda provides an interesting case, for the 20th-century French critic Alfred Loisy attempted to provide the sort of theological reinterpretation of John’s physical details that might make sense if John really were writing a partially ahistorical work in which details are invented or modified for theological purposes. John says specifically that the pool had five porticoes (John 5.2); Loisy suggested that this was an invented allegorical detail, the five porticoes representing the five books of the Law of Moses that Jesus came to fulfill. But excavations later in the same century found the pool itself, bounded by four porticoes around and one across the middle. E. M. Blaiklock, recounting in 1983 this embarrassing moment for ahistorical hermeneutics, says dryly, “No further comment is necessary.”2
The Great Isaiah Scroll and the text of the Old Testament
Here’s a really neat article from Tyndale House :
Scrolling Back in Time: The Great Isaiah Scroll
Cycling
Check out this really cool bike which I would not expect to see at the Tour de France this year :
~
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
Psalm 5:11
All these parallels are found not in the proverbs attributed to Solomon, but in a section of the book called Words of the Wise, Prv. 22.17f.
McGrew, Lydia. The Eye of the Beholder: The Gospel of John as Historical Reportage. DeWard Publishing Company, 2021, p. 118.