- Pages 19-42
- Are these books historically oriented?
- Do these books primarily speak from God to man, or from man to God?
- In which division of the Hebrew Bible are these books found?
- Which three of these books are usually considered wisdom literature?
- Name and describe the three dimensions in which Biblical wisdom operated.
- T/F wisdom can mean practical skill.
- What is “the undergirding notion of the wisdom-controlled life”?
- What are the three layers of the fear of the Lord?
- What does ‘mashal’ mean?
- Define ‘proverb’ in your own words.
- Define ‘riddle’.
- Define ‘allegory’
- Define ‘dialogue’
- Was wisdom literature primarily addressed to the individual or to society?
- In what context(s) was/were wisdom usually taught?
- T/F Wisdom belonged to the mainstream of Israelite religious life.
- Describe how wisdom “supplemented the law and cultic practice”.
- Name and describe the three types of parallelism identified by Lowth.
- What is “complete parallelism”?
- Describe “focusing”.
- What is “incomplete parallelism”?
- Define ‘chiasm’.
- What is the basic component of Hebrew verse?
- Describe ‘alliteration’.
- What is ‘paranomasia’?
- Give an example of an acrostic.
- hyperlink to Practice Quiz on pp. 19-42
- Pages 130-158
- What type of life experiences do Psalms represent? What is the implication of this?
- What is the meaning of the word ‘tehillim’?
- How is Hebrew poetry like poetry in the rest of the Ancient Near East? How is it unlike?
- How does King David fit in the development of Hebrew poetry?
- How is hymnody used in the rest of the OT?
- What evidence does Bullock give to show that Psalms was compiled over a length of time?
- What are the Psalm collections that Bullock mentions?
- How many ‘books’ are the Psalms divided into? What is the significance of this number? How does each book conclude?
- When did the compiling and editing of the Psalms take place?
- What does the Hebrew preposition lamedh have to do with the question of who authored the Psalms?
- What are the two methods of classification usually used for Psalms? What is the difference between the two?
- What categories of information do the Psalm titles (superscriptions) give us?
- What does Bullock mean by historical background of the Psalms?
- What does Bullock mean by religious significance of the Psalms?
- Describe in your own words the five procedural principles for interpreting Psalms.
- Describe the unity and the diversity of the theological content of the Psalms.
- What are the “two poles in the Psalter”?
- What does Bullock mean by ‘transcendence’ and ‘immanence’?
- Describe the portrait of mankind given in the Psalms?
- How is creation related to redemption in the Psalms?
- hyperlink to Practice Quiz on pp. 130-158
- Pages 158-171
- What is a hymn?
- What is the general basis for praise?
- What are the characteristics of a hymn of Zion?
- What is a penitential Psalm?
- What is a wisdom Psalm?
- What is a messianic Psalm?
- What are the two subdivisions that Bullock uses to discuss messianic Psalms?
- Restate each of Bullock’s three criteria for designating “messianic” psalms in your own words.
- What is an imprecatory Psalm?
- What is the relationship between an imprecatory Psalm and the desire to seek personal revenge?
- What point is Bullock making in the C.S. Lewis quote about imprecatory Psalms?
- How were the Psalms used in the temple?
- What is the Genevan Psalter?
- What reasons does Bullock give for the abiding popularity of Psalms in worship?
- hyperlink to Practice quiz on pp. 158-171
- Pages 60-78
- On which part of life did wisdom primarily concentrate, and which secondarily?
- How are ‘natural revelation’ and ‘special revelation’ involved in wisdom?
- What is the relationship between the idea of creation and wisdom?
- Is the emphasis in wisdom more individual or collective?
- What is the basic universal principle in biblical wisdom?
- Describe the three models of divine retribution in your own words.
- Which of the three models is the most commonly seen in wisdom literature?
- Which of the three models became the predominant model of the New Testament?
- What does it mean for punishment to be punitive? Disciplinary? Probationary?
- What does Bullock mean by wisdom being universal?
- What role does Law play in wisdom literature?
- Does Bullock think the wisdom literature teaches life after death? What reasons does he give?
- What is the connection between communion with God and immortality according to Bullock?
- What does Bullock mean by the inner and outer circle of Old Testament theology?
- How is Biblical wisdom related to human self-consciousness (distorted by the fall, and being corrected in redemption)?
- How is Biblical humanism similar to Greek and modern humanism? How is it different?
- “On the other side, the fear of the Lord is the cohesive force in biblical humanism. It is the appointment that God and man have together. Only in relation to God can man achieve the kind of self-consciousness that will not lead him into a blind alley of moral ambiguity.” (Bullock pp. 65-66) Meditate on the meaning of this statement and the implications for modern life.
- What does Bullock mean by ‘the failure of biblical humanism’?
- Does Bullock recommend a faith in a transcendent God or in an immanent God?
- What does Bullock mean by ‘a double relationship’ (horizontal and vertical)?
- Describe in your own words Bullock’s suggestion for applying the moral guidance of wisdom literature to modern life.
- hyperlink to practice quiz on Bullock pp. 60-78
- Pages 172-209
- How does Bullock describe a proverb?
- What is meant by the phrase “compressed experience”? What are the implications for the study of proverbs?
- Fundamental to the proverbial form is ___________________________.
- What is the original title of the book of Proverbs?
- What is the fundamental nature of wisdom? How does the author sum up the basic nature of wisdom?
- What is the underlying basis of life according to Proverbs? What are some of the practical benefits?
- According to Bullock, what is the point of the personification of wisdom in various passages in proverbs?
- What is the general meaning of the word ‘Mashal’?
- According to Bullock, what is the main function of Proverbs?
- Describe the three sub-functions of Proverbs in your own words.
- Describe the purpose of Proverbs in your own words.
- Describe the relationship between the growth of the book of Proverbs and its literary structure. Take into account the contribution of Solomon, Hezekiah’s people, and the authors of the smaller collections of chs. 30-31.
- What is the distinction that Bullock insists upon in his discussion of authorship?
- Who does Bullock think is the author of Proverbs chapters 1-9? What reasons does he give?
- What is the basic form of mashal poetry? Describe the four categories of this basic form in your own words.
- What is the first hermeneutical principle? How does this apply to the way we should read proverbs?
- What is the second underlying principle of wisdom proverbs?
- What is the third principle? Do you agree? Why or why not?
- What is the fourth principle? What is the greatest difference between Israelite and other Ancient Near Eastern wisdom?
- What is the function of The title (1:1-6) according to Bullock?
- What is the motto? What is its significance in the book of Proverbs.
- Briefly summarize the content of each of the 15 discourses in the prologue (1:7-9:18).
- Make a brief representative list of the subjects covered in each of the large collections of Proverbs (10:1-29:27)
- What is the connection between the concluding poem on the virtuous wife and the beginning of the book of Proverbs?
- hyperlink to practice quiz on Bullock pp. 172-209
- Pages 79-103
- What is the most obvious issue in the Book of Job?
- Describe the two categories of approaches to explaining the central problem.
- What are the “two poles” of the issues of Job?
- Describe in your own words the purpose of Job.
- Define “Theodicy”.
- What is the range for possible dates of the Book of Job?
- What is Bullock’s conclusion regarding the geographic provenance? The religious provenance?
- Describe the literary organization/structure of Job.
- What does Bullock mean when he says that Job is “didactic”?
- What is the relationship between the prologue/epilogue and the dialogues?
- Do Job’s words/actions in the dialogues match the description of Job and his words/actions in the prologue? Why do/don’t you think so?
- What is the function of the ‘friends’ in the dialogue?
- What is “God’s final vindication of His servant [Job]”?
- The epilogue therefore necessarily bears out the truth that______________________.
- Which of the three scholarly options on ch. 28 does Bullock seem to favor? Why?
- How much does the speeches of Elihu add to the argument of the dialogue?
- How is Elihu described? How is this important for our understanding?
- What topic/argument does Elihu expand and emphasize?
- What is Bullock’s suggestion regarding the literary unity of Job in interpretation?
- What is the relationship of the book of Job to the mythological ideas it uses?
- What is the role of satan in the prologue?
- What are the two possible misconceptions about satan that the Book of Job works to avoid?
- How does Bullock suggest that we as Christians read Job in terms of relationship to the New Testament?
- hyperlink to Practice Quiz on Bullock pp. 79-103
- Pages 103-129
- Briefly review the chart on page 75 for the organization of Job (and this section of Bullock).
- What are the two words used to describe Job’s integrity in 1:1?
- Whose integrity is at stake in the Book of Job?
- What does Bullock describe as “one of the marks of greatness that characterizes this book”? What is the significance for our reading and interpretation?
- What are the two phases of Job’s tragedy?
- Why did the friends come to Job? How did they act at first?
- What are the three elements in Job chapter 3?
- Describe the method of argumentation in the Dialogues.
- What sets the tone for the first cycle of dialogues?
- What is the “basic contribution” of Eliphaz to the dialogue in the first exchange?
- What is the “second principle” that Eliphaz put forth?
- What are the two themes of Job’s response to Eliphaz’s first speech?
- What is the theme of Bildad’s first speech?
- What is Job’s response?
- Describe the advice and the hope that the 3 friends offer to Job.
- What is the difference between Zophar’s view of wisdom and Job’s view of wisdom expressed in the first cycle?
- What was Job’s point about defending God?
- How does the tone of the friends argument change in the second cycle?
- What is the glimmer of hope that Job expresses in his response to Eliphaz?
- What are the two “elements that bring coherence to this book”?
- What is the purpose of Bildad’s second speech? How does it compare to the rest of Scripture? What is Bildad’s mistake?
- What does Job mean by “redeemer”?
- What is “the basic assumption of Zophar’s thesis” in the second cycle?
- Summarize the “progress” of Job’s thought described by Bullock.
- According to Bullock, what is the possible significance of the brevity of Bildad’s third speech?
- Why does Bullock highlight 27:1 and 29:1? What is the result of this hypothesis?
- What is the main question of ch. 28? What is the answer given in that chapter?
- What is the connection between chapter 28 and 1:1?
- What is the topic of chapter 29? Chapter 30? Chapter 31?
- Describe in your own words the four terms for the advocate Job longed for.
- What is Elihu’s major contribution to the debate?
- What is Bullock’s evaluation of Elihu’s contribution?
- What are the two ways that Job received the answer to his question?
- Describe in your own words the explanations of God’s speeches listed by Bullock?
- How does God answer the question “Why do the innocent suffer?”?
- In God’s speeches, what does the order and beauty of the natural universe tell us about the moral universe?
- What was God’s challenge to Job?
- How did Job respond?
- Reread and meditate on Bullock’s passage on page 109 from “The paradox remained…”to the end of the paragraph.
- According to Bullock, what is the function of the Epilogue?
- hyperlink to Practice Quiz on Bullock pp. 103-129
- Pages 210-243
- Define “Qoheleth”.
- What are the four ideas with which Qoheleth ends a section?
- What is the primary purpose of Qoheleth?
- Describe in your own words the three trademarks of Qoheleth’s thought.
- What does the “providence of God” contribute to Qoheleth’s thought?
- What does Bullock mean by “golden mean of conduct”?
- What is the basic element of Qoheleth’s religious faith?
- Does Bullock think Solomon was the author of Ecclesiastes? Why or why not?
- What is the “divine imperative of Ecclesiastes”?
- What is the common element that Qoheleth shared with other Biblical wisdom literature?
- Define “vanity”.
- Define “advantage”.
- What is Qoheleth’s thesis in 1:12-2:11?
- What two lines of proof does he use for this thesis?
- What is the point of 3:1-15? What are the two lessons that Qoheleth draws from this?
- What are the four advantages of companionship?
- What are the three rules regarding religious practices?
- What is Qoheleth’s view of wealth?
- What are the lessons Qoheleth draws from death?
- What are the lessons Qoheleth draws from life?
- What does Qoheleth observe about the conclusions of popular theology?
- How does the fact of death shape Qoheleth’s view of retributive justice?
- What is Qoheleth’s view of rulers?
- What is Qoheleth’s final advice to the youth?
- What is Qoheleth’s view of the afterlife?
- What is the concluding counsel of the book?
- hyperlink to Practice Quiz on Bullock pp. 210-243
- Pages 244-278
- What does the ancient Hebrew understanding of male-female relations contribute to our understanding of the Song of Songs (SofS)?
- What does Bullock mean by ‘allegorical method’ of interpretation?
- If one follows a typical Christian allegorical method of interpreting the SofS, what is the book about?
- According to Bullock, what is the reason why many interpreters resort to the allegorical method? Do you agree with this reason?
- What is the “typological method”? How is it different from the allegorical method?
- What is Bullock’s opinion/evaluation of the “mythological method”?
- If one interprets the SofS according to the “literal method”, what is it about?
- Describe the “dramatic theory” of the SofS.
- What are Bullock’s reasons for and against viewing the SofS as a collection of love songs?
- According to Ginsburg, what is the purpose of the SofS?
- What are the reasons Bullock gives for seeing the book as a unity?
- What is the view of the nature and purpose of SofS that Bullock finally endorses?
- How does the superscription contribute to the discussion of the books authorship?
- What date range does Bullock conclude is most likely for the composition of the SofS?
- What does the term “song of songs” mean?
- According to Bullock, what is the “Climax of the Song”?
- hyperlink to Practice Quiz on Bullock pp. 244-278