Tremper III Longman - The Fear of the Lord Is Wisdom: A Theological Introduction to Wisdom in Israel

M y interest in wisdom in the Old Testament began during my studies at Yale University in the late 1970s. As I was defining and exploring the genre of Akkadian fictional autobiographies for my dissertation under Professor W. W. Hallo, I found some autobiographies that ended with wisdom admonitions. As I will explain in chapter 9, these Akkadian compositions were similar in form to Ecclesiastes. I soon had an offer to write a commentary on Ecclesiastes, and then over the next couple decades, I also wrote commentaries on Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, and Psalms, all of which in one way or another helped me to gain a better understanding of the concept of wisdom in the Old Testament.

Being an advocate for and practitioner of christological or christotelic interpretation, my interest in wisdom in its discrete setting within the Old Testament led me to study wisdom in the New Testament as well. Furthermore, since I try to write in a way that will be helpful for clergy, I have also pondered the relationship between ancient biblical wisdom as it informs wisdom today (thus appendix 1).

I want to thank Baker Academic and in particular Jim Kinney for the opportunity and encouragement to write this book, which is a synthesis of years of studying biblical wisdom. I have worked with Jim for a number of years now and consider him not just my editor but a close friend. He not only encouraged me to write this volume but has also guided me through the entire process. I also want to thank Wells Turner and his team for an excellent job of editing the volume.

I appreciate and give credit to the countless students to whom I have taught wisdom literature at the undergraduate as well as the graduate level. The very first course that I taught in 1981 was on Psalms and wisdom and indeed in the coming spring 2017 semester I will again teach that course. Naturally, the version of the course I will teach next semester is significantly different, and hopefully much better informed, than the one I taught in 1981.

I always want to thank my wife, Alice, for her great support over the years. She epitomizes wisdom in her life. We are also so thankful for our three sons, their wives, and also our four granddaughters. I have already dedicated previous books to our older granddaughters Gabrielle (now 11) and Mia (now 7), daughters of our son Tremper IV, so it is my pleasure to dedicate this book to our two newest granddaughters: Emerson Foster Longman (daughter of Timothy and Kari) and Ava Rae Longman (daughter of Andrew and Tiffany). Love to all you girls. May you grow up in the fear and wisdom of the Lord.