VIRTUOUS LIVING - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

If we perceive the above phrase: “the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom” as in theforegone submissions, then the wisdom tradition can claim to have achieved a faiththat liberates knowledge. This is because the “fear of the Lord” adds a “morecomprehensive dimension to knowledge – a feeling for the breadth of humanexperience” that fosters moral goodness.Von Rad, a renowned German Old Testament scholar referred to earlier, suggests thatin our consideration of the statement: “the fear of the Lord”, we should “eliminate, inthe case of the word “fear”, the idea of “something emotional, of a specific, psychicalform of the experience of God” (Von Rad 1972:66). Von Rad maintains that theexpression the “fear of Yahweh”, though with a wide range of meanings, in “a fewprominent passages mean simply obedience to the divine will” (Von Rad 1972:66).This kind of “fear” is perceived parallel to the concept of “integrity” or “right moralcomportment”. He believes that “In this context, the term is possibly used even in astill more general, humane sense, akin to our ‘commitment to’, knowledge aboutYahweh” (Von Rad 1972:66). Therefore, according to Von Rad, we should conceiveof the “fear of the Lord” as “a positive attitude, appropriate to Yahweh” a “concept ofconfidence” in our God.Von Rad develops another concept in which wisdom has found its starting-point. Thisis noticeable in the phrase: “beginning of wisdom”, which is used all in fivereferences quoted above. He maintains that though “fear” and “wisdom” are presentand closely linked, the emphasis seems to be on “wisdom”. However, the relationshipof the two makes the “fear of the Lord” a “prerequisite of wisdom” (Von Rad1972:67). A very important point has been made, which is that all wisdom, allknowledge and understanding begin in God. This assertion, maintains von Rad, castsdoubt on the origin of other forms of Wisdom. The repetitions seem to indicate acautious frame of mind. This may be a strategy to guard against the influences ofwisdom from other cultures, though it is also theologically significant to have God asthe origin of our wisdom and understanding. Von Rad concludes:To this extent, Israel attributes to the fear of God, to belief in God, a highlyimportant function in respect to human knowledge. She was, in allseriousness, of the opinion that effective knowledge about God is the onlything that puts a man (sic) into a right relationship with the objects of his240