(Part 1)

JBTM Daniel I. Block
84
Now there are two kinds of feasts that Balu hates,
Three that Cloud-Rider [hates]:
An improper feast
A low-quality feast,
And a feast where the female servants misbehave.
There impropriety was certainly seen,
There misbehavior of the female servants [was certainly seen]. (COS 1.258)
What does a Proverb like this Mean?
But now we seem far afield from where we began. Let’s return to the lizard in the king’s
palace. What are we to make of this curious fragment of Scripture—inspired by God and
preserved for all time as canonical truth? I find several lessons in this text.
First, we should not take life so seriously that we fail to notice the incongruities
and oddities of life. The sage is inviting us to loosen up and have a little fun. If God created
the creatures, including leviathan (the sea monster) for his own entertainment, don’t you
think it’s alright for us to find a little joy at what we observe. I love Psalm 104, a brilliant
nature psalm. After describing how the Lord takes care of all his creatures the psalmist
breaks out in a doxology of praise:
24
How countless are Your works, Lord!
In wisdom You have made them all;
the earth is full of Your creatures.
25
Here is the sea, vast and wide,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
26
There the ships move about, and Leviathan,
which You formed to play there.
27
All of them wait for You
to give them their food at the right time.
28
When You give it to them, they gather it;
when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things.
29
When You hide Your face, they are terrified;
when You take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.
30
When You send Your breath, they are created,
and You renew the face of the earth.
31
May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice (celebrate!) in His works.
I really believe that God is pleased when we notice what he has created so brilliantly, and
that as his images, we participate with him in the delight of his creation. This is what
“Wisdom” personified did according to Prov 8:27–31:
27
I was there when He established the heavens,
when He laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean,