a package deal

The Word for today:
Proverbs 8

I used to wonder why many New Testaments come with Psalms and Proverbs (from the Old Testament) printed in the back.

I get why the Psalms are there. They are exquisite, sublime, transcendent.

But Proverbs? They are so prosaic (for the most part) when placed next to the Psalms.

***

Then one day, not too long ago, as I was reading the gospels I came across what we call Jesus' "Great Commandment." An expert in the Mosaic law asked Jesus this question:

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:36-40)

As I read those words, this thought came to mind:

The Great Commandment is what you'd have if you boiled down the Psalms and the Proverbs.

The first part of the Great Commandment speaks, on the vertical plane, of our relationship with God:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."

The second part of the Great Commandment speaks, on the horizontal plane, of our relationship with man:
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

A schematic of their inter-relationship might look something like this:

Together, the books of Psalms and Proverbs reflect the Great Commandment because Psalms is primarily about our relationship with God, while Proverbs is primarily about our relationship with man. That's why Psalms so often soars while Proverbs stays intentionally earthbound.

***

So I've come to appreciate Psalms and Proverbs as a package deal--

as much a package deal as the first and second parts of the Great Commandment;

as much a package deal as the Bible--which was written by man, by God;

and as much a package deal as Jesus--"very God of very God, very man of very man."

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