Digital Logos Edition
“Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”—Proverbs 4:7 (NIV)
When a man’s life embodies the pursuit of wisdom, it bears among its fruits the deep love and respect of his family, friends, and colleagues. Bruce K. Waltke is such a man. Wisdom has defined Dr. Waltke, both as one of his personal qualities and as the core of his many years of biblical study, invoking the highest efforts of his formidable intellect and etching itself indelibly on his character. In tribute to Dr. Waltke, we present this collection of writings exploring the wisdom perspective of the Bible. The Way of Wisdom displays a level of scholarship and insight in keeping with Bruce Waltke’s high academic standards, and a breadth of outlook reflective of his own broad grasp of God’s Word and its application to all of life. May you, the reader, benefit.
“Firstly, prophetic predictions should still cause us to deepen our interest in the future but to do so with a different emphasis. Instead of looking at biblical predictions as statements of what must be coming, one should view them as announcements of what might be coming.” (Page 195)
“Unipolar conditional predictions point to another important feature of ot prophecy: prophets did not always speak explicitly of all possible conditions related to their predictions.” (Page 185)
“Many Jerusalemites opposed Jeremiah because they believed divine protection of Jerusalem was entirely unconditional (e.g., Jer 7:4). Jeremiah 18:1–12 amounted to a rebuttal of this false security. It stated that all unqualified predictions, even those concerning Jerusalem, operated with implied conditions.” (Page 189)
“The universal perspective of Jer 18:1–12 strongly suggests that all unqualified predictions were subject to implicit conditions. Sincere repentance had the potential of affecting every unqualified prophecy of judgment. Flagrant disobedience had the potential of negating every unqualified prophecy of prosperity.” (Page 189)
“A prophecy that gives the impression of foreknowledge actually is vaticinium ex eventu—a prophecy after the event.” (Page 181)