Of Fools and Magi

Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.

–Proverbs 18:1 

There are two ways this verse is commonly interperated, and they are by no means of equal merit. To disclose the first, I am going to do something I have never done before on the blog: I’m going to cheat. I know, this is my blog and I started it to write things, but this was so good, and I didn’t want to have to paraphrase the whole thing to avoid being a plagiarist.

This is what Matthew Henry had to say about the first interpretation of Proverbs 18:1.

Some take it as a rebuke to an affected singularity. When men take a pride in separating themselves from the sentiments and society of others, in contradicting all that has been said before them and advancing new notions of their own, which, though ever so absurd, they are wedded to, it is to gratify a desire or lust of vain-glory, and they are seekers and meddlers with that which does not belong to them. He seeks according to his desire, and intermeddles with every business, pretends to pass a judgment upon every man’s matter. He is morose and supercilious. Those generally are so that are opinionative and conceited, and they thus make themselves ridiculous, and are vexatious to others.

—Matthew Henry

I agree with this interpretation, but I like to think of it from a slightly different angle. Say that this man spoken about in Proverb 18:1 is less a wisdom seeking intellect, and more a lover, seeking distraction. It does sound a bit like a man in love seeking to take his mind off a woman. Look at the wording here: through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.

Those in bold are the key words, and I’ll take them each apart for you. With desire, I can see the subject being a love distraught young man, whose desire for a young woman–who is perhaps oblivious or obstinately against the young man–, drives the young man to the next key word of the passage. This man, being rebuffed and unrequited, then separates himself from the world and all feelings of love, burying himself in the seeking and absorbing of knowledge. But the simple search and consumption of facts doesn’t fix the young man’s angst or dissolve his desire: it isn’t enough to just seek. So, our young man discovers a lust for wisdom, driven by a desire to forget about his young woman entirely. Regular study is not enough, therefore he takes it upon himself to learn all wisdom.

Then, after that, we still see the effects of those actions in the Matthew Henry commentary, but it gives the man a different motive and a personability, (new word), that we can learn from and relate to. I could bring this all back to the comments made by Henry… But, Matthew Henry can get his own blog if he wants to.

The other interpretation we can derive from this verse is one that is vastly different than the first: the man of selfish motive seeking all wisdom. This other interpretation paints a very different man. Again, deferring to Henry’s words on the point as they are more eloquent than my own.

Our translation seems to take it as an excitement to diligence in the pursuit of wisdom. If we would get knowledge or grace, we must desire it, as that which we need and which will be of great advantage to us, 1 Co. 12:31. We must separate ourselves from all those things which would divert us from or retard us in the pursuit, retire out of the noise of this world’s vanities, and then seek and intermeddle with all the means and instructions of wisdom, be willing to take pains and try all the methods of improving ourselves, be acquainted with a variety of opinions, that we may prove all things and hold fast that which is good.

—Matthew Henry

This interpretation seems to portray a pious monk. Though it is likely intended to glorify the pursuit of knowledge and justify the forsaking of all else, the words above seem to degrade rather than propogate the seeking of wisdom as a lifestyle. The words, “We must separate ourselves from all those things which would divert us from or retard us in the pursuit, retire out of the noise of this world’s vanities…” seem very self-centric and very upity. If we were to replace the words world’s vanities, with a milder set like things of this world, it seems that this life portrayed, the life of this righteous, wisdom seeker, is…boring.

Basically, Henry’s words, however eloquent they may be, encourage us to grab a stack of books and hide in a hole. They say that all there is in life is the understanding of the Word of God, and that life should be lived for that single purpose. Perhaps Henry, who was called to the study of scripture and the interpretation thereof, may have been tainted by his own lifestyle to think slightly closed-minded about life’s ultimate purpose. Not to discredit the pursuit of knowledge for the better understanding of The Word.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

—2 Timothy 2:15

The Word itself clearly encourages the study of The Word. But, the passage isn’t so much about gaining wisdom, within context. Proverbs 18:2-9 is a caution against becoming a fool.

A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

–Proverbs 18:2

The successive verses, leading up to verse 9 are exclusively about “The Fool”. Therefore, being that the first verse alone is a about seeking knowledge, and the next 8 are about the effects of a fool’s life, we can see the focus of this passage is not on the first verse. 

So, where does the magi come in? Well, he already has. Magi, simply put, means “Wise Men”, it’s the plural form of Maguš, (wise man), from the root Mago, the Latin word for wise. Really, the magi have been in the post from the beginning. Have you? Are you so over-absorbed in the pursuit of knowledge that you neglect the other tasks of being a Christian? Or are you a fool: mindlessly disregarding knowledge if it’s amassment becomes too difficult. Do not neglect the seeking of wisdom, but within moderation, study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist

A Lesson In Latin

  
I think it is about time I had some sort of standardized format for these posts. Up ’til this point, I have been haphazardly throwing posts together, not particularly having a set layout. I’m thinking that now is as good a time as any to change that, starting with an official daily comic.

This new feature will have absolutely no significance to the content of the post whatsoever, but will hopefully make you smile. Also, I’m incorporating a verse of the day, this will have everything to do with the content of the post. Living everyday with a theme and goal should involve scripture, and I hope this blog will begin to incorporate that goal more substantially.

VERSE OF THE DAY:

Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: 

-1Timothy 1:5

Three words jump out of this passage right off the bat: charity, conscience, and unfeigned. These are big words with big meanings, which brings us to the reason for the name of this post: Latin.

INTRODUCTION:

Most people do not realize it, but nearly every major language spoken today can be traced back to Latin or Greek. Spanish, English, French, and Italian are well known for sharing the same roots and many of the same words with each other; that is because they all had a common ancestor: Latin. For this reason as well as many others, it is important for every learned person, especially those whose occupations involve words and phrases, to have at least a base knowledge of Latin.

A rudemintary knowledge of Latin can be of unmeasured help when trying to decide the meanings of words. For instance, the English word peruse is composed of two words, the Latin word per, meaning “many”, and the Latin word use, meaning “times used”. Now, in the world we are familiar with, the word peruse is becoming somewhat archaic and antiquated, so much so that it has lost its meaning. If you have heard or seen it used recently, doubtless it meant “to glance over or browse”. In a sentence: “the man perused his newspaper”, we would take that to mean that he scanned his newspaper briefly.

However, clearly the Latin roots spell the word out to mean many uses, or a detailed examination. Our words and their meanings have become blurred, yet, still we can trace many if not most of our words back to Latin. The words Audio, (to hear), and Video, (to see), are actual Latin words, we have done nothing to them, yet we use them frequently in our English language. 

LESSON: 

Now, with that rousing introduction let’s start our lesson in Latin. 

1. Every Latin word is made up of three key parts, the Antepenult, Penultima, and the Ultima.

2. Each of these three define different attributes of the word; for example: A-mar-e. 

The word amare means love, more precisely it means to love, a present active infinitive. The word, like all Latin words, is separated into three sections. The first section, the Ultima–Latin works from back to front– defines the person. The Penultima, or the second section, defines the tense. The third, the Atepenult, defines the aspect of quality of action. To understand part of a word you must first see a conjugation.

The most popular of all Latin conjugations, (meaning the connection between things, in this case, words), is the following conjugation of the root word: Amo.

Amo: I love

Amas: You love

Amat: He, She, or It loves

Amamus: We love 

Amaris: You, (plural), love

Amant: They love

As you can see, by changing the end of the word, the meaning changes also; and these endings are universal, they can be moved and placed on any root word and conform its meaning.

Understanding these endings and the conjugation helps build a retention and knowledge of Latin in your mind, however, it is not very applicable by itself unless you wish to study Latin outright.

What is important is roots. From the Latin roots you discern the meaning of any word we now use today that hasn’t been created for crass or flippant usage.

Click here to read an arrival on Greek and Latin root words that gives examples of the usage of these roots in everyday conversation. Though, Greek is as much a basis for our language as Latin, I believe that Latin is a closer translation and therefore easier to deduce the meanings of words based upon its reference.

CLOSING:

Well, I hope this has been educational if nothing else, I enjoyed writing it, I hope you enjoyed reading it.

As always, thanks for reading.

—the anonymous novelist