In his letters, including in 1 Corinthians, Paul often quotes from or alludes to other sources. This includes the Hebrew Scriptures, apocryphal texts from the Second Temple period, and Greek texts. It’s particularly interesting to consider how Paul uses the Hebrew Scriptures. A good example is 1 Cor. 3:19-20, where Paul quotes from Job 5:13 and Psalm 94:11.
I just finished reading through the Psalms again, and I also just started reading through Job again — both good reading in this time of pandemic — so these references by Paul caught my attention.
In the first few chapters of 1 Corinthians, Paul is responding to divisions in the church at Corinth caused (in Paul’s view, at least) by a faction led by Apollos, a highly educated teacher. The Apollos faction (again, in Paul’s view, at least) thinks it possesses superior knowledge to other groups within the church. Paul emphasizes that the cross of Christ is foolishness to the world and turns claims to superior knowledge or wisdom upside-down. This theme is summarized in 1 Cor. 3:19-20, supported by the quotes from Job 5 and Psalm 94:
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,
“He catches the wise in their craftiness,” [Job 5:13]
and again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” [Ps. 94:11]
The quote from Psalm 94:11 tracks the Septuagint version (a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) exactly, with the omission of one word (in the Septuagint, Psalm 94 is Psalm 93). The quote from Job 5:13, if drawn from the Septuagint, is a paraphrase. Perhaps Paul quotes here from the Hebrew text, or perhaps from a Greek version that differs from the version of the Septuagint that comes down to us — though there are some significant word differences. Of course, we don’t know if Paul has scrolls of these texts handy while he is composing the letter, or whether he is quoting from memory, which could explain some of the differences.
The quote from Psalm 94 seems more or less in context. It’s a typical imprecatory Psalm that calls for God’s judgment on arrogant, abusive, proud people who oppress the poor:
They pour out arrogant words;
Psalm 94:4-7
all the evildoers are full of boasting.
They crush your people, Lord;
they oppress your inheritance.
They slay the widow and the foreigner;
they murder the fatherless.
They say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob takes no notice.”
The quote from Job 5, however, is odd, because it comes from the first speech from one of Job’s “friends,” Eliphaz the Temanite. In the book of Job, after terrible calamities befall him, Job hears from three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, with whom he carries on an argument about the reason for suffering. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar suggest Job must have done something wrong to deserve his fate, which is not true. After the dialogue with these three concludes, Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite speaks up: “when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.” (Job. 32:5). After Elihu concludes, “the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind,” and the Lord famously does not offer any answers either. (Job. 38:1). (I hope to write some more about Job, but as a side note, I suspect Job was a kind of drama or play, in which each of these characters speaks from the stage.)
The curious thing about Paul’s quote from Eliphaz is that Eliphaz does not correctly diagnose Job’s condition. Job has not been “crafty” in way that caused God to punish him. To the contrary, Job is being tested by “the accuser” (ha-satan, a being in the Heavenly Court who roams the Earth on God’s behalf) because Job has done everything right.
It seems that Paul is using this quote from Job as a sort of stock saying, and not in connection with its original context. It seems kind of like a print or needlework of Jeremiah 29:11 that you might find in a home or on a graduation card (“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'”) — exegetically completely unsound and out of context, but edifying anyway. (Paul seems fond of stock sayings: another is in 1 Corinthians 4:6 (“Nothing beyond what is written”), which is not from any known scriptural or apocryphal text.)
I don’t want to suggest Paul’s practice gives us license to ignore sound exegesis. But, maybe Paul’s tendency to paraphrase, gloss, and repurpose texts does suggest something about the dynamic, mulitvalent nature of the scriptures.