My wife and I love to watch treasure hunting shows like The Curse of Oak Island. We also enjoy watching treasuring hunting movies like National Treasure. But there really is a difference between the two of these. And I believe that difference is also present in the way we take up the task of studying the Bible.
Proverbs 2:4 tells us to search for Wisdom—and I believe we can extend that to searching the Scriptures—as one would seek for hidden treasures or silver. But how do we go about that search? How do we go about trying to discern the will and mind of God in a matter?
Consider the National Treasure option. Here you have an expert who has heard legend of a hidden treasure. His family is absolutely obsessed with finding these treasures. Others mock him. Few believe there actually is a treasure. But Nicolas Cage goes on undeterred until he finds the treasure. So far that might square with the way one goes about studying the Scriptures. But note the way that this pursuit of the treasure happens. The viewer is taken on a two hour journey of clues and puzzles to unlock the mysteries hidden ages ago.
Many people consider the Bible to be something similar. That God, the author, has placed various clues throughout His text that the wise reader will be able to discern. One clue, unlocks another clue, until the great mysteries of the faith are unlocked. And just as in National Treasure, a best-selling book will follow as well.
But that isn’t what Proverbs 2:4 means about searching for treasure. The National Treasure type of treasure hunting is a rather new invention. The way the ancients would search for treasure was one of two ways. One way was looting tombs. That certainly isn’t what the author of Proverbs has in mind. Instead what he likely has in mind is the diligent and laborious search that would take place. Someone would hear that a treasure was buried somewhere and a team of people would grab a shovel and keep digging, and digging, and digging.
It’s a bit like how shows like Battlefield Recovery and The Curse for Oak Island go about treasure hunting. True, they use modern technology to narrow the search. But for the most part their search is diligent and calculating. They spend money as if the treasure is there and that it is worth every bit of their investment. They put man hours into this thing and devote their entire lives to finding the treasure. Sometimes they dig up whole areas of land searching for that treasure. This is what the author of Proverbs 2 has in mind in searching for wisdom.
In his commentary on Proverbs 2, Charles Bridges says this, “The rule of success is—Dig up and down the field; and if the search be discouraging, dig again. The patient industry of perusal and re-perusal will open the embosomed treasure” (Bridges, 15). This is the way we ought to study the Scriptures. Not hoping to uncover clues and follow the various whims that we have to uncover something the author only wanted the really smart people to uncover. But instead, diligently search because the treasure is worth every bit of our effort.
Diligently study the Scriptures. And Proverbs 2, tells us that we will find what we are looking for. That is great news!
