Knowledge
Knowledge in the UPDV opens at a tree and closes at a face. Between the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Eden and the moment when those who love God will know fully even as they were fully known, the books trace what it means for finite human beings to know, to refuse to know, and to be known. The fear of Yahweh is named the beginning. Wisdom traditions name the priest, the prophet, the prudent, the scoffer; they prize knowledge above gold and warn that it can also puff up. Prophets indict a people destroyed for lack of knowledge of God. Solomon prays for it. Christ claims it of his Father, gives it to his sheep, and rebukes those who hold its key but will not enter. The epistles set growth in knowledge alongside love and faith and announce that present knowing is partial.
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
The first occurrence of "knowledge" in the UPDV is a tree. "And out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen 2:9). Its fruit is forbidden on pain of death (Gen 2:17). The serpent reframes the prohibition as withheld divinity: "for God knows that in the day you⁺ eat of it, then your⁺ eyes will be opened, and you⁺ will be as God, knowing good and evil" (Gen 3:5). The woman sees that the tree is "to be desired to make one wise" (Gen 3:6); after eating, Yahweh God speaks: "Look, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil" (Gen 3:22). Expulsion from the garden follows (Gen 3:23). The first human grasp at knowledge brings exile, not deity.
The Fear of Yahweh as Beginning
The proverb that names the orientation of the whole canon is "The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; [But] the foolish despise wisdom and instruction" (Pr 1:7). Wisdom personified addresses those who refuse: "How long, you⁺ simple ones, will you⁺ love simplicity? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge?" (Pr 1:22). The indictment is not stupidity but a chosen aversion: "For they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of Yahweh" (Pr 1:29). The pursuit, by contrast, runs the other direction — discernment cried after, understanding sought as silver, hidden treasures hunted: "Then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, And find knowledge of God" (Pr 2:5). What begins in fear ends in finding.
Sirach extends the same line. "All wisdom is from Yahweh, And is with him for eternity" (Sir 1:1). Yahweh allots her and "supplied her to those who fear him" (Sir 1:10). The metaphor multiplies: "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of Yahweh" (Sir 1:14); "The abundance of wisdom is the fear of Yahweh" (Sir 1:16); "The crown of wisdom is the fear of Yahweh" (Sir 1:18); "The root of wisdom is to fear Yahweh, And her branches are length of days" (Sir 1:20). The fear of the Lord is "wisdom and instruction" (Sir 1:27). Sirach 19 then distinguishes godly from clever knowledge: "All wisdom is the fear of the Lord, And in all wisdom [there is] the fulfilling of the law" (Sir 19:20); "But the knowledge of wickedness is not wisdom, And the counsel of sinners is not understanding" (Sir 19:22); and the calculus is sharp — "Better is one who has inferior understanding, and fears, Than one who is very smart but transgresses the law" (Sir 19:24).
God's Knowledge of All
Yahweh is named "a God of knowledge" before whom "actions are weighed" (1 Sam 2:3). His eyes are open on every way of every man, "to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings" (Jer 32:19). "For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous; But the way of the wicked, will perish" (Ps 1:6). The psalmist describes the experience of being seen: "You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought far off" (Ps 139:2); "You search out my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways" (Ps 139:3). Even the foolishness the psalmist would hide is open: "O God, you know my foolishness; And my sins are not hid from you" (Ps 69:5). "Will not God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart" (Ps 44:21).
The prophets press the claim further. "I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings" (Jer 17:10). "Can any hide himself in secret places so that I will not see him? says Yahweh. Don't I fill heaven and earth?" (Jer 23:24). "For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity concealed from my eyes" (Jer 16:17). Amos: "And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there; and though they are hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them" (Am 9:3). Zephaniah: "I will search Jerusalem with lamps; and I will punish the men who are settled on their lees, who say in their heart, Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil" (Zep 1:12). David's charge to Solomon presses the same point inward: "for Yahweh searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts" (1 Chr 28:9). "There is no searching of his understanding" (Isa 40:28). Daniel praises the God who "reveals the deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him" (Dan 2:22).
Sirach is parallel. "The eyes of God see his works; And it is he who discerns all that a man does" (Sir 15:19). The cynic's hiding-place is denied: "Do not say, 'I am hidden from God; And who will remember me on high?'" (Sir 16:17); "If I have sinned, no eye will see me. Or if I lie, it is all hidden, Who will know?" (Sir 16:21). The answer in the next breath: "Their ways are ever before him, They are not hid from his eyes" (Sir 17:15); "Their iniquities are not hid from him, And all their sins are before the Lord" (Sir 17:20). And — keyed to the umbrella's foreknowledge stratum — "In the abundance of his knowledge the Lord distinguished them, And made their ways various" (Sir 33:11).
Foreknowledge and Declared Future
Yahweh announces what has not happened. "Look, the former things have come to pass, and I declare new things; before they spring forth I tell you⁺ of them" (Isa 42:9). "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not [yet] done; saying, My counsel will stand, and I will do all my pleasure" (Isa 46:10). Daniel's confession before Nebuchadnezzar: "but there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days" (Dan 2:28). Sirach speaks of him "Declaring the things that are past and the things that will be, And revealing the traces of hidden things" (Sir 42:19). Paul applies the category to election: "For whom he foreknew, he also preappointed [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Rom 8:29); "God did not cast off his people which he foreknew" (Rom 11:2). Peter writes "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit" (1 Pet 1:2).
Knowing Yahweh
Knowledge of God in the UPDV is covenantal recognition tied to deliverance. "And I will take you⁺ to be my people, and [my Speech] will be your⁺ God; and you⁺ will know that I am Yahweh your⁺ God, who brings you⁺ out from under the burdens of the Egyptians" (Ex 6:7). Pharaoh's signs serve that same end: "Let it be according to your word; that you may know that there is none like Yahweh our God" (Ex 8:10); "and you⁺ will know that I am Yahweh your⁺ God" (Ex 16:12). Joshua at the Jordan: "Hereby you⁺ will know that the living God is among you⁺" (Jos 3:10). Elijah at Carmel: "Hear me, O Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God" (1 Kgs 18:37). Cyrus is named in advance "that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel" (Isa 45:3). Joel: "And you⁺ will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Yahweh your⁺ God, and there is no other" (Joel 2:27). Zechariah: "you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you⁺" (Zech 4:9). Jeremiah's new-covenant promise gathers the strand: "they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jer 31:34).
Hosea names the proper response: "And let us know, let us follow on to know Yahweh: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come to us as the rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth" (Hos 6:3). And Jeremiah names the only worthy boast: "but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh" (Jer 9:24).
Solomon's Prayer and Royal Wisdom
When Yahweh asks Solomon what he wishes, the request is not for wealth or long life but for discernment to govern. "Give your slave therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this your great people?" (1 Kgs 3:9). The Chronicler's parallel makes "knowledge" explicit: "Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this your people, that is so great?" (2 Chr 1:10). The model carries forward in the wisdom-traditions and in Daniel, where "God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom" (Dan 1:17), and where Daniel is named for "an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of dark sentences, and dissolving of doubts" (Dan 5:12). "Many will run to and fro, and the knowledge will be increased" (Dan 12:4). The psalmist's prayer is in the same register: "Teach me good judgment and knowledge; For I have believed in your commandments" (Ps 119:66).
Knowledge in Proverbs and Sirach
The wisdom poetry treats knowledge as something pursued, taught, and prized. Proverbs opens with the program: knowledge given "to the young man" along with "discretion" (Pr 1:4). The pursuit is active — "Yes, if you cry after discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures: Then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, And find knowledge of God" (Pr 2:3-5). "For wisdom will enter into your heart, And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul" (Pr 2:10). It is acquired, not stumbled upon: "Get wisdom, get understanding; Don't forget" (Pr 4:5); "Buy the truth, and don't sell it" (Pr 23:23). "The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge; But the mouth of fools feeds on folly" (Pr 15:14). "The heart of the prudent gets knowledge; And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge" (Pr 18:15). "Whoever loves correction loves knowledge; But he who hates reproof is brutish" (Pr 12:1).
It is valued above metals: "Receive my instruction, and not silver; And knowledge rather than choice gold" (Pr 8:10). The hymn to wisdom in Pr 3:13-24 gathers the praise: "She is more precious than rubies: And none of the things you can desire are to be compared to her... Yahweh by wisdom founded the earth; By understanding he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths were broken up, And the skies drop down the dew." It is also strength: "A wise [noble] man is strong; Yes, a man of knowledge increases might" (Pr 24:5). Knowledge dispenses through speech — "The lips of the wise disperse knowledge" (Pr 15:7) — and fills households: "And by knowledge are the chambers filled With all precious and pleasant riches" (Pr 24:4). Yet the scoffer cannot find what the discerning find easily (Pr 14:6).
Ecclesiastes records the cost. "For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow" (Eccl 1:18). "Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh" (Eccl 12:12). The writer concedes the limits of human knowing: "for he doesn't know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?" (Eccl 8:7); "as the fish that are taken in an evil net... even so are the sons of man snared in an evil time" (Eccl 9:12); "As you don't know what the way of the wind is, [nor] how the bones [grow] in the womb of her who is pregnant; even so you don't know the work of God who does all" (Eccl 11:5).
Sirach's portrait is similar. The wise man's knowledge is "like a spring of water, And his counsel is like the water of life," while "The inward parts of a fool are like a broken vessel, He holds no knowledge" (Sir 21:13-14); "the knowledge of an unwise man is [as] talk without sense" (Sir 21:18). Experience teaches: "A well-instructed man knows many things, And one of much experience expounds knowledge" (Sir 34:9); "He who has no experience knows [but] few things, But he who has wandered multiplies his skill" (Sir 34:10-11). "Be established in your knowledge, And afterward will be your words" (Sir 5:10). Speech and silence: "Do not speak against the truth, And concerning your ignorance be ashamed" (Sir 4:25). Sirach also names man's finitude against God's plenitude: "When a man has finished, then he just begins, And when he ceases he is in perplexity" (Sir 18:7); "What is man... ? As a drop of water from the sea, or [as] a grain of sand, So are [man's] few years in the day of eternity" (Sir 18:8, 10). And Sirach gives knowledge a heritage-formula: "He set before them knowledge, And the law of life he gave them for a heritage" (Sir 17:11), with God's pedagogy preceding — "With insight and understanding, he filled their heart; And taught them good and evil" (Sir 17:5-6).
The Prophets on a People without Knowledge
Hosea's central indictment: "My people are destroyed for lack of the knowledge [of God]: because you have rejected the knowledge [of God], I will also reject you, that you will be no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your sons" (Hos 4:6). The reciprocal of knowing God is being known by him; the reciprocal of rejecting that knowledge is being rejected. The same prophet sets out what Yahweh actually wants: "For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings" (Hos 6:6).
Isaiah opens with an animal-shaming: "The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib; [but] Israel does not know, my people do not consider" (Isa 1:3). And he points beyond the indictment to the eschaton: "for the earth will be full of knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa 11:9).
Jeremiah's complaint repeats: "For my people are foolish; they don't know me. They are foolish sons, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil; but to do good they don't know" (Jer 4:22); "they are foolish; for they don't know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God" (Jer 5:4); "the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times... but my people don't know the law of Yahweh" (Jer 8:7); "they don't know me, says Yahweh" (Jer 9:3). The willful refusal hardens: "they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law... therefore there came great wrath from Yahweh of hosts" (Zech 7:11-12). Job names the same posture: "And they say to God, Depart from us; For we do not desire knowledge of your ways" (Job 21:14).
Other prophets echo. "For they don't know to do right, says Yahweh" (Am 3:10). "But they don't know the thoughts of Yahweh, neither do they understand his counsel" (Mic 4:12). "Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in [his Speech]" (Nah 1:7). The priest, in the canonical office, was meant to be a reservoir: "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts" (Mal 2:7). Conversely, the generation after Joshua "didn't know Yahweh, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel" (Judg 2:10).
Christ's Knowledge and the Knowledge of Christ
In John's Gospel Christ knows the Father directly and lays the same claim no one else can. "I know him; because I am from him, and he sent me" (John 7:29). "and you⁺ have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say, I don't know him, I will be like you⁺, a liar: but I know him, and keep his speech" (John 8:55). "even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my soul for the sheep" (John 10:15). "O righteous Father, the world didn't know you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me" (John 17:25). His teaching is not his own: "My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man wills to do his will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or [whether] I speak from myself" (John 7:16-17).
Christ knows people. "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you" (John 1:48). "he himself knew what was in man" (John 2:25). The synoptics: "Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned to themselves" (Mark 2:8); "But he knew their thoughts" (Luke 6:8); "But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them" (Luke 11:17); "You⁺ are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men; but God knows your⁺ hearts" (Luke 16:15). His sheep are known: "and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out" (John 10:3); "I am the good shepherd; and I know my own, and my own know me" (John 10:14).
The world's not-knowing is a recurring note. "He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him, and the world did not know him" (John 1:10). "Among you⁺ stands one whom you⁺ don't know" (John 1:26). "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me a drink; you would have asked of him" (John 4:10). "You⁺ know neither me, nor my Father: if you⁺ knew me, you⁺ would know my Father also" (John 8:19); "you⁺ don't know where he is from, and [yet] he opened my eyes" (John 9:30); "Have I been so long time with you⁺, and don't you know me, Philip?" (John 14:9). The persecution of disciples turns on the same blank: "they don't know him who sent me" (John 15:21); "they haven't known the Father, nor me" (John 16:3).
The eternal-life summary frames knowing God in personal terms. "And this is eternal life, that they should know you the only true God, and him whom you sent, [even] Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). "If you⁺ stay in my speech, [then] you⁺ are truly my disciples; and you⁺ will know the truth, and the truth will make you⁺ free" (John 8:31-32). And Jesus' rebuke to the lawyers names a stewardship abdicated: "Woe to you⁺ lawyers! For you⁺ took away the key of knowledge: you⁺ didn't enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you⁺ hindered" (Luke 11:52).
For Paul the surpassing good is the same person. "But on the contrary, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and regard them as crap, that I may gain Christ" (Phil 3:8).
Knowledge in the Apostolic Letters
The epistles inherit both strands: real knowledge given, and present knowledge bounded.
Paul names willful ignorance as the shape of pagan refusal: "And even as they did not approve to have God in [their] knowledge, God delivered them up to a disapproved mind" (Rom 1:28). Israel's parallel failure is "being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness" (Rom 10:3). The Ephesians' former state was "being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart" (Eph 4:18). Peter addresses converts as "sons of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your⁺ former desires in [the time of] your⁺ ignorance" (1 Pet 1:14), and warns of those who "willfully forget" the prior workings of God (2 Pet 3:5). Of some it must be said that they are "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim 3:7).
Knowledge is also a Spirit-given gift in the body: "to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit" (1 Cor 12:8). It is a virtue to be supplied: "in your⁺ faith supply virtue; and in [your⁺] virtue knowledge" (2 Pet 1:5). Paul's apostolic message rests on knowledge that is eyewitness and not myth: "we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you⁺ the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Pet 1:16).
Yet the Corinthian correspondence sets a guardrail. "We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. If any man thinks that he knows anything, he doesn't know yet as he ought to know" (1 Cor 8:1-2). Even prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will pass: "if [there is] knowledge, it will be done away" (1 Cor 13:8). What endures is being known: "but if any man loves God, the same is known by him" (1 Cor 8:3); "but now that you⁺ have come to know God, and what's more, to be known by God" (Gal 4:9). And to those who name his name belongs a seal: "The Lord knows those who are his: and, Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness" (2 Tim 2:19). Paul himself rests on relational knowing: "for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day" (2 Tim 1:12).
The reach of present knowing is limited. "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part will be done away... For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I will know fully even as also I was fully known" (1 Cor 13:9-12).
The Johannine epistles list what believers do know: that the Son will be manifested and they will be like him (1 John 3:2); that they have passed from death to life (1 John 3:14); that he stays in them by the Spirit (1 John 3:24); and a confidence under self-accusation: "if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things" (1 John 3:20).
Human Limits
Human knowledge in the UPDV is finite, often confused, and at its worst willful in its refusal. "(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow)" (Job 8:9). "So brutish was I, and ignorant; I was [as] a beast before you" (Ps 73:22). The wind and the womb both lie outside human grasp (Eccl 11:5). Yahweh "frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes fortune-tellers insane; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish" (Isa 44:25). "The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless" (1 Cor 3:20). "The way of peace they don't know" (Isa 59:8). At the same time, age can yield understanding (Job 12:12), and even in his suffering Job confesses what he does know: "But as for me I know that my Redeemer lives, And at last he will stand up on the earth" (Job 19:25). The final note is the prophet's: "I know that I will not be put to shame" (Isa 50:7).
What May Be Known
Across the books, certain things are named as known by the people of God. That God's own people are known by him: "to him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice" (John 10:3); "I know my own, and my own know me" (John 10:14); "and he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit" (Rom 8:27); "to those who love God all things work together for good" (Rom 8:28); "if the earthly house of our tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens" (2 Cor 5:1). The Samaritans' confession at the well stands for what conversion can know: "we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Savior of the world" (John 4:42). The man born blind names the same minimal-but-sufficient knowing: "Whether he is a sinner, I don't know: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see" (John 9:25). Christ's authentication of his works invites the same recognition: "believe the works: that you⁺ may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father" (John 10:38); "the world may know that I love the Father" (John 14:31); "that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me" (John 17:23).
The end is the line in Jeremiah picked up by every later strand of the canon: "they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh" (Jer 31:34) — the earth full of the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea (Isa 11:9), and the partial knowing of the present age replaced by knowing fully even as one was fully known (1 Cor 13:12).