What makes a true friend? Take some time to jot down a few qualities. The Bible is a great reference. Apply these qualities to the friendship of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Do you think they are true friends?
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This is a blog for students studying the Great Books of Ancient Literature and History. We will be using Omnibus 1 from Veritas Press beginning August 6,2008. Feel free to add comments to any of the discussions we have.
4 comments:
Here is an essay my daughter wrote on friendship. This form of essay is called a chreia or exposition of a saying. The title of the essay is the verse she wrote about:
A Man Of Many Companions May Come To Ruin, But There Is a Friend Who Sticks Closer Than a Brother-Proverbs 18:24
The son of David, Solomon, was a man who searched for wisdom from a young age; especially wisdom for ruling Israel. He wrote all of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Songs of Songs/Songs of Solomon. He also wrote a few Psalms and built the first real stone temple for God in Jerusalem.
The scripture verse above (Proverbs 18:24) has one or two meanings (I think). It could mean that God is our friend and he sticks closer than a brother, and a man who has many friends and doesn’t know God may come to ruin, or it could mean that having one good friend, not necessarily God, is better than having many friends, whom you would not be able to be as well acquainted with as the one friend.
Solomon probably wrote this verse because he had realized that he and everyone else was better off having one good friend then many who weren’t quite as trustworthy.
If this verse was reversed and everyone was acquaintances with everyone else and not really friends than we would find ourselves feeling very lonely. We wouldn’t have anyone to comfort us in hard times or to celebrate with us in good times.
Having no good friends and all acquaintances’ is like having a lot of food but no water.
In the Bible Ruth and Naomi supported each other through tough times after the death of Ruth’s husband woho was Naomi’s son. Naomi helped Ruth find a new husband even though it probably caused her much pain because he was replacing her son.
Jesus said “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that He laid down His life for His friends.
Overall it is much better to be best friends and truly care about one friend than to not care about a lot of “friends”.
This is my other daughter's essay:
A man of many companions may come to ruins, but there is a friend who sticks closer then a brother.
Proverbs 18:24
This verse is written by king Solomon, son of David and king of Israel. He wrote all of Proverbs. He started his life serving God and built the first permanent temple for Him. He was granted wisdom when God said he could ask for one thing.
This verse means that it is better to have one true friend then a thousand that don’t really like you. If you have many friends that aren’t true friends when you need someone they wont be there, but a true friend will be there no matter what.
I think Solomon wrote this to tell us being popular isn’t nearly as good as only having one or two good friends. He saw the importance of staying together. In his time as king he saw many kingdoms fall because they did not stick together.
If you have lots of friends that aren’t true when something bad happens they will all turn away. If you have a good friend then you will always have someone to be there with you. With people that aren’t close to you they don’t care what happens to you like a true friend would.
John the Baptist and Jesus stayed together until the time of John’s death. John is the one who baptized Jesus, and Jesus died for John. They grew up together and were close friends.
Jesus said “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
Having a true friend is worth more than anything in the world. Solomon saw this and wrote Proverbs 18:24 to show us this. We all need good friends.
This is off topic, but I was wondering if you would mind explaining how you organize your time using the Omnibus? We will begin using Omnibus l next week. It looks like you could spend a couple of hours each day between the discussions and personal reading. Do you follow their schedule or do you follow your own plan?
Thank you!
Tarheel Mama
Hi Tarheel Mama, this is our first yr to use Omnibus and we've just completed week 3. So far we have just done the primary readings. These have taken about 30 minutes of reading/day with maybe just 10-15 minutes of discussion. I also choose one "summa" topic for writing each week. The essays above are from the Progymnasmata assignment for wk 3. I didn't like their quote for the assigned essay, so I substituted Proverbs 18:24 instead.
We'll be adding in the secondary readings this next week. I expect that to add another 20-3o minutes of reading time. Since it's more entertaining in style maybe they can read it before bed. I also teach a class on the C.S. Lewis secondary readings each week, so most of our discussions on those books will happen there. I'm also omitting a few of the books throughout the yr to make it more managable for us.
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