James,
What stands out for me in your essay, is the last paragraph where you compare what the prophetic and wisdom books have in common. As you say, both books deal faith and its relationship to life. The prophetic books in context in exile help them deal specifically with loss as a nation, and the wisdom books help them individually deal with moments of loss in their life, as vividly seen in the book of Job. This helps me see and appreciate how well rounded the Hebrew Bible really is; it has a faith message that is both individual and corporate/community. Our faith isn't ever either or individual or corporate, its both. Your comparison also shows in context how a situation can affect our viewpoint; exile and making sense of what happened, versus peacetime (Solomon's reign) and wisdom.