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The Book of Proverbs is one of the books of the Ketuvim of the Tanakh and of the Writings of the Old Testament.

Title

The title of the book of Proverbs comes down originally from its Hebrew form Míshlê Shelomoh (Proverbs of Solomon). As is common in the Hebrew Bible, the Hebrew title of the book comes simply from the book. When translated into Greek and Latin it authorship of Proverbs. The general assumption is that Solomon was a part of the authorship to some extent. Even though Solomon’s wisdom and likely involvement cannot be denied, based on the scholarship, it is fair to say that the entirety of the book was not solely from his hand. There are also other names that are linked to other sections of the book. There are also elements of disunity than the specific writing of any one person . Some of the authorship is attributed to Men of Hezekiah who simply transcribed the proverbs of Solomon rather than writing them of their own accord. When looking at the authorship in terms of the text itself there are at least eight specific instances where authorship is mentioned;

'''PROVERBS: Authors/Collectors

Solomon
10:1 Solomon
22:17 Wise Men
24:23 Wise Men
25:1 Solomon (as copied by Hezekiah’s men)
30:1 Agur son of Jakeh
31:1 Lemuel (or his mother)
31:10-31? unknown author?
As for the eighth section there are many scholars who consider the poem at the end of the book vs. 10-31 as written by an unknown author. The attributions of authorship are as follows in accordance with the scriptures above; Solomon, Solomon, Wise Men, Wise Men, Solomon (as copied by Hezekiah’s men), Agur son of Jakeh, Lemuel (or his mother), and the unknown author. With this possibility it is speculated that the sections written by the Wise Men were studied by Solomon and added in and that they influenced his writing. With this possibility it is likely that there would be similarities in the section written by Solomon as well as the sections by the Wise Men. When there are critiques for word usage the highest percentage of commonalities are between the three Solomon sections. The next most common are the Wise Men sections as they could have influenced Solomon’s writing and the least commonalities were with the Agur, Lemuel, and the unknown author as those could have been added on at the end. This however is a minority view which was presented by Steinman. Majority of scholars, such as Crenshaw, Murphy and Purdue, hold to the belief that much of Proverbs was brought together from a time well after Solomon. Inevitably there seems that there will continue to be debate with regards to authorship of the various sections as well as who compiled them.

When was it written?

Dates for the writing of the book are unclear due to the authorship issues as well as the collaboration of different proverbs which were brought together in this book. Due to the suggested authorship of Solomon and the collaboration of Hezekiah’s men there are some dates that can be worked with. However there are not enough to give specific timing to the completion of the book though it could have been as late as third century B.C.E. Some of the proverbs mentioned in the book were from common experience or even from common proverbs that were being spoken of during ancient times.

Divisions of the book

The divisions of the book seem to follow along similarly to the outline of authorship above.

Influences

There have been suggestions that there is a crossover of some Egyptian nature in the proverbs from The Instructions of Amenemopet. Some of the similarities can be viewed here: Wisdom literature and the issue of "borrowing"

Proverbs as wisdom literature

The book of Proverbs is referred to as wisdom literature along with several other books. The book of Job, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon are all classed together as wisdom literature. There are also apocryphal books that are called wisdom literature as well these would be the books of Sirach (Ben Sira) and the Wisdom of Solomon. "Wisdom literature" is primarily concerned with wisdom. There are certain themes and genres that are common to the works and this gives the outward appearance of unity and therefore justifies classifying them together. There are also specific sub-genres: the saying, instruction, and acrostic poem to mention a few. Some of the Psalms have also been classed as possible wisdom literature, however the book as a whole is not seen in this way.

What is the central theme of the book?

The central theme to the book of Proverbs can be linked to Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” This theme of centrality of the knowledge of God runs through the entirety of the book. The instructions that are given, although they are for everyday circumstances, allude to humankind’s uprightness before God. The thought pattern that the reverence and respect for God in all circumstances brings true knowledge is encouraged in this book through its basic instructions in all situations pertinent to humankind. The book centers on the willingness to learn as important. The book demonstrates these teachings through right and wrong action and how one is to deal with the given situations. The desire of the book was to associate the ideas of the covenant relationship with God to the everyday lives of those who were reading the wisdom literature, as many of the proverbs may have been familiar simply through culture as mentioned earlier. God’s people were brought into the belief that God’s law is something that is part of life and is a duty, and this required obedience. Proverbs calls this kind of obedience the fear of the Lord. This obligation, which is similar to the knowledge of God that they had from the prophetic books, involves reverence, gratitude, and commitment to do the will of God in every circumstance. The main goal of proverbs is to define clearly what it means to be fully devoted to God’s will and seeing his will accomplished in this world.

References

  • Benson, Clarence H., Old Testament Survey: Poetry and Prophecy, 1972
  • Blank, S. H. “Book of Proverbs,” in The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible *
  • Chapman, Milo L., Purkiser, W.T., Wolf, Earl C. & Harper, A. F. Beacon Bible Commentary: Job through Song of Solomon, 1967
  • Crenshaw, James L. “Book of Proverbs,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1992
  • Dean, Matt. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume II, 2003
  • Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897
  • Lasor, William Sanford, Hubbard, David Allan, & Bush, Frederic Wm., Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form, and Background of the Old Testament, 1996
  • Murphy, Roland E., Wisdom Literature: Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Canticles, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. Grand Rapids, 1981
  • New American Standard Bible, 1995
  • Perdue, Leo G. Proverbs: interpretation A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, 2000
  • Steinmann, Andrew E. “Proverbs 1-9 as a Solomonic Composition,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 43, no. 4 (2000)

External links

Online translations of Book of Proverbs:

Related articles:

Prepared in 2006 for the course BIBL5023 at Acadia Divinity College

Ketuvim | Old Testament books

Cwidbóc | Levr ar C'hrennlavarioù | Buch der Sprichwörter | Proverbios | Livre des Proverbes | 잠언 | Amsal | Libro dei proverbi | משלי | Wulang Bebasan | Spreuken | Salomos ordspråk | 箴言 | Księga Przysłów | Livro dos Provérbios | Sananlaskujen kirja | Ordspråksboken | 箴言

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Book of Proverbs".

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