Reading: The Collections of Proverbs (Video Slides)

#22 Introduction to the Book of Proverbs, Part 2:
The Collections of Proverbs

The Proverbs of Solomon
 10:1-22:16

• 375 parallelism couplets expressing summary points of wisdom
• There are no numerals in the Hebrew language. Numbers are indicated by use of the letters of the alphabet which represent certain values. The letters in Solomon’s name have numerical values that add up to 375.
• The first 180 proverbs in this collection are virtually all “antithetic;” the last 195 are somewhat more varied in parallelistic form.
• These may have been created for banquet entertainment or recorded as official statements of Solomon in the context of his executive legislation.
• They might also have been published for training the young among the royal families in preparation for government duties.

Sayings of the Wise 
22:17-24:22 & 24:23-34

• After a brief introduction (22:17-21) there are 30 “wise sayings” about social relationships.
• An Egyptian collection called “The Wisdom of Amenemopet,” dated to around 1000 B.C. (about the time of Solomon), is nearly parallel in structure & content. It also has 30 brief “wise sayings,” of which 10 are virtually identical to 10 of these “sayings.” Scholars differ as to which came first, but there seems to be some interaction between the sources behind both collections.
• The fragment of 5 “More Sayings of the Wise” (24:23-34) seem related to the preceding collection, but little else is known about these.

(Proverbs 22:17-18):"Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, And apply thine heart to my doctrine; For it is pleasant if thou keep them in thy belly, that they may be established together upon thy lips"
(Amenemope, ch. 1):"Give thine ear, and hear what I say, And apply thine heart to apprehend; It is good for thee to place them in thine heart, let them rest in the casket of thy belly; That they may act as a peg upon thy tongue"

(Proverbs 22:22):"Rob not the poor, for he is poor, neither oppress (or crush) the lowly in the gate."
(Amenemope, ch. 2):"Beware of robbing the poor, and oppressing the afflicted."

(Proverbs 22:24-5): "Do not befriend the man of anger, Nor go with a wrathful man, Lest thou learn his ways and take a snare for thy soul."
(Amenemope, ch. 10): "Associate not with a passionate man, Nor approach him for conversation; Leap not to cleave to such an one; That terror carry thee not away."

(Proverbs 22:29):"[if you] You see a man quick in his work, before kings will he stand, before cravens, he will not stand."
(Amenemope, ch. 30):"A scribe who is skillful in his business findeth worthy to be a courtier"

(Proverbs 23:1):"When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider diligently what is before thee; And put a knife to thy throat, If thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties, for they are breads of falsehood."
(Amenemope, ch. 23): "Eat not bread in the presence of a ruler, And lunge not forward(?) with thy mouth before a governor(?). When thou art replenished with that to which thou has no right, It is only a delight to thy spittle. Look upon the dish that is before thee, And let that (alone) supply thy need."

(Proverbs 23:4-5):"Toil not to become rich, And cease from dishonest gain; For wealth maketh to itself wings, Like an eagle that flieth heavenwards"
(Amenemope, ch. 7):"Toil not after riches; If stolen goods are brought to thee, they remain not over night with thee. They have made themselves wings like geese. And have flown into the heavens."

(Proverbs 14:7):"Speak not in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words"
(Amenemope, ch. 21):"Empty not thine inmost soul to everyone, nor spoil (thereby) thine influence"

(Proverbs 23:10): "Remove not the widows landmark; And enter not into the field of the fatherless."
(Amenemope, ch. 6): "Remove not the landmark from the bounds of the field...and violate not the widows boundary"

(Proverbs 23:12):"Apply thine heart unto instruction and thine ears to the words of knowledge"
(Amenemope, ch. 1):"Give thine ears, hear the words that are said, give thine heart to interpret them."

More Proverbs of Solomon
 25:1-29:27

• The title to this collection (25:1) indicates that “the men of Hezekiah” gathered and published these. This would be a little more than two hundred years after Solomon, during a time of reform and strong religious resurgence in Judah.
• Though similar to the first collection of Solomon-proverbs, there is more diversity of subject matter and literary form among these. (Perhaps the first collection was meant to honor Solomon at his death—so the 375 proverbs connected to the number of his name—and these were among the leftovers after the most formulaic were culled.)
• Most are still antithetic parallelism single-couplets, but there are more multiple-line proverbs among them.

Sayings of Agur & King Lemuel
 30:1-23 & 31:1-9

• We don’t know who these people were.
• Some speculate they were from the Ishmaelite tribe of Massa (Genesis 25:14) and entered Israelite culture through traders from Edom.
• The form of these sayings is strikingly different from others in the Proverbs collection, particularly the use of numbers for identifying extremes or adding emphasis.
• The “Agur” reflections are on general life situations, while the brief “King Lemuel” notes focus more specifically on the necessary character of good rulers.

Remember the Overall Plan in Proverbs

• While much of the book of Proverbs exists as these very brief (usually two-line antithetic parallelism) nuggets about living wisely, these only make sense after reading and understanding the “Lectures on Wisdom and Folly” (chapters 1-9) as a single unit.
• If, at the end of these lectures, we choose Folly as our life-companion, the rest of the book means nothing to us.
• If, however, at the end of these lectures, we choose Wisdom as our life-companion, the rest of the book is essentially the atmosphere in and furnishings of the house of Wisdom.
• In other words, the Proverbs themselves are the lifestyle of those who have committed to a life-time relationship with God, as manifested in the personification of Wisdom.
• The connections between Proverbs and the wisdom literature of other nations may well show the success of God’s activity through Israel (cf. Genesis 12), by which the wisdom of Solomon became recognized throughout the ancient Near East as symbolic of life with Israel’s God.
• This is the great mission of God, seeking to win back all the nations of the earth.