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Wednesday 06/25/25
Thru the Bible: Proverbs
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Proverbs: An introduction & overview
Tonight we are beginning the book of Proverbs and as we have customarily done, we will begin with an overview of the book.
It will be easy to forget so I am reminding you that Proverbs is a poetic work. This often strikes us odd since we expect poetry to follow different rules – primary among them being rhyme and meter. Of course even if Hebrew poetry adhered to these standards (which they don’t) it would never survive the translation process. This was certainly by design, since God did not want the beauty and symmetry of His inspired work to be missed by anyone of any generation due to the limitations of translation.
First off is the title Proverbs.
This is the Hebrew word מָשָׁל (mashal) which is a noun representing an object lesson based on or using a comparison or an analogy. So it’s similar in function and purpose to a parable, but in many ways they differ.
Now I’m going to teach you something, bait you really, by asking you a question.
Did God intend to only benefit the Jewish people in the way He ordained the composition of the scriptures? No, of course not. The scriptures are for all people of all time. It is through the Old Testament that we can verify and come to recognize Jesus as Messiah. In fact most of the New Testament is doomed to being misunderstood and misapplied without a well established knowledge of the Old.
But there is more to it than that! God did not just ordain that the scriptures be written, He influenced how they were composed. God did not have to anoint historians, and military commanders, and prophets and poets to record His thoughts… but He did!
What I am suggesting to you is that we miss something when we treat the scriptures as little more than a spiritual instruction manual and consulting guide for life. No doubt it serves these functions well, but that wasn’t enough for God – such is not in keeping with His generosity of spirit. God had to make the scriptures intellectually satisfying and beautiful as well.
Have we not witnessed over the past several years how differently the scriptures read when they are read relationally as they were intended?
Otherwise God’s words of love read more like a book for studying lawyers than a love letter. Like John Eldridge once said in another context – “All the facts are there but it doesn’t take your breath away”.
I’m encouraging you to broaden the understanding of your mind as well as your anticipation when reading the scriptures. To expect to not just walk away educated, but having had your breath taken away from time to time by the beauty you encounter there!
Now I said all of that to give reason for my explanation of the composition of Proverbs. It won’t take long, but you might otherwise have wondered or even chaffed under the information thinking it irrelevant. But I tricked you a moment ago into acknowledging that God did what He did with a purpose for all humanity. So the more you miss through ignorance of it, the less you take away from the encounter!
Now Hebrew proverbs, both within and beyond the book of Proverbs, often follow a specific form and style, primarily characterized by parallelism, which is a key feature of Hebrew poetry we’ve talked about for years. As I mentioned above, if God had used another language their poetry would more likely use a rhythmic meter. For many languages, rhythmic meter is a key component in creating cadence in poetry. It what gives poetry a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, which provides a structured rhythm that influences the flow. This also accommodates poetry being set to music more naturally. The problem with this is that nearly all of this is lost once translated.
So God, at the tower of Babel, influenced language so that Hebrew poetry would not rely upon these devices so that all future generations regardless of language, would benefit from the beauty of its construction.
Now if God put this much effort into something, don’t you think it would be a shame to completely miss it?
Hebrew proverbs are usually, though not always, written in a poetic style, use minimal words and often make use of figurative language by employing similes and metaphors.
Its poetic structure typically makes them concise and memorable and remembering what it teachings is their main purpose!
Parallelism is perhaps the most distinctive feature of Hebrew poetry, and this includes the book of Proverbs.
As I have taught you before Parallelism takes many forms generally pivoting around the second line in a series of lines within a poetic verse. Sometimes a parallelism is stacked, meaning one proverb displays more than one form of parallelism at the same time. We will see an example of this in a moment.
Here are a few types:
- Synonymous Parallelism: The second line repeats the idea of the first line using different words.
The first example of this is found in the first chapter verse 23,
“If you had repented at my rebuke, I would have poured out my spirit to you and made known my words to you.” Here, “poured out my spirit” and “made known my words” are essentially synonymous, both referring to God’s revelation.” – Prov. 1:23
- Antithetic Parallelism: The second line presents a contrasting thought to the first.
We see this in Proverbs 10:7,
“The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.” This verse contrasts the lasting positive legacy of the righteous with the fleeting or negative legacy of the wicked.”
- Synthetic Parallelism: The second line expands upon or completes the idea of the first.
A well known example of this is in Proverbs 6:16-19:
“(16) There are six things that the LORD hates, even seven things that are an abomination to him: (17) haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, (18) a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to run to evil, (19) a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who spreads discord among family members.”
You can readily see in this passage that we have 7 things God hates. Each of these are mentioned in escalating fashion which serves to intensify the point.
- Emblematic Parallelism: One line serves as an illustration or analogy for the other, often using “like” or “as“. This one we see quite a bit throughout chapter 10-29.
An example of this is found in Proverbs 25:25,
“Like cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country.”
- Numerical Parallelism: This is presented as a list of things which are introduced with a number. We already saw an example of this in the 7 things God hates, but here is another example.
Proverbs 30:18-19,
“There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden.”
Also Hebrew proverbs tend to distill truth or observation so as to make each concept brief but potent. This encourages meditation.
Hebrew proverbs typically offer wisdom for living, emphasizing practical application.
They often highlight the connection between actions and their ensuing consequences.
Other literary devices used in Hebrew proverbs are:
- Imagery: which is the use of vivid mental pictures.
- Figurative Language: Similes, metaphors, personification, etc.
So while Hebrew proverbs can be…
- a short pithy statements as found in – Ezekiel 16:44 “…Like mother, like daughter”
- object lessons drawn from experience as in – Psalm 78:2-6 which begins like this, “I will sing a song that imparts wisdom; I will make insightful observations about the past…etc.”
- a saying or by-word as in – Deuteronomy 28:37 “You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the LORD will drive you.” or
- an oracle of future blessing as in many of the prophetic books.
The way it is used for THIS collection of proverbs is:
Object lessons setting out courses of action. They are set forth as a means of helping us choose the course of action to follow or to avoid.
The opening words of the book are “the Proverbs of Solomon”. This is NOT a secondary title for the entire book, but an opening for a section of it. Proverbs was composed by at least 2 authors and contains anywhere from 3 to 7 sections depending on how you divide it up. Historically, King Solomon is credited with composing 3,000 proverbs. Only about 800 of these bearing his name are included in the Book of Proverbs.
Like Psalms, the book of Proverbs is a collection of proverbs which were compiled into a single publication at a later date. Since some of the collection was pieced together under the reign of Hezekiah over 300 years later we know the entirety of the book was not complete in Solomon’s lifetime.
So even though the opening words of chapter 1 say “the proverbs of Solomon” this was in fact only referring to that beginning segment.
There is a nice quote we find in the book of Ecclesiastes which gives testimony to Solomon’s input. In Ecclesiastes Solomon refers to himself as ‘the teacher’, and said,
“(9) Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also taught knowledge to the people; he carefully evaluated and arranged MANY PROVERBS. (10) The Teacher sought to find delightful words, and to write accurately truthful sayings. (11) The words of the sages are like prods, and the collected sayings are like firmly fixed nails; they are given by one shepherd.” – Eccl. 12:9-11
And so this may account for some of the wisdom literature in Proverbs attributed to him, but which he actually just collected, evaluated, arranged and perhaps even edited or added to.
It is questioned by some as to whether the first 9 chapters were even part of the original collection of Proverbs. This is mostly due to their style. They just don’t conform to the basic meaning of the title in that they are longer speeches containing teachings of wisdom rather than short pithy statements.
Jewish history suggests that the original collection of Solomonic proverbs appears to be of the condensed “fortune cookie” variety which span from chapter 10:1 to chapter 22:16. The preserved title of the book might have originally included these alone. This would mean that chapters 1-9 may have been written by Solomon but added later as the introduction to the book by someone else.
As to the sections, we are mostly recognizing four using known composers and style as our points of division.
- Chapters 1-9 as I just mentioned are more proverbial stories than sayings and are generally believed to be authored by Solomon, though some of them may be ones he collected as he stated in Ecclesiastes.
- These contain much in the way of describing the ways of wisdom as opposed to the ways of folly. The primary example of folly being sexual promiscuity.
- Chapters 10-29 are definitely from Solomon and are short statements of wisdom.
- These are designed for meditation and contemplation. They practice an economy of words yet say so much that one has to ponder them and mull them over in the mind to extract the wisdom they teach.
- Proverbs 10:1-22:16 contain 375 sayings that contrast the wise and the foolish, or the righteous and the wicked.
- Proverbs 22:17-24:22 supply moral discourses under the heading of “The words of the wise“.
- Proverbs 25 begins a set of four chapters written by Solomon, but compiled and placed in the ever growing book of Proverbs which would later be canonized. It says, “These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of King Hezekiah of Judah copied:” – Prov. 25:1
- So Chapters 25-29, were the ones I mentioned earlier in connection with King Hezekiah which he had copied from some of Solomon’s works which had been preserved over the years. So Solomon himself had no knowledge that they made it into a book of proverbs later on.
- Chapter 30 was written by Agur the son of Jakeh who is otherwise unknown in scripture. His contribution is in the form of an oracle.
- Chapter 31 was written by King Lemuel who also is unknown. Either this name is another name for a known Jewish King OR not a Jewish king at all. Some believe this to be a king of Massah, a region possibly located in Northwest Arabia. Still others believe Lemuel to be a lovingly familial name for Solomon, perhaps given by Bethsheba his mother. The name Lemuel means “for God”. This later view has absolutely nothing to support it, but it is a romantic notion nonetheless.
So to summarize:
- Proverbs is a compiled work of poetic wisdom literature.
- It was pieced together over at very least 300 years.
- It has at very least 2 contributing authors, though likely considerably more.
- It is divided into 3 to 7 sections, only 4 of which we will recognize.
- It makes use of various forms of parallelism as its primary poetic device.
- It contains seven major forms – short potent statements for contemplation and meditation, stories, sayings, parental advice, moral discourses, concept personifications and an oracle.
- God had the book of Proverbs composed in Hebrew so that its beauty and symmetry would not be lost through translation into any language.
It isn’t hard to identify many commonalities between the teachings of Proverbs and those of Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament. God’s word is timeless and His wisdom is pertinent for all ages, locations, people groups and cultures.
Blessings!
Tri
