The Book Of Proverbs

The Book of Proverbs

Yeow Chin Kiong

Three books in the originally-Hebrew Old Testament identify themselves as having been primarily compiled and written by Solomon, the son of King David and the ruler of Israel after his father (Proverbs 1:1; Ecclesiastes 1, 12; Song of Solomon (Song of Sol.1:1). Together with the book of Job (of unknown authorship) and of the Psalms (attributed in part to King David), these three writings of Solomon make up that portion of Hebrew scriptures called the Kethubiim (or "Writings"), which other Bible-believers call the OT books of "Wisdom" or "Poetry" to reflect the genre or type of literature we consider them to represent.

However it was that he eventually ended up (see 1 Kings 11:1-43), King Solomon's reign of 40 years (1 Kings 11:42) began well, with his request that God provide him with understanding to dispense justice among God's people (1 Kings 3:4-14). With this request granted, Solomon ruled during a time of relative peace and prosperity, when Israel for the most part could have a king who was free focus on studies and research on almost anything and everything. By God's grace and providence, this wisest of individuals of his time earned wide recognition as such (1 Kings 10:1-9; 23-24; 2 Chronicles 9:1-8, 22-23).

1 Kings 4:29 informs us that, "God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore." His wisdom was greater than that of all men in the east then and his fame was great in all the surrounding nations (1 Kings 4:30-31, 34). 1 Kings 9:32-33 tells us that Solomon, "... spoke ten thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. Also he spoke of trees,..... of animals, of birds, of creeping things and of fish." Besides his near-encyclopedic knowledge, Solomon also left "...proverbs ... which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied" (Proverbs 25:1).

Interestingly, although, "the Preacher was wise (and) he taught the people knowledge (and) he pondered, sought out and set in order many proverbs, ... (and) sought to find acceptable words, and what was written was upright, words of truth" (Ecclesiastes 12:9-10), the Preacher soberly understood the limitation of human knowledge "under the sun", admonishing that, "... of the making of many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh." (Ecclesiastes 12:12). Indeed, the wisdom of the proverbs penned by Solomom notwithstanding, they are to be used after being measured by the standard of the rest of God's word (Acts 17:11; Psalm 119:160). This caution is to be inferred from Solomon's words of self-awareness in Ecclesiastes 1:12-14, "I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of men, by which they may be exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind."

The purpose of "structuring" a book of the Bible is to provide an aid for the book's contents to be memorized and used in pulpit sermons and podium lessons. Although they have already been divided into 31 chapters, Proverbs' contents can be further separated topically and logically, as well as by (in some cases) their author and compiler if they are not Solomon. An example of such a structural outline of the book follows-

1.Preamble or prologue (1:1-7)

2.Ten Lessons of Wisdom (1:8 to 9:19) , all beginning with, "My son ....."

a. 1:8-33

b. 2:1-22

c. 3:1-12

d. 3:13-35

e. 4:1-9

f. 4:10-19

g. 4:20-27

h. 5:1-23

i. 6:1-19

j. 6:20-35

Conclusion (7:1 to 9:18)

3.Anthology of Proverbs (10:1 to 30:33)

a. Collected Proverbs of Solomon (10:1 to 20:16)

b. 30 Sayings of the wise (20:17 to 24:22)

c. Further Sayings of the Wise (24:23-35)

d. King Hezekiah's Collection (25:1 to 29:27)

e. Sayings of Agar (30:1-33)

4.Epilogue

The Noble King and the Successful Wife (31:1-31)