Introduction to Proverbs

Pastor Chris introduces the book of Proverbs and provides tips for reading the book well. He covers who wrote the book and why. He shows how Proverbs fits into the larger story of Scripture. He also explains the differences between English poetry and Hebrew poetry and how it impacts our understanding of Proverbs. 

Transcript

Welcome to a bonus episode of One Chapter, One Thought. I’m Pastor Chris from Lincroft Bible Church in New Jersey, and today, I will introduce the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is one of the most practical, challenging, and yet misunderstood books in all of Scripture. 

One way of misunderstanding Proverbs is that it’s just a bunch of inspirational quotes. We can plaster the words on a mug, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” But if we don’t take time to ponder what the Proverbs means, we will miss out on what God intends. Proverbs are meant to provoke further thought. You are meant to mull on them. Another way of misreading Proverbs is take them as iron-clad promises. A common example is the Proverb, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Too often, Christian parents think of this as a formula, "If I just do the right things, pass the faith on to my children, they'll always be Christians." But Proverbs is just giving us general truths, not promises. We need to read Proverbs in light of other Scriptures. Ecclesiastes comes right next to Proverbs. And Ecclesiastes tell us that injustice, and tragedy happen to all of us. But Proverbs are often just brief, pithy statements. Many of them have no exceptions, and no nuance. They speak to things which are generally true in life. 

Once we understand what Proverbs is—and what it is not—we are better prepared to understand who wrote it and why it was written in the first place.

Who Wrote Proverbs?

Proverbs was written primarily by King Solomon of Israel. He most likely wrote chapters 1-29. But then, there are two appendices written by Agur and King Lemuel in chapters 30-31. The book ends with an acrostic poem on the virtuous wife. So this book was written across many centuries then. The Book of Proverbs was written and compiled over several centuries, not all at once. As stated before, most of the Proverbs come from King Solomon, who reigned over Israel in the 10th century BC (c. 970–930 BC). But Proverbs 25:1 says that some of Solomon’s proverbs were collected and copied by the scribes of King Hezekiah, who reigned around 700 BC. This probably means that Solomon’s sayings existed earlier but were compiled, preserved, and organized later. The other chapters by Agur and King Lemuel were added later, then the book in its final form was compiled, but it’s hard to know an exact date. 

Knowing when and how Proverbs was compiled helps us understand the deeper question of why Solomon wrote these sayings in the first place.

Why did (primarily) Solomon write Proverbs. 

What Solomon seeks to do in Proverbs is apply the Torah—the 10 commandments, the Law of Israel—to everyday life for his “son.” Most likely, the book was actually written to one of Solomon’s teenage sons, to prepare him for life and leadership. Solomon is very concerned that his son has skill for living. The Hebrew word for wisdom, ḥokmah, does not mean intelligence or education. It means the ability to live well, to make choices that lead to life instead of destruction. In the Bible, wisdom is not knowing more facts; it is knowing how to live faithfully before God in the real world. Wisdom takes the general principles of the word of God and applies to them to the specific issues of money, work, family, relationships, and every other aspect of daily life. 

Solomon’s personal goal for his son also fits into a much larger story about what God was doing through Israel and its kings. And helps us place Proverbs into the overall storyline of the Old Testament. 

How does Proverbs fit into the Old Testament

God originally created the world good, but it was spoiled by humans. God then chose Abraham to be the man who he would work through to restore the world. Eventually, Abraham’s family became so large, it was formed into the people of Israel. Israel was meant to be a light to the world, showing to the world what God is like. In particular, the king of Israel was meant to be the “model” Israelites, who studied God’s word and obeyed it. So Solomon wants his son to be a faithful leader (possibly future king of Israel). Proverbs provides the framework for his son to be a faithful king.

The Book of Proverbs also sits in the section of the Old Testament typically called Wisdom Literature, along with books like Job, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. Wisdom Literature was meant to instruct the Israelites in skillful living on a whole range of issues. A book like Job teaches us how to suffer well. Ecclesiastes calls us to reflect on the meaning of life. And Proverbs gives this instruction on day to day life. 

Knowing the broader context, prepares us to dive deeper into the Proverbs. 

The literary forms of Proverbs

​​One of the most important things to understand when reading Proverbs is that you are not reading modern Western writing, you are reading Hebrew poetry. And Hebrew poetry works very differently from what we usually think of as poetry. Hebrew poetry does not rhyme. In fact, many OT scholars actually don’t know what drives Hebrew poetry. But one of the most common ways Hebrew poetry seems to be written is parallelism, which means that two lines match each other. 

For example, “A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.”— Proverbs 10:1. These are two lines meant to be read together. 

And that’s the typical way Proverbs unfolds. One line does not stand alone; the second line either reinforces, clarifies, contrasts, or deepens the first. So in that example, the second line contrasts the first. The wise son brings joy, but the foolish son brings sadness. There is a contrast. 

The parallelism should slow us down and make us think. This is why so many Proverbs seems simple on the surface, but then get more profound the longer you think about them. The parallelism slows us down and invites us to reflect on their meaning and then apply it to our lives. 

The characters of Proverbs

There are a few different characters who show up in Proverbs. The first is the fool. Proverbs uses four different words to describe the foolish person:

• Peti- “the simple”-someone who is untaught. Morally open, influenced either way. 
• Kesil (keh-seal) (1:22)—“the thick-headed person”—Dull of morality. Focused on the wordly. Blunders through life.
• Ewil—“fool”—Stupid and stubborn. Insolence to moral teaching. Despises authority, being instructed. Flippant outlook on sin.
• Lets—“mocker”—Above it all. Wisdom does not offer instruction to this kind of person. Lesson for evangelism (pearls before swine).

We all need wisdom. Life is too complex and too fast-paced to navigate on our own. But Proverbs is not a standalone book. It is part of the bigger story of Scripture. So ultimately, Proverbs is preparing us for something greater, or, more accurately,  Someone Greater. While Proverbs teaches us how to live wisely, the New Testament tells us that Jesus is the wisdom of God. He is the perfect embodiment of everything Proverbs describes. Where we fail, He succeeds. Where we wander, He walked the path of righteousness perfectly. So when we read Proverbs, we are not just learning how to life a better life, we are being pointed to our need for Jesus. Through Proverbs, we are learning what it looks like to live under God’s rule, which Jesus fulfilled completely and now invites us into by grace.