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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 first few words of the first line of the book. When translated into Greek and Latin it took on different forms as well. In the Greek Septuagint (LXX) the title changes to paroimai paroimiae (proverbs) . In the Latin Vulgate the title then reads proverbial where the English title of Proverbs comes from . Over time and through the various translation processes Solomon ’s name comes out of the title. The title of the book states what the book is about rather than asserting authorship. AUTHORSHIP The authorship of Proverbs is not an easy thing to determine. Although there is mention of , and these ranged from the trees of Lebanon to animals. It is also said that people came from all over to hear the Wisdom of Solomon . Solomon is attested to be a man of great Wisdom and these are elements which are used to support his 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 among some of the sections of Proverbs again suggesting more than one author. This can lead to the assumption that Proverbs is more of an anthology collection 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 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 Wisdom of Amenemope. 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 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:
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''Prepared in 2006 for the course BIBL5023 at Acadia Divinity College '' |
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