The Wisdom of Words
In chapter 2 “Proverbs – The Wisdom of Words,” Roland talks about the nature of the book of Proverbs and that “the true subtlety of the book is seldom recognized in its popular usage. A moral code undergirds it, but the real intent is to train a person, to form character, to show what life is really like and how best to cope with it” (15). One of the main things that Proverbs tries to do is persuade the reader. He looks at the first division, chapters 1-9, and considers verses 1:1-6 its hermeneutical key. Verse 1:7 is the motto of the book (with parallels in 9:10 and 31:30) and he quotes von Rad who said that this verse “contains in a nutshell the whole Israelite theory of knowledge” (16). I thought this was a very insightful way of understanding verse 7. I heard N. T. Wright once talk about being intrigued by the idea of love as a way of knowing. Here von Rad says that the fear of Yahweh is Israel’s epistemological center. I wonder how far we can take that idea.
In Proverbs 2, an alphabetizing poem, he points out a paradox in the book that “even though wisdom is something to be pursued by individual effort, it is essentially a gift from God (2:6)” (15). He concludes that with the exception of a few sayings, the concern of chapters 1-9 “is to persuade the reader to the path of wisdom/justice” (19).
He then talks about the two Solomonic collections 10:1-22:16 and 25:1-29:27. He asserts that “there is no logical unity to the collections, although the sayings were not put together in a haphazard way” (19). For example, sometimes a verse is relativized (his word) by another as in 18:11 and 18:10:
(A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination. [18:11])
(The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe. [18:10])
“The meaning of 18:11… is relativized by the saying in 18:10 that the name of the Lord is a strong tower” (19).
Roland suggests that this section of Proverbs is best read in small chunks. Perhaps a chapter at a time, and then the reader should pick 2-3 verses that appealed to him/her. He says that sometimes no verses will appeal but “that may say more about the reader than about the sayings” (20).
He then gives us a list of characteristics of aphoristic speech suggested by J. G. Williams. They are assertive, they provide insight, there is a reversal of one’s expectations, brevity and conciseness.
There are some tensions in Proverbs since they are rooted in experience. There are several levels of meaning for “the reader creates a certain context in which the saying is understood” (21). The reason is that the original context cannot be recovered so it is only natural that we read the proverb in a context that makes sense to us.
Proverbs can also be shrouded in obscurity. The reason could be textual corruption or density of expression. That’s one of the things that really surprised me when I read Proverbs in Hebrew for the first time, some were extremely compact and some just didn’t make any sense. It is a very different experience from reading it in a translation.
It is interesting to observe that the number of saying in 10:1-22:16 is 375 the number for slmh. Later on in his conclusion, he talks about some very interesting connections between some names in the titles of the collections and the total number of lines in each. The amazing thing is that they all sum up to the total number of lines in Proverbs, 930. Of course, to get there you need to make some decisions on the text and the spelling of certain names, but that’s unavoidable. If it is the case that this was done by design, I wonder what bearing this would have on interpretation. I often hear people talk about how Matthew used the number 14, which is the number for David, to write his genealogy, but I never hear people talk about the implications of that.
He then talks about the “Egyptian connection” to 22:17-24:22 with the Instruction of Amenemope. He uses 22:20 to show this section’s affinity to Amenemope’s teaching:
Indeed, I wrote down for you a threefold lore, Wise counsel, (TNK)
Have I not written to you excellent things Of counsels and knowledge, (NAS)
Have I not written for you thirty sayings of admonition and knowledge, (RSV)
Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, (KJV)
The different translations are trying to make sense of the word slswm which the Masoretic has as “formerly” or “noble things” and the Greek and Latin has as “three times.” Rowland says that the emendation that makes more sense is “thirty” which “would be a clear reference to the ‘thirty chapters’ (or ‘houses’) found in Amenemope’s work” (23). He doesn’t believe that Proverbs and Amenemope’s work are dependent on a third work, but he doesn’t give any reason for that. Because the Egyptian work was written before Proverbs, he thinks that Proverbs is probably dependent on it. I really would like to know why a third work seems to be out of the question here.
He has a very interesting discussion on Agur, specially concerning the apparent riddle in verse 30:4:
(Who has ascended heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hand? Who has wrapped the waters in his garment? Who has established all the extremities of the earth? What is his name or his son’s name, if you know it?)
Although the latter part seems to be referring to God, who ascended to heaven and came down? Skehan associates this with Jacob of Genesis 18:12-13 (Jacob’s ladder). Jacob also describes himself as a sojourner to Pharaoh in Gen 47:9. Agur means “I am a sojourner.” In this interpretation Agur is a reference to Jacob. Regardless of the validity of this interpretation, I think the real gem in this analysis is the recognition that we should read Proverbs looking for those types of below-the-surface connections which a cursory reading will not allow.
He briefly talks about the woman in Proverbs 31. He asks an interesting question: “could the poet of Proverbs 31:10a be suggestion that the woman is not only incomparable, but a riddle whose identity is to be solved, discovered?” The reason for this question is that the expression “to find” a riddle (Judges 14:18) means to solve, discover a riddle. The acrostic poem seems to be referring to more than just a “housewife” but to Lady Wisdom herself. Of course, this raises all kinds of hermeneutical questions since this poem is used so often as a model of what a “Christian” woman should be like. Not only is this an acrostic poem but it is strategically placed at then end of a book whose main character is the personification of Wisdom as a woman.
Proverbs is a fascinating book and this chapter gives us quite a bit of food for thought.
Bibliography
Murphy, Roland E. The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Literature. Grand Rapids, Michigan: W. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2002.
