Written? brevity and richness of good proverbs. Proverbs are
Proverbs a favorite of mine: "When you want a drink of milk, you don't buy the whole cow." Centuries ago, the Romans smiled at timid politicians and soldiers and said to each other, "The cat would eat fish, but she doesn't want to get her feet wet."
who were smart enough to become rich and famous but not wise enough to make a successful and satisfying life. Before his death, one of the world's richest men said that he would have given all his wealth to make one of his six marriages succeed. It's one thing to make a living, but quite something else to make a life.
As an intellectual exercise, I challenge you to expand those four proverbs into four paragraphs of explanation. If you do, you'll learn to appreciate the brevity and richness of good proverbs. Proverbs are pithy statements that summarize in a few choice words practical truths relating to some aspect of everyday life. The Spanish novelist Cervantes defined a proverb as "a short sentence based on long experience." From a literary point of view, that isn't a bad definition.
2. Who Wrote the Book of Proverbs and How Is It Written? Author. In 1:1, 10:1, and 25:1, we're told that King Solomon is the author of the proverbs in this book. God gave Solomon great wisdom (1 Kings 3:5–15), so that people came from the ends of the earth to listen to him and returned home amazed (4:29–34; Matt. 12:42). He spoke three thousand proverbs, most of which are not included in this book. The Holy Spirit selected only those proverbs that the people of God should understand and obey in every age.3
Some people think that our English word proverb comes from the Latin proverbium, which means "a set of words put forth," or, "a saying supporting a point." Or, it may come from the Latin pro ("instead of," "on behalf of") and verba ("words"); that is, a short statement that takes the place of many words. The proverb "Short reckonings make long friendships" comes across with more power than a lecture on forgiving your friends. One of my junior high school teachers, when she heard the low murmur of pupils talking in class, would say, "Empty barrels make the most noise," and that would take care of the problem.
But other servants, guided by God's Spirit, were also involved in producing this book. "The men of Hezekiah" (Prov. 25:1) were a group of scholars in King Hezekiah's day (700 BC) who compiled the material recorded in chapters 25—29, and in Proverbs 30 and 31, you meet "Agur the son of Jakeh" and "King Lemuel," although many scholars think "Lemuel" was another name for Solomon. Most of the material in this book came from King Solomon, so it's rightly called "the proverbs of Solomon" (1:1).
The Hebrew word mashal is translated "proverb," "parable," and even "allegory," but its basic meaning is "a comparison." Many of Solomon's proverbs are comparisons or contrasts (see 11:22; 25:25; 26:6–9), and some of his proverbs present these comparisons by using the word better (see 15:16–17; 16:19, 32; 17:1; 19:1). Throughout the centuries, familiar maxims and proverbial sayings have been compiled into books, but no collection is more important than the Old Testament book of Proverbs. For one thing, the book of Proverbs is a part of Scripture and therefore is inspired by the Spirit of God (2 Tim. 3:16–17). Proverbs contains much more than clever sayings based on man's investigation and interpretation of human experience. Because God inspired this book, it is a part of divine revelation and relates the concerns of human life to God and the eternal. The book of Proverbs is quoted in the New Testament4 and therefore has a practical application to the lives of believers today.
As every Bible reader knows, Solomon began his reign as a man of wisdom but ended his life practicing the greatest folly (1 Kings 11; Deut. 17:14–20). In order to achieve his political goals and keep the kingdom in peace, Solomon allied himself to other nations by marrying hundreds of women, and these heathen princesses gradually turned his heart away from loyalty to the Lord. How tragic that Solomon didn't even obey the precepts he wrote in his own book!
Approach. "Always do right—this will gratify some and astonish the rest." Mark Twain said that, and President Harry S. Truman liked the quotation so much he had it framed and placed on the wall behind his desk in the Oval Office.
Whether or not they tell the whole truth, clever sayings like Twain's are like burrs that stick in your mind. You find yourself recalling them and quoting them. This is especially true of proverbs, some of which are now so ancient they've become clichés. I once had to tell a pastor that my schedule wouldn't allow me to accept his kind invitation to speak at his church. He replied, "Oh, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained." The proverb he quoted has been around a long time. Chaucer quoted a version of it in one of his poems— in 1385!
According to 2 Timothy 3:16–17, "All Scripture is … profitable" in four ways: for doctrine—that's what's right; for reproof—that's what's not right; for correction—that's how to get right; and for instruction in righteousness—that's how to stay right. You will find all four of these purposes fulfilled in the book of Proverbs. These inspired sayings teach us about God, man, sin, creation, and a host of other doctrinal topics. These proverbs rebuke and reprove sinners for their lying, laziness, drunkenness, sexual sins, and other personal failures. But Proverbs doesn't stop with conviction; the book also administers correction, telling us how to turn
Almost every tribe and nation has its share of proverbs expressed in ways that make it easy to "hang" proverbial wisdom in the picture gallery of your memory. "Every invalid is a physician," says an Irish proverb, and a Serbian proverb reads, "If vinegar is free, it is sweeter than honey." A proverb from Crete is
Proverbs topic we'll need the most. Just as the Bible itself isn't arranged like a systematic theology, neither is Proverbs. What Solomon wrote is more like a kaleidoscope than a stained-glass window: We never know what the next pattern will be.
from sin and mend our ways. It shows us how to stay on the path of wisdom and not stray again.
My friend Dr. Bob Cook, now home with the Lord, told me that he started reading Proverbs regularly when he was just a boy. There are thirty-one chapters in Proverbs, so if you read a chapter a day, you can read the book through once a month. Bob's father promised to give him a dollar every time he faithfully finished reading the book, so every year Bob gained spiritual treasure and earned twelve dollars just by reading Proverbs.
The first nine chapters of Proverbs form a unit in which the emphasis is on "wisdom" and "folly," personified as two women. (The Hebrew word for wisdom is in the feminine gender.) In chapters 1, 8, and 9, Wisdom calls to men and women to follow her and enjoy salvation, wealth,6 and life. In chapters 5, 6, and 7, Folly calls to the same people and offers them immediate satisfaction, but doesn't warn them of the tragic consequences of rejecting Wisdom: condemnation, poverty, and death. Chapters 10—15 form the next unit and present a series of contrasts between the life of wisdom and the life of folly. The closing chapters of the book (16—31) contain a variety of proverbs that give us counsel about many important areas of life.
Traditional man-made proverbs don't always agree with each other and aren't always right, but you can trust the book of Proverbs. "Look before you leap" advises caution, while, "He who hesitates is lost" warns you not to miss your golden opportunity. Which maxim do you follow? "Many hands make light work" is contradicted by "Too many cooks spoil the broth." However, the proverbs in Scripture are consistent with each other and with the total pattern of divine truth given in the Bible. Furthermore, the children of God have the Holy Spirit to guide them as they seek for God's wisdom in God's Word, because the Holy Spirit is "the Spirit of wisdom" (Isa. 11:2; Eph. 1:17).
As you survey Solomon's approach, you can see how wise God was in arranging the book this way. Wisdom isn't some abstract treasure that's so far away we can't grasp it. Through His Word and by His Spirit, God is every day calling us to the life of wisdom. If we want to live wisely, we must begin with commitment to Jesus Christ, who is "the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:30). Wisdom and Folly each want to control our lives, and we must make the choice.
But we still have to answer the important question, "Why did Solomon use proverbs and not some other kind of literary approach as he recorded these divine truths?" Keep in mind that, apart from kings, prophets, and priests, the average Jewish adult didn't own copies of their sacred books and had to depend on memory to be able to meditate on God's truth and discuss it (Deut. 6:1–9). If Solomon had written a lecture on pride, few people would remember it, so he wrote a proverb instead: "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18 niv). There are only seven words in the original Hebrew, and even a child could memorize seven words!
After we have committed ourselves to the Lord and His wisdom, we must recognize that there are consequences to the decisions we make. The proverbs in chapters 10—15 depict so vividly the contrasts that exist between the life of wisdom and the life of folly, between faith and unbelief, obedience and disobedience. We can't compromise and expect God to bless. The final section of the book (chapters 16—31) contains the further counsels we need for developing spiritual discernment and making wise decisions.
Because proverbs are brief and pictorial, they are easy to memorize, recall, and share. Edward Everett's two-hour oration at the Gettysburg battlefield is written in American history books, but Abraham Lincoln's two-minute Gettysburg Address is written on the hearts of millions of people. Believers who learn the key proverbs in this book will have at their disposal the wisdom they need for making right decisions day after day. The truths found in Proverbs touch upon every important area of human life, such as acquiring and using wealth, making and keeping friends, building a happy home, avoiding temptation and trouble, controlling our feelings, disciplining the tongue, and building godly character.
3. What Is the Key Verse That Helps "Unlock" the Book? I suggest that 1:7 is the key verse we're looking for: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning [chief part] of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." This statement is amplified in 9:10: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy [Holy One] is understanding." (See also Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10.)
There are at least eighteen references to "the fear of the Lord" in Proverbs (1:7, 29; 2:5; 3:7; 8:13; 9:10; 10:27; 14:2, 26–27; 15:16, 33; 16:6; 19:23; 22:4; 23:17; 24:21; 31:30). If you read all these verses carefully, you'll get a good idea of what this important biblical phrase means.
Analysis. But why didn't the Holy Spirit direct the authors to arrange these proverbs in topical fashion, so we could quickly find what we need to know? Derek Kidner reminds us that the book of Proverbs "is no anthology, but a course of education in the life of wisdom."5 As we read Proverbs chapter by chapter, the Spirit of God has the freedom to teach us about many subjects, and we never know from day to day which
If we truly "fear the Lord," we acknowledge from our hearts that He's the Creator, we're the creatures; He's the Father, we're His children; He's the Master, we're the servants. It means to respect God for who He is, to listen carefully to what He says, and to obey His