Author: Solomon and others.

Time: 1000 — 700 BC.

Summary: Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings from several sources, including King Solomon, laying practical rules for right living based on godly wisdom. The sayings deal with many different problems and situations. Most of the proverbs are very short and easy to remember. The proverbs are not organized in a way that puts all the sayings on one topic together. Instead, almost every verse raises a new and important idea. Proverbs presents the idea that humans are either good or evil, wise or foolish, with God or without him. Both are known by their deeds, their “fruits”, their chosen “ways” in life and their fitting ends.

“The phrase ‘The Proverbs of Solomon’ is a title for the entire book. The title does not imply that Solomon authored all the proverbs in this collection; some sections are collections from different authors: the sayings of the wise (Pro 22:17-24:22), more sayings of the wise (Pro 24:23-34), the words of Agur (Pro 30:1-33) and Lemuel (Pro 31:1-9). The title does not imply that the book was in its final canonical form in the days of Solomon; the men of Hezekiah added a collection of Solomonic proverbs to the existing form of the book (Pro 25:1-29:27). The original collection of Solomonic proverbs appears to be the collection of short pithy sayings in Pro 10:1-22:16, and the title might have originally introduced only these. There is question whether Pro 1-9 were part of the original form of the book in the days of Solomon because they do not fit under the title; they are not ‘proverbs’ per se (sentence sayings) but introductory admonitions (longer wisdom speeches). Pro 1-9 could have been written by Solomon and perhaps added later by someone else. Or they could have been written by someone else and added later in the days of Hezekiah” (NETn).

Key verse: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning, of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Pro 9:10).

Outline

1. Superiority of the way of wisdom: Pro 1:1 – 9:18

a) Introduction: Pro 1:1-9 b) Appeals and warnings confronting youth: Pro 1:10-19 c) Wisdom’s warning: Pro 1:20-33 d) Commendation of wisdom: Pro 2:1-4:27 e) Warnings against folly: Pro 5:1-7:27 f) Appeals addressed to youth: Pro 8:1-9:18

2. Main collection of Solomon’s proverbs (375 separate proverbs): Pro 10:1-22:16

3. The thirty sayings of the wise: Pro 22:17-24:22

4. Additional sayings of the wise: Pro 24:23-34

5. Hezekiah’s collection of Solomon’s proverbs: Pro 25:1 – 29:27

6. The words of Agur: Pro 30:1-33

7. The words of Lemuel: Pro 31:1-9

8. The virtuous woman (an acrostic): Pro 31:10-31

“Brief and pithy statements of practical truth — known as proverbs — are powerful. They are more or less current everywhere. They are easily understood, and easily remembered: and they influence action where formal disquisition would be powerless. No civilised community is without them. The Scriptures, which lack no good feature, have this as well. A whole section of them is devoted to ‘proverbs’. But there is a difference between the proverbs of the Bible and the proverbs current among men. Bible proverbs have God in them; merely human proverbs have not. Bible proverbs recognize God as the ruling factor in human action, which human proverbs leave out of account. Besides this, Bible proverbs have God in them in the sense of owing their origin to the Inspiration of God. ‘God gave Solomon wisdom exceeding much.’ Paul tells us that the voice speaking in the proverbs is the voice of God ‘speaking to us as children’ (Heb 12:5). Because Bible proverbs have God in them, they are as far superior to human proverbs as long-sightedness and accuracy are superior to shortsightedness and error” (RR).

Theme Of Proverbs

“As we view the state of the world, in this age of so much cleverness and so little wisdom, so much mechanical accomplishment and so little true living or understanding of life, we are deeply and sadly and thankfully impressed with the crying need for divine guidance and instruction.

“The Proverbs, like the rest of Scripture, teach us two basic, elemental lessons upon which all true accomplishment by man must be built — ‘It is not in man himself to direct his way aright’… And — ‘The fear of God is the BEGINNING of wisdom.’

“Until by meditation, and experience, and self-examination, we are impressed to the depths of our being with these two cardinal truths, we can make little progress in life.

“The great revelation of the Bible is that man is naturally evil and foolish, that God is all wisdom, and that man’s wisdom lies in seeking God with the whole being, and learning the teachings of His Word.

“The more we see the wise of the world rejecting the eternal Word of God and building on the shifting sands of their own man-made, man-centered philosophies, and the more we observe the tragic results of this in corruption, immorality and violence, the more we are impressed with the infinite value of God’s Word, and the infinite superiority of God’s Way — the Way of Beauty and Holiness and Truth and Life — as compared with man’s natural way of lust, pleasure, emptiness, greed and death.

“The spirit of the Proverbs is awe and reverence, and the fullest recognition of man’s littleness and weakness. Its lessons are many, but outstanding among them are these eternal truths —

  • In the long run, good and prosperity are the destiny of the righteous. Sin and self-pleasing, however temporarily successful, are manifested to be stupidity and self-destruction.
  • God’s correction indicates His love. Education, discipline, self-restraint in harmony with spiritual law, constitute the way of wisdom and life.
  • All mental and physical powers, and all desires and strivings for holiness and spiritual beauty, are the gracious blessings and gifts of a loving Father, and to be joyfully used to His glory.

“The Proverbs emphasize — perhaps more than any other book of Scripture — the vital truth that the Gospel of salvation is a WAY OF LIFE. It concerns and must control ALL activities of the mind and body, if it is to mean anything.

“Being ‘in the Truth’ is infinitely more than just believing a set of doctrines. If our whole life — everything we are or think — is not consciously striving toward ever-increasing harmony with God, we are on the way of death.

“One thing is certain: If we truly get the glorious message of Proverbs, if we truly comprehend and appreciate the greatness of God’s gracious love toward us, if we truly realize the magnitude and urgency of the joyful work that lays before us, to serve and glorify God and prepare ourselves for His eternal companionship — then we shall never have either the time or inclination to cry or feel sorry for ourselves. We shall be too busy doing and rejoicing.

“TO FEEL SORRY FOR OURSELVES IS A REPROACH AGAINST THE LOVE AND GOODNESS OF GOD. It is shallow, cowardly faithlessness. It cannot be anything but displeasing to Him” (GVG).

“Fallen man will always seek to establish a dichotomy between the sacred and the secular, between religious ceremony and practical righteousness. The OT prophets frequently addressed this misconception by warning Israel that religious ritual had no value when divorced from righteous living, such as caring for the poor and oppressed (cf Isa 1:10-17; Jer 20-29). Jesus, likewise, addressed this kind of dualism (cf Mat 23:23,24). Later, James had a similar word on this subject (cf Jam 1:21-27).

“The Book of Proverbs will not allow Christians to linger in the land of the theoretical. We love to keep Christianity on an abstract level, rather than on an applicational one. Our greatest failing as Christians is not that we know too little (while this is often regrettably true), but that we fail to do what we know we should. The emphasis of Proverbs is both on the acquisition of wisdom and the application of it. Seldom do we find ourselves ‘in church’ in this book, but rather in the home, on the job, and dealing with the mundane matters of daily living.

“Proverbs forces the reader to translate principles into practice. Often, it was the prophets who proclaimed the principles which Proverbs specifically related to life. For example, Amos wrote: ‘But let justice roll down like waters, And righteousness like an everflowing stream’ (Amos 5:24).

“Proverbs instructs us in more specific terms: ‘Diverse weights and diverse measures, are both alike abominations to the Lord’ (Pro 20:10). The Book of Proverbs commands the butcher to be righteous by taking his thumb off the scales” (Deff).

The Wisdom Writings

The Wisdom literature (which includes Proverbs) is a distinctly different category from the rest of the OT. The differences between the “wisdom” of Proverbs and the “wisdom” of other portions of the OT has been cogently set out by Aleck Crawford, in the following chart (slightly adapted):