For the next 20 Day Share blogs we are going to dip into the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. There are 31 chapters in this book and I remember being told that my grandmother read a chapter from Proverbs every day for most of her life. This suits those months with 31 days, and special arrangements could be made for February or for months with only 30 days.
What are Proverbs?
I have selected just one proverb for each day to give us a flavour of the book and also to learn some very important lessons. The word 'proverb' in English comes from two Latin words 'pro' meaning 'for' or 'instead of' and 'verba' which is the plural for words. So the idea is that a single proverb replaces many words. It is a short, pithy saying with a particular use of language to make it memorable. For example, an English proverb is "A stitch in time saves nine." That short saying which almost rhymes is much easier than a statement such as this, "It is preferable to take action early when a problem is detected, rather than allow the situation to deteriorate and require much more intervention." I guess you have got the point. However, the book of Proverbs is not only such short statements. It also contains much longer pieces of writing but these were considered proverbs or aphorisms. The Hebrew word for this is mishie and it covers a much wider category than our proverbs in English.
In the next 20 blogs we are looking at the short statements from the book of Proverbs rather than the longer discourses. Warren Wiersbe talks about the genius of the proverb being in its 'shrewd concentration of a truth or of some sagacious counsel (wise advice) in a terse and striking way, so that it catches on, and becomes easier to remember than forget' [Warren Wiersbe: Be Mature (James): Growing Up in Christ [Kindle Edition]. Wiersbe points out that a proverb 'does not argue: instead it just assumes the truth of the statement.' It does not try to explain the topic. It just makes a brief memorable statement of wisdom.
Wisdom Genre
This style of writing or genre was very popular among the Jewish people and other nations from the Middle East. There are other books in the Bible which are part of this same genre - Job, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. In the New Testament the letter from James comes into this same genre and we are going to study this after our brief paddle in the Proverbs pond. The teachings of Jesus are also from the same tradition. There are other books which are not included in the Canon of Scripture which also belong to the Wisdom Books: for example, the Wisdom of Sirach or the Book of Ecclesiasticus.
Author
We normally think of Solomon as the author of the Book of Proverbs and this is confirmed in the first verse of the first chapter - "The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel" [Proverbs 1:1 ESV]. In the book of First Kings we are told that "God gave Solomon wisdom beyond measure," and that "he spoke 3,000 proverbs" [1 Kings 4:29, 32 ESV]. However, it is not certain that the book of Proverbs contains all of these 3,000 proverbs. Also, there are parts of the book which have a different author (e.g. someone referred to as "the wise" (22:17) and two other sources with the names of Agur (30:1) and Lemuel (31:1)). We also have a collection of proverbs linked to King Hezekiah who reigned much later than Solomon [Solomon reigned from 971 BC to 931 BC and Hezekiah reigned from 715 BC to 686 BC]. Remember that we count the years in reverse for BC.
Subject Matter
The theme of the book of Proverbs is described in the first seven verses. The book was written and compiled to instil 'wisdom' in God's people and this wisdom is based on the fear of the Lord. It deals with a variety of practical details of everyday situations and relationships. Although the historical context is very different from our postmodern society of the 21st Century, I am going to be bold enough to suggest that it is very relevant to today's world. I hope that this brief glimpse at this collection of wisdom sayings will speak to our hearts today. I also trust that it will provide an introduction to a New Testament letter following the same tradition as the book of Proverbs - the letter of James, the brother of our Lord.
[Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash]
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