Church of Christ, Seremban

“...the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” – 1 Timothy 3:15
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PROVERBS series... 1. Proverbs: A Brief Introduction 2. Doing What Is Right, Just and Fair 3. Love, Faithfulness and Trust 4. Woman Wisdom vs. Woman Folly 5. Devotional Thoughts on Proverbs (Week 1) 6. Devotional Thoughts on Proverbs (Week 2) 7. Devotional Thoughts on Proverbs (Week 3) 8. Devotional Thoughts on Proverbs (Week 4) 9. Devotional Thoughts on Proverbs (Week 5) ESCHATOLOGY series... 1. Christian Eschatology 2. Realized Eschatology 3. When Did Christ Establish His Covenant? 4. When Was the Book of Revelation Written? 5. What and When Is the Resurrection? 6. New Heaven and New Earth and the Second Coming 7. A Summary Chart Comparing Realized Eschatology with Biblical Eschatology HOW WE GOT THE BIBLE series... 1. The Bible: A Brief Introduction 2. Revelation Communicated 3. The Canon and Text of the Old Testament 4. The Canon and Text of the New Testament 5. Obtaining the Text of the Bible 6. Inspiration and Canonicity 7. The English Bible Prior to the KJV 8. The English Bible: The KJV to the Present	PROVERBS: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION by Ong Kok Bin General Overview The book of Proverbs belongs to a genre known as Wisdom literature, along with two other biblical books: Job and Ecclesiastes. Also included in this genre of Wisdom literature are two other works, Sirach (or, Ecclesiasticus) and the Wisdom of Solomon, which are non-canonical (the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches consider them as canonical, though). The title to the book is evidently taken from the introductory line of the book itself: ‘The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel’ (1:1, NIV). ‘Proverbs’ translates the Hebrew, *masal, which, basically means ‘comparison’; but the word has such a wide range of usages that they render it incapable of a singular definition; though Archer Taylor’s comment on this is useful: ‘An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that is not ... Let us be content with recognizing that a proverb is a saying current among the folk.’¹ Perhaps, let us be content too that a proverb is a wise saying that has been distillated through discerned experiences in life and gains its popularity through the wisdom it offers and its ‘cleverness’ of word play that strikes an instant chord with the mind. Proverbs lends itself into two parts: (1) chapters 1-9, which generally contain long poems of exhortation and instruction, and (2) chapters 10-31, which are assortments of short sapiential sayings. The opening six verses to the book reveal the objective(s) of Proverbs (much like what a good teacher would do at the beginning of his lesson preparation). The stated objective is to enable ‘the simple’ and the ‘young’ to attain to ‘wisdom and discipline...doing what is right and just and fair’ (1:1-6, selective). 1:7 offers the starting point for the acquiring of the wise and disciplined life: ‘the fear of the Lord’. Structurally, Proverbs may be divided into several collections of sayings if we are to follow the relevant guiding lines², (as per the NIV), viz., 1:1 - ‘the proverbs of Solomon’ 10:1 - ‘the proverbs of Solomon’ 22:17 - ‘the sayings of the wise’ 24:23 - ‘further sayings of the wise’ 25:1 - ‘more proverbs of Solomon’ 30:1 - ‘sayings of Agur’ 31:1 - ‘sayings of King Lemuel’ 31:10-31 - ‘epilogue: the wife of noble character’ Wisdom Literature* Wisdom as a virtue that shapes the human character is much valued universally across cultures. It is one of the ideals (if not, the ideal) of the human enterprise. But, to the inspired writers, wisdom is not merely gained on human effort alone. If it were, it would degenerate into its very extreme opposite, which is foolishness (e.g., see Prov. 1:7; Rom. 1:21-23; 1 Cor. 18ff.). However, as it is to the inspired writers, wisdom is not wisdom unless God is behind it; or more truly, God is at its forefront. ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (wisdom)’ so Proverbs 1:1. There has been a long held belief (from early 20th-century) among Bible scholars that the Israelite Wisdom literature was influenced by Egyptian wisdom and to a lesser extent, Mesopotamian wisdom. This was due in part to similarities found between the teachings of a certain Egyptian author Amenemope (who wrote on civil service in the Egyptian courts) and Proverbs 22:17-23:11. The argument, then, was that the Israelite system of kingship and service in the royal court was at its infancy and therefore the Israelite courtiers had to borrow or rely on Egyptian/Mesopotamian know-how to establish their own system of court service in their new kingdom. However, of late, this view of Israelite dependence on foreign wisdom has been rejected. This was due largely to the fact that there is a dearth of wisdom material connected with court service in the canonical Wisdom literature; pertinently, the book of Proverbs. Other than the section mentioned above and the sayings of King Agur (chp. 30) and King Lemur (31:1-9), the language and grammar in the greater portion of Proverbs belong to the agrarian and family fields. In short, Proverbs is directed towards ordinary sons and daughters who work in the family farms rather than to royal butlers or counsellors. Foreign influence in Israelite Wisdom literature, if any, must then be limited to the spontaneous exchanges that occured trans-internationally rather than deliberate attempts at adaptation or wholesale copying. As one will have noticed, there is an absence of the Jewish cultic/religious themes in the Wisdom literature. Other than ‘the fear of the Lord’ and allusions to the creation (in the later part of Job), there is practically no mention of the patriarchal promises, the exodus history and the Sinai covenant.³ Proverbs, in particular, confines itself to a wisdom or knowledge that educates in ‘personal formation’, ‘ethical maturity’⁴ and ‘right living in the highest sense’⁵. To say the obvious, Wisdom literature is moralistic in its outreach and goal. It preaches the message of ethical conduct: ‘doing what is right and just and fair’ (1:1), which is, after all, what the Yahweh God seeks from his people (see Amos 5:24; Mic. 6:8; cf. Mt. 9:13; 23:23). Of necessity then, Proverbs is replete with contrasts in black-and-white hues: wisdom/folly or wise/foolish, poor/rich, upright/wicked, faithful/unfaithful, diligent/lazy, humble/proud, kindhearted/ruthless, etc. There is almost the monotonous drone of rewards for the wise but only retribution for the foolish across Proverbs. Wisdom is generously splashed in every page of Proverbs: from its purpose to its exhortations to its benefits to its supreme nature. Arguably, the supreme position of wisdom is displayed in chapter 8. There, wisdom is personified in the shape of a woman. She speaks with her mouth (v. 7), loves those who love her and bestows wealth on them (vv. 17, 21) but hates pride and arrogance (v. 13), possesses riches and honour (v. 18) and is brought forth by the Lord himself ‘as the first of his works’ (v. 22). But lest any feminist would want to pride in the woman Wisdom, there is also a counterpart, the woman Folly (9:13ff.). Styles in the Sayings in Proverbs Other than chapters 1-9, which contain instructions in long poetic form on several themes, most of the rest of the Proverbs are of the short crisp couplets with rarely a unifying theme between them. Most commentators have identified three different styles in the sayings: (1) antithesis - the second line is stated in the converse of the first line; (2) equivalence - the second line brings out the nuance of the first line more sharply; and (3) riddle-equivalence - the first line is stated in a riddle and the second line brings out the meaning of the riddle in the first line.⁶ However, David Atkinson⁷ has a sevenfold classification; though strictly, his classification is not just on the couplet format, but on the play of words in a single line or between parallel lines, as the instance may be. Thus: (1) identity/equivalence - the B part in a line is equivalent to the A part: e.g., 14:4a, ‘Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty’ - meaning, if there is no effort or hard work, there will be no food on the table. (2) non-identity/contrast/paradox - the B part contrasts sharply with the A part: e.g., 25:15b, ‘a gentle tongue can break a bone’ - the hardness and strength of a bone can yield to the softness (persuasion) of the tongue. (3) similarities - B is like A: e.g., 25:12, ‘Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man’s rebuke to a listening ear.’ - a wise rebuke when heeded is as precious as a jewellery piece. (4) contrary to the right order - the reality in A is absurd in relation to B: e.g., 1:17, ‘How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds!’ - the birds will not fall into a trap which they can see in full view. (5) that which characterizes or classifies persons, actions/situations - e.g., 9:7-8, a mocker cannot be rebuked to change his ways; or, 6:6-11, a sluggard cannot be expected to be industrious. (6) the use of relative value - A is better than B: e.g., 17:12, ‘Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.’ - you might want to try this out; or, make a mental image of confronting a fool and then an animal deprived of her young - which do you prefer? (7) consequences of character and behaviour - e.g., 15:13a, ‘A happy heart makes the face cheerful’ - what is on the inside expresses itself on the outside too. ______________________________ ¹cited in R. E. Murphy, Proverbs, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 22 [electronic ed., Logos Library System] (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998). ²as suggested by R. Murphy and E. Huwiler, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, NIBC (Peabody: Henrickson Publishers, 2003), 5. ³Ibid, 3. ⁴Daniel J. Estes, Hear, My Son: Teaching and Learning in Proverbs 1-9 (Leicester: Apollos, 1997), 14. ⁵C.H. Toy, cited in David Atkinson, The Message of Proverbs (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1996), 24. ⁶Jennifer S. Green, Proverbs, in The Transforming Word, Mark W. Hamilton, gen. ed. (Abilene: Abilene Christian University Press, 2009), 506-507. ⁷David Atkinson, The Message of Proverbs, 26-27. < prev \| next >
\| Home \| About Us \| Archive \| Articles \| Comment \| Directory/Churches \| Links \| News \| Youth \| _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this page may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission, oral or written, from the Church of Christ, Seremban, Malaysia.

“...the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” – 1 Timothy 3:15
	\| Home \| About Us \| Archive \| Articles \| Comment \| Directory/Churches \| Links \| News \| Youth \|
PROVERBS series... 1. Proverbs: A Brief Introduction 2. Doing What Is Right, Just and Fair 3. Love, Faithfulness and Trust 4. Woman Wisdom vs. Woman Folly 5. Devotional Thoughts on Proverbs (Week 1) 6. Devotional Thoughts on Proverbs (Week 2) 7. Devotional Thoughts on Proverbs (Week 3) 8. Devotional Thoughts on Proverbs (Week 4) 9. Devotional Thoughts on Proverbs (Week 5) ESCHATOLOGY series... 1. Christian Eschatology 2. Realized Eschatology 3. When Did Christ Establish His Covenant? 4. When Was the Book of Revelation Written? 5. What and When Is the Resurrection? 6. New Heaven and New Earth and the Second Coming 7. A Summary Chart Comparing Realized Eschatology with Biblical Eschatology HOW WE GOT THE BIBLE series... 1. The Bible: A Brief Introduction 2. Revelation Communicated 3. The Canon and Text of the Old Testament 4. The Canon and Text of the New Testament 5. Obtaining the Text of the Bible 6. Inspiration and Canonicity 7. The English Bible Prior to the KJV 8. The English Bible: The KJV to the Present	PROVERBS: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION by Ong Kok Bin General Overview The book of Proverbs belongs to a genre known as Wisdom literature, along with two other biblical books: Job and Ecclesiastes. Also included in this genre of Wisdom literature are two other works, Sirach (or, Ecclesiasticus) and the Wisdom of Solomon, which are non-canonical (the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches consider them as canonical, though). The title to the book is evidently taken from the introductory line of the book itself: ‘The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel’ (1:1, NIV). ‘Proverbs’ translates the Hebrew, *masal, which, basically means ‘comparison’; but the word has such a wide range of usages that they render it incapable of a singular definition; though Archer Taylor’s comment on this is useful: ‘An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that is not ... Let us be content with recognizing that a proverb is a saying current among the folk.’¹ Perhaps, let us be content too that a proverb is a wise saying that has been distillated through discerned experiences in life and gains its popularity through the wisdom it offers and its ‘cleverness’ of word play that strikes an instant chord with the mind. Proverbs lends itself into two parts: (1) chapters 1-9, which generally contain long poems of exhortation and instruction, and (2) chapters 10-31, which are assortments of short sapiential sayings. The opening six verses to the book reveal the objective(s) of Proverbs (much like what a good teacher would do at the beginning of his lesson preparation). The stated objective is to enable ‘the simple’ and the ‘young’ to attain to ‘wisdom and discipline...doing what is right and just and fair’ (1:1-6, selective). 1:7 offers the starting point for the acquiring of the wise and disciplined life: ‘the fear of the Lord’. Structurally, Proverbs may be divided into several collections of sayings if we are to follow the relevant guiding lines², (as per the NIV), viz., 1:1 - ‘the proverbs of Solomon’ 10:1 - ‘the proverbs of Solomon’ 22:17 - ‘the sayings of the wise’ 24:23 - ‘further sayings of the wise’ 25:1 - ‘more proverbs of Solomon’ 30:1 - ‘sayings of Agur’ 31:1 - ‘sayings of King Lemuel’ 31:10-31 - ‘epilogue: the wife of noble character’ Wisdom Literature* Wisdom as a virtue that shapes the human character is much valued universally across cultures. It is one of the ideals (if not, the ideal) of the human enterprise. But, to the inspired writers, wisdom is not merely gained on human effort alone. If it were, it would degenerate into its very extreme opposite, which is foolishness (e.g., see Prov. 1:7; Rom. 1:21-23; 1 Cor. 18ff.). However, as it is to the inspired writers, wisdom is not wisdom unless God is behind it; or more truly, God is at its forefront. ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (wisdom)’ so Proverbs 1:1. There has been a long held belief (from early 20th-century) among Bible scholars that the Israelite Wisdom literature was influenced by Egyptian wisdom and to a lesser extent, Mesopotamian wisdom. This was due in part to similarities found between the teachings of a certain Egyptian author Amenemope (who wrote on civil service in the Egyptian courts) and Proverbs 22:17-23:11. The argument, then, was that the Israelite system of kingship and service in the royal court was at its infancy and therefore the Israelite courtiers had to borrow or rely on Egyptian/Mesopotamian know-how to establish their own system of court service in their new kingdom. However, of late, this view of Israelite dependence on foreign wisdom has been rejected. This was due largely to the fact that there is a dearth of wisdom material connected with court service in the canonical Wisdom literature; pertinently, the book of Proverbs. Other than the section mentioned above and the sayings of King Agur (chp. 30) and King Lemur (31:1-9), the language and grammar in the greater portion of Proverbs belong to the agrarian and family fields. In short, Proverbs is directed towards ordinary sons and daughters who work in the family farms rather than to royal butlers or counsellors. Foreign influence in Israelite Wisdom literature, if any, must then be limited to the spontaneous exchanges that occured trans-internationally rather than deliberate attempts at adaptation or wholesale copying. As one will have noticed, there is an absence of the Jewish cultic/religious themes in the Wisdom literature. Other than ‘the fear of the Lord’ and allusions to the creation (in the later part of Job), there is practically no mention of the patriarchal promises, the exodus history and the Sinai covenant.³ Proverbs, in particular, confines itself to a wisdom or knowledge that educates in ‘personal formation’, ‘ethical maturity’⁴ and ‘right living in the highest sense’⁵. To say the obvious, Wisdom literature is moralistic in its outreach and goal. It preaches the message of ethical conduct: ‘doing what is right and just and fair’ (1:1), which is, after all, what the Yahweh God seeks from his people (see Amos 5:24; Mic. 6:8; cf. Mt. 9:13; 23:23). Of necessity then, Proverbs is replete with contrasts in black-and-white hues: wisdom/folly or wise/foolish, poor/rich, upright/wicked, faithful/unfaithful, diligent/lazy, humble/proud, kindhearted/ruthless, etc. There is almost the monotonous drone of rewards for the wise but only retribution for the foolish across Proverbs. Wisdom is generously splashed in every page of Proverbs: from its purpose to its exhortations to its benefits to its supreme nature. Arguably, the supreme position of wisdom is displayed in chapter 8. There, wisdom is personified in the shape of a woman. She speaks with her mouth (v. 7), loves those who love her and bestows wealth on them (vv. 17, 21) but hates pride and arrogance (v. 13), possesses riches and honour (v. 18) and is brought forth by the Lord himself ‘as the first of his works’ (v. 22). But lest any feminist would want to pride in the woman Wisdom, there is also a counterpart, the woman Folly (9:13ff.). Styles in the Sayings in Proverbs Other than chapters 1-9, which contain instructions in long poetic form on several themes, most of the rest of the Proverbs are of the short crisp couplets with rarely a unifying theme between them. Most commentators have identified three different styles in the sayings: (1) antithesis - the second line is stated in the converse of the first line; (2) equivalence - the second line brings out the nuance of the first line more sharply; and (3) riddle-equivalence - the first line is stated in a riddle and the second line brings out the meaning of the riddle in the first line.⁶ However, David Atkinson⁷ has a sevenfold classification; though strictly, his classification is not just on the couplet format, but on the play of words in a single line or between parallel lines, as the instance may be. Thus: (1) identity/equivalence - the B part in a line is equivalent to the A part: e.g., 14:4a, ‘Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty’ - meaning, if there is no effort or hard work, there will be no food on the table. (2) non-identity/contrast/paradox - the B part contrasts sharply with the A part: e.g., 25:15b, ‘a gentle tongue can break a bone’ - the hardness and strength of a bone can yield to the softness (persuasion) of the tongue. (3) similarities - B is like A: e.g., 25:12, ‘Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man’s rebuke to a listening ear.’ - a wise rebuke when heeded is as precious as a jewellery piece. (4) contrary to the right order - the reality in A is absurd in relation to B: e.g., 1:17, ‘How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds!’ - the birds will not fall into a trap which they can see in full view. (5) that which characterizes or classifies persons, actions/situations - e.g., 9:7-8, a mocker cannot be rebuked to change his ways; or, 6:6-11, a sluggard cannot be expected to be industrious. (6) the use of relative value - A is better than B: e.g., 17:12, ‘Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.’ - you might want to try this out; or, make a mental image of confronting a fool and then an animal deprived of her young - which do you prefer? (7) consequences of character and behaviour - e.g., 15:13a, ‘A happy heart makes the face cheerful’ - what is on the inside expresses itself on the outside too. ______________________________ ¹cited in R. E. Murphy, Proverbs, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 22 [electronic ed., Logos Library System] (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998). ²as suggested by R. Murphy and E. Huwiler, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, NIBC (Peabody: Henrickson Publishers, 2003), 5. ³Ibid, 3. ⁴Daniel J. Estes, Hear, My Son: Teaching and Learning in Proverbs 1-9 (Leicester: Apollos, 1997), 14. ⁵C.H. Toy, cited in David Atkinson, The Message of Proverbs (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1996), 24. ⁶Jennifer S. Green, Proverbs, in The Transforming Word, Mark W. Hamilton, gen. ed. (Abilene: Abilene Christian University Press, 2009), 506-507. ⁷David Atkinson, The Message of Proverbs, 26-27. < prev \| next >
\| Home \| About Us \| Archive \| Articles \| Comment \| Directory/Churches \| Links \| News \| Youth \| _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this page may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission, oral or written, from the Church of Christ, Seremban, Malaysia.