Proverbs

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

PROVERBS ( Jesus’ use of).—It is a saying of the Rabbis that ‘the Law spoke in the tongue of the children of men.’ And so did our Blessed Lord. He did not use the jargon of the schools, but expressed His heavenly teaching, albeit profounder than either Jewish theology or Greek philosophy, in language which the simplest could understand. The Oriental mind delights in proverbs, and Jesus, in His gracious desire to reach the hearts of His hearers, did not disdain to weave into His discourse the homely and often humorous sayings which were current in His day.

1. ‘ It is yet four months, and the harvest cometh ’ ( John 4:35). It is usual to find here a note of chronology (cf. Meyer). The harvest began in April, early enough sometimes for the unleavened bread of the Passover to be baked with new flour (Orig. in Joan. xiii. § 39); and since, it is argued, the harvest was four months distant, it was in December that Jesus visited Sychar in the course of His journey from Jerusalem to Galilee. There are, however, insuperable objections to this view.

(1) December is the rainy season, and with every wayside brook running full, Jesus would not have needed to crave a drink from the woman’s pitcher to slake His thirst (cf.  Psalms 110:7). (2) It is incredible that, when after the Passover He retired with His disciples from Jerusalem ‘into the land of Judaea’ ( John 3:22), in order doubtless to collect His thoughts and brace Himself for the commencement of His ministry, He should have protracted that season of repose for eight months. (3) Moreover, as Origen remarks, the Evangelist’s explanation of the enthusiasm wherewith the Galilaeans received Him on His arrival ( John 4:45), implies that His miracles in the capital during the Passover season were fresh in their memories.

In truth there is here no chronological datum. The logion is a husbandman’s proverb, like the other which follows immediately ( John 4:37). The seed was sown towards the end of December, and four months elapsed ere it was ripe (see Wetstein); and the proverb conveyed the practical lesson that results mature slowly (cf.  James 5:7). Jesus was prepared to sow the good seed of the Kingdom and have long patience until it should ripen, and it filled His heart with surprise and gladness when He beheld His seed ripening in an hour. He spied the woman returning in haste from the town accompanied by an eager throng ( John 4:28-30), and He broke out, ‘Ye have a saying (λέγετε, cf. λόγος in  John 4:37), It is yet four months, and the harvest cometh. Lo, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and behold the fields, that they are white for harvest!’

2. ‘ A prophet hath no honour in his own country, and among his own kinsfolk, and in his own house .’ Jesus is reported to have quoted this proverb on two occasions ( John 4:44,  Matthew 13:57 =  Mark 6:4 =  Luke 4:24), and it was constantly exemplified in His experience. He was rejected by His townsfolk of Nazareth; He was pronounced mad by His kinsfolk; His brethren did not believe in Him.

Origen ( in Joan. xiii. § 54) thinks that the proverb originated in the dishonour which the prophets of Israel had always suffered at the hands of their contemporaries (cf.  Hebrews 11:36-38); but in truth it was not peculiarly Jewish. ‘Few of the most sagacious and wise,’ says Plutarch ( de Exil . § 13), ‘would you find cherished in their own countries.’ ‘Quidquid enim domi est,’ says Seneca ( de Benef . iii. 3), ‘vile est.’ ‘Sordebat [Protogenes] suis,’ says Pliny ( HN xxxv. § 36), ‘ut plerumque domestica,’ Pericles would never dine abroad, lest he should be cheapened in the estimation of the company by the familiarity of social intercourse (Plut. Pericl . § 7; cf. de Imit. Chr. i. 10, § 1: ‘Vellem me pluries tacuisse et inter homines non fuisse’). Cf. the ancient proverb still in vogue: ‘Familiarity breeds contempt’ (Chrys. in Joan , xxxiv.: ἡ γὰρ συνήθεια εὐκαταφρονήτους ποιεῖν εἴωθεν; Bernard. Flores  : ‘Vulgare proverbium est, quod nunia familiaritas parit contemptum’); and the saying of the witty Frenchman that ‘no man is a hero to his valet de chambre .’

3. In the course of His dispute with the people of Nazareth, Jesus quoted another proverb, ‘ Physician, heal thyself ’ ( Luke 4:23). The Talmud has: ‘Medice, sana claudicationem tuam’ (cf. Eurip. fragm.: ἄλλων ἰατρὸς αὐτὸς ἔλκεσι βρύων (ed. Witzschel, iv. p. 302); Cic. Ep . iv. 5: ‘Malos medicos qui in alienis morbis profitentur se tenere medicinae scientiam, ipsi se curare non possunt’ (see Wetstein)).

4. There is no saying of Jesus more astonishing than His answer to the disciple who sought permission to go and bury his father ere casting in his lot with Him: ‘ Leave the dead to bury their own dead ’ ( Matthew 8:21-22 =  Luke 9:59-60). It seems as though He were speaking here after the manner of the Rabbis, who forbade that even the burial of the dead should be allowed to interrupt the study of the Law (Wetstein on  Matthew 8:21), and required that a disciple should put his teacher’s claims before those of his father; ‘for his father indeed brought him into this world; but his teacher, who has taught him wisdom, has introduced him into the world to come’ (Taylor, Say. of Fath . iv. 17, n. [Note: note.] 21; Schürer, HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] ii. i. p. 317). Is it credible that Jesus should have rivalled the Rabbis in heartless arrogance? The difficulty disappears when it is understood that the disciple’s request was merely a pretext for delay. He was quoting a flippant phrase which is current in the East to this day.

A missionary in Syria once counselled a youth to complete his education by travelling in Europe. ‘I must first bury my father,’ was the answer. The old gentleman was neither dead nor dying; he was in good health, and the youth meant merely that his home had the first claim upon him (Wendt, Teach. of Jesus , ii. 70, n. [Note: note.] 1).

5. Jesus was quoting another proverb when, in answer to the man who volunteered to follow Him but craved leave first to bid his household farewell, He said: ‘ No one, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God ’ ( Luke 9:62). The OT story of Elisha’s call from the plough ( 1 Kings 19:19-21) seems to have leapt into His mind and suggested His reply, which is an adaptation of a common saying: ‘A ploughman must bend to his work, or he will draw a crooked furrow’ (Plin. HN xviii. § 49: ‘Arator nisi incurvus praevaricatur’; cf. Verg. Ecl . iii. 42: ‘curvus arator’). ‘Conveniet,’ says Erasmus, ‘in negocium quod absque magnis sudoribus peragi non potest.’

6. The Sermon on the Mount abounds in proverbial phrases. ‘ A single iota or a single tip ’ ( Matthew 5:18) is like our phrase, ‘The dot of an i or the stroke of a t .’ It is frequent in the Talmud (cf. Lightfoot and Wetstein). ‘Sound not a trumpet before thee’ ( Matthew 6:2) is a proverbial metaphor, though Calvin takes it literally, supposing that the Pharisees, those ‘play-actors’ (ὑποκριταί) in religion, actually blew a trumpet to summon the beggars (cf. the Greek proverb αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν αὐλεῖ, ‘play one’s own pipe,’ like our ‘blow one’s own trumpet’; Achill. Tat. viii. 10: αὕτη δὲ οὐχ ὑπὸ σάλπιγγι μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ κήρυκι μοιχεύεται).

‘I have observed,’ says old Thomas Fuller, ‘some at the church door cast in sixpence with such ostentation that it rebounded from the bottom and rang against both sides of the bason (so that the same piece of silver was the alms and the giver’s trumpet), whilst others have dropped down silent five shillings without any noise.’

‘ With what measure ye measure, it shall be measured to you again ’ ( Matthew 7:2) is very common in the Talmud (see Wetstein; Dalman, Words of Jesus , p. 225).—‘ Why seest thou the chip that is in thy brother’s eye, but the log that is in thine own considerest not? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me cast out the chip out of thine eye, and, behold, the log is in thine own eye? ’ ( Matthew 7:3-4). This proverb is characteristically Oriental in its grotesque exaggeration, and there is no need to explain it away by supposing that ‘eye’ represents עֵיִן ‘a well’: a chip in your neighbour’s well, a log in your own (see Bruce in EGT [Note: GT Expositor’s Greek Testanent.] ). It is a carpenter’s proverb, and has a special fitness on the lips of the Carpenter of Nazareth.

It is found in the Talmud (see Lightfoot). Cf. Baba Bathra , 15. 2: ‘Cum diceret quis alicui: “Ejice festucam ex oculo tuo,” respondit ille: “Ejice et tu trabem ex oculo tuo.” ’ The proverb is Jewish, but the fault which it satirizes is universal. ‘Many,’ says St. Chrysostom, ‘now do this. If they see a monk wearing a superfluous garment, they cast up to him the Lord’s law, though themselves practising boundless extortion and covetousness every day. If they see him enjoying a somewhat plenteous meal, they fall to bitter accusing, though themselves indulging daily in drunkenness and excess.’

‘ Give not what is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine ’ ( Matthew 7:6). Cf.  2 Peter 2:22 ( Proverbs 26:11),  Proverbs 11:22, and see Wetstein. ‘ What man is there of you who, if his son shall ask of him a loaf, will give him a serpent; or if he shall ask an egg, will give him a scorpion? ’ ( Matthew 7:10). There was a Greek proverb, ‘For a perch a scorpion’ (ἀντὶ πέρκης σκορπἰον); ‘ ubi quis optima captans pessima eapit ’ (Erasm. Adag .). ‘For a fish,’ Wetstein explains, ‘a fisherman sometimes catches a water-snake.—‘ Build on the sand ’ (εἰς ψάμμον οἰκοδομεῖς; cf. εἰς ψάμμον σπείρεις); see Erasm. Adag . under ‘Inanis Opera’) was a proverb signifying vain and unenduring labour, and it seems as though Jesus had it in His mind in His similitude of the Two Builders ( Matthew 7:24-27 =  Luke 6:47-49).

7. ‘ If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom is unable to stand; and if a house be divided against itself, that house shall be unable to stand ’ ( Mark 3:24-25 =  Matthew 12:25). A maxim of state-craft. Cf. Soph. Ant. 672–674:

ἀναρχὶας δὲ μεῖζον οὐκ ἔστιν κακόν.

αὕτη πόλεις ὄλλυσιν, ἥδʼ ἀναστάτους

οἴκους τἰθησιν.

Xen. Mem . iv. 4. § 16: ἄνευ δὲ ὁμονοίας οὔτʼ ἂν πόλις εὖ πολιτευθείη οὔτε οἶκος καλῶς οἰκηθείη.

8. ‘ Prudent as the serpents and simple as the doves ’ ( Matthew 10:16). The serpent was a symbol of sharp-sightedness, and the dove, like the sheep, of simplicity and gentleness. Erasmus ( Adagia ) quotes the proverbs ὄφεως ὄμμα and πραότερος περιστερᾶς (cf. Rabbinical comment on  Song of Solomon 2:14 ‘Deus dixit Israelitis: “Erga me sunt integri sicut columbae, sed erga gentes astuti sunt sicut serpentes” ’; see Wetstein).

9. ‘ He that hath found his life shall lose it, and he that hath lost his life for my sake shall find it ’ ( Matthew 10:39). ‘Proverbium est militare’ (Wetstein). Jesus here addresses the Twelve like a general exhorting his troops on the eve of battle.

Cf. Xenophon to the Ten Thousand: ‘I have observed that as many as yearn to live by every means in warfare, these, for the most part, die evilly and shamefully; but as many as have recognized that death is common to all and necessary for men, and strive to die nobly, these I see rather arriving at old age, and, while they live, passing their days more blessedly’ ( Anab . iii. i. 43). Epict. iv. 1. § 165 (of Socrates): τοῦτον οὐκ ἔστι σῶσαι αἰσχρῶς, ἀλλὰ ἀτοθνήσκων σώζεται, οὐ φεύγων Juv. viii. 83. 84:

‘Summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori

Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.’

10. ‘ If a blind man guide a blind, both shall fall into a ditch ’ ( Matthew 15:14; cf.  Matthew 23:24). Cf. Hor. Epp. i. 17. 3–4: ‘Ut si caecus iter monstrare velit.’ Wetstein quotes Sext. Empir. Hyp. Pyrrh . iii. 29: οὐδὲ τυφλὸν ὁδηγεῖν δύναται τυφλός.

11. One misses the spirit of the conversation between Jesus and the Syrophœnician woman ( Matthew 15:21-28 =  Mark 7:24-30) unless one observes that it is a bandying of proverbs. The scene was evidently the lodging of Jesus and the Twelve. The woman had followed them indoors [in  Mark 7:25 Tischendorf, after אLD, reads εἰσελθοῦσα], and she pressed her suit as they reclined at table. Perhaps a dog was in the apartment begging scraps. ‘ It is not right ,’ says Jesus, quoting an apt proverb, ‘ to take the children’s bread and cast it to the whelps .’ Cf. the Greek adage: ‘You feed dogs, and do not feed yourself’ (αὐτὸν οὐ τρέφων κύνας τρἐφεις), which Erasmus ( Adag . under ‘Absurda’) thus explains:

‘It was said of one who, while too poor to procure the necessaries of life, endeavoured to maintain an establishment of horses or servants. It will be appropriately employed against those who, by reason of the narrowness of their means, have scarce enough to maintain life, yet ambitiously endeavour to emulate the powerful and wealthy in fineness of dress and general ostentation. In short, it will be suitable to all who regard the things which belong to pleasure or magnificence, neglecting the things which are more necessary.’

There was another proverb: ‘Never be kind to a neighbour’s dog’ (μήποτʼ εὖ ἔρδειν γείτονος κύνα), otherwise put: ‘One who feeds a strange dog gets nothing but the rope to keep’ (ὃς κύνα τρέφει ξένον, τούτῳ μόνον λίνος μένει).

‘The proverb warns you against uselessly wasting kindness in a quarter whence no profit will accrue to you in return. A neighbour’s dog, after being well fed, goes back to his former master’ ( ib. under ‘Ingratitudo’).

It was some such proverb that shaped our Lord’s speech to the woman. He was not speaking after the heartless and insolent manner of the Rabbis, who branded the Gentiles as ‘dogs’ (cf. Megill.  Exodus 12:6 : “An holy convocation to you”: to you, not to dogs; to you, not to strangers.’ Pirk. Eliez . 29: ‘He who eats with an idolater is like one that eats with a dog: for, as a dog is uncircumcised, so also is an idolater’). And the woman replied in like terms: ‘ Yea, Lord, for even the whelps cat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters .’ Here also, it would appear, there is a proverb. Damis of Nineveh, the Boswell of Apollonius of Tyana, was once sneered at for the diligence wherewith he recorded his master’s sayings and doings, taking note of every trifle. ‘If,’ he replied, ‘there be feasts of gods and gods eat, certainly they have also attendants who see to it that even the scraps of ambrosia are not lost’ (Philostr. Apoll . i. 19). It may be added that there is an Arabic proverb: ‘It is better to feed a dog than a man,’ the reason alleged being that the dog will not forget the kindness, but the man may ( PEFQSt , July 1904, p. 271).

12. ‘ The gates of Hades ’ ( Matthew 16:18). Cf.  Isaiah 38:10,  Job 38:17,  Psalms 9:13;  Psalms 107:18; Hom. Il . ix. 312–313:

ἐχθρὸς γάρ μοι κεῖνος ὁμῶς Ἀΐδαο πύλῃσιν,

δς χʼ ἔτερον μὲν κεὐθῃ ἐνὶ φρεσὶν ἄλλο δὲ εἴπῃ.

13. ‘ It is better if a heavy millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were flung into the sea ’ ( Matthew 18:6 =  Mark 9:42 =  Luke 17:2). Cf. Kidd . 29. 2: ‘Dicit Samuel, Traditio est ut ducat quis uxorem et postea applicet se ad discendam Legem. At R. Jochanan dicit: Non molâ collo ejus appensâ addicet se ad studium Legis.’ The proverb was derived from the punishment of drowning. At Athens criminals were flung, with stones about their necks, into the Barathrum, a dark, well-like chasm (Aristoph. Equit . 1359–60; Schol. on Plut . 431). In b.c. 38 the Galilaeans rose against Herod, and drowned his adherents in the Lake (Josephus Ant. xiv. xv. 10).

14. The narrow gate and the two ways ( Matthew 7:13-14 =  Luke 13:24). There is here an allusion to a favourite image of the ancient moralists which had passed into a proverb. ‘Vice,’ says Hesiod (b.c. 850–800), ‘even in troops may be chosen easily; smooth is the way, and it lieth very nigh. But in front of Virtue the immortal gods have put sweat. Long and steep is the way to her, and rough at first; but when one cometh to the summit, then it is easy, hard as it was’ ( Works and Days , 287–292). Pythagoras of Samos (b.c. 570–504) adopted the image and elaborated it. He employed as a symbol of the two ways the letter Ϥ, the archaic form of Υ, hence called ‘the Samian letter’ ( Pers. [Note: Persian.] iii. 56–57, v. 34–35). The upright stem represented the innocent period of childhood, and the divergent branches the after-course of youth and man-hood, pursuing the straight path of virtue or the crooked track of vice. The image is found also in the Tablet of Kebes, an allegory in the style of a Platonic dialogue, a sort of Greek Pilgrim’s Progress , purporting to be a description of a tablet which hung in the temple of Kronos, and emblematically depicted the course of human life.

‘ “What is the way that leads to the true Instruction?” said I. “You see above,” said he, “yonder place where no one dwells, but it seems to be desert?” “I do.” “And a little door, and a way before the door, which is not much thronged, but very few go there; so impassable does the way seem, so rough and rocky?” “Yes, indeed,” said I. “And there seems to be a lofty mound and a very steep ascent with deep precipices on this side and on that?” “I see it.” “This, then, is the way,” said he, “that leads to the true Instruction” ’ ( Tab . § 15).

15. ‘ A grain of mustard-seed ’ ( Matthew 17:20,  Luke 17:6)—a proverbial instance of extreme littleness (cf.  Matthew 13:31-32 =  Mark 4:31-32 =  Luke 13:19). Uprooting trees (cf.  Matthew 21:21 =  Mark 11:23) or mountains ,—an expression used of wonderful feats (cf.  1 Corinthians 13:2). Some of the greater Rabbis were called ‘uprooters of mountains’ (see Lightfoot and Wetstein).

16. ‘ Easier for a camel to pass through the needle’s eye ’ ( Matthew 19:24 =  Mark 10:25 =  Luke 18:25)—a proverb denoting an impossibility. The Talmud has ‘an elephant passing through the needle’s eye’ (see Lightfoot). The absurd exaggeration is characteristically Oriental, and should not be toned down either by substituting κάμιλος, ‘cable,’ for κάμηλος, ‘camel,’ or by supposing ‘needle’s eye’ to mean postern-gate  ; cf. Shak. K. Rich. ii . v. v.:

‘It is as hard to come as for a camel

To thread the postern of a needle’s eye.’

The proverb is found in Koran, ch. vii.: ‘Verily they who shall charge our signs with falsehood and shall proudly reject them, the gates of Heaven shall not be opened unto them, neither shall they enter into Paradise, until a camel pass through the eye of a needle.’ Did Mohammed quote from the Gospels, or was the proverb current throughout the East in his day?

17. ‘ Straining out the gnat and gulping down the camel ’ ( Matthew 23:24). Cf. Jerus. [Note: Jerusalem.] Shabb . 107. 3: ‘One who kills a flea on the Sabbath is as guilty as one who should kill a camel on the Sabbath.’ Erasmus ( Adag . under ‘Absurda’) quotes a Latin adage: ‘Transmisso camelo, culex in cribro deprehensus haesit,’ and refers to the bantering remark of Anacharsis the Scythian when he found Solon busy drawing up his laws. ‘They are exactly like spiders’ webs: they will hold back the weak and insignificant and be broken through by the powerful and rich’ (Plut.  Song of Solomon 5:2). The proverb satirizes those who atone for laxity in important matters by scrupulosity in matters of no moment.

18. ‘ To every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly; and from him that hath not, even what he hath shall be taken away from him ’ ( Matthew 25:29). Cf. R. Hillel: ‘He who increases not, decreases,’ which means that one who does not improve his knowledge, loses it (Taylor, Sayings of the Fathers , i. 14). Jesus employs the saying in this sense in  Matthew 13:12,  Mark 4:25 =  Luke 8:18.

It raises an interesting question that several of these proverbs not only have heathen parallels but are heathen proverbs. How comes it that Greek and Latin sayings were current among the Jews? The Jewish attitude toward pagan culture was one of bitter hostility. It is true that the liberal school of R. Hillel had a more tolerant spirit. Its most distinguished adherent was R. Gamaliel, who advocated the study of the hokhmath Javanith . The prevailing sentiment, however, was that of the school of Shammai, which pronounced a common malediction on one who reared swine and one who taught his son Greek (Otho, Hist. Doct. Mishn. pp. 68–70).

The general sentiment is well illustrated by Origen’s sneer at Celsus’ imaginary Jew who quoted Euripides, that Jews were not wont to be so well versed in Greek literature ( c. [Note: circa, about.] Cels . ii. 34). A Jew with Greek quotations at his finger ends was an absurd fiction. And it is certain that Jesus had no acquaintance with Greek literature. Celsus charged Him with borrowing from Plato His saying about the difficulty of a rich man entering into the kingdom of heaven, and spoiling it in the process ( ib. vi. 16. The Platonic passage is Legg . v. 743: ἀγκθὸν δὲ ὀντα διαφερόντως καὶ πλούσιον εἱναι διαφερόντως ἀδύνατον); and Origen’s reply is most just: ‘Who that is even moderately able to handle the subject would not laugh at Celsus, whether a believer in Jesus or one of the rest of mankind, hearing that Jesus, who had been born and bred among Jews, and was supposed to be the son of Joseph the carpenter, and had studied no literature, neither Greek nor even Hebrew, according to the testimony of the veracious scriptures that tell his story, read Plato?’

Nevertheless, despite their exclusiveness, it was impossible for the Jews to escape the leaven of external influences. (1) They carried on a very considerable commerce. They had several industries of world-wide fame. The Lake of Galilee abounded in fish, which were pickled and exported far and wide. Galilee was celebrated for its linen manufacture, and the flocks which pastured on the wilderness of Judaea furnished material for a thriving trade in woollen goods. Jerusalem had a sheep-market and a wool-market. There was also an extensive import traffic. Trade involves an interchange of ideas. The merchants imported words as well as wares, and one meets many an alien vocable, uncouthly transliterated, on the pages of the Talmud. What wonder if the Jews caught up also some of the foreign merchantmen’s proverbs?

(2) The traders were not the only strangers who visited the Holy Land. There were Roman soldiers and Herod’s mercenaries, the latter including Thracians, Germans, and Galatians (Josephus Ant. xvii. viii. 3). King Herod the Great had built a magnificent theatre at Jerusalem and an equally magnificent amphitheatre, and had instituted athletic contests every four years after the pattern of the Greek games. From every land (ἀπὸ πάσης γῆς) came competitors and spectators ( ib. xv. viii. 1). Still more numerous, however, was the concourse of worshippers who frequented the Holy City at the festal seasons. They came from all quarters ( Acts 2:8-11). They were, indeed, devout and patriotic Jews, but they had settled in foreign countries, and had acquired the languages and manners of the strangers among whom they dwelt and traded. Is it not reasonable to suppose that they would introduce into the Holy Land many a pithy saying which they had learned in the countries of their adoption?

David Smith.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

short aphorisms, and sententious moral and prudential maxims, usually expressed in numbers, or rhythm, or antithesis, as being more easily remembered, and of more use, than abstruse and methodical discourses. This method of instruction appears to be peculiarly suited to the disposition and genius of the Asiatics, among whom it has prevailed from the earliest ages. The Gymnosophists of India delivered their philosophy in brief enigmatical sentences; a practice adopted and carried to a great extent by the ancient Egyptians. The mode of conveying instruction by compendious maxims obtained among the Jews, from the first dawn of their literature, to its final extinction in the east through the power of the Mohammedan arms; and it was familiar to the inhabitants of Syria and Palestine, as we learn from the testimony of St. Jerom. The eloquence of Arabia was mostly exhibited in detached and unconnected sentences, which, like so many loose gems, attracted attention by the fulness of the periods, the elegance of the phraseology, and the acuteness of proverbial sayings. Nor do the Asiatics at present differ, in this respect, from their ancestors, as numerous amthal, or moral sentences, are in circulation throughout the regions of the east, some of which have been published by Hottinger, Erpenius, the younger Schultens, and others who have distinguished themselves by the pursuit of oriental learning. "The moralists of the east," says Sir William Jones, "have, in general, chosen to deliver their precepts in short sententious maxims, to illustrate them by sprightly comparisons, or to inculcate them in the very ancient forms of agreeable apologues: there are, indeed, both in Arabic and Persian, philosophical tracts on ethics, written with sound ratiocination and elegant perspicuity; but in every part of the eastern world, from Pekin to Damascus, the popular teachers of moral wisdom have immemorially been poets: and there would be no end of enumerating their works, which are still extant in the five principal languages of Asia." The ingenious but ever disputing and loquacious Greeks were indebted to the same means for their earliest instruction in wisdom. The sayings of the seven wise men, the golden verses of Pythagoras, the remains of Theognis and Phocylides, if genuine, and the gnomai of the older poets, testify the prevalence of aphorisms in ancient Greece. Had no specimens remained of Hellenic proverbs, we might have concluded this to have been the case; for the Greeks borrowed the rudiments, if not the principal part, of their knowledge from those whom they arrogantly termed barbarians; and it is only through the medium of compendious maxims and brief sentences that traditionary knowledge can be preserved. This mode of communicating moral and practical wisdom accorded with the sedate and deliberative character of the Romans; and, in truth, from its influence over the mind, and its fitness for popular instruction, proverbial expressions exist in all ages and in all languages.

Proverbs, in the Hebrew language, are called meshalim, which is derived from a verb signifying both "to rule," "to have dominion," and "to compare" "to liken," "to assimilate: " hence the term denotes the highly figurative and poetical style in general, and likewise those compendious and authoritative sentences in particular which are commonly denominated proverbs. This term, which our translators have adopted after the Vulgate, denotes, according to our great lexicographer, "a short sentence frequently repeated by the people, a saw, an adage;" and no other word can, perhaps, be substituted more accurately expressing the force of the Hebrew; or, if there could, it has been so long familiarized by constant use, that a change is totally inadmissible.

The Meshalim, or Proverbs of Solomon, on account of their intrinsic merit, as well as of the rank and renown of their author, would be received with submissive deference; in consequence of which, they would rapidly spread through every part of the Jewish territories. The pious instructions of the king would be listened to with the attention and respect they deserve, and, no doubt, would be carefully recorded by a people attached to his person, and holding his wisdom in the highest admiration. These, either preserved in writing, or handed down by oral communication, were subsequently collected into one volume, and constitute the book in the sacred canon, entitled, "The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel." The genuineness and authenticity of this title, and those in   Proverbs 10:1;  Proverbs 25:1 , cannot be disputed; not the smallest reason appears for calling them in question. One portion of the book, from the twenty-fifth chapter to the end of the twenty-ninth, was compiled by the men of Hezekiah, as appears from the title prefixed to it. Eliakim, Shebna, Josh, Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, personages of eminence and worth, were contemporary with Hezekiah; but whether these or others executed the compilation, it is now impossible to determine. They were persons, however, as we may reasonably suppose, well qualified for the undertaking, who collected what were known to be the genuine proverbs of Solomon from the various writings in which they were dispersed, and arranged them in their present order. Whether the preceding twenty-four chapters, which, doubtless, existed in a combined form previous to the additional collection, were compiled by the author, or some other person, is quite uncertain. Both collections, however, being made at so early a period, is a satisfactory evidence that the Proverbs are the genuine production of Solomon, to whom they are ascribed; for, from the death of Solomon to the reign of Hezekiah, according to the Bible chronology, was a period of two hundred and forty-nine years, or, according to Dr. Hales, two hundred and sixty- five years; too short a space to admit of any forgery or material error, as either must have been immediately detected by the worthies who flourished during the virtuous reign of Hezekiah.

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

In ancient times as in the present, people gain wisdom from experience and condense that wisdom into short sayings called proverbs. The biblical book of Proverbs is largely a collection of miscellaneous Hebrew proverbs, most of them from Solomon ( Proverbs 1:1;  Proverbs 10:1;  Proverbs 25:1). It also contains lectures for youth (Chapters 1-9) and wisdom teaching borrowed from neighbouring countries ( Proverbs 30:1;  Proverbs 31:1). (See also Wisdom Literature .)

Characteristics of the book

Living is a very practical matter, and sound common sense is necessary if a person is to handle life’s everyday affairs satisfactorily. The wisdom teachers of Israel and neighbouring countries visited each other and exchanged such wisdom ( 1 Kings 4:30-34;  1 Kings 10:1; cf.  Acts 7:22). But the Israelites were careful not to take from their neighbours any teaching that was coloured by foreign ideas of idolatry, immorality or self-seeking. The basis of the Israelite wisdom was the fear of God ( Proverbs 1:7).

Because of this, the wisdom taught in the biblical book of Proverbs is not worldly wisdom, but godly wisdom. Worldly wisdom can encourage selfish ambition regardless of the needs of others; godly wisdom will encourage a life of practical righteousness based on the law of God.

Israelite proverbs are therefore useful for all God’s people, even though they may live in different countries and eras. The proverbs are concerned with all sorts of subjects, small and great. Some deal with apparently minor matters such as talking too much or having bad table manners. Others deal with wider social issues such as contributing to the good of society or making far-reaching political decisions. Among the topics that most frequently occur in Proverbs are wisdom, folly, laziness, family life, speech, friendship, life and death.

Most of the book of Proverbs is written in simple two-line units of poetry. The characteristic parallelism of Hebrew poetry makes the two-line units easy to remember (see Poetry ). Usually the second line either repeats the truth of the first line ( Proverbs 16:16) or expresses its opposite ( Proverbs 11:5). Sometimes the second line develops or applies the first ( Proverbs 3:6). This easily remembered poetic form encourages people to memorize the teaching, so that it will readily come to mind when needed. In reading Proverbs, it is better to stop and think about each unit of instruction than to read the book straight through as if it were a letter or narrative.

Outline of contents

The opening section of Proverbs is a lengthy talk from a ‘father’ to a ‘son’ (meaning, most likely, from a teacher to a pupil) on the importance of choosing wisdom and avoiding folly. The teacher gives the basis of his instruction (1:1-7), emphasizing that wisdom is of use to people only if they heed it (1:8-33). Wisdom brings its own reward (2:1-22) and enables people to have lives that are useful for God and beneficial to themselves (3:1-4:27). In particular, it helps them overcome temptation to sexual immorality and other evils (5:1-7:27). Wisdom is eternal and is available to all people (8:1-9:18).

This basic instruction in the value of wisdom prepares the reader for the first major collection of proverbs. Of about 3,000 proverbs that Solomon wrote or collected ( 1 Kings 4:32), 375 are collected here. In places proverbs concerned with the same subject have been grouped together, but in general, teaching on any one subject is scattered throughout the section (10:1-22:16).

Two shorter sections collect together sayings from various other wise men. The sayings here are longer than those of Solomon and often cover several verses (22:17-24:22 and 24:23-34). After this is a further collection of Solomon’s proverbs. This collection was added more than two hundred years after the time of Solomon, at the time of Hezekiah’s reforms (25:1; cf. 2 Chronicles 29; 2 Chronicles 30; 2 Chronicles 31). It consists of 128 proverbs (25:1-29:27).

The book concludes with three shorter sections. The first of these comes from the wisdom of Agur, a non-Israelite (30:1-33). The second comes from the wisdom of King Lemuel, another non-Israelite (31:1-9). The final section is an anonymous poem in praise of the perfect wife (31:10-31).

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

The general sense of the word, accordding to Scripture, means somewhat that is instructive. The Eastern method of teaching by similitudes, and figures, and parables, was the most general: hence Solomon's whole book is to this amount. The Hebrews called proverbs Mishle. Our blessed Lord was pleased to follow this popular mode of instruction, for which we are indebted for those numberless beauties in the gospel. So much so was this plan adopted by Christ, that we are told that at one time without a parable spake he not unto them. ( Matthew 13:14) But such was the grace of Jesus to his disciples, that when he was alone he expounded and explained all things unto them. When we read, therefore, the parables, or indeed any other of the blessed sayings which dropped from Christ's mouth, when we are alone with Jesus we should ask the indulgent Lord to do the same by us, and make the word doubly sweet and blessed by unfolding and explaining all things to us himself.