Proverbs
The wise man versus the fool: God’s practical wisdom for everyday life.
Proverbs is a book of wise sayings, most of them written by Solomon, collected to teach “wisdom and instruction” and “to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion” (1:2–4). Its foundation is stated early and often: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (1:7).
The first nine chapters are extended addresses from a father to his son, urging him to seek wisdom and warning him against the adulteress and the company of the wicked. Wisdom is personified as a woman calling in the streets, and in chapter 8 she speaks as one who was with God before the world was made. Chapters 10–29 contain hundreds of individual proverbs, usually in two-line couplets, covering speech, work, money, family, friendship, anger, and the fear of God. The book closes with the words of Agur and of King Lemuel, including the famous portrait of the virtuous woman.
Proverbs is intensely practical. It speaks to the young man and the old, the king and the servant, the merchant and the farmer. Its principles are true because they reflect how God made the world, though they are general principles rather than unconditional promises.
Writer: Solomon, with Agur and Lemuel
Written: Chiefly Solomon about 1000 BC, with Hezekiah’s collection about 700 BC.
Name: Wise sayings and rules for conduct
Title and authorship
The Hebrew title, Mishle, “proverbs of,” comes from the opening words. A mashal is a comparison, similitude, or pithy saying. The book is also called the Proverbs of Solomon.
Solomon wrote most of the book (1:1; 10:1; 25:1). Hezekiah’s men copied out chapters 25–29 from Solomon’s proverbs. Chapter 30 is the words of Agur and chapter 31 the words of King Lemuel, whom some identify with Solomon under a name given by his mother.
Historical background
Solomon’s court in Jerusalem, about 1000 BC, with Hezekiah’s collection added about 700 BC.
Primarily a son—Solomon wrote to Rehoboam—and through him every young person who needs wisdom for life.
Wisdom literature of the ancient world
Egypt and Mesopotamia produced collections of instructions from fathers to sons, and some Egyptian texts resemble parts of Proverbs 22–24. Solomon’s wisdom “excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt” (1 Kings 4:30); his proverbs are distinguished by their foundation in the fear of the LORD.
Hezekiah’s men
About three centuries after Solomon, King Hezekiah’s scribes copied out additional proverbs of Solomon (25:1). Their work was part of the revival of Hezekiah’s reign, when the king also restored the temple music and worship.
The virtuous woman
Proverbs 31:10–31 is an acrostic, each verse beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The woman it describes manages a household, buys a field, plants a vineyard, trades, cares for the poor, and fears the LORD.
Key passages
Proverbs 1:7
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 3:5–6
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding... and he shall direct thy paths.”
Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Proverbs 1:1–7
The introduction explains the purpose of instruction and identifies the fear of the Lord as the beginning of knowledge.
Outline
1–7 · A father’s instruction
Warnings and appeals train a son to resist corrupt companions and the strange woman.
8–9 · Wisdom’s invitation
Wisdom and folly issue competing calls that lead to different ends.
10–30 · Wisdom in daily affairs
Collections of sayings expose the consequences of choices in speech, work, relationships, and rule.
31 · Royal counsel and virtue
A mother’s instruction and the portrait of the virtuous woman display wisdom in responsibility.
Original language
מָשָׁל (mashal, H4912) — “proverb”
A comparison or likeness, then a pithy saying or parable. Many proverbs work by comparison: “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country” (25:25).
יִרְאַת יְהוָה (yirat YHWH, H3374) — “the fear of the LORD”
Reverent awe that submits to God. It appears fourteen times and is the starting point, not the end point, of wisdom: “the fear of the LORD is to hate evil” (8:13).
כְּסִיל (kesil, H3684) — “fool”
The most common word for fool in Proverbs: a person who is dull and obstinate, not mentally deficient but morally stubborn. Other words describe the simple (pethi), the scorner (lets), and the brutish fool (nabal, ewil).
חָכְמָה (chokmah, H2451) — “wisdom”
Skill in living according to God’s order. In chapter 8 Wisdom speaks as a person who was “set up from everlasting” and was “by him, as one brought up with him.” Paul calls Christ “the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).
Doctrinal study
Wisdom personified and Christ
Wisdom in chapter 8 was possessed by the LORD “in the beginning of his way, before his works of old,” was present at creation, and rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth. The New Testament applies this language to Christ, who is made unto us wisdom and in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
The two women
Proverbs contrasts the virtuous woman with the strange woman. The virtuous woman pictures the bride of Christ, both the individual believer and the local church. The strange woman, flattering and seductive, pictures the false religious system that leads men to death (7:27), fully revealed in the harlot of Revelation 17.
The heart and the tongue
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (4:23). Proverbs repeatedly connects the inner life with speech: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (18:21). James develops the same theme in the New Testament.
Commentary notes
The progression of the book
Chapters 1–7 give the Father’s instruction; chapters 8–30 give God’s viewpoint on all the issues of life; and chapter 31 shows the result—a virtuous woman, a bride fit for the King. Adopt God’s viewpoint, and He produces His character.
The wise and the foolish
The wise man receives commandments (10:8), wins souls (11:30), hearkens to counsel (12:15), departs from evil (14:16), disperses knowledge (15:7), seeks knowledge (18:15), and controls his tongue (29:11). The fool despises instruction (1:7), mocks at sin (14:9), cannot be reproved (17:10), meddles (20:3), and returns to his folly like a dog to its vomit (26:11).
A chapter a day
Proverbs has thirty-one chapters, which makes it easy to read one chapter a day each month according to the date. Every leader and every young person would profit from making this a habit.
Christ in the book
- Wisdom, present with God before creation (8:22–31)
- The Son whose name is unsearchable: “what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?” (30:4)
- The friend that sticketh closer than a brother (18:24)
Applications
Historical
- The culmination of the wisdom God gave Solomon to judge and rule Israel, written primarily to his son and preserved for the nation.
- Solomon is the principal contributor; the book also identifies Agur and Lemuel and reflects the preservation of collections across time.
- The father-to-son setting is central, but the book’s practical instruction reaches the whole community.
Doctrinal
- Proverbs gives God’s warnings to Israel during the Tribulation, when the “strange woman” of false religion is in control, and reveals the wisdom of God that will govern the millennial kingdom and eternity.
- Wisdom is grounded in the fear of the Lord. New Testament teaching identifies Christ as the wisdom of God and the one in whom the treasures of wisdom are found.
- The contrasting women also support a typological study of faithful devotion and corrupt religious seduction, while their immediate warnings concern real moral choices.
Devotional
- Practical wisdom for everyday life, directed to the sons of God. Proverbs profits anyone who heeds it, lost or saved, but its truths are fully received only by those who know the One who is Wisdom.
- The wise person receives correction, seeks counsel, controls speech, and practices diligence in response to truth.
- Pride, appetite, and refusal of instruction can produce foolish conduct even when a person knows what is right.
Answering the critics
Critics argue over the date and compilation of the book, some placing its final form after the exile, and some claim that sections were borrowed from Egyptian wisdom texts.
The book itself states that Solomon wrote the core and Hezekiah’s men copied later collections. Common themes between Proverbs and other ancient wisdom are what one would expect when the wisest king of the age corresponded with foreign rulers; Solomon’s wisdom was sought by all nations (1 Kings 4:34). Such debates do not affect the inspiration or message of the book.