AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS (Part II)

Canonicity

G.T Manley writes;

“The root meaning of the word ‘Canon’ (GK. Kanon) is a ‘rule’ or ‘standard’ by which a thing is measured. From this, it came to be applied to ‘that which is measured’ by an authoritative standard. The word may be applied to the books of scripture in both senses since they are (a) a God-given rule and guide, and (b) those which conform to the standard of inspiration. However, the use of canonical as applied to scripture is clear that its books are authoritative not because anybody of men has made them so, but because they already bore the stamp of their divine origin, which was recognized as distinguishing them from all other books” (The New Bible Handbook, P 26).

The book of Proverbs, as part of the Canon, has, through history, been contested by many Bible readers and experts. The reasons for these doubts and suspicions are grounded in the observation of its content in comparison to the literary structure of other books in the Bible.

While the book is part of the Ketuvim (Hebrew Wisdom writings), it is one with the most secular language. God is passively mentioned in the book. Wisdom takes the place of God and does all that we know only God can. In the book, prophets and men of God do not feature but only sages and the counsel of these philosophers is to be trusted than that of the men of God (12:17-21).

In some incidents that prophets had no kind words for the sages who are dominant in the Book (Ezekiel 7:26; Jeremiah 8:9). In the Book proverbs, it is not ‘Thus saith the Lord’ as it is throughout the prophetic books and neither do we find individual worshippers in the book. Philosophy outside the Bible begins by asking Is there a God?, but the philosophy of Proverbs doesn’t question but affirms his existence and further presents him as a personal God. The philosophy of Proverbs begins and ends with ‘The fear of God’.

The antithetical parallelism in Proverbs 26:4 and 26:5 was considered a contradiction and to some Rabbis, this served as ground enough to dismiss the book. However, the book was also recognized and appreciated as part of the Canon by Jews and their scholars.

Flavius Josephus, a Jewish writer of the first century, had this to say:

We have but twenty-two [books] containing the history of all time, books that are justly believed in; and of these, five are the books of Moses, which comprise the law and earliest traditions from the creation of mankind down to his death. From the death of Moses to the reign of Artaxerxes, King of Persia, the successor of Xerxes, the prophets who succeeded Moses wrote the history of the events that occurred in their own time, in thirteen books. The remaining four documents comprise hymns to God and practical precepts to men (William Whiston, trans., Flavius Josephus against Apion, Vol. 1, in Josephus, Complete Works, Grand Rapids, Kregel, 1960, p. 8).

Biblical scholar Gleason Archer comments on the impact of the statement made by Josephus:

Note three important features of this statement:

Josephus includes the same three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures as does the MT [Massoretic text] (although restricting the third group to ‘hymns’ and hokhmah), and he limits the number of canonical books in these three divisions to twenty-two.
No more canonical writings have been composed since the reign of Artaxerxes, son of Xerxes (464-424 B.C.), that is, since the time of Malachi.
No additional material was ever included in the canonical twenty-two books during the centuries between (from 425 B.C. to A.D. 90). Rationalist higher critics emphatically deny the last two points, but they have to do with the witness of such an early author as Josephus. They must explain how the knowledge of the allegedly post-Malachi date of sizable portions, such as Daniel, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and many of the psalms, had been kept from this learned Jew in the first century A.D. It is true that Josephus also alludes to apocryphal material (as from 1 Esdras and 1 Maccabees); but in view of the statement quoted above, it is plain that he was using it merely a historical source, not as divinely inspired books (Gleason Archer Jr., A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, Revised Edition, Chicago: Moody Press, 1974, p. 71).

The New Testament

A careful reading of the New Testament writers proves their recognition of this book. There are various places the book of Proverbs is quoted by New Testament speakers and writers. A quick comparison of 1Peter 4:8 with Proverbs 10:12; 1Peter 4:18 with Proverbs 11:31; 1Peter 5:5 with Proverbs 3:34; 2Peter 2:22 with Proverbs 26:11. Romans 3:15 with Proverbs 1:16; James 4:6 with Proverbs 3:24; and Hebrews 12:5 with Proverbs 3:11. The book is ably a canonical book.

Rudimentary Lessons

The book has two fundamental lessons which feature in its two divisions:

Proverbs 1-9, 30-31 = Wisdom and
Proverbs 10-29 = Sociology.

I will handle the wisdom in the next presentation. For now, let us use G.R Harding’s outline (Bird’s Eye View of the Bible, P.119-120), in what I call the sociological proverbs:

Morality

Right Vs. Wrong (10:2-3)
Honesty Vs. Fraud (11:1)
Truth Vs. Falsehood (12:17)
Wisdom Vs. Folly (15:24)

Relationships

Husband and Wife (12:4)
Man and God (14:2,26)
King and Subject (16:12)
Parent and Child (22:6)

Circumstances

Happy and Sad (12:13)
Rich and Poor (15:6, 16)
Young and Old (20:11,29)
High and Low (22:2)

Characters

Generous and Mean (11:24)
Loving and Hating (15:17)
Patient and Angry (16:32)
Humble and Proud (22:4)

Conduct

Silence and Speech (10:19)
Kindness and Cruelty (11:17)
Sobriety and Drunkenness (20:1)
Industry and Sloth (22:29)

These could not be all that covers human sociology but the truth is that whatever is missing can fit under one of the above categorically. The Bible as the word of God addresses human sociology in the form of not just opposites but contraries. The sociology of Proverbs (10-29) is between the wisdom of Proverbs (1-9, 30-31) to inform us its readers that proverbs is not merely a book of good advice but instead a book of divine wisdom and therefore good news.

Next, I will address the issue of wisdom.

God bless you I invoke TRUTH, REASON and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)

Pr. I. T M WHITE

The Gospel Hawker

iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)