Let a child choose between 500 pennies and a £5 note and he will choose the coins, while you, knowing the value of portable cash, probably prefer the banknote. Proverbs contain portable wisdom. They are brief and to the point.
Proverbs is one of the Bible's more unusual books. It begins fairly conventionally but after Chapter 9, proverbs dominate. Proverbs appear elsewhere in Scripture but not in such profusion. How do we get to grips with them and with the book? To remember the following points will be a great help.
1. Seek Christ. To get the most from any Bible book you need to work hard, concentrating on seeing Christ there. In Proverbs wisdom is presented as a desirable, omni-competent woman who the father wants his son to marry. In light of the New Testament we see that such wisdom is found ultimately in Christ alone. He is the one to marry!
2. These proverbs form a collection. Each one needs to be matched with others and compared with other parts of Scripture. As everywhere in Scripture there is repetition. Some proverbs are repeated exactly or with slight variations. An examination of context usually reveals their particular aim. Even where verses apparently jump from subject to subject, appreciating the context is important. Also take care not to let their intensely practical concern with material things and this world lead to an imbalance. Worldly success does not equal righteousness, as we surely know.
3. Proverbs are proverbial! Do not read them as laws or in a literalistic way. We do not do it with English proverbs. We recognise the truth both of ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ and ‘many hands make light work’. However, with biblical proverbs, conscious it is Scripture, we tend to absolutise in a wrong way. Proverbs are designed to be memorable rather than theoretically accurate. No proverb is a complete statement of truth. It will not automatically apply in every situation. We must use common sense. If blessings or rewards are promised, it is important to remember they are likely to follow. There is no legal guarantee of success.
10:22 says The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it. In the Old Testament God’s blessing was often of a more obviously material sort. To argue from this verse that ‘every believer is a wealthy believer’ is to ignore the rest of Scripture, which makes clear that wealth can be a curse or a blessing. It teaches rather that God's blessings are not superficial but worth having. Truly it can be said of those in Christ, All things are yours (1 Corinthians 3:21).
14:23 says All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Sometimes hard work brings no profit. Every gain is wiped out in one fell swoop. However, there is a proverbial truth here that we must accept.
See also 15:25 The LORD tears down the proud man’s house but he keeps the widow’s boundaries intact, 16:3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
4.
Many proverbs need “transculturalisation”. Some proverbs are
expressed in terms rooted in Old Testament practices and
institutions. Forgetting that leads to trouble.
25:24
reads Better to live on a
corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. The
verse may conjure up a man sitting on the corner of a house with a
sloping roof, his feet in the guttering. That is not the picture
intended. A transculturalised version may be ‘Better to be in the
spare room than share the house with a quarrelsome wife’.
What
about 30:17? The
eye that mocks a father, that scorns obedience to a mother, will be
pecked out
by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures It
sounds pretty gruesome until you recall that this comes out of a
culture living on the edge of a desert. The boy is warned not to
wander off but will not listen. Maybe he gets away with it once or
twice but a day comes when he wanders off and is lost. Days later
they find his ravaged remains.
5.
Proverbs follow a number of common patterns. Hebrew psalms employ
various sorts of parallelism and Hebrew proverbs have certain
characteristics too.
- Chapters 10-15 contain mostly antithetical or contrasting proverbs, the ‘on one hand … but on the other …’ sort. 10:1 A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother. Some contrasts are simple, others more complex: 10:8 The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin.
- Chapters 16-22 contain mostly synonymous and synthetic proverbs. In synonymous proverbs the first line is repeated in different words: 11:25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed See also 16:11.
- In synthetic ones, the first line is added to with a subsequent one: 10:22 The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it. See also 16:3.
- Simile. Straight similes predominate in Chapters 25-27 and one or two appear earlier: 10:26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to those who send him.
Some
proverbs defy neat categorisation. Even within categories, there can
be variation. Two more distinctive types worth noting are:
- Ten better than proverbs, including 12:9 Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food.
- Six how much more proverbs, including 11:31 If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner!
Awareness of such things can help
us better appreciate the book.
Proverbs
is not always easy to get to grips with but it is very worthwhile
doing. Its own introduction promises to help you attain
wisdom and discipline, understand words of insight and live a
disciplined,
prudent, godly life. It can make the simple prudent, give knowledge
and discretion to young people and extend the learning of the wise
and guide them.
What a book!
Spurgeon
once warned that though Solomon
made
a book
of proverbs, a
book
of proverbs
never made
a Solomon.
Getting to grips with Proverbs cannot guarantee anything by itself
but it is a God-given book that can help you to be wise and holy. Do
all you can to take full advantage of it.
This article first appeared I believe in the Protestant Truth Society Magazine
