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BOOK OF PROVERBS (Heb. Mishle Slzelom...
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See also:BOOK OF See also:PROVERBS (Heb. Mishle Slzelomoh, " Proverbs of See also:Solomon," abridged by the later See also:Jews to Mishle; See also:Septuagint, irapotpiai or II. EaX.; See also:Lat. Vulg. Parabolae sal. and See also:Liber proverbiorum) , one of the See also:Wisdom books of the Old Testament (see WISDOM LITERATURE) and the See also:principal representative in the Old Testament of gnomic thought . This sort of thought, which appears very See also:early in See also:Egypt (2000 B.C . Or earlier), and relatively early among the Greeks (in the sayings of Thales and See also:Solon as reported by See also:Diogenes Laertius), was of See also:late growth among the See also:Hebrews . Doubtless they, like other peoples, had their See also:simple See also:proverbs, embodying their See also:general observations of See also:life; a couple of these have been preserved in the Old Testament: " Is See also:Saul also among the Prophets?" (1 Sam. x . 12); " The fathers eat sour grapes, and the See also:children's See also:teeth are set on edge " (Jer. xxxi . 29; Ezek. xviii . 2) . It is possible that See also:Solomon uttered or collected a number of such sayings, based in See also:part on observation of the habits of beasts and See also:plants (1 See also:Kings iv . 32 seq . [Heb.v . 12 seq.]; cf . Jotham's See also:apologue, Judg. ix . 8 sqq., and See also:Samson's riddle, Judg. xiv . 14) . The See also:Hebrew word mashed, commonly rendered " See also:proverb," is a general See also:term for didactic and elegiac See also:poetry (as distinguished from the descriptive and the liturgical), its See also:form being that of the See also:couplet with See also:parallelism of clauses; in the Old Testament it signifies a folk-saying (Ezek. xii . 22, xviii . 2), an See also:allegory (Ezek. xvii . 2), an enigmatical saying (Ezek. xxi . 5), a byword (Jer. See also:xxiv . 9; Dent. See also:xxviii . 37), a taunting speech (Isa. xiv . 4; Hab. ii . 6), a lament (Mic. ii . 4), a visional or apocalyptic discourse (Num. See also:xxiii . 7; xxiv . 15), a didactic discourse (Ps. xlix., lxxviii.), an See also:argument or plea (See also:Job See also:xxix . 1) . In the See also:book of Proverbs it is either an See also:aphorism (x.–xxii.) or a discourse (i.-ix., xxiii . 29–35, See also:xxvii . 32–27) . The uses of the term being so various, its See also:special signification in any See also:case must be determined by the See also:character of the passage in which it occurs; and an examination of the contents of Proverbs shows that the thought of the book differs widely from that of the literature See also:prior to the 5th See also:century B.C . The book appears on its See also:face to be a compilation, various authors being mentioned-in the titles: Solomon in x . 1 and See also:xxv . 1; the " sages " in xxii . 17 and xxiv . 23; Agur in See also:xxx .
2; the See also:mother of See also: 1 and xxix . 3; xi . 14 and xxiv . 6; xiii . 9 and xxiv . 2o; xiv. x and xxiv . 3; xv . 18 and xxix . 22; xvii . 3 and xxvii . 21; xix . 13 and xxvii . 15; xx . 22 and xxiv . 29; xxiv . 23 and xxviii . 21) and identical couplets (xviii . 8 and See also:xxvi . 22; xix . 1 and xxvii . 6; xix . 24 and xxvi . 15; xx . 16 and xxvii . 13; xxi . 9 and xxv . 34; xxii . 3 and xxvii . 12) . The See also:dates of the various parts of the book must be determined by the character of the contents, there being no decisive See also:external data . The fact that it stands in the third See also:division of the Hebrew See also:Canon, the Writings or Hagiographa, along with such late See also:works as Job, See also:Psalms, See also:Chronicles, See also:Daniel, See also:Ecclesiastes and See also:Esther, must be allowed See also:weight; the presumption is that the arrangers of the Canonical books regarded it as being in general later than the Prophetical books . No help can be got from the titles . Examination of titles in the Prophets and the Psalms (to say nothing of Ecclesiastes and Wisdom of Solomon) makes it evident that these have been added by late editors who were governed by vague traditions or fanciful associations or caprice, and there is no See also:reason to suppose the titles in Proverbs to be exceptions to the general See also:rule . The ascription of parts of Proverbs to Solomon (i . 1, x . 1, xxv . 1) means nothing for' us except that there was a disposition among the later See also:Jews to refer their books to See also:great names of the past, See also:Enoch, Daniel, Job, See also:Moses, See also:David, Solomon, See also:Ezra; as also, outside of Jewry, works were ascribed to See also:Homer, See also:Plato, See also:Aristotle, See also:Tacitus and others that were not composed by these authors . The supposition of a Solomonic authorship for Proverbs is excluded by the whole colouring of the book, in which monotheism and mono-gamy are assumed, without discussion, to be generally accepted, while in Solomon's See also:time and by Solomon's self the See also:worship of many gods and the taking of more than one wife were freely practised, without rebuke from See also:priest or See also:prophet . The high ethical conception of the kingly See also:office in Proverbs is out of keeping with the despotic character of Solomon's See also:government . It is supposed, indeed, by some See also:modern writers that the See also:notice in xxv . 1 (" These are proverbs of Solomon, that the men of See also:Hezekiah king of See also:Judah transcribed ") is too circumstantial to be merely a late tradition or scribal guess . But similarly definite titles are prefixed elsewhere, for example, to Ps. li.-lx., where they cannot possibly be correct . Hezekiah's time may have been selected by the author of the See also:title (or by the tradition which he represents) as being the next great See also:literary See also:period in Judah after Solomon, the time of See also:Micah and See also:Isaiah, or the selection may have been suggested by the military See also:glory of the period (the repulse of the See also:Assyrian See also:army) and by the fame of Hezekiah as a pious monarch and a vigorous reformer of the See also:national See also:religion . But to regard Hezekiah as a Jewish Pisistratus is to ascribe to the time a literary spirit of which the extant documents give no hint; the literature of the See also:age was wholly occupied with the past See also:history, the religious conditions and the See also:political fortunes of the nation, subjects See also:alien to the book of Proverbs . The objections to the Solomonic age as the time of origination of the book apply also to the period extending from Solomon through the 6th century . But there are considerations that See also:lead us to put its origin still later . One of these is the non-national character of the thought . The See also:historical and prophetical books and the See also:Pentateuch are wholly concerned with the nation . For them See also:Israel is the centre of the See also:world, the point around which all other things revolve—every other See also:people derives its claim to See also:consideration from its relation to Israel—the only subject deserving See also:attention is the extent of the Jewish nation's obedience or disobedience to its divinely given See also:law, on which depends its prosperity or its adversity . In Proverbs there is a notable See also:absence of this point of view . The name Israel and the terms See also:temple, prophet, priest, See also:covenant, do not occur in the book . The " See also:vision " (that is, prophetic vision) in the Hebrew See also:text of xxix . 18 (" Where there is no vision, people throw off See also:restraint ") is an See also:error of text . No writer who was acquainted with Hebrew history could suppose that there was any relation between the national morality and the abundance of prophetic visions; the period in which such visions were most numerous is precisely that in which the corruption of morals is painted by the prophets in the darkest See also:colours and, on the other See also:band, the people are said (in Pss. xliv. and lxxiv.) to have been obedient at a time when there was no prophet . Moreover, this See also:reading supplies no See also:antithesis in the couplet, the second See also:line of which is: " But he who obeys instruction (or law), happy is he "; we should expect the first line to read: " Where there is no guidance people throw off restraint," as in xi . 14: " Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." Prophets See also:play so great a part in the early history that the ignoring of them here is significant . The decadence of prophecy is indicated in two passages that belongprobably to the See also:Greek period: in tech, xiii . 2 sqq. prophecy is identified with the " unclean spirit," the pretender to visions is threatened with See also:death by his parents, and, so great is th, general contempt for the class, protests that he is no prophet but a tiller of the ground, accounting for the wounds on his See also:person (such as these charlatans used to inflict on themselves) by declaring that they were received in the See also:house of his See also:friends (that is, apparently, in a drunken See also:quarrel); from a very different point of view See also:Joel ii . 28 seq . (Heb. seq.) predicts that in the latter times (in the ideal restoration of the people) all persons, See also:free and See also:bond, male and See also:female, shall have the spirit of prophecy — that is, the old See also:order shall be set aside and a new religious constitution established . Proverbs belongs to the time when prophecy, as a helpful institution, had disappeared, and wisdom had taken its See also:place . So also the term law had here taken on a new meaning . It is no longer the law of Moses or that of the prophetic See also:revelation—it is the See also:standard of rightdoing See also:resident in every See also:man's mind, the creation of See also:wise reflection; such a conception lies outside the point of view that forms the very sub-stance of Hebrew thought in the period prior to the 5th century . It is true that the nationalistic tinge is found in late writings (Chronicles, Psalms), and that its absence, therefore, is not merely a See also:matter of date; but it is hardly conceivable that an author of any time before the 5th century could have ignored the nationalistic point of view so completely as Proverbs does . Another noteworthy feature of the book is the picture it gives of social life . The organization of the See also:family is treated much more fully than in the Law and the Prophets, and has a more modern aspect . In Deut. xxi . 18 sqq . (of the 7th century) a disobedient son, complained of by his parents, is to be stoned to death by the men of the See also:city; in Proverbs (xiii . 24, xxii . 15, xxiii . 13 seq., xxix .
15, 17) a See also:bad See also:child is to be chastised, and much is said of the training of children by instruction
.
The impression made by a number of passages (i
.
8, xxiii
.
22 al.) is that a See also:regular See also:system of family See also:education existed, more definitely ethical than that indicated in Deut. vi
.
7, which merely enjoins teaching children the details of the national law
.
In addition to this parental instruction we find hints of a sort of See also:academic training, particularly in chs. i.-ix., in which the See also:sage appears to address a circle of youths
.
If we may See also:credit the Talmudic See also:tract Pirke Aboth (ch. i.), Jewish See also:academies under the See also:charge of great teachers existed early in the 2nd century B.C., and the beginnings of such institutions may go back a century; they would probably be suggested by the Greek See also:schools of See also:philosophy, which early sprang up in Western See also:Asia and Egypt under See also: What is certain is that the definite See also:assumption of monogamy is found only in such late books as See also:Ben-Sira (See also:Ecclesiasticus), See also:Tobit and See also:Judith . In regard to See also:punishment for the violation of a See also:husband's rights Proverbs shows a marked advance on the old usage . The Pentateuchal law (Lev. xx. ro) prescribes death as the punishment for See also:adultery; Proverbs (v., vi . 27 sqq., vii.) treats the offence as a See also:sin against the offender himself, an See also:act of suicidal folly, the punishment coming sometimes from the jealous husband, but chiefly in the way of the See also:physical depravation and social ignominy that befall the adulterer . This See also:change of punishment imports not a falling off in the moral standard but rather the conviction that a See also:crime of this sort is best dealt with by public See also:opinion; in any case it means a change in the constitution of society . The experiences described in Proverbs belong especially to city life . Something is said here and there bearing on agricultural pursuits, and there is a See also:paragraph (xxvii . 23 sqq.)—a little See also:treatise it may be called—enjoining on the landowner the See also:necessity of paying special attention to his See also:cattle, large and small; these, says the writer, are the real See also:sources of See also:wealth to the rural landowner . Possibly he means to insist on the advantages of See also:country life over life in the city; if this be so, the paragraph bears See also:witness to the prominence of the latter . Whether or not this is his See also:design, See also:advice to cattle-owners is natural in a See also:manual of conduct . The Jews were mainly country-folk from the time of their See also:settlement in See also:Canaan to their final See also:expulsion from the See also:land by See also:Titus and See also:Hadrian, and the See also:soil of Israelitish See also:Palestine was better adapted to the raising of See also:sheep and oxen than to the See also:production of See also:grain . Doubtless much attention was paid to this industry, but the See also:composition of a little book on the subject, indicating a scientific See also:interest in boviculture, points to a comparatively late period; the Greek and See also:Roman works of this sort, by Aristotle, See also:Theophrastus, See also:Virgil and others, were late . This little treatise stands almost alone in Proverbs; the great See also:mass of its aphorisms relate to vices and faults which, though possible in any tolerably well-organized community, were specially prominent in the cities in which the Jews dwelt after the conquests of Alexander . They are malicious See also:gossip, greed of See also:money, giving See also:security, nocturnal See also:robbery, See also:murder, unchastity . Much space is given to the last-named See also:vice through-out the book, and especially in chs. i. and ix.—obviously it is regarded as a notorious social evil . Comparatively little is said of it in the Pentateuch and the prophetical and historical books . That there were harlots and adulteresses in Israel from an early time is shown by such passages as Judg.xi.r (See also:Jephthah'smother), i Kings iii . 16 (the See also:judgment of Solomon), Hos . (See also:Hosea's wife), by the denunciations of the crime and the See also:laws against it, and by the employment of the terms harlotry and adultery as designations of religious unfaithfulness . Yet, apart from the references to cultic See also:prostitution (which was adopted by the Israelites from the Canaanites), the mention of the vice in question is not frequent; in a polygamous society and in a country without great cities it was not likely to grow to great proportions . The case was different when the Jews were dispersed through the new Greek kingdoms, and lived in cities like See also:Jerusalem and See also:Alexandria, centres of wealth and luxury, inhabited by mixed populations; this form of debauchery then became commoner and better organized . Hetairae flocked to the cities . Naukratis in the See also:Egyptian See also:Delta was famous under the See also:Ptolemies for its brilliant venal See also:women . The temptations of Alexandria and the loose morals of the time (latter part of the 3rd century) are illustrated by the See also:story told by See also:Josephus (See also:Ant. xii . 4, 6) of See also:Joseph the son of Tobias . The picture of society given in Ben-Sira (ix . 3–9, XiX . 2, xxiii . 16–26, xxv . 16–26, xxvi . 8–12, xlii . 9–14), based on life in Jerusalem and Alexandria in the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. agrees in substance with the descriptions of the Book of Proverbs . The tone of these descriptions throughout the book, but particularly in chs. i.–ix., is modern . A point of interest is that the exhortations to chastity are addressed to men only; the man is regarded as the victim, the woman as the temptress—women are never warned against men or against the general seductions of society . This silence may be due in part to a current opinion that women were more hedged in and guarded by social arrangements and less exposed to temptation than men; but it is chiefly the result of the fact that the Old Testament (like most See also:ancient and modern works on See also:practical See also:ethics) addresses itself almost exclusively to men (certain classes of women are denounced in See also:Amos iv . 1–3; Isa. iii . 16–iv . 1; Ezek. xiii . 17–23); the moral See also:independence of women is not distinctly recognized . In this regard Ecclesiasticus agrees with Proverbs—it has no word of advice for women . The temptress in Proverbs appears to be a married woman; she is certainly such in chs. vi. and vii., and probably also throughout the book . The term " See also:strange woman " (ii . 16 al.) means not a foreigner, but one who is alien to the man's family circle, the wife of an-other man . Such women may sometimes have been foreigners, but the sage's concern is with the man's violation of the See also:marriage See also:obligation, be the woman Jew or See also:Gentile . In the earlier time marriages between Jewish men and Canaanite women seem to have been not uncommon; whether (outside of Herod's family) there were marriages with foreigners in the Greek period we have no means of determining . Proverbs is remarkable for the attention it gives to kings . The prophets have nothing to say of them as a class . One passage in the Pentateuch (Deut. xvii . 
15–20) prescribes that the Israelite king shall be the opposite of Solomon—he shall not accumulate horses, wives, See also:silver and See also:gold, and shall study the law . In the Psalter he is considered merely as a servant of Yahweh . Proverbs treats the king, in a quite modern way, as a member of society . He is described ideally as ruling by the might of wisdom (viii . 15, 16), and as controlled in his See also:administration by truth, kindness and See also:justice (xx . 8, 26, 28)—the wicked ruler who oppresses the poor is condemned as not reaching the ideal standard (xxviii . 3, 5, 16) . Three manuals of conduct are devoted to him (xvi . 1(3-15, xxv . 2–7, xxxi . 2–9) . His See also:power is recognized—he is the source of life and death (xvi . 14, 15)—but he is treated as a human being who must be governed by the See also:ordinary laws of right . It is especially illustrative of the times that instruction in table See also:manners is offered to the guests of kings —they must be modest in their bearing, not putting them-selves forward (xxv . 6, 7; cf . See also:Luke xiv . 8, II), and they must See also:control their appetites (xxiii . 1, 2) . The reference here must be to the numerous non-Jewish kings of the Greek period, and perhaps also to the Maccabean princes; the manners of the time are set forth in Josephus's See also:account of See also:Ptolemy's See also:dinner, at which the Jew See also:Hyrcanus was a See also:guest (Ant. xii . 4, q) . The mingling of despotism and See also:good-natured familiarity there described (and the spirit is doubtless correctly given by Josephus, whether or not his details are historical) agrees with the picture in Proverbs . Finally, a late date for Proverbs is indicated by what may be called its philosophical See also:element—a feature that it has in See also:common with the other Wisdom books (see WISDOM LITERATURE) . This element is recognizable throughout the book, but is most distinct in chs. i.–ix., in which wisdom is personified as the power regulating the affairs of human life (iii . 13–18, viii .
1-21)
.
The See also:portraiture approaches hypostatization in the cosmogonic See also:ode (viii
.
22–31), especially if the first line of v
.
30 be rendered: " I was at his See also:side as a See also:master-workman "; but the Hebrew word (amon) rendered " master-workman " is of doubtful meaning, and the connexion rather calls for some such sense as " nursling, See also: 9 al.); xxvi . 1, 3–12 is a " book of fools." The conception of the good. life is that of philosophically ordered rectitude . The religious element is prominent in x . 1–xxii . 16, but it is blended with the reflective . The philosophy of the book is practical, not speculative . Comparison of Proverbs with Ecclesiasticus, Ecclesiastes and Wisdom of Solomon shows that it belongs, in its See also:main features, in the same See also:category as these . Its thought, differing so widely from that of the prophets and the Pentateuch, is most naturally referred to the period when the Jews came into intimate intellectual contact with the non-Semitic world, and particularly with the Greeks (philosophical See also:influence is not to be looked for from See also:Persia) . While the general period in which the book belongs may thus be determined with See also:fair See also:probability, it is less easy to See also:fix the dates of its several parts . The earliest of the See also:groups of which the book is composed seems to be x. i-xxii . 16, xxv.-xxix. which consists ' of simple aphorisms See also:relating to everyday affairs . This See also:group, however, is itself composite; we may distinguish a collection of antithetic couplets (x.-xv. and most of xxviii., xxix), and one made up of comparisons and single sentences (xvi: 1—xxii . 16, xxv.-xxvii., and some verses in xxviii., xxix) . Of these two the first, on account of its simpler form, appears to be the earlier, though they cannot stand far apart in time; and by combining them an editor formed the See also:section as we now have it . These may have been severally made from current collections, a number of which were probably in existence . A general See also:preface exhorting the See also:pupil to give heed to the instruction of the sages (xxii . I7-21), introduces a group of quatrains in two sub-groups (xxii . 22—xxiv . 22 and xxiv . 23-34) characterized by a wide range of thought and by ethical See also:depth . Probably later than these are the elaborate discourses of i.-ix . (excluding vi. i-5, 6-1 , 12-19 and ix . 7-12, misplaced paragraphs) containing praise of ideal wisdom and warnings against unchastity . Chs. xxx., xxxi., made up of various pieces, form a sort of appendix to the book; some of the pieces are artificial in form (xxx . II-31), one is a full picture of a good housewife's See also:home life (xxxi . 10-31), two are ascribed to the unknown persons Agur (xxx . 2-4) and King Lemuel's mother (xxxi . 2-9) . Agur's dictum is one of pious See also:agnosticism directed, apparently, against certain theologians who talked as if they were well acquainted with the ways of See also:God . Agur's word, breathing the spirit of See also:scepticism, falls into the category represented by Ecclesiastes, and we may probably set the See also:year 200 (or possibly 150) B.C. as the See also:lower limit of the Book of Proverbs; allowing a century for the collection and See also:combination of the various parts, we shall have the year 300 B.C. as the date of its earliest section . Some of the material may have existed in aphoristic form before, but the composition of the See also:present book may be put approximately in the century 300-200 B.C . Even its simplest See also:maxims have a certain academic form . In its general ethical See also:code Proverbs represents the best standard of the times; the sages are at one with the more enlightened moralists of the Western world . All the ordinary social virtues such as truthfulness, honesty, kindness, chastity are emphasized and a great stress is laid on care for the poor (a social necessity at a tine when there were no well organized public charities) . But Proverbs seems not to go the length of identifying righteousness with almsgiving, as is done in See also:Dan. iv . 27 (24), Matt. v . 1, and substantially in Ecclus . 30, xxix . 12 and Tobit iv. so, xii . 9; in x . 2, " righteousness delivers from death," the word " righteousness " is probably to be taken in its ordinary ethical sense . The above-named virtues are all recognized in the earlier Hebrew writings, the prophets and the law, but in certain points Proverbs goes beyond these, notably in its See also:prohibition of exultation over a fallen enemy (xxiv . 17) and of See also:retaliation for injury received (xxiv . 29), and in its inculcation of kindness to enemies (xxv . 21) . The See also:injunction in Lev. xix . 18, "See also:Thou shalt love thy See also:neighbour as thyself," refers only to Israelite See also:fellow-citizens, not to enemies (cf. the See also:interpretation given in Matt. v . 43), and the command in Exod. xxiii . 4 seq., to care for one's enemy's ox or See also:ass likewise refers to Israelites; Proverbs conceives the principle in a higher way and extends it beyond the limits of the nation . See also:Slavery is recognized as a lawful institution, but little is said of it . There is no See also:suggestion of moral training of the slave; he is to be taught not by words (xxix . 19) but by the See also:rod, like the child (v . 15), and it is intimated (v . 21) that it is a See also:mistake to bring up a servant delicately . This was doubtless the general view of the time; Ben-Sira frankly regards the servant as a See also:chattel (Ecclus, xxxiii . 24-31) . Proverbs greatly disapproves of the See also:elevation of slaves to the position of rulers (xix. so)—an occurrence not uncommon in those days . The estimate of woman as wife and mother, and especially as housewife, is high (xviii . 22, xix . 14, xxxi . 10-31) . In vi . 20 the mother is spoken of, along with the See also:father, as teacher of the children, and it is assumed, therefore, that she is competent; but nothing is said of the education of women—in xxxi . 26 the " wisdom " of the good wife (not " virtuouswoman ") is good sense, practical sagacity in housekeeping . The equality of all men as creatures of God, silently assumed in the earlier literature, is definitely expressed in Proverbs (xxii . 2, cf . Job xxxiv. ig, Ecclus. xi . 14) . Humility, as the opposite of insolent See also:pride, is recognized as a virtue (xviii . 12, cf. xvi . 18)—it is a modest estimate of one's See also:worth, refusal to claim too great See also:honour for one's self . In general it is the simple homely virtues that are enjoined on men in Proverbs—there is no mention of courage, fortitude, intellectual truthfulness, and no recognition of beauty as an element of life; the ethical type is Semitic, not Hellenic, and the sages emphasize only those qualities that seemed to them to be most effective in the struggle of life; their insistence on the practical, not the heroic, side of character is perhaps in part the consequence of the position of the Jewish people at that time, as also the silence respecting See also:international ethics belongs to the thought of the times . The ground of moral judgments in the book is both external (the law of God) and See also:internal (the See also:conscience of man); these two are fused into one, and both go back ultimately to current customs and ideas . The See also:motive assigned for right doing is individualistic utilitarian—the See also:advantage accruing to the man either through the laws of society or through the rewards dispensed by God . This motive, which is the one assumed throughout the Old Testame |