Proverbs is a book like nothing else we’ve ever looked at. It’s got that poetic feel about it and as such the normal rules for understanding the true meaning of the text don’t necessarily apply.

If you think about the principles we use to discern God’s Word when we look at a doctrinal book such as the Epistle to the Ephesians, these may include:

• looking at the words
  • definition of the word (in the original language)
  • use of the word elsewhere in Scripture
• looking at the context:
  • chapter, book, entire bible
  • geographical
  • cultural
  • historical

In our study of a book like Proverbs, many of these normal principles will be unsuitable towards deriving the meaning. We can’t approach a study of proverbs in exactly the same way as we are used to. So for this session we’re going to focus on understanding how books like Proverbs work, the style of writing and such like which will help us interpret and benefit from the truth in the book correctly.

(having said that we should always interpret Scripture in context. A verse out of context is a pretext.)

Background

Translators of English Bibles place Proverbs among the poetic books (Psalms—Song of Solomon), whereas in the Hebrew Bible it is found among the “Writings,” the third and final major section. The title helps us to understand that it is really a collection of proverbs, from several individuals. These include King Solomon (1:1; Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs cf. 1 Kings 4:32), Agur and King Lemuel (chapters 30 and 31 respectively) and some unnamed sages  (22:17—24:34). As far as dating the complete work, Hezekiah’s men are referenced as having written down some of Solomon’s proverbs in 25:1, so it was probably complete at the earliest, around 686 B.C.

There are three main sections

• 1-9: Collection 1
• 10-24: Collection 2
• 25-31: Collection 3

The Style

The clue to its unique style is in the word ‘proverb’ itself. In Hebrew it basically means ‘resemblance’ and so we might view the style of the writings to paint a small word picture of what life is like or should be like. As with every picture, a proverb does not always represent what life always looks like. One picture does not capture everything, but offers a resemblance of similar things. So you could preface many of the proverbs with, ‘generally speaking’. Because of this characteristic, it is not helpful to think of the proverbs as being promises in all cases. Some are ,but more often what is written is ‘general’ life wisdom.

Several things mark biblical poetry, and for the purposes of our study we will confine ourselves to three main characteristics. These are prevalent in the proverbs: terseness, imagery, and parallelism. Terseness, or conciseness, is observable in Proverbs in so far as principles and truths are formulated in a very compact way). It is the terseness of a proverb in many cases that makes it hit home so well. The phrase “too many cooks spoil the broth” works so well because it’s short and to the point. The sayings in Proverbs do that a lot. that are also epigrams (concise, wise, witty, and sometimes paradoxical sayings). Imagery is figurative language that is evocative and brief. Some important figures of speech in Proverbs are: simile, metaphor, allegory, anthropopathisms, anthropomorphisms, synecdoche, metonymy, personification, hyperbole, litotes, and irony.21 Parallelism characterizes Hebrew poetry by contrast to english poetry which is characterised, often by rhyme.

Interpretation

This is the really challenging part. First, the original language is Hebrew and so the poetic nature of the proverbs is often lost in translation. Actually, the best translation in this respect is probably the KJV. To illustrate the problem think about the English proverb, ‘A stitch in time saves nine’. In English this rhymes which makes it memorable. You would find it difficult to maintain that after translation.

If you stitch up a torn garment when the tear is small, it’s going to prevent a lot more stitches later. But is that really what it means? The meaning goes far beyond that.

If you repair the garment early, you save not just stitches, but the cost of the thread, time spent, and the appearance of the garment. Not only that, this means that it is a good idea to check your garments every once in a while for small tears, right? So this has much broader application than what it actually says. And we haven’t even begun to talk about that fencepost which, if not repaired, puts extra stress on the entire fence, or that time you hurt your friend and it is going to tear your relationship apart if you don’t mend it. Or the fact that we should check our relationships for small problems before they become big. Or the fact that it’s a good idea to check the oil in your car and top it up even if it is just a little bit low. Or the fact that small sins usually lead to bigger sins.

Now, how do we come up with all those applications? We come up with them by thinking about the proverb, turning it over in our mind, meditating on it — and it isn’t even a Biblical proverb. That’s what we need to do with Biblical proverbs, and the more memorable the wording, the easier it is for us to remember it and apply it at different times.

Proverbs 3:5-6. This is a proverb with a very high degree of probability because it repeats a truth that God guarantees as absolutely true elsewhere in Scripture. In almost every book of the Bible, we have evidence that those who trust in the Lord wholeheartedly, and do not rely on themselves alone, receive guidance from Him (e.g., Gal. 5:16). This is such an obvious truth that when we read it in Proverbs, we should know that it is a “proverb” that expresses something that is consistently true. It also expresses what God promises elsewhere in His Word. This means that interpreting the proverbs accurately requires some knowledge of what God has promised elsewhere in His Word. This is the correlation step in Bible study.

Wisdom

The fear of the Lord. Our proper functioning as humans depends on our relationship with our creator God.

Contradictions

Look before you heap vs he who hesitates is lost.

Many hands make light work vs Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Eccl 12:9 -there is an order