Commentary on Proverbs

L. Schultz Richard

Description

Comprehensive, accessible, and fully illustrated--this commentary on Proverbs is a must-have resource.You want a deeper understanding of the Scriptures, but the notes in your study Bible don't give you enough depth or insight. This commentary was created with you in mind.Each volume of The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary is a nontechnical, section-by-section commentary on one book or section of the Bible that provides reliable and readable interpretations of the Scriptures from leading evangelical scholars. This information-packed commentary will help you gain a deeper understanding of the Bible in your own personal study or in preparation for teaching. It tackles problematic questions, calls attention to the spiritual and personal aspects of the biblical message, and brings out important points of biblical theology, making it invaluable to anyone seeking to get the most out of their Bible study.

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493424542
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2012 by Baker Publishing Group
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook short created 2019
Previously published in The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary edited by Gary M. Burge and Andrew E. Hill in 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-2454-2
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Scripture quotations labeled ESV from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007
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Scripture quotations labeled NJPS are from the New Jewish Publication Society Version © 1985 by The Jewish Publication Society. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, photos, illustrations, and maps are copyright © Baker Photo Archive.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Abbreviations
Introduction
Commentary

1. Foreword (1:1–7)
2. Prologue: Introducing the Way of Wisdom (1:8–9:18)
A. The Initial Appeals of the Parents and Lady Wisdom (1:8–33)
B. The Commendation of Wisdom (2:1–4:27)
C. Warnings against Folly, Especially Sexual Infidelity (5:1–7:27)
D. Wisdom’s Final Appeals (8:1–9:18)
3. Proverbial Collections: Advanced Instruction in Wisdom (10:1–29:27)
A. The Original Solomonic Collection (10:1–22:16)
B. Sayings of the Wise: Admonitions for Societal Relationships (22:17–24:22)
C. More Sayings of the Wise: The Necessity of Honesty and Diligence (24:23–34)
D. The Later Solomonic Collection (25:1–29:27)
4. Epilogue (30:1–31:31)
A. Agur’s Message: Relying on God’s Word, Learning from His Work (30:1–33)
B. The Message of Lemuel’s Mother: A Call for Royal Justice (31:1–9)
C. Lady Wisdom Exemplified (31:10–31)
Time Lines
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Abbreviations ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament . Edited by J. B. Pritchard. 3rd ed. Princeton, 1969 BDAG Bauer, W., F. W. Danker, W. F. Arndt, and F. W. Gingrich. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago, 1999 ca. circa (about, approximately) cf. compare chap(s). chapter(s) COS The Context of Scripture . Edited by W. W. Hallo. 3 vols. Leiden, 1997– e.g. for example ESV English Standard Version HALOT Koehler, L., W. Baumgartner, and J. J. Stamm. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Translated and edited under the supervision of M. E. J. Richardson. 5 vols. Leiden, 1994–2000 HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible i.e. that is KJV King James Version NASB New American Standard Bible NEB New English Bible NET New English Translation NIV New International Version (2011 edition) NIV 1984 New International Version (1984 edition) NJB New Jerusalem Bible NJPS The Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures: The New JPS Translation according to the Traditional Hebrew Text NKJV New King James Version NLT New Living Translation NRSV New Revised Standard Version RSV Revised Standard Version TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament . Edited by G. J. Botterweck and H. Ringgren. Translated by J. T. Willis, G. W. Bromiley, and D. E. Green. 8 vols. Grand Rapids, 1974– TNIV Today’s New International Version
Proverbs
Richard L. Schultz
Introduction
There are few Old Testament books as attractive to the modern reader as the book of Proverbs. Four reasons for this appeal can be suggested: the brevity of its basic unit, its universal and timeless nature, the practical focus and range of its everyday subjects, and its rhetorical appeal to modern intellectuals. Nevertheless, each of these features presents its own unique challenges. First, the individual proverbs often appear to be arranged somewhat arbitrarily, so that readers seem compelled to interpret each one without the benefit of literary context. Second, the book of Proverbs shares so many formal, verbal, and conceptual elements with ancient Near Eastern proverbial collections that its claim to be part of the uniquely inspired Word of God has been questioned. In addition, Proverbs appears to reflect few of the central themes of Old Testament theology. Third, the pragmatic emphasis of the book, especially within the proverbial collections, obscures its theological foundations, some of which may be implicit and presupposed. Fourth, the terseness of expression and frequent juxtaposition of clauses, especially in the original Hebrew, impede the attempt to translate or interpret those proverbs with the usual degree of certainty.

Title and Authorship
The book of Proverbs contains several proverbial collections, each of which has its own brief title (10:1; 24:23; 25:1; 30:1; 31:1) or introductory section (22:17–21). The initial title in 1:1 (“The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel”) identifies the book’s dominant (but not only) literary form and author. This title is expanded in 1:2–7, which state the objectives and foundational premises of this wisdom text in a manner that parallels 22:17–21 and several Egyptian instructional texts. The titles of the proverbial collections in Proverbs 10:1 and 25:1 similarly associate their contents with Solomon, which fits the portrayal of his reign in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. According to 1 Kings 3:12, God granted Solomon a “wise and discerning heart” that manifested itself in his judicial decisions, international relations, the temple construction project, encyclopedic knowledge, and literary compositions. These are described most fully in 1 Kings 4:29–34, which makes several important claims: (1) Solomon’s wisdom was God-given and surpassed that of all of his contemporaries. (2) During the united monarchy under Solomon, some Israelites had sufficient knowledge of and access to wisdom writings of the East (probably Mesopotamia, not Arabia) and Egypt to warrant such a comparison between Solomon and his contemporaries and to establish Solomon’s international reputation. (3) Solomon’s literary output included more than three thousand proverbs (which could have included many of the 950 verses in the book of Proverbs), as well as more than one thousand songs.

This tablet from Nippur (eighteenth century BC) containing Sumerian proverbs is one of many such proverbial collections from the ancient Near East. [ Copyright © Baker Photo Archive. Courtesy of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. ]
In light of these qualifications, Solomon’s traditional association with Old Testament wisdom writings (including Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs) is understandable. This has even led some scholars to claim that he is the author of the entire book of Proverbs, viewing Agur (in Prov. 30:1, “gatherer”) and Lemuel (in 31:1, “belonging to God”), as symbolic designations for Solomon. Nevertheless, many contemporary scholars deny that the present canonical book contains any proverbs or instructions that originated with Solomon. James Crenshaw states bluntly: “Wisdom and Solomon have nothing to do with each other” (Crenshaw, 40). Ultimately, the validity of biblical claims regarding Solomonic wisdom depends on one’s view of the reliability of biblical historiography. If Solomon was, in reality and not simply in legend, an incomparably wise ruler and sage, it is certainly plausible that many of the proverbial sayings that he personally formulated would be preserved in the canonical anthology ascribed to him.
To posit Solomonic authorship for some of the contents of the proverbial collections by no means demands his editorial responsibility for the entire book. Taking Proverbs 1:1 seriously does not exclude the extensive contribution of other unknown sages, authors, and editors. According to the talmudic tractate Baba Batra (15a), “Hezekiah and his men wrote Isaiah, Proverbs, the Song of Songs, and Qoheleth.” The textual basis for this is Proverbs 25:1, which may suggest a larger com