Proverbs

1
Proverbs

• HUMA 3810

2
Wisdom Literature

• problems of definition cosmopolitan/parallels in
  other cultures
• hôkhmâ wisdom ? skill
• wisdom books (Psalms?), Proverbs, Job,
  Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiasticus, Ben-Sirach, Wisdom
  of Solomon)
• types of wisdom
• family commonsense evaluations of a secular
  nature
• court lists and classifications
• religious moral/ethical
• Bandstras categories (following Crenshaw)
• Nature Wisdom (from real world observations)
• Practical Wisdom (analysis of social order)
• Judicial Wisdom (adjudication of disputes)
• Theological Wisdom (answers to seemingly
  insoluble problems)

3
Structure of Proverbs

• 11-7 Introduction
• 18-918 Discourses and cautions
• 101-2216 Proverbs of Solomon I
• 2217-2314 Sayings of the Wise I
• 2315-2422 More discourses and cautions
• 2423-34 Sayings of the Wise II
• 251-2927 Proverbs of Solomon II (copied by
  Hezekiah)
• 30 Words of Agur (3/4 pattern in vss. 15, 18,
  21, 29)
• 311-9 Words of Lemuel
• 3110-31 Eshet Hayil

4
Contrasting Figures

• Woman Wisdom
• 120-33 81-36 91-6
• Foreign (Strange) Woman
• 216-19 51-23 620-35 76-27 913-18