The LORD created me at the beginning of God’s work,
the first of God’s acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up at the first,
before the beginning of the earth.6
Wisdom/Sophia offers food and drink. She hosts a banquet of bread and wine to which she invites all who will come:
You who are simple, turn in here!
Come, eat of my bread,
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Lay aside immaturity, and live,
and walk in the way of insight.7
This personification is the first stage of a process whereby Wisdom/Sophia becomes a female image for God in Jewish wisdom literature.8 This development is the background for the New Testament’s use of Sophia imagery to speak about Jesus as prophet of Sophia and as incarnation of Sophia. It is also the basis for the increasing attention paid to Sophia in recent Christian theology.9
There is a second personification in these poems. Namely, the way of folly is personified as “the strange woman” or “the alien woman.” Often portrayed as an adulteress and seductress, she has an appeal that is described with remarkable literary elegance and psychological astuteness.10 Not only does she invite people to follow a way, but she mimics Sophia. With the same words, she too calls people to her house and banquet: “You who are simple, turn in here!”11 But her way leads to folly, wickedness, and death.
These two personifications symbolize the two ways of which the book of Proverbs as a whole speaks. Following Sophia and the way of wisdom leads to life:
For whoever finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the LORD;
But those who miss me injure themselves;
all who hate me love death.12
Following “the alien woman,” on the other hand, leads to death:
Do not let your hearts turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her paths.
For many are those she has laid low,
and numerous are her victims.
Her house is the way to Sheol,
going down to the chambers of death.13
To avoid a possible misunderstanding, it is important to emphasize that the Jewish tradition did not yet affirm an afterlife. Belief in a heaven and hell beyond death was still two or three centuries in the future.14 Thus the two ways—one leading to life, the other leading to death—are not about eternity (about heaven and hell), but about two different ways of living this side of physical death.
The Proverbs of Chapters 10–30
We turn now to the collection of individual proverbs that fill the rest of the book. Generally speaking, proverbs are short, wise sayings designed to be memorable. To use a definition attributed to the Spanish author Cervantes, proverbs are short sentences founded upon long experience and containing a truth. As observations about life, proverbs are typically indicative rather than imperative statements, though an imperative is implied.
One of the best nonbiblical examples of a proverb is “A stitch in time saves nine.” Short, rhythmical, and using repeating sounds, it is easy to remember.15 Moreover, though it uses an image from sewing, it obviously refers to more than sewing. Finally, though the sentence is indicative, the imperative is clear: make the stitch in time.
We can only speculate about the origin of the proverbs collected together in the second part of the book of Proverbs. Some probably originated within family and village life, others may have been the product of sages (teachers of wisdom), and some were borrowed from other cultures.16 As a completed collection in the postexilic period, they may have been taught in schools for young men of the upper classes. The method of instruction would have been oral, of course, and we might imagine the teacher saying the first line of a proverb and the students responding in unison with the second line.
These proverbs are like snapshots depicting the wise and foolish ways announced in the wisdom poems of the first nine chapters. The best way to understand what they are and how they work is to look at a number of them.
Proverbs Characterized by Elegance and Humor I have chosen some proverbs to illustrate central themes and others because of their linguistic elegance and occasional humor. In the latter category, on a miscellany of subjects:
The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body. (18.8; repeated in 26.22)
Like vinegar on a wound is one who sings to a heavy heart. (25.20)
The legs of a disabled person hang limp; so does a proverb in the mouth of a fool. (26.7)
Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who reverts to his folly. (26.11)
As a door turns on its hinges, so does a lazy person in bed. (26.14)
Whoever blesses a neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing. (27.14)
Like somebody who takes a passing dog by the ears is one who meddles in the quarrel of another. (26.17)
Proverbs Dealing with Children and Family A repeated message in these proverbs concerns the importance of training children in the paths of wisdom. For example:
Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray. (22.6)
Physical discipline is part of this training. One of the best-known proverbs is “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” Its full form reads:
Those who spare the rod hate their children, but those who love them are diligent to discipline them. (13.24)
The same theme is sounded in several more passages:
Do not withhold discipline from your children; if you beat them with a rod, they will not die. (23.13)
Folly is bound up in the heart of a boy, but the rod of discipline drives it far away. (22.15)
Blows that wound cleanse away evil; beatings make clean the innermost parts. (20.30)
The book of Proverbs also contains a number of sayings about difficult wives and good wives. These sayings disclose the androcentric perspective of the book (and of the Bible as a whole, for that matter): there are no sayings about good or difficult husbands. Mentioned often is the contentious or quarrelsome wife:
A wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain. (19.13)
A continual dripping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike. (27.15)
It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a contentious wife. (21.9; repeated in 25.24)
It is better to live in a desert land than with a contentious and fretful wife. (21.19)
The sages also knew about good wives:
A good wife is the crown of her husband. (12.4)
He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the LORD. (18.22)
House and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. (19.14)
The ideal wife is the topic of the acrostic poem that concludes the book as a whole. She bears a remarkable resemblance to the “wisdom woman” of chapters one through nine.17
Proverbs Dealing with Wealth and Poverty The book of Proverbs has much to say about wealth and poverty. In general, prosperity is seen as the result of following the wise way. The attitude toward poverty is more complex. If possible, poverty is to be avoided, of course. The wealthy are urged to be generous to the poor, but sometimes the poor are virtually blamed for their poverty.
Some proverbs are simply observations about the way things are for the poor, with no value judgment (other than sympathy) implied:
The poor are disliked even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends. (14.20)
Wealth brings many friends, but the poor are left friendless. (19.4)
If the poor are hated even by their kin, how much more are they shunned by their friends. (19.7)
Some proverbs recognize that wealth is not good in and of itself and that in some circumstances poverty is better:
Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it. (15.17)
Better is a little with righteousness than large income
with injustice. (16.8)
Better to be poor and walk in integrity than to be crooked in one’s ways even though rich. (28.6)
Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves. (11.28)
One saying affirms that both wealth and poverty can be dangerous snares:
Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, “Who is the LORD?” or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God. (30.8–9)
The poor are to be treated compassionately. In language that anticipates Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats, what one does to or for the poor is done to God:18
Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor God. (14.31)
Those who mock the poor insult their Maker. (17.5)
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and will be repaid in full. (19.17)
Thus the wise will be generous to the poor:
Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor. (22.9)
Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but one who turns a blind eye will get many a curse. (28.27)
Though none of the sayings directly blames the poor for their poverty, the frequent association of prosperity with wisdom, diligence, industry, and prudence and of poverty with foolishness, laziness, and drunkenness comes close. The lazy person (the “sluggard,” in older translations) is one of the villains of Proverbs. In the first part of the book, the lazy person is told to learn a lesson from the ant:
Go to the ant, you lazybones;
consider its ways and be wise.
Without having any chief
or officer or ruler,
it prepares its food in summer,
and gathers its sustenance in harvest.
How long will you lie there, O lazybones?
When will you arise from your slumber?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want, like an armed robber. (6.6–11; last three lines also in 24.34)
Other sayings make the connection between laziness and poverty:
A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. (10.4)
Do not love sleep, or else you will come to poverty; open your eyes and you will have plenty of bread. (20.13)
An idle person will suffer hunger. (19.15)
Drunkenness also leads to poverty:
The drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them with rags. (23.21)
More broadly, failure to follow the way of wisdom produces poverty:
The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry. (10.3)
Anyone who tills the land will have plenty of bread, but one who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty. (28.19)
Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous. (13.21)
The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to want. (21.5)
There is some truth in these observations, of course. Laziness and folly and drunkenness often do produce poverty and want. But the corollary—that poverty is always the product of these—is not true, though Proverbs comes close to drawing that inference.
Proverbs Dealing with the Rewards of Right Living The book of Proverbs affirms with great frequency and confidence that following the way of wisdom will bring rewards. This is such a central theme of the book, and so important for understanding an ongoing tension within Israel’s wisdom tradition, that I report, at the risk of tedious repetition, a selection of proverbs extolling the rewards of virtue. A reminder: these sayings do not have an afterlife in mind; they are speaking about this life.
The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but God blesses the abode of the righteous. (3.33)
The blessing of the LORD makes rich. (10.22)
What the wicked dread will come upon them, but the desire of the righteous will be granted; when the tempest passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are established forever. (10.24–25)
The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short. (10.27)
The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not remain in the land. (10.30)
Righteousness delivers from death. (11.4)
The righteous are delivered from trouble, and the wicked get into it instead. (11.8)
Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but whoever pursues evil will die. (11.19)
Be assured, the wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will escape. (11.21)
The good obtain favor from the LORD, but those who devise evil God condemns. (12.2)
The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand. (12.7)
No harm happens to the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble. (12.21)
Those who despise the word bring destruction on themselves, but those who respect the commandment will be rewarded. (13.13)
The house of the wicked is destroyed, but the tent of the upright flourishes. (14.11)
The perverse get what their ways deserve, and the good, what their deeds deserve. (14.14)
In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but trouble befalls the income of the wicked. (15.6)
The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. (15.29)
Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. (16.3)
Those who keep the commandment will live; those who are heedless of their way will die. (19.16)
The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life. (22.4)
Do not envy the wicked, for the evil have no future; the lamp of the wicked will go out. (24.19–20)
One who walks in integrity will be safe, but whoever follows crooked ways will fall into the Pit. (28.18)
The faithful will abound with blessings. (28.20)
Proverbs as Conventional Wisdom The repetition of this theme has a rhetorical function, of course: the purpose of Proverbs is to extol the importance of the path of wisdom, and it does this by affirming again and again, “Follow this way, and your life will go well.” The cumulative effect of the repetition: Proverbs becomes a book of conventional wisdom (or at least the most common way of reading Proverbs turns it into conventional wisdom).
Conventional wisdom is the heart of every culture and of most subcultures. As I use the term, it always has two defining meanings. On the one hand, conventional wisdom is “cultural wisdom” or “community wisdom” or “folk wisdom”: it is “what everybody knows” (or should know). It is collective wisdom, the consensus of the culture or community about how life should be lived. Its subject matter is vast, covering everything from etiquette to central values to images of the good life.
Included within “what everybody knows” is the second defining feature of conventional wisdom: the notion of rewards for living life right. Not only is this claim that virtue will be rewarded central to Proverbs, but it is the core of all forms of conventional wisdom, religious and secular: follow this path, and life will work out for you. Its variations are familiar, as this brief sampling shows:
You reap what you sow.
Work hard and you’ll succeed.
Do (or believe) X, Y, and Z and you’ll go to heaven.
People get what they deserve.
What goes around comes around.
Follow the Lord and you’ll be happy.
Follow the American way of life and you’ll reap the fruits of the
American dream.
Lose fifty and pounds and you’ll be happy.
Conventional wisdom thus leads to a performance-and-rewards view of life. The quality of our life depends upon our doing things right. By making this connection, conventional wisdom also image
s life as orderly and, to that extent, under our control: if we follow this path, we will not end up at a dead end.
There is, of course, truth in conventional wisdom. There are ways of living that do lead to dead ends. Pride often does go before a fall. Diligence, industry, honesty, humility, generosity, and integrity are virtues. Injustice, strife, deceit, and violence should be avoided. Etiquette can make dining more pleasant.
Reading the Bible again for the First Time Page 15