Unit 7: The Wisdom of Proverbs

UNIT 7:  THE WISDOM OF PROVERBS

 

Assignment for the Week:

            Read Bible, King James Version,  Proverbs  

            Read King James Bible Commentary, Proverbs:  Introduction, Outline and Commentary

            Read The Bible as Literature, chapter IX

Introduction:

The Book of Proverbs is the first of the three Biblical books of "wisdom litera­ture," along with Ecclesiastes and Job. Proverbs offers worldly wisdom, cen­tered on the virtue of prudence; it proposes a path to prosperity and happiness in the world.

I. Proverbs is a book of Wisdom Literature.

A.The three Biblical books of Wisdom Literature--Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes--are more worldly and cosmopolitan than other books of the Bible. These books were probably written down during the 4th cen­tury B.C. and are quite different from the other books of the Bible.

1. Proverbs is an ancient "self-help" book, which assumes that the just will be rewarded in this life.

           

                        2. Job poses the question, why do the just sometimes suffer unjustly?  Job is a just man who is made to suffer horribly due to a wager

                        between Satan and Yahweh.

                        3. Ecclesiastes seems not even to expect justice in the public affairs of men, but rather advises that we enjoy innocent domestic pleasures while we may. Ecclesiastes advises, "go thy way, eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart."

II. The Book of Proverbs is an anthology of ancient wisdom-sayings; Chapters 1-9 are thought to be a relatively late editorial addition in which wisdom is characterized as a divine quality. Proverbs is traditionally attrib­uted to Solomon, Proverbs 1: 1: "The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel.”

A. Proverbs may indeed not be actually authored by Solomon but rather attrib­uted to him because of his wisdom, as evidenced in 1 Kings 4:30:

                        "And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east coun­try, and all the wisdom of Egypt."

Verse 32 continues,

                        “And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five."

B. We begin our study of Proverbs with chapters 1-9, which constitute a rather long introduction to the book presenting wisdom as a divine quality.

C. Chapter 8 is an account of the divine origin or wisdom. Wisdom speaks in a woman's voice:

            I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.

            The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward have strength. mouth, do I hate.

            Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength

By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.

By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.

I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. 18. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.

My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.

I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of  judgment:

That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.

The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:

While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the high­est part of the dust of the world.

When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:

When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:

When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment:

When he appointed the foundations of the earth

Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his

Delight, rejoicing always before him. (Proverbs 8:12-30, KJV)

HENRY FIELDING, TOM JONES (1749)

Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749) is a rollicking and often bawdy novel of adventure, a panoramic view of eighteenth­ century English society, and last but not least a moral tale con­cerning true prudence-the abili­ty to act in one's own best inter­est while also keeping an eye towards the good of some larger community. Tom, a foundling, is raised by the virtuous Squire Allworthy on his estate in Somersetshire, England; like most foundlings in world litera­ture (compare Oedipus and Moses), Tom will turn out to have an important ancestry-he is, in fact, Allworthy's nephew, and will become heir to his estate. Before he can discover his true identity, however, he first must become worthy of it, and he does this by learning pru­dence. First, Tom undergoes a series of tribulations brought upon him by his youthful impru­dence: he is separated from both Squire Allworthy and also from the woman he loves, Sophia Western; his travels lead him from the relative safety of coun­try life to the treacherousness of Georgian London. In London, however, Tom learns pru­dence-he discovers how to learn from the past, plan towards the future, and keep the greater good in mind-and is rewarded  by marriage to the lovely Sophia, whose name in Greek means "wisdom." At a moral level, Tom Jones illustrates Proverbs 8: 12:  "I Wisdom dwell with Prudence."

III. Structure of Proverbs.  The Proverbs are for the most part structured, like the Psalms, by three types of par­allelism: synonymous, antithetic, and synthetic.

            A. Antithetic parallelism is the main structure of the Proverbs, as we see in this example in Proverbs 1 :7:

                        "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

            Or from one of the more secular Proverbs, 10:4:

                        "He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the dili­gent maketh rich."

            Another example comes in Proverbs 15:1:

"A soft answer turneth away wrath: but griev­ous words stir up anger."

            B. The second formal feature is synony­mous parallelism. For example, in Proverbs 19:29:

"Judgments are pre­pared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools."

            Or Proverbs 20:23:

"Diverse weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good."

            C. The third formal feature is synthetic parallelism.

                        1. For example in Proverbs 22:6:

            "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

                        2. An example of comparative com­pletion as found in Proverbs 15:17:

"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."

                        3. Another type of synthetic paral­lelism is when the second clause completes the first by analogy, as in Proverbs 11 :22:

“As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discre­tion.”

                        Or in Proverbs 26: 14:

"As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed."

                        And in our last example, Proverbs 26: 11:

"As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. "

                        4.  Many of these Hebrew proverbs have been shortened but are still used in modern English. Consider Proverbs 13:24:

"He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." Our modern English version is "spare the rod, spoil the child." In a similar example, Proverbs 16:18: "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall," is condensed to "pride goes before a fall."

IV. The basic assumption of Proverbs.

A. What the Book of Proverbs teaches is that one reaps what one sows: there is justice in human events. Accordingly, prudent self-interest is a sufficient motive to virtuous behavior. Consider the following proverbs showing that one reaps as one sows:

                        He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him. (Proverbs 11 :27, KJV)

                                    The generous soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11 :25, KJV)

            Consider these other proverbs:

                                    The proverbs of Solomon.  A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

                                    Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.

                                    The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. (Proverbs 10: 1-3,                                KJV)

                                    He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.

                                    Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

                                    The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot. (Proverbs 10:5-7, KJV)

            And a few others from Chapter 23:

                                    Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. 20. Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

                                    For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsi­ness shall clothe a man with rags. (Proverbs 23: 19-21, KJV)

            B. The key virtue in Proverbs is prudence.

V. The lecture concludes by consider­ing two responses to the Book of Proverbs in English Literature:

            A. Fielding's Tom Jones is at one level an allegory built upon the line spoken by personified wisdom (Proverbs 8:12):

                                    "I wisdom dwell with prudence."

            B. William Blake, in "The Proverbs of Hell" from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93), heralded the Romantic revolution when he             characterized prudence as "a rich ugly old maid courted by incapacity."  Blake's proverbs celebrate energy:

You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. 

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

Excess of sorrow laughs, excess of laughter weeps.

The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.

WILLIAM BLAKE

William Blake (1757-1827), son of a London haberdasher, was a poet, engraver, and painter. He entered drawing school at age 10, and at 14 he began an apprentice­ship to an engraver, reading widely in his free time. At 24 he married Catherine Boucher, and she became his assistant in engraving and printing. In 1788 he discov­ered the method of relief etching, which he would use in what he called his "illuminated books"­ books of poetry, design, and draw­ing that he laboriously etched, printed, and hand-painted. Among his most famous illuminated books are Songs of Innocence and Experience (which contains "The Tyger") and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Blake's works mix satire, prophecy, and creative Biblical interpretation in a rich and fascinating manner. He once declared that "all he knew was in the Bible," and that "The Old & New Testaments are the Great Code of Art." Blake was not, how­ever, an orthodox Bible reader: in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, for example, all the debates are won by the devils, who represent energy, abundance, act, and free­dom--qualities that Blake associ­ated with the early days of the French Revolution.

 HENRY FIELDING, TOM JONES (1749)

Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749) is a rollicking and often bawdy novel of adventure, a panoramic view of eighteenth­ century English society, and last but not least a moral tale con­cerning true prudence-the abili­ty to act in one's own best inter­est while also keeping an eye towards the good of some larger community. Tom, a foundling, is raised by the virtuous Squire Allworthy on his estate in Somersetshire, England; like most foundlings in world litera­ture (compare Oedipus and Moses), Tom will turn out to have an important ancestry-he is, in fact, Allworthy's nephew, and will become heir to his estate. Before he can discover his true identity, however, he first must become worthy of it, and he does this by learning pru­dence. First, Tom undergoes a series of tribulations brought upon him by his youthful impru­dence: he is separated from both Squire Allworthy and also from the woman he loves, Sophia Western; his travels lead him from the relative safety of coun­try life to the treacherousness of Georgian London. In London, however, Tom learns pru­dence-he discovers how to learn from the past, plan towards the future, and keep the greater good in mind-and is rewarded  by marriage to the lovely Sophia, whose name in Greek means "wisdom." At a moral level, Tom Jones illustrates Proverbs 8: 12:  "I Wisdom dwell with Prudence."

Unit Summary:

The Book of Proverbs, rather like an ancient "self-help" book, promises to teach the way to success and content­ment. Its central value of prudent self­interest animated moral writers through the 18th century, but came under attack during the Romantic era by William Blake and others who valued noble dar­ing and self-realization over prudence and cautious restraint; in literature, the Book of Proverbs has never recovered from its Romantic critique.

Suggested Reading

Blake, William,  Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

Fielding, Henry. Tom Jones. John Bender and Simon Stern, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Other Books of Interest

Tannenbaum, Leslie. Biblical Tradition in Blake's Early Prophecies.

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982.