Derek Kidner - Proverbs (TOTC)

The welcome accorded to the series of Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, and many requests, encourage us to present further volumes intended to cover all the books of the Old Testament.

The aim of this series is to provide the student of the Bible with a handy, up-to-date commentary on each book, with the primary emphasis on exegesis. Major critical questions are discussed in the introductions and additional notes, while undue technicalities have been avoided. The length of some Old Testament books precludes detailed treatment if these volumes are to be kept to a moderate length and price, yet comment intended to stimulate devotional thought is not entirely excluded, for the sake of both student and preacher.

While all are united in their belief in the divine inspiration, essential trustworthiness and practical relevance of the sacred writings, individual authors have freely made their own contributions. No detailed uniformity of method has been imposed in the handling of books of such varied subject matter, form and style as the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament in particular no single English translation is adequate to reflect the original text. The authors of these commentaries therefore freely quote various versions, or give their own translation, in the endeavour to make the more difficult passages or words meaningful today. Where necessary, words from the Hebrew (and Aramaic) Massoretic Text underlying their studies are transliterated. This will help the reader who may be unfamiliar with the Semitic languages to identify the word under discussion and thus to follow the argument. Others will observe that these transliterations follow a well-recognized pattern (as used, for example, in The New Bible Dictionary, 1962). It is assumed throughout that the reader will have ready access to one, or more, reliable renderings of the Bible in English.

There are signs of a renewed interest in the meaning and message of the Old Testament and it is hoped that this series will thus further the systematic study of the revelation of God and his will and ways as seen in these records. It is the prayer of the editor and publisher, as of the authors, that these books will help many to understand, and to respond to, the Word of God today.

D. J. Wiseman

When words are many, transgression is not lacking; when they are sixty thousand, a preface will do nothing to mend matters. But I wish to thank those who have drawn my attention to various notes and studies of matters in Proverbs which I would otherwise have overlooked. In student days my feet were first set on this path by Professor D. W. Thomas, to my great benefit; but he must not be thought responsible for their erratic progress. In more recent times I have also enjoyed the stimulus and advice of members of the Old Testament Group of the Tyndale Fellowship, especially Professor D. J. Wiseman and Mr. K. A. Kitchenbut they too must be cleared of complicity in my conclusions, which are my own.

The reader is asked to bear with discussions which sometimes become a little technical, since the meaning of the text must be even a short commentarys first concern. But to balance this attention to detail I have included two aids to navigation, by which the length and breadth of Proverbs may be more easily explored. The first is a set of subject-studies in which the teaching scattered throughout the book, on eight leading topics, is brought together; the second is a short concordance, which may perhaps serve the double purpose of locating lost sayings (in territory notoriously hard to search) and providing the beginnings of further subject-studies. By such means, may the neglected wealth of the Proverbs find its way into many new hands.

Derek Kidner