Elizabeth George - Proverbs for a Womans Day: Choosing a Life of Excellence

A s a teen in high school, I loved English literature and I loved reading poetry. I was such a romantic! In my classes I learned that English poetry is based on rhyme and meter. But when I started reading Proverbs, I realized that Proverbs was a different kind of poetry than I had been exposed to in school. English poetry contains sonnets or many long groups of verses, but Proverbs is mainly made up of short, concise statements that give us Gods wisdom and rules for life quickly in a few memorable words.

The Structure of Proverbs

Here is some technical information that will help you understand the proverbs you read and make sure you get the most out of each proverb. Because Proverbs is ancient Hebrew poetry, it does not depend upon rhyme for its appeal. Rather, it depends upon parallelism. There are six types of parallelism found in the book of Proverbs. Once I learned to recognize these different structures, my understanding took a great leap forward! The riddles in Proverbs became more clear.

Synonymous proverbs: The first line states a fact, and the fact is repeated in the second line, both lines essentially saying the same thing. The second line usually starts with the word and, as in Proverbs 1:5 and 11:25:

A wise man will hear and increase in learning,

and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel.

The generous man will be prosperous,

and he who waters will himself be watered .

Antithetical proverbs: The first line states a positive fact, and the second line states the opposite or negative fact. The second line usually starts with the word but, as in Proverbs 3:33 and 10:7:

The curse of the L ORD is on the house of the wicked,

but He blesses the dwelling of the righteous.

The memory of the righteous is blessed,

but the name of the wicked will rot .

Synthetic proverbs: The first line addresses a subject, and the second line gives further information on that same subject. The second line can include or begin with and, as in Proverbs 10:18 and 9:13:

He who conceals hatred has lying lips,

and he who spreads slander is a fool.

The woman of folly is boisterous,

she is naive, and knows nothing .

Integrated proverbs: The first line begins a subject, and the second line completes the subject. For instance, in Proverbs 22:6 you read:

Train up a child in the way he should go,

even when he is old he will not depart from it .

Parabolic proverbs: The first line begins with a vivid word picture from life, and the second line gives a related analogy, as seen in Proverbs 11:22 and 25:3:

As a ring of gold in a swines snout

so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.

As the heavens for height and the earth for depth,

so the heart of kings is unsearchable .

Comparative proverbs: The first line contains a statement that is then compared with a second statement. Many comparative proverbs are often referred to as the better than proverbs, as seen in Proverbs 12:9 and 15:16:

Better is he who is lightly esteemed and has a servant

than he who honors himself and lacks bread.

Better is a little with the fear of the L ORD ,

than great treasure and turmoil with it .

Two Additional Structures of Proverbs

Readers are usually delighted by these two additional types of proverbs. They also give the readers an easy way to remember the instructions in the proverbs.

Numerical proverbs: This is a group or section of proverbs that begins with numbers which identify them as numerical proverbs: There are six things which the L ORD hates as seen in Proverbs 6:16-19. In the case of Proverbs 30:15-31, the number of comparisons switches from twoThe leech has two daughters, to threeThere are three things that will not be satisfied, to fourFour things are small on the earth.

Acrostic proverbs: Proverbs 31:10-31 is an acrostic group or section of proverbs referred to as The Excellent Woman. Each of the 22 verses starts with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

B ecause Proverbs 1:1 states, The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, readers usually assume the book of Proverbs was written by one authorSolomon. Actually, there are several authors. Besides Solomon, who wrote the majority of the proverbs, there were also:

The sayings and words of the wise (22:17-24),

The words of Agur (chapter 30), and

The words of King Lemuel (chapter 31).

Who was Solomon? He was the wisest, most wealthy, and most highly esteemed king of his time. God used Solomon to complete the building of the temple and as a righteous judge of the people. As the son of David (who was a man after Gods own heartActs 13:22), Solomon had much to share because God blessed Solomon with wisdom when he asked for wisdom instead of riches and honor (2 Chronicles 1:10). The Bible says Solomon spoke 3000 proverbs (1 Kings 4:32), but not all of these are recorded in the book of Proverbs.

In a technical sense, God Himself is the divine author of all the proverbs in the book of Proverbsand of the entire Bible. God breathed all of the many wonderful and instructive proverbs and words of wisdom that make up this priceless, inspired-by-God book of wisdom (2 Timothy 3:16) by using Solomon and others.

A Structural Outline of Proverbs

Part OneThe Virtues of Wisdom (Proverbs 19)

These chapters give an extensive treatment of the subject of Wisdom, using the image of a father extolling the virtues of wisdom and challenging his son to live a life of wisdom. These proverbs are in the form of a teaching discourse.

Part TwoThe Proverbs of Solomon (Proverbs 10:122:16)

This section contains 375 contrasting proverbs (10:115:33) and synonymous proverbs (16:122:16) which are attributed to Solomon. This section is what most people are familiar with when they think of Proverbstwo parallel lines of verse either contrasting each other or agreeing with each other.

Part ThreeThe Sayings of the Wise (Proverbs 22:1724:34)

This section contains the proverbs of the wise, or 30 wise sayings. The style of this section returns to the pattern of chapters 19, which was proverbial discourse.

Part FourProverbs Copied by Hezekiahs Men (Proverbs 25:129:27)

These are more proverbs of Solomon, collected by good King Hezekiah 300 years after Solomons death. Like Solomons first set of proverbs, these are the two-line parallel type proverbs.

Part FiveThe Words of Agur (Proverbs 30)

Since Agur or his father, Jakeh, are unknown, some translators suggest that these are not actual people but could be translated gatherer or collector of proverbs.

Part SixThe Words of Lemuel (Proverbs 31:1-9)

As with Agur, we have no knowledge of King Lemuel. But we do have the concerns and instruction of a godly mother that she passed down to her son. She warned her beloved son about two vices: illicit sex and excessive alcohol.