Proverbs Introduction
Introduction
The book of Proverbs is a collection of short sayings. They teach us how to be wise. These sayings tell us that God made the world to work a certain way. They show the patterns and rhythms of human behavior and events in nature. The people of Israel knew these things. The wisest of Israel’s elders collected these sayings. And they passed them along to the people over many years. Finally, these sayings were written down.
The Proverbs are meant to be studied carefully. They teach us how to live thoughtful lives. The Proverbs were written especially to help people avoid common problems. They encourage people to seek wisdom which leads to a better life. That wisdom is found by following God’s ways.
Proverbs begins with a statement of its theme. It tells us to respect God and follow his teachings. That is followed by a short section of teachings. Then, wisdom is compared to a woman. Wisdom invites everyone to grow in knowledge. She especially invites those without understanding. This section ends by telling about two feasts. One feast is given by Wisdom. The other feast is given by Folly. These two feasts are a picture of the choices to be made in life. A person can choose to be wise or choose to be foolish.
A collection of 375 proverbs written by Solomon are next. This number is the value of Solomon’s name in Hebrew. It is helpful to know that Hebrew letters were also used as numbers. So words had a number value equal to the sum of their letters. After Solomon’s sayings, there are a series of sayings for wise people. These are followed by another collection of Solomon’s sayings. This collection was organized by men who worked for Hezekiah, the king of Judah. The number of sayings King Hezekiah organized was 130. That equals the number value of Hezekiah’s name.
The book of Proverbs ends with the sayings from Agur and Lemel. The last poem has 22 parts. Each part begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. They are arranged in order of that alphabet.
This book is rich with short, quick wisdom. It presents a consistent theme. It teaches us that the fear of the Lord is where all knowledge starts.
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Proverbs Introduction: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
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