Book of Proverbs

Final Section.

The seventh section, chap. xxx. 15-33, con sists of miscellaneous dicta introduced by an unintelligible line and bound together by their "numerical" form of introduction. In these few words is concentrated a wealth of insight into the normal and abnormal, the obvious and mysterious in life and nature, which, as it were in a nut-shell, illustrates the keenness and the breadth of observation to which the "wisdom" writers, the human ists of Israel, trained themselves.

The eighth section, chap. xxxi. 1-9, purports to be a further instance of foreign wisdom, again from "Massa," and indeed an illustration of a king's instruction by his mother. The vices against which he is warned include impurity, drink and maladministration of justice. These vices were prevalent in most oriental courts of the period during which the section could have been written, and do not necessarily presuppose the vices which Hellenism in particular communicated to the petty kings of oriental states into which it penetrated.

The ninth and last section, chap. xxxi. 0-31, is perhaps the of this remarkable collection of the literary output of the humanists of Israel. Incidentally it is an "alphabetical" poem, each verse beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each letter appearing in its correct sequence. The lie is here given to the depressing picture, though one too often fully justified, which is mostly drawn in the Old Testament, of woman's personal and economic position among the Hebrews as the slave and chattel of her husband who was legally free to possess not one but many wives. But practice reinforced by economic necessity, probably rose in this respect above precept. At any rate, in the wealthy and prosperous household here depicted monogamy is presupposed and the poet depicts the wife as its master-mind as well as its mainstay. To what extent such a regime pressed heavily on the female slaves and other underlings we do not know since no litera ture emanating from them has survived.

Next to their passion for the highest morality of their day, and their unswerving loyalty to their ancestral faith, certain of the Hebrew gnomic writers whose work has survived in the Book of Proverbs will be held in honour most of all for their ability, which, as stated at the outset, is only now beginning to be realized, to master the gnomic literature of Egypt and of Mesopotamia, of Edom and of Massa, to expurgate from it what was unworthy, and to transform it into an instrument for the instruction of succes sive generations of the worshippers of Jehovah. Only a study of the Book of Proverbs in the light of the comparative study of gnomic literature can make the reader realize this; for instance in addition to close relationship with the Egyptian Teaching of Amenophis, there are more than 7o dicta in the Wisdom of Ahikar (q.v.) and of these more than half find an echo in this book.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-For

the literature, which is considerable, see the commentaries of Toy (1898), and especially W. 0. E. Oesterley, The Book of Proverbs (1928) in the Westminster Commentaries, who gives striking parallels and references to the latest literature. See also Cheyne, Job and Solomon (1887) ; id., in Sem. Studies (ed. Kohut, 1897) ; id., Jew. Relig. Life (5898) ; Montefiore in Jew. Quart. Review (1898-189o) ; Cohen, Ancient Jewish Proverbs; Elmslie, Studies in Life from Jewish Proverbs; Goldman, Proverbs of the Sages (19II). For materials for the comparative study of Hebrew proverbial litera ture and that of other ancient nations, see D. C. Simpson, The Hebrew Book of Proverbs and The Teaching of Amenophis in Journal of Egyp tian Archaeology (1926) ; Oesterley, The Wisdom of Egypt and the Old Testament (1927) ; Langdon, Babylonian Wisdom (1923) ; Hindu: Monier-Williams, Indian Wisdom (1875) ; Arabic: Jacob, Altarab.

Parallelen z. A. T. (1897). (D. C. S.)