Wise Sayings that are Generally True

The next book that is found in this section of “Wisdom Literature” is the book of proverbial wisdom itself — Proverbs. While very few people would claim that Solomon is responsible for writing all of these nuggets of wisdom, most tradition (and some scholarship) credits King Solomon for compiling the 31-chapter work you and I know as Proverbs.

There’s not a huge, long blog post awaiting itself here; the Proverbs tend to be pretty straightforward and speak for themselves. That’s why many people gravitate towards them — they appreciate their simplicity, as do I. There are a few points that need to be made before we move on past this book, however.

First of all, the Proverbs are not comprehensive in their wisdom. What I mean by that is that there is very often an exception to the proverb. The proverb is not “hard and fast, black and white” — but as we’ve already looked at, this is true to life, anyway. The proverbs would have to be very limited in their scope. But this is exactly what the proverb is about. I teach our students to remember that proverbs are “wise sayings that are generally true.” You don’t go making doctrinal statements based out of the book of Proverbs.

A good example of this would be Proverbs 20:21.

An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning,
    will not be blessed at the end.

While this proverb makes a great and wise point, there would certainly be cases where this would not have to be true. I certainly do not mean to take away from the wisdom or the depth of the Proverbs; to the contrary, the wisdom of the Proverbs is incredibly, well, wise. They are profound, concise, and straightforward. And while they may not be all-encompassing for every situation at every time, their gutsy wisdom continues to stand the test of time. This is the wisdom and function of Proverbs.




Second, there are some great sections in Proverbs. One of the great themes is the dance between the two women of Proverbs (chapters 1–9). The Proverbs contrasts wisdom and temptation as two women. The ancient rabbis of the more mystical traditions have always seen “Lady Wisdom” as synonymous with Torah. They teach that Wisdom/Torah was there at the creation of the world and has eternally existed with God. If we don’t get too hung up on semantics here, we might see great parallels between this teaching and the opening paragraphs of the gospel of John. Another great theme of Proverbs is the famous final chapter, which contains the section on “the wife of noble character.” One of the greatest chapters I have read on the subject can be found in The Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans.

Finally, there are some very, very useful themes that surface in a reading of Proverbs. One of the assignments I still remember from Bible college was having to take highlighters to the book of Proverbs to identify different themes that arose. I found great wisdom that has stayed with me to this day.

There was wisdom about wealth and riches:

Lazy hands make for poverty,
    but diligent hands bring wealth.
Proverbs 10:4

A kindhearted woman gains honor,
    but ruthless men gain only wealth.
Proverbs 11:16

There was also wisdom about family:

A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown,
    but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.
Proverbs 12:4

Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress,
    and for their children it will be a refuge.
Proverbs 14:26

These themes continued to appear over and over again, each new nugget of wisdom expanding on the next. But one of the most influential themes of the Proverbs for me was the wisdom about speech:

Sin is not ended by multiplying words,
    but the prudent hold their tongues.
Proverbs 10:19

The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood,
    but the speech of the upright rescues them.
Proverbs 12:6

The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint,
    and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.
Proverbs 17:27

In short, the Proverbs taught me this principle: When in doubt, shut up. This idea was recently reinforced by a friend of mine, Chris McNaught, who wrote a book titled Less Is More Than Enough. Through his own life lessons and observations, McNaught has found this wisdom to be shown wise time and time again.

You see, if we’re going to make it through the cycle and the struggle that is the path of righteousness, we are going to need some tools. If we are going to trust the story, we’re going to need to mine some nuggets out of the hills of experience.

We’re going to need wisdom.