Proverbs is probably the oldest extant document of the Hebrew wisdom movement, of which King Solomon was the founder and patron. Wisdom literature flourished throughout the ancient Near East, with Egyptian examples dating back to before the middle of the 3rd millennium bce. It revolved around the professional sages, or wise men, and scribes in the service of the court, and consisted primarily in maxims about the practical, intelligent way to conduct one’s life and in speculations about the very worth and meaning of human life. The most common form of these wise sayings, which were intended for oral instruction especially in the schools run by the sages for the young men at the court, was the mashal (Hebrew: “comparison” or “parable,” although frequently translated “proverb”). Typically a pithy, easily memorized aphoristic saying based on experience and universal in application, the mashal in its simplest and oldest form was a couplet in which a definition was given in two parallel lines related to each other either antithetically or synthetically. Verse 5 of the 15th chapter of Proverbs is an example of a simple antithetic saying:

He who spurns his father’s discipline is a fool,

he who accepts correction is discreet.

Other forms of the mashal, such as parables, riddles, allegories, and ultimately full-scale compositions developed later. The word mashal was derived from a root that meant “to rule,” and thus a proverb was conceived as an authoritative word.

The two principal types of wisdom—one practical and utilitarian, the other speculative and frequently pessimistic—arose both within and outside Israel. Practical wisdom consisted chiefly of wise sayings that appealed to experience and offered prudential guidelines for a successful and happy life. Such wisdom is found in a collection of sayings bearing the name of Ptahhotep, a vizier to the Egyptian pharaoh about 2450 bce, in which the sage counsels his son that the path to material success is by way of proper etiquette, strict discipline, and hard work. Although such instructions were largely materialistic and political, they were moral in character and contributed to a well-ordered society.

Speculative wisdom went beyond maxims of conduct and reflected upon the deeper problems of the value of life and of good and evil. Examples are found in ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian texts—particularly Ludlul bel nemeqi, often called the “Babylonian Job”—in which sensitive poets pessimistically addressed such questions as the success of the wicked, the suffering of the innocent, and, in short, the justice of human life.

Hebrew wisdom, which owed much to that of its neighbours, appeared with the establishment of the monarchy and a royal court and found a patron in Solomon. Through the following centuries the wise men were at times the object of rebuke by the prophets, who disliked their pragmatic realism. The exile, however, brought a change in Hebrew wisdom; it became deeply religious. The wise men were convinced that religion alone possessed the key to life’s highest values. It was this mood that dominated the final shaping of the Hebrew wisdom literature. Though dependent on older materials and incorporating documents from before the exile, the wisdom books in their present form were produced after the exile. In the Hebrew Bible the book of Proverbs offers the best example of practical wisdom, while Job and Ecclesiastes give expression to speculative wisdom. Some of the psalms and a few other brief passages are also representative of this type of literature. Among the Apocrypha, the Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus are wisdom books.

The book of Proverbs is a collection of units originally independent, some of which can be traced back to the era of Solomon. The present form of the book was the result of a long process of growth that was not completed until post-exilic times. It consists of two principal collections of early origin called “the proverbs of Solomon” and “proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied.” Appendixes were added to each of the collections. The whole book was preceded by a long introduction and concludes with a poem praising the ideal wife. In addition to sectional titles, changes in literary form and in subject matter help to mark off the limits of the various units, which can be ordered into nine sections.

The introduction (chapters 1–9) constitutes the youngest unit in the book. It consists of a series of poems or discourses in which a father exhorts his son to acquire wisdom and in which wisdom personified intervenes. These chapters have a more speculative quality than the remainder of the book. They do not treat wisdom simply as a human quality and achievement or as a cultural legacy imparted by teachers and parents; they present it as a universal and abiding reality, transcending the human scene. Wisdom is the first of God’s works and participated with him in the creation of the world. A constantly debated aspect of this section concerns the identity of “the loose [strange] woman” who is set over against Wisdom.

The “proverbs of Solomon” (10:1–22:16) consist entirely of parallelistic couplets—the mashal in its primitive form. There are 375 aphorisms each complete in itself and arranged in no apparent order. The motivation of this section, in contrast to the preceding, is strongly practical: wisdom is a human achievement by means of which life can be fulfilled. The wise are contrasted with fools, and the just with the wicked. It is difficult, however, to establish the nature of the difference, if any, between the wicked and the fool or between the just and the wise.

The “sayings of the wise” (22:17–24:22) consist of longer units or sayings introduced by a preface. The most distinctive feature of this section is its close relationship to a piece of Egyptian writing, The Instruction of Amenemope, which has been dated within the broad limits of 1000–600 bce. The Hebrew author apparently used this work as a model—the Egyptian work comprises 30 chapters, and the Hebrew text refers to its “thirty sayings”—and as one of the sources in compiling his own anthology. An additional collection of four wise sayings (24:23–34) forms a supplement to the “sayings of the wise.”

The second collection of “proverbs of Solomon” (chapters 25–29) consists of 128 sayings that closely resemble the earlier collection, although quatrains as well as couplets are included. The scribes of Hezekiah’s court (c. 700 bce) are credited with assembling this collection.

The book concludes with four independent units or collections. The “words of Agur” (30:1–14) differs sharply in spirit and substance from the rest of Proverbs; it has much closer affinities with the Book of Job, stressing the inaccessibility of wisdom. There is no internal evidence, such as a continuous theme, to show that these 14 verses are a single unit; but in the Septuagint they stand together between the “sayings of the wise” and its supplement. The “numerical sayings” (30:15–33) contain elements of riddle and show a special interest in the wonders of nature and the habits of animals. The “instruction of Lemuel” (31:1–9) is an example of the importance of maternal advice to a ruler in the ancient Near East. Lemuel seems to have been a tribal chieftain of northwest Arabia, in the region of Edom. The final section (31:10–31) is an alphabetical poem in praise of the “perfect wife,” who is celebrated for her domestic virtues.

The wisdom movement constituted a special aspect of the religious and cultural development of ancient Israel. As the primary document of the movement, Proverbs bears a clear impress of this distinctive character, so that in many respects it presents a sharp contrast to the outlook and emphases of Israel’s faith as attested in the Hebrew Scriptures generally. This contrast also marks Job and Ecclesiastes, however greatly they may differ from Proverbs in other respects.

Proverbs never refers to Israel’s history. In the Hebrew Bible as a whole, this history is constantly recalled not so much for social or political reasons as to declare the faith of Israel that God has acted in its history to redeem his people and make known to them the character of his rule. The great themes of the promise to the patriarchs, the deliverance from slavery, the making of the Covenant at Mount Sinai, the wilderness wandering, and the inheritance of Canaan were celebrated in Israel’s worship to tell the story of God’s revelation of himself and of his choice of Israel. None of this is alluded to in Proverbs. The implication seems to be that for Proverbs God’s revelation of himself is given in the universal laws and patterns characteristic of nature, especially human nature, rather than in a special series of historical events; that is, the revelation of God is in the order of creation rather than in the order of redemption. Moreover, the meaning of this revelation is not immediately self-evident but must be discovered by men. This discovery is an educational discipline that trusts human reason and employs research, classifying and interpreting the results and bequeathing them as a legacy to future generations. The wise are those who systematically dedicate themselves to this discovery of the “way” of God.

Unlike Job and Ecclesiastes, Proverbs (with the exception of the “words of Agur”) is optimistic in that it assumes that wisdom is attainable by those who seek and follow it; that is, a man can discover enough about God and his law to ensure the fulfillment of his personal life. This character of God is conceived almost entirely in terms of ethical laws, and the rewards for their observance are defined in terms of human values—e.g., health, long life, respect, possessions, security, and self-control.

Because God is apprehended in static terms, rather than dynamic as elsewhere in the Bible, the viewpoint of Proverbs is anthropocentric. Human destiny depends upon responsible action. There is no appeal to divine mercy, intervention, or forgiveness, and the divine judgment is simply the inexorable operation of the orders of life as God has established them. Implicit in the book is an aristocratic bias. The wise constitute an elite nurtured by inheritance, training, and self-discipline; fools are those who can never catch up, because of either the determinism of birth or the wasted years of neglect. In its social and cultural attitudes, the book is probably the most conservative in the Bible: wealth and status are most important; obedience to the king and all authorities is inculcated; industry and diligence are fostered, for hunger, poverty, and slavery are the fate of the lazy; and age and accepted conventions are accorded great respect.