How To Read A Proverb

     Is there a part of the Bible that you find more difficult to comprehend?  One that you struggle to capture the meaning behind the passages.  As of late, I am reading the book of Proverbs.  It is nestled in the middle of the Old Testament and contains 31 chapters.  Proverbs were employed by parents and teachers to impart wisdom to children and students.  How they were written was to create an adventure that challenged young minds to develop mental skills that promoted wise living.¹  In Proverbs 1:1-6, the five-fold purpose of this writing is revealed.  (1) to attain wisdom and discipline, (2) to understand words of insight, (3) to acquire a discipline (skill) and live a prudent life, (4) to give prudence to the simple, and (5) to understand proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.  With such a great mission statement, no one with any sense would want to miss achieving these results.

     The most frequently use of the word 'wisdom' found in Proverbs is ḥokmâḥ which is recorded 45 times in this text.  The most common use of this word in the Old Testament points to learning a craft or a skill, or to become a skilled worker.  As this term is applied in the book of Proverbs, its' focus rests on attaining skills to live a godly life.  Like me, you may find yourself perusing the Proverbs to find an interesting quote, rather than using them as they were designed (see the five-fold purpose in paragraph one).  I hope I'm not the only one to admit this!  Not only are there hundreds of sayings, but the style of writing also contributes to making this a difficult endeavor.  The book of Proverbs, much different than most books of the Bible is written in a poetic literary style using parallelism as its primary design.  I will try to explain this in an interesting way that helps you read Proverbs with a bit more clarity.  Anyone with a literary degree would do far better than I, but I will give it a try anyway.  

     The meaning of the word proverb, as far as I’ve learned, is two-fold.  In one sense it means to be like something else, or unlike something else (a comparison is made).  In the other sense, the word proverb can be replaced with the term byword.  We find this form of proverb throughout the Old Testament when God tells the Israelite's that their disobedience will make them a proverb or a byword to other nations.  In other words, no one would aspire to be an Israelite that had disobeyed God.  Proverbs are short sayings intended to teach wisdom.  Parables, unlike proverbs, are short stories with the same intent.  Both are designed to teach us how to live under God’s perfect design (in His image).

     I, for one, have never gravitated toward poetry or prose because I find it difficult to distinguish where one thought begins and another thought ends.  What I’ve discovered in trying to make more sense of this style is that there is more than one form of parallelism in the Proverbs.  Knowing about each form and identifying which is being used, helps my comprehension.  If you are an expert in this style, please forgive my simplicity.  The four types of Parallelism found in Proverbs are:  (1) Synonymous, (2) Antithetical, (3) Emblematic, and (4) Synthetic. 

Type	Defined	First Phrase	Second Phrase
Synonymous Proverbs 2:11	Identical, The Same, or Equal	Discretion will watch over you, Proverbs 2:11a	Understanding will guard you. Proverbs 2:11b
Antithetical Proverbs 10:1	Opposing, or Negating	A wise son makes a glad father, Proverbs 10:1a	But a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother. Proverbs 10:1b
Emblematic Proverbs 10:26	Symbolic or Illustrative	Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, Proverbs 10:26a	So is the sluggard to those who send him. Proverbs 10:26b
Synthetic Proverbs 6:12	A continuation of thought: Artificial, Fake, or Phony	A worthless person, a wicked man, Proverbs 6:12a	Goes about with crooked speech. Proverbs 6:12b

     Proverbs were not written to guide a nation, like the Law and the Prophets; they were written for individual training and instruction.  Likewise, Proverbs were not teaching someone how to behave in the future but were to be applied immediately in the present.  Because their focus was on godly living, truth never goes out of style nor becomes obsolete.  Fearing and trusting the LORD are essential to apply these truths to building a relationship with an eternal God, who happens to be mentioned eighty-seven times in the Proverbs.

     Unlike other books written in narrative form (historical, prophetical or gospel), reading three or four chapters in a single setting can easily become overwhelming.  Even when I read three or four parallisms back-to-back, my comprehension dulls.  Sometimes I become frustrated that an idea or a course of thought has piqued my interest, only to find that the next thought moves me beyond the opportunity to gain a better understanding.  I wonder how parents or teachers taught these Proverbs to children and students.  I would love to participate in that adventure (on a credit / no credit basis, I would rather not have it affect my grade point average! )    

     With the Antithetical style of prose where the writer goes back and forth, it can be exceedingly hard to concentrate on skills one wishes to acquire versus those we need to avoid.  Taking a highlighter or a pen and underling all the favorable instructions is a method that I’ve implemented in the past while reading.  Another thing that I’ve found exceedingly helpful, regardless of the type of parallelism used, is to read several translations simultaneously.  One might find the use of a word like purdence requires explanation; whereas, the world sensible in another translation doesn't.  Which word is easier for you to understand?  Thank goodness for current Bible Apps that allow us to read multiple translations side-by-side.  This approach can take significantly longer to read a proverb, but I would highly recommend it.

     A few days ago, as I was reading, I began to ponder the various types of people that the wisdom writer talks about (scoffers, sluggards, fools, wicked, poor, wealthy, righteous, and wise, to name a few).  It dawned on me that one could easily study a particular type of person and gain wisdom in the process.  One day I highlighted the word righteous, and another day I highlighted poor.  This allowed me to decipher what Scriptures wished to reveal about each segment of society.  Here is an example of how I studied the "poor" segment in Proverbs 19 - 21.  The poor were referenced in seven separate verses (see the  table below).  If you've ever had exposure to the game show Jeopardy, consider how you might form a question about a statement that is provided.  If we can assume to know what questions were asked to the apostle Paul that prompted him to write letters to the churches, can we not also use the same approach with the Wisdom Literature?  Let me demonstrate this idea.  In Chronological order, here are the seven verses that I encountered where the word "poor" was highlighted.  

PROVERBS 19:1	1Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.
PROVERBS 19:4	4 Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend.
PROVERBS 19:7	7 All a poor man’s brothers hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him! He pursues them with words, but does not have them.
PROVERBS 19:17	17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
PROVERBS 19:22	22 What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar.
PROVERBS 21:13	13Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.
PROVERBS 21:17	17 Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

Here are the questions I created from the above text:

1. What will make a person poor?
2. How are the poor typically treated?
3. What advice is given to the poor?
4. How are we to treat the poor?

Like a matching game, I paired each verse to the related question.  

• I matched Proverbs 21:17 with the first question; 
• Proverbs 19:4 and 7 with the second question, 
• Proverbs 19:1 and 22 with the third, and 
• Proverbs 19:17 and Proverbs 21:13 with the fourth.  

Upon further review, I decided that question four offered the most straight-forward personal application from my reading.  Since the focus of Proverbs is to instruct me in godly living, I found question #4 to be of highest value.  I decided to pray along these lines.

     One might find themselves closing their Bible upon discovering a personal application, and experience satisfaction in their learning.  However, a thought crept into my mind that caused me to investigate further.  What I discovered was fascinating.  Depending where in Scriptures I discover the topic of poverty, I could easily misunderstand what I believed I had uncovered.  There are about ten different words in the original Bible text (Hebrew – Old Testament, and Greek – New Testament) that translate into only one word (poor) in the English language.  So when I am thinking monetarily poor, the text could be referring to spiritual deprived.  Generally speaking, the condition can be physical, economic, societal, or spiritual poverty.  Sometimes a passage may refer to more than one type.  With this thought, I realized that I could spend a lifetime in this book and never glean all that it was intended to teach me.  It dawned on me that I don't often consider how I might be comparing apples to oranges and be none the wiser.

    Within the context of the Bible, we study :

• law and rules, history, 
• poetry and song, 
• wisdom, sayings and proverbs, 
• gospels, 
• parables, and 
• letters.  

     After a little more research, the primary sources of poverty are mentioned above with minor variations on each.  According to the Lexham Theological Workbook, “The Biblical concept of poverty refers to a state of want or need in which one lacks economic resources, societal standing, and political or judicial power.”²  The concept of poverty was introduced in the garden following the fall of humanity.  The consequence of sin brought poverty as a condition.  The same Lexham writers quoted above suggest that “Poverty is a mark of the fracturing of human unity (e.g., exploitation of the poor) and the limited productivity of creation (e.g., famine).³   If we remember correctly, the first recorded famine was at the time of Abram when he took Sarai, his wife, to Egypt and passed her off as his sister.

     In the New Testament, several words are synonymous with poverty, including:
·   ptōchos = destitute, and in want: always rendered “poor",
·       penēs = poor, as opposed to rich, and
·       praüs = meek, as distinguished from passionate 

Even though the original translation uses three separate words to describe the condition of poverty, one might conclude that all three represent people who live quiet lives under tyrannical rule and suffered losses by taxation, leadership (both government and religious), and class.  When we compare this to our daily news, not much has changed.

      In Wisdom Literature, most often, the word poor refers to socio-economic poverty.  We learn that both rich and poor are made by God (Proverbs 22:2).  Being poor can be associated with one’s moral character:  laziness (Proverbs 6:6-11), pleasure-seeking behaviors (Proverbs 18:32-33 and Proverbs 21:17), drunkenness and gluttony (Proverbs 23:21), and envy.  We are called to respond in kindness (Proverbs 31:19)^4. It would be easy to go much deeper into this topic, but I hope that this brief exposure provides some opportunity for growth in wisdom, as it did for me.  

     In Proverbs, Jesus is Wisdom!

¹Buzzell, S. S. (1985). Proverbs. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 902). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

²Mangum, D. Brown, D.R., Klippenstein, R., & Hurst, R. (Eds). (2014). Lexham Theological Workbook. Bellingham, WA:  Lexham Press

³Mangum, D. Brown, D.R., Klippenstein, R., & Hurst, R. (Eds). (2014). Lexham Theological Workbook. Bellingham, WA:  Lexham Press

⁴Bullinger, E.W. (2018).  The Companion Bible:  Being the Authorized Version of 1611 with the Structures and Notes, Critical Explanatory and Suggestive, and with 198 Appendixes.  Bellingham, WA:  Faithlife.