Americans love how-to books. Go to Amazon.com, search for books using the phrase how to, and you will receive a list of 716,578 related items. Current bestsellers include How to Win Friends and Influence People How to Walk in High Heels: The Girl’s Guide to Everything, and How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk.   I’ve actually read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It’s a little gem of a book. The problem is that when you read it, its advice strikes you as so simple and so common sensical … Continue reading Why Read the Book of Proverbs?

   Common sense doesn’t have an expiration date. It doesn’t have national boundaries either. So, while the Book of Proverbs was written in ancient Israel, it shares much in common with the proverbs of neighboring countries. Its wisdom is international.   The Bible showcases the internationalism of Solomon’s wisdom in 1 Kings 4:29-34. According to verse 30, “Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.” And according to verse 34, others recognized the superiority of Solomon’s wisdom. “Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s … Continue reading Where Was the Book of Proverbs Written?

When was the Book of Proverbs written? I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. Permit me to explain my answers.   According to Proverbs 1:1, 10:1, and 25:1, many of the proverbs included in the book come from King Solomon, who flourished in the 10th Century B.C. Proverbs 25:1 adds that some of these Solomonic proverbs were collected by scribes of King Hezekiah, who reigned from 715 to 686 B.C. The Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, includes Proverbs; it dates to approximately 200 B.C. Based on this range of dates, then, the Book of Proverbs … Continue reading When was the Book of Proverbs Written?

Whenever you read a piece of literature, you need to be aware of its literary genre so that you can interpret it properly.   For example, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens tells a story about people who lived and died during the French Revolution. But it is a fictional story, not an historical account. You can read it for spiritual inspiration but not for historical information. Why? Because that’s the nature of its literary genre as a novel.   When you read the Bible, you should be aware that it contains many literary genres. The most prominent … Continue reading What Is a Proverb?

   Whenever you begin to study a book of the Bible, you should ask six questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? And how?   Today, then, as we begin to study Proverbs, let’s ask who wrote it. The book itself provides several answers.   Proverbs 1:1, for example, says: “The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel.” Solomon is also named as a contributor or proverbs at 10:1 and 25:1. But Solomon is not the only contributor. At 22:17 and 24:23, we read that a group of otherwise anonymous individuals known as “the wise” contributed proverbs to the … Continue reading Who Wrote Proverbs?