READ IT! - Introduction to Proverbs 21-27

Readings for this week

Monday: Proverbs 21
Tuesday: Proverbs 22
Wednesday: Proverbs 23
Thursday: Proverbs 24
Friday: Proverbs 25
Saturday: Proverbs 26
Sunday: Proverbs 27

Introduction to Proverbs 21-27

Chapter 21 

Proverbs 10:1–22:16 contains 375 sayings and consists of two parts.

Part One: Proverbs Which Contrast Righteous (Wise) with Wicked (Foolish) Living (10:1-15:33)

Part Two: Assorted Proverbs Which Exalt Righteous Living (16:1-22:16)

Examples:

To do justice is better than sacrifice.
Better to live on the roof than with a quarrelsome wife.
No plans can avail against the LORD. 

Chapters 22-24 

The third section of the Book contains Thirty Sayings of the Wise (22:17–24:22). It is An Adapted Egyptian Instruction. The third unit is headed, "bend your ear and hear the words of the wise": a large part of it is a recasting of a second-millennium Egyptian work, the Instructions of Amenemopet, and may have reached the Hebrew author(s) through an Aramaic translation. It begins with an Introductory Prelude--Exhortation to Apply Your Mind. The purpose of the sayings is for the reader to trust in the Lord and to have a ready response to life.

1. Warning Not to Rob the Poor (22:22-23)
2. Warning Not to Associate with the Hot-Tempered (22:24-25)
3. Warning Not to Cosign for Debts (22:26-27)
4. Warning Not to Move Ancient Boundaries (22:28)
5. Advice to Be Skillful (22:29)
6. Warning Not to be a Glutton before a King (23:1-3a)
7. Warning Not to Be Materialistic (23:4-5)
8. Warning Not to Eat with a Selfish Person (23:6-8)
9. Warning Not to Converse with a Fool (23:9)
10. Warning Not to Move Ancient Boundaries (23:10-11) 

After the first ten sayings, is an Introductory Prelude to Sayings 11-30—More Exhortations to Apply Your Mind. 

11. Warning Not to Withhold Child Discipline (23:13-14) 

12. Advice to Be Wise and Upright (23:15-16)
13. Warning Not to Envy Sinners and Advice to Fear the Lord (23:17-18)
14. Advice to Be Wise and Warning Not to Associate with Drunkards and Gluttons (23:19-21)
15. Advice to Listen to Your Father, and Warning Not to Despise Your Elderly Mother (23:22-23)
16. Advice to Be Wise (23:24-25)
17. Advice to Follow a Father's Ways and Warning to Avoid the Adulteress (23:26-28)
18. Warning Not to Be a Drunkard (23:29-35)
19. Warning Not to Envy Sinners (24:1-2)
20. Indirect Advice to Be Wise (24:3-4)
21. Indirect Advice to Get Wise Counsel (24:5-6)
22. Indirect Warning Not to Be a Fool (24:7)
23. Indirect Warning Not to Plan Sin (24:8-9)
24. Indirect Advice to Be Strong (24:10)
25. Advice to Help People Who Are Victimized (24:11-12)
26. Advice to Get Wisdom Which Is Sweet to the Soul (24:13-14)
27. Warning Not to Rob a Godly Person's House (24:15-16)
28. Warning Not to Be Glad When an Enemy Falls (24:17-18)
29. Warning Not to Envy Sinners (24:19)
30. Advice to Fear the Lord and Warning to Avoid Renegades (24:21-22)

We then come to section of Further Sayings of the Wise. Chapter 24:23 begins a new section and source with the declaration, "these too are from the wise."

1. Warning Not to Show Favoritism in Court (24:23-25)
2. Advice to Give an Honest and Forthright Answer (24:26)
3. Advice to Cultivate Your Field (24:27)
4. Warning Not to Give a False Witness in Court (24:28)
5. Warning Not to Avenge Yourself (24:29)
6. Indirect Warning Not to Be Lazy (24:30-34) 

Chapter 25 

In the next section of the Book, we read more Proverbs of Solomon (chs. 25–29). The next section at chapter 25:1 has a superscription to the effect that the following proverbs were transcribed "by the men of Hezekiah", indicating at face value that they were collected in the reign of Hezekiah in the late 8th century BCE. Chapters 25–29, attributed to editorial activity of "the men of Hezekiah," contrasts the just and the wicked and broaches the topic of rich and poor.

Section One-Miscellaneous Proverbs

Introduction (25:1)
Proverbs Concerning Kings (25:2-7)
Proverbs Concerning Court Cases (25:8-10)
Proverbs Concerning Words (25:11-15)
Proverbs Concerning Excesses (25:16-17)
Proverbs Concerning Unreliability (25:18-20)
Proverbs Concerning Enemies (25:21-22)
Proverbs Concerning Backbiting (25:23-24)
Proverbs Concerning Cool Water and Muddy Springs (25:25-26)
Proverbs Concerning Self-Pride and Self-Control (25:27-28) 

Chapters 26-27 

Proverbs Concerning Fools: 

“Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.”
“Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.”
“Sending a message by the hands of a fool is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison.”
“A thorn got stuck in a drunkard’s hand, and a proverb in the mouth of a fool.”

The "wise fool" (or the "sophomore") explained...

"The drunkard in question here has fallen to the ground and, groping about on all fours, has gotten a thorn or a thistle stuck in his hand. In similar fashion - that is, quite by accident and through no personal virtue - a proverb may end up in the mouth of a fool, but the fact that he has acquired it, does not mean that he has actually learned its truth and internalized it. It just ended up with him by chance, with no more effort or conscious intention than that of the mindless drunkard. So just because you hear someone spouting words of ancient wisdom, this proverb asserts, don't think that the person in question really understands what he is saying."

“As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.”

Proverbs Concerning Sluggards:

“A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road,
a fierce lion roaming the streets!”
As a door turns on its hinges,
so a sluggard turns on his bed.
A sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
than seven people who answer discreetly.” 

Proverbs Concerning Talkers (26:17-28)
Proverbs Concerning Interpersonal Problems (27:1-5)
Proverbs Concerning Friends (27:6-10)
Proverbs Concerning Relationships (27:11-22)
Proverbs Concerning Farming (27:3-27)