Proverbs

Gustave Doré's depiction of Solomon writing proverbs

No doubt the biblical proverbs are of great historical interest – as in many ancient cultures, they were the preserve of tribal wisdom long before written records and the printing press – but to my mind, they are of very limited modern relevance. Here are just a few problems I have:

– Much of the advice focuses on how to avoid dangerous women – i.e. "To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman" (6:24) – indicating that the target audience for these proverbs is men, and more specifically men that buy into the chauvinistic concept of the devil woman.

– From the outset, we're told that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (1:7). To my mind, fear of anything is not the path to knowledge; fear emanates from the irrational and primitive part of our brain, whereas true understanding comes from rational contemplation of the world.

– Often the advice is so generic and obvious, for example wisdom is better than foolishness, love better than hate, that it barely needs stating. Real insights are thin on the ground.

All this, especially the first two points, vastly limits the appeal of the Proverbs to a modern audience. Nowadays, one of the greatest threats that humanity faces is poor education, specifically a very religious one that privileges one pious and prejudiced perspective over any other. What we need to be offering our children is a multiplicity of perspectives, and to be encouraging the virtues of openness and curiosity. The wisdom teaching of the Proverbs is instead often parochial and small-minded.

Finally, an historical note. All but two of the 31 proverbs are attributed to King Solomon – in Kings 1, 4:32, we're told that he "spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five" – though that doesn't mean he necessarily wrote them. Any writers under his royal patronage would have had to assign their works to him.

Lady Wisdom & her 3 daughters: Faith, Hope & Love

The two I would most recommend are proverbs 8 and 9, for their poetical content and for the focus in the latter on Lady Wisdom. I also found the advice about the "things that the Lord doth hate" an interesting historical insight into the mind of the Jewish people at that time:

These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren (6:16-19)