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6 - Echoes of other Old Testament texts and contexts in Proverbs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Katharine J. Dell
Katharine J. Dell
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded.

(Prov. 1:23)

Bind them [loyalty and faithfulness] around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

(Prov. 3:3)

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

(Prov. 15:8)

In this chapter I wish to look at possible areas of influence from other areas of Old Testament life on Proverbs. The aim is to see how grounded Proverbs is within Israelite tradition. The wisdom literature is often said to be without reference to wider Israelite tradition and to stand alone. I believe that this assumption is highly questionable in relation to wisdom's influence outwards on other texts, but is it also true of influence inwards on texts such as Proverbs 1–9? Wisdom's wider influence on Old Testament literature is fairly well discussed (see Morgan, 1981), but what about influence coming into the wisdom material?

LINKS WITH WIDER OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS, TRADITIONS AND GENRES

There is a small group of scholars who have stressed links between Proverbs 1–9 and home-grown Israelite traditions. Early scholars drew parallels, and generally Proverbs was regarded as late and hence beholden to other traditions for the presence of such influences. For example, Robert (1934–5) suggested that Proverbs 1–9 reflects reutilizations of material in the book of Deuteronomy.

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The Book of Proverbs in Social and Theological Context , pp. 155 - 187
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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