Be Wise, My Son, and Make My Heart Glad: An Exploration of the Courtly Nature of the Book of Proverbs (Beihefte Zur Zeitschrift Fur Die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft): 422

258 Pages·2010·11.947 MB·English

by  Christopher B. Ansberry

Christopher B. Ansberry
Be Wise, My Son, and Make My Heart Glad
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die
alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
Herausgegeben von
John Barton · Reinhard G. Kratz
Choon-Leong Seow · Markus Witte
Band 422
De Gruyter
Christopher B. Ansberry
Be Wise, My Son, and
Make My Heart Glad
An Exploration of the Courtly Nature
of the Book of Proverbs
De Gruyter
ISBN 978-3-11-024790-9
e-ISBN 978-3-11-024791-6
ISSN 0934-2575
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Ansberry,ChristopherB.
Bewise,myson,andmakemyheartglad:anexplorationofthecourtly
natureofthebookofProverbs/ChristopherB.Ansberry.
p. cm. - (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissen-
schaft,ISSN0934-2575;Bd.422)
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p. )andindexes.
ISBN978-3-11-024790-9(hardcover23(cid:2)15,5:alk.paper)
1.Bible.O.T.Proverbs-Criticism,interpretation,etc. I.Title.
BS1465.52.A57 2010
2231.7066-dc22
2010036858
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Forward

For many readers of Scripture the book of Proverbs is the favorite Old
Testament book, in part because it offers short pithy counsel for every
conceivable circumstance in life. However, for many the book is also a riddle,
raising a host of questions concerning its addressee, purpose, structure and style.
Readers can readily follow the flow of thought in the beginning (chapters 1-9)
and at the end (chapters 30-31), but the heart of the book (chapters 10-29)
appears on first sight to be a hodge-podge collection of short sayings, randomly
arranged, and going nowhere. I used to imagine that under the sponsorship of the
Israelite court scribes were sent throughout the land to listen to the people, to
hear how they express themselves, particularly on lessons on life from everyday
experience. Equipped with quill and sherds of pottery (ostraca) they would record
the aphoristic wisdom they heard, drop the documents into a bag or bucket, and
bring them to a central location, presumably in Jerusalem, where they were
stored. At some point the ostraca in the containers from all over the country were
dumped into one large container and then removed and read one by one, while a
scribe recorded them serially. Admittedly we can see some stylistic structure in
the book, which might suggest that when scribes read an emblematic (25:11-
26:23), antithetical (28:1-29:27), or prohibitive (24:15-21, 28-29) proverb they set
the sherd aside in a separate pile, later to be recorded as a group. Apart from
these and a few other sequences of coherent proverbs, the collections seem
frustratingly random. Since scholarly investigations of Proverbs have tended to
focus on the literary disjunctions within the book, the riddles involving the
book’s nature, cohesion, and trajectory have not often been addressed.
When investigating the wide range of literature that makes up our sacred
Scriptures (the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament) interpreters must answer
three questions: (1) The text-critical question: What does the text say? (2) The
hermeneutical question: What did the text mean to the first readers (the original
horizon)? (3) The practical question: What does/should the text mean to me (the
contemporary horizon)? However, there is a fourth that is equally critical in the
interpretive enterprise, namely the literary and rhetorical question: Why does it
say it like that? With regard to Proverbs, the answers to the last question may
derive from the conceptual and literary world out of which the book emerged and
viii Forward
to which it spoke, from distinctive Israelite literary conventions, or from the
agenda that biblical authors have set for themselves.
In this volume Christopher Ansberry has paid particular attention to the last
question. With skill and care he has explored the sapiential world of the ancient
Near East and has recognized—as have many before him—that Proverbs fits
into that intellectual environment. However, the particular value of his work will
be seen in his exploration of how the book works as a coherent whole. Building
on the work of predecessors, he acknowledges the disjunctions within the book
and the distinctive characteristics of each part. Nevertheless, he argues
convincingly that the respective parts are intentionally shaped and arranged to
reflect the pedagogical agenda of preparing a noble youth of the court for
responsible leadership within the community. However, the focus is not on the
youth’s administrative duties, nor on giving him the skills needed for
administration, but to create for him a moral vision grounded in the fear of
YHWH and governed by righteousness.
In addition to arguing convincingly for the literary coherence of the book of
Proverbs, perhaps the author’s most significant contribution is his demonstration
that the moral vision of wisdom in ancient Israel is part and parcel of the
theological conceptual world of the Old Testament, and that we need no longer
view Israelite wisdom as outside the main stream of biblical theology. As the
author declares in his concluding sentence, “The book of Proverbs presents a
portrait of concrete Israelite piety; it plays a vital role in describing what the fear
of YHWH and practical righteousness look like, especially in the lives of those
who govern the people of YHWH.” While this conclusion will no doubt provoke
a good deal of scholarly and lay discussion, many will thank him for giving them
back the book of Proverbs. We should not be surprised that as a wisdom
composition, the whole actually makes sense.

Daniel I. Block, D.Phil.
Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Old Testament
Wheaton College
Table of Contents

Forward ............................................................................................................................. vii
Acknowledgement .......................................................................................................... xiii
Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... xv

Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Modern Proposals Concerning the Nature and Function of the
Book of Proverbs ............................................................................................... 2
1.2 Proposal and Method ........................................................................................ 7

Chapter 2: The Nature of Ancient Near Eastern Instructional Texts ................... 11
2.1 Egyptian Instructional Literature ................................................................... 12
2.1.1 The Discourse Setting of Egyptian Instructional Literature ............ 13
2.1.2 The Content of Egyptian Instructional Literature ............................. 19
2.1.3 The Worldview of Egyptian Instructional Literature......................... 24
2.2 Mesopotamian and Syrian Instructional Literature ..................................... 26
2.2.1 The Discourse Setting of Mesopotamian and Syrian
Instructional Literature ........................................................................... 26
2.2.2 The Content of Mesopotamian and Syrian Instructional
Literature ................................................................................................... 29
2.2.3 The Worldview of Mesopotamian and Syrian
Instructional Literature ........................................................................... 32
2.3 Conclusion........................................................................................................... 34

Chapter 3: The Value of Wisdom: Proverbs 1–9........................................................ 36
3.1 Proverbs 1–9 vis-à-vis the Ancient Near Eastern
Instructional Tradition...................................................................................... 36
3.2 The Discourse Setting of Proverbs 1–9......................................................... 40
3.2.1 The Social Setting of Proverbs 1–9...................................................... 40
3.2.2 The Speaker of Proverbs 1–9................................................................ 45
3.3 The Content of Proverbs 1–9 ......................................................................... 46
3.3.1 The Lectures of Proverbs 1–9............................................................... 47
x Table of Contents

3.3.2 The Interludes of Proverbs 1–9............................................................ 54
3.3.3 Section Conclusion.................................................................................. 64
3.4 The Addressee of Proverbs 1–9...................................................................... 64
3.5 Conclusion........................................................................................................... 69

Chapter 4: Rudimentary Wisdom: Proverbs 10–24.................................................... 71
4.1 The Literary Context of the Sentence Literature.......................................... 71
4.2 Elementary Wisdom: Solomon 1A (10:1–15:33).......................................... 76
4.2.1 The Anthropocentric Dimension of Solomon 1A............................ 79
4.2.1.1 The Monarchy............................................................................. 80
4.2.1.2 The Community.......................................................................... 84
4.2.1.3 The Family................................................................................... 91
4.2.2 The Theocentric Dimension of Solomon 1A.................................... 95
4.2.3 Section Conclusion................................................................................. 99
4.3 Intermediate Wisdom: Solomon 1B (16:1–22:16)...................................... 100
4.3.1 The Anthropocentric Dimension of Solomon 1B.......................... 103
4.3.1.1 The Monarchy........................................................................... 104
4.3.1.2 The Community........................................................................ 107
4.3.1.3 The Family................................................................................. 112
4.3.2 The Theocentric Dimension of Solomon 1B.................................. 114
4.3.3 Section Conclusion............................................................................... 117
4.4 Vocational Wisdom: Sayings of the Wise 1 and Sayings
of the Wise 2 (22:17–24:34).......................................................................... 119
4.5 Conclusion......................................................................................................... 124

Chapter 5: Advanced Wisdom: Proverbs 25–29....................................................... 126
5.1 The Courtly Context of Proverbs 25:1–29:27............................................. 126
5.2 The Sapiential Vision of Solomon 2A (25:2–27:27).................................. 130
5.2.1 Proverbs 25:2–27.................................................................................. 130
5.2.2 Proverbs 25:28–26:28........................................................................... 143
5.2.3 Proverbs 27:1–22.................................................................................. 149
5.2.4 Proverbs 27:23–27................................................................................ 152
5.2.5 Section Conclusion............................................................................... 155
5.3 The Sapiential Vision of Solomon 2B (28:1–29:27)................................... 155
5.3.1 Section Conclusion............................................................................... 159
5.4 Conclusion......................................................................................................... 160

Chapter 6: Applied Wisdom: Proverbs 30–31........................................................... 162
6.1 The Words of Agur (30:1–33)........................................................................ 163
6.1.1 Section Conclusion............................................................................... 175
6.2 The Words of Lemuel (31:1–31)................................................................... 175
6.2.1 Section Conclusion............................................................................... 182