Poetic Imagination in Proverbs: Variant Repetitions and the Nature of Poetry

704 Pages·2013·9.29 MB·English

by  Knut Martin Heim

Poetic Imagination in Proverbs
Bulletin for Biblical Research Supplements
Editor
Richard S. Hess, Denver Seminary
Associate Editor
Craig L. Blomberg, Denver Seminary
Advisory Board
Leslie C. Allen I. Howard Marshall
Fuller Theological Seminary University of Aberdeen
Donald A. Carson Elmer A. Martens
Trinity Evangelical Divinity Mennonite Brethren Biblical
School Seminary
Donald A. Hagner Bruce K. Waltke
Fuller Theological Seminary Knox Theological Seminary
Karen H. Jobes Edwin M. Yamauchi
Wheaton College Miami University
1. Bridging the Gap: Ritual and Ritual Texts in the Bible, by Gerald A. Klingbeil
2. War in the Bible and Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century, edited by
Richard S. Hess and Elmer A. Martens
3. Critical Issues in Early Israelite History, edited by Richard S. Hess, Gerald A.
Klingbeil, and Paul J. Ray Jr.
4. Poetic Imagination in Proverbs: Variant Repetitions and the Nature of Poetry,
by Knut Martin Heim
5. Divine Sabbath Work, by Michael H. Burer
6. The Iron Age I Structure on Mt. Ebal: Excavation and Interpretation,
by Ralph K. Hawkins
7. Toward a Poetics of Genesis 1–11: Reading Genesis 4:17-22 in Its Ancient Near
Eastern Background, by Daniel DeWitt Lowery
Poetic Imagination
in Proverbs
Variant Repetitions and the Nature of Poetry
Knut Martin Heim
Winona Lake, Indiana
Eisenbrauns
2013
© Copyright 2013 Eisenbrauns
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
www.eisenbrauns.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Heim, Knut Martin.
Poetic imagination in Proverbs : variant repetitions and the nature of
poetry / Knut Martin Heim.
p. cm. — (Bulletin for biblical research supplements ; 4)
Includes text of Proverbs in Hebrew with English translation.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-57506-810-7 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Bible. O.T. Proverbs—Criticism, Redaction. 2. Bible. O.T.
Proverbs—Criticism, Textual. I. Bible. O.T. Proverbs Hebrew. 2012.
II. Bible. O.T. Proverbs English. 2012. III. Title.
BS1465.52.H45 2012
223′.7066—dc23
2012023488
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. ♾™
To the memory of my mother,
Irmtraut Maria Gabriele Heim
née Sochor (1935–2006)
(Proverbs 17:6)

Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Part 1
1. Introduction: Review of Recent Literature
and Methodology .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1. Variant Repetitions in the Book of Proverbs 3
2. The Repetition of Proverbs in
Other Ancient Near Eastern Proverb Collections 9
3. The Design of Poetic Lines in the
Old Testament/Hebrew Bible 11
4. Survey of Scholarship on Parallelism
in Biblical Poetry 19
5. Levels of Parallelism in the Book of Proverbs 29
6. Method for the Study of Macro-Level Variant
Repetitions in the Book of Proverbs 32
2. Introduction to the Structure of Proverbs 1–9 . . . . . . . . . 36
1. The Distribution of Variant Repetitions
in Proverbs 1–9 39
2. Opening Appeal Formulae in Proverbs 1–9 47
Part 2
3. Variant Sets 1–5 .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
1. Set 1: Prov 1:7a // Prov 9:10a // Prov 15:33a
(cf. Prov 18:12) 51
2. Set 2: Prov 1:8 // Prov 6:20 61
3. Set 3: Prov 1:8a // Prov 4:1a (cf. Prov 6:20) 65
4. Set 4: Prov 1:9a // Prov 4:9a 70
5. Set 5: Prov 1:25 // Prov 1:30 74
4. Variant Sets 6–12 .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
1. Set 6: Prov 2:1 // Prov 7:1 78
2. Set 7: Prov 2:2 // Prov 4:20 // Prov 5:1 82
3. Set 8: Prov 2:3 // Prov 8:1 90
vii
viii Contents
4. Set 9: Prov 2:16 // Prov 5:2B (Restored!) // Prov 6:24 //
Prov 7:5 94
5. Set 10: Prov 3:2 // Prov 4:10 // Prov 9:11 104
6. Set 11: Prov 3:3b–c // Prov 7:3 cf. Prov 6:21 110
7. Set 12: Prov 3:7b // Prov 16:6b 116
5. Variant Sets 13 to 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
1. Set 13: Prov 3:15 // Prov 8:11 121
2. Set 14: Prov 3:21a // Prov 4:21a 126
3. Set 15: Prov 3:31a // Prov 23:17a //
Prov 24:1a // Prov 24:19a 131
4. Set 16: Prov 4:4c // Prov 7:2a 137
5. Set 17: Prov 5:7 // Prov 7:24 // Prov 8:32a 141
6. Variant Sets 18–22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
1. Set 18: Prov 6:8a // Prov 30:25b cf. Prov 10:5 149
2. Set 19: Prov 6:10–11 // Prov 24:33–34 161
3. Set 20: Prov 6:14 // Prov 16:28a 167
4. Set 21: Prov 6:15a // Prov 24:22a and
Prov 6:15b // Prov 29:1b 174
5. Set 22: Prov 6:19a // Prov 14:5b 181
7. Variant Sets 23 to 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
1. Set 23: Prov 8:35 // Prov 12:2a // Prov 18:22 186
2. Set 24: Prov 9:1a // Prov 14:1a // Prov 24:3a 192
3. Set 25: Prov 9:4 // Prov 9:16 201
8. Variant Sets 26 to 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
1. Set 26: Prov 10:1 // Prov 15:20 208
2. Set 27: Prov 10:2 // Prov 11:4 213
3. Set 28: Prov 10:6b // Prov 10:11b 218
4. Set 29: Prov 10:8b // Prov 10:10b 224
5. Set 30: Prov 10:13b // Prov 26:3b // Prov 19:29b 228
6. Set 31: Prov 10:15 // Prov 18:11 235
7. Set 32: Prov 10:28 // Prov 11:7 240
8. Set 33: Prov 10:29b // Prov 21:15b 246
9. Variant Sets 34 to 41 .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
1. Set 34: Prov 11:1 // Prov 20:23 252
2. Set 35: Prov 11:2b // Prov 13:10b 255
3. Set 36: Prov 11:6a // Prov 12:6b 259
4. Set 37: Prov 11:13a // Prov 20:19a 263
5. Set 38: Prov 11:14 // Prov 15:22 267
6. Set 39: Prov 11:14a // Prov 29:18a 273
7. Set 40: Prov 11:14b // Prov 24:6b 278
8. Set 41: Prov 11:20a // Prov 11:21a // Prov 16:5 283
Contents ix
10. Variant Sets 42 to 47 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
1. Set 42: Prov 12:11 // Prov 28:19 288
2. Set 43: Prov 12:13 // Prov 29:6 291
3. Set 44: Prov 12:14a // Prov 13:2a // Prov 18:20a 295
4. Set 45: Prov 12:15a // Prov 16:2 // Prov 21:2
and Prov 14:12 // Prov 16:25 303
5. Set 46: Prov 12:16b // Prov 12:23a 315
6. Set 47: Prov 12:23 // Prov 13:16 //
Prov 15:2 // Prov 15:14 320
11. Variant Sets 48 to 52 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
1. Set 48: Prov 13:1b // Prov 13:8b 329
2. Set 49: Prov 13:3 // Prov 21:23 //
Prov 16:17b // Prov 19:16a 334
3. Set 50: Prov 13:9b // Prov 24:20b 347
4. Set 51: Prov 13:14 // Prov 14:27 353
5. Set 52: Prov 14:17a // Prov 14:29 358
12. Variant Sets 53 to 59 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
1. Set 53: Prov 15:8a // Prov 21:27a 363
2. Set 54: Prov 15:13 // Prov 17:22 368
3. Set 55: Prov 15:14a // Prov 18:15a 373
4. Set 56: Prov 15:16 // Prov 16:8 376
5. Set 57: Prov 15:18a // Prov 29:22a 383
6. Set 58: Prov 15:22b // Prov 24:6b 387
7. Set 59: Prov 15:33b // Prov 18:12b;
Prov 18:12a // Prov 16:18a 392
13. Variant Sets 60 to 66 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
1. Set 60: Prov 16:12b // Prov 20:28b //
Prov 25:5b // Prov 29:14b 399
3. Set 62: Prov 17:3a // Prov 27:21a 411
4. Set 63: Prov 24:24a // Prov 17:15a – Prov 17:15b //
Prov 20:10b 415
5. Set 64: Prov 18:4a // Prov 20:5a 427
6. Set 65: Prov 18:8 // Prov 26:22 430
7. Set 66: Prov 18:9b // Prov 28:24b 433
14. Variant Sets 67 to 74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
1. Set 67: Prov 19:1 // Prov 28:6 438
2. Set 68: Prov 19:5 // Prov 19:9 443
3. Set 69: Prov 19:9 // Prov 21:28a 447
4. Set 70: Prov 19:11 and Prov 20:3:
A Case of Conceptual Repetition? 451
5. Set 71: Prov 19:12a // Prov 20:2a 456