How To Read Proverbs

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar 2004 by Crutchfield, John C

How To Read Proverbs. By Tremper Longman. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2002, 174 pp., $13.

Readers of this journal are most likely already familiar with the contributions to biblical studies by Tremper Longman. This book is another work in that collection. A companion volume to his earlier How to Read the Psalms (IVP, 1988), this volume is a 163-page study of the book of Proverbs.

Longman divides his work into three parts. Part 1, "Understanding Proverbs," looks at Proverbs as a book. In chapter 1, "Why Read Proverbs?" Longman introduces the book, discussing its purpose, addressees, and several prominent themes. Chapters 2 and 3 are an extended introduction to Proverbs 1-9. Dividing them into 17 "speeches" (p. 23), Longman discusses chapters 1-9 by focusing on two themes: "Walking on the Path of Life" (chap. 2) and "Woman, Wisdom or Folly-Which Will It Be?" (chap. 3). Chapter 2 discusses the importance of the "son" terminology and the emphasis on the path of life, which implies a choice: the "son" is exhorted to choose righteousness, life, and wisdom. Chapter 3 focuses on the competition in Proverbs 1-9 between the two feminine images, personifications of wisdom and folly. Chapter 4 is an analysis of how the literary form of "proverb" works, discussing the various literary devices used in chapters 10-31. In chapter 5 Longman investigates the limits of the genre of "proverb." This is a particularly helpful chapter because Longman effectively warns the reader of Proverbs of what he calls "genre misidentification" (p. 48). A proverb is (usually) not universal in scope, but rather depends on the right time and circumstance to be true. The rest of the chapter focuses on the sources of wisdom: observation and experience; instruction based on tradition; learning from mistakes; and revelation.

In Part 2, "Reading Proverbs in Context" (chaps. 6-9), Longman discusses Proverbs in its ANE and canonical contexts. Chapter 6 is a survey of the relationship between Proverbs and other ANE wisdom traditions in which Longman discusses and quotes from Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, and Northwest Semitic wisdom collections. Chapter 7 contrasts the wisdom of Proverbs with two other biblical books with which it is often thought to be in tension-Job and Ecclesiastes. Chapter 9 examines Joseph and Daniel as pictures of wisdom in action, and chapter 10 focuses on God in Proverbs, concluding with a discussion of how followers of Jesus can read OT wisdom passages in light of Christ as Messiah.

Part Three, "Following the Themes in Proverbs," illustrates how to read Proverbs topically by offering three studies: financial issues (chap. 10); sexuality (chap. 11); and the use of the tongue (chap. 12).

A two-page conclusion called "Principles for Reading the Book of Proverbs" and two appendices (one on the authorship and date of the book of Proverbs and the other on commentaries on the book of Proverbs) finish the volume. Each chapter ends with questions for further reflection and sources for further reading. Finally, the book has endnotes and is indexed by author, subject, and Scripture.

This is a basic book on Proverbs. If the book's purpose is kept in mind, the reader will not be disappointed. It is neither a commentary nor a review of scholarship, but a basic introduction to the content and interpretation of the book of Proverbs. The book's main rivals are the shorter commentaries on Proverbs by Kidner (TOTC), Murphy (NIBC) and Ross (EBC), or the helpful review of wisdom literature by Kidner (The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes: An Introduction to Wisdom Literature I.IVP, 1985J). In the class I teach on Wisdom Literature, I require Kidner because the author covers the three main wisdom books of the OT in one volume. Longman's book is a good resource for a church-based class on Proverbs or as one textbook among several others in a college level class on Wisdom Literature. In my opinion, however, Kidner is still hard to beat.

John C. Crutchfield

Columbia International University, Columbia, SC