Proverbs, THE BOOK OF, a canonical book of the Old Testament, holds the second place among the Hagiographa, coming immediately after Psalms. The Hebrew word mashal, translated in the title by paroimia in the LXX. and proverbium in the Vulgate, primarily means 'similitude,' and is applicable to any kind of allegory, simile, or comparison, especially when made for purposes of instruction; and every kind of didactic poetry is also included under the name. Typical instances of the use of the word occur in Ezek. xvii. 2 (LXX. parabolē, A.V. 'parable'), 1 Sam. x. 12 (LXX. parabolē, A.V. 'proverb'), Ps. xlix. 4 ('parable'), Isa. xiv. 4 (LXX. threnos, A.V. 'proverb'); it thus applies equally to that brief spontaneous product of popular wit or wisdom which in ordinary English parlance is most usually understood by the word 'proverb,' and also to that special kind of literary production which the Romans called sententia, the Greeks gnomē, and which is known to the modern French as the maxim. The Book of Proverbs as we now have it is made up of a number of originally separate collections; besides the general preface (i. 1-7), usually attributed to the author of chap. i.-ix., it consists of the following eight parts: (1) i. 8-ix. 18 has more appearance of plan, method, and free composition than any of the others, and is specially distinguished by the elaborateness with which its moral lessons are enforced. Its personification of wisdom as the first creation of God is 'one of the most remarkable and beautiful things in Hebrew literature,' and clearly marks it as belonging to a comparatively late phase of Hebrew thought not far removed from the beginnings of Alexandrian speculation. (2) x. 1-xxii. 16, headed 'the proverbs of Solomon,' consists of 376 miscellaneous distichs, mostly of the antithetic type, of which a good example is furnished by the opening verse of the collection. (3) xxii. 17-xxiv. 22 consists of thirty-two moral precepts, six of which are distichs, seventeen in four lines, and the others of various forms, including a discourse or mashal of some length against drunkenness (xxiii. 29-35). An exhortation to heedfulness under instruction is prefixed (xxii. 17-21). (4) xxiv. 23-34 is super-scribed 'These also are sayings of the wise,' and contains six sayings or precepts of a somewhat trite order, including, however, the familiar description of the sluggard and his vineyard. (5) xxv. 1-xxix. 27 has the heading 'These also are the proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out.' Of the total number (127) 114 are distichs, six in four lines, and the rest irregular. This collection is generally considered by critics to contain more elements of high antiquity than the rest of the book, and is specially distinguished by the vigour, freshness, and originality of its observations and expressions. (6) xxx. consists of twelve sets of verses of various import, including some riddles of the Hebrew type. The somewhat obscure heading ought probably to run 'The words of Agur the son of Jakel of Massa' (cf. Gen. xxv. 14; 1 Chron. i. 30, iv. 38), and the opening verses to be read (as in R.V. margin) 'The man said, I have wearied myself, O God, I have wearied myself, O God, and am consumed, for I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man'—the despairing expression of a spirit that has exhausted its energies in the effort to reach a true knowledge of God. (7) xxxi. 1-9, 'The words of Lemuel, king of Massa' (see above), wherewith his mother instructed him, a warning against wine and women, and an exhortation to righteousness in judgment. (8) xxxi. 10-31, an alphabetical piece without superscription, consisting of twenty-two distichs in praise of the 'virtuous woman'—i.e. the wise, energetic, capable housewife. There are no data that enable us accurately to determine the relative ages of these eight portions. It seems not unreasonable to suppose that the book may have been brought into its present form by the writer of the first part (i.-ix.). It is not improbable that the book contains individual utterances of very great antiquity—as old as, and perhaps even older than, Solomon himself; but it is impossible to pick out these with certainty. There is no good reason for identifying the main collection (x. 1-xxii. 16), consisting as we have seen of 376 mashals, with the 3000 proverbs of Solomon mentioned in 1 Kings, iv. 32, though this has been done by Jerome; that x. 1-xxii. 16 was not before the compilers of xxv. 1-xxix. 27 is evident from the number of doublets contained in the latter series (cf., for example, xxv. 24 and xxi. 9; xxvi. 13 and xxii. 13; xxvi. 15 and xix. 24, and numerous other instances). It is probable that the present book was a slow and gradual growth; and that the process may have been carried on to a very late date is shown by the considerable variations between the Massoretic and Septuagint texts.
For a good account of the Book of Proverbs, with references to the literature of the subject, see Reuss, Gesch. d. heil. Schriften Alten Testaments (1890). The most convenient commentaries are those of Hitzig (1858), Bertheau (1847; new ed. by Nowack, 1883), and Delitzsch (1873; Eng. trans.). See also The Speaker's Commentary, and a homiletical work by Horton (1891).