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The date, composition and editing of the Book of Proverbs
Old Testament wisdom books are famously difficult to date, in particular Proverbs. This can be ascribed to the fact that Proverbs is considered to be so alien that it is incompatible with the religion of the Old Testament. It cannot be denied that it contains almost no obvious links to the normative faith of Israel. No reference is made in Proverbs to Israel and its political or religious history. Not much reference is made to Israel’s institutions either. No proper Israelite names occur in the book of Proverbs apart from those of Solomon and Hezekiah. Only one God (Yahweh) is known, although it presents the deity in terms that may not appear to allow a specific link with the Yahweh of the rest of the Old Testament.
Some writers regard it as an expression of faith parallel with or in some sense alternative to the more traditional forms of Yahwism. It is, however, difficult to pinpoint its religious thought within the context of any specific stage in the development of the Yahwistic theology (Whybray 1995:150).
Most of the writers who have examined the Book of Proverbs have attempted to date the book but their opinions have been contradictory (Whybray 1995:150). The nature of its literature makes the dating of Proverbs extremely difficult. Proverbs (admonitions and sayings) refer to the common patterns and structures of human life. Admonitions and sayings are brought down from traditions and can preserve wisdom from earlier times in a fossilised form. The problem is complicated even more by the extremely brief scope of the various admonitions and sayings. In addition, there are virtually no historical “connections” to which a secure date or dates can be assigned to the whole text or its parts. Apart from the reference to Solomon (1:1; 10:1) and to Hezekiah (25:1), there is no specific historical reference in the book. Lemuel and Agur are unknown, except for the reference to them in Proverbs (Van Leeuwen 1997:21).
Agur (Proverbs 30) and Lemuel (Proverbs 31) appear to have their origin in Massa (Kitchen 1977:102). Massa was situated to the east of Israel-Judah on the fringes of the Arabian Desert. Agur and Lemuel are attested to in the mid-first millennium Assyrian texts. The overall period from the tenth to the sixth centuries BCE is a good indication of the involvement of Agur and Lemuel in the book. The earliest date at which their independent works could have been added to a scroll that contains the present Proverbs 1-29 is the seventh century BCE (Kitchen 1977:102).*
The real date could, however, have been later. A final date in purely literary terms for the present Book of Proverbs (1-31) would not be earlier than the seventh century BCE. It may even be later, but how much later, (late monarchy or post-exilic), is unknown (Kitchen 1977:102).
Proverbs makes no reference to Israel’s history of redemption, such as patriarchal promises, exodus, covenants, law, gift of the land, exile and return. The silence should not be interpreted as that the various authors of the book had no interest in matters of redemptive history or in other biblical books.
Like many other books in the Hebrew canon, Proverbs does not reveal all of its authors’ concerns. This silence in wisdom writings is a function of their genre and purpose (Van Leeuwen 1997:21).
Attempts have been made to date Proverbs from other sources. The language, editing devices, and themes yielded no success in providing assured results. In order to date Proverbs from its language, one must determine to which period of the Hebrew language the book belongs. Two phases in the language are generally distinguished prior to the rise of Rabbinic Hebrew as a literary language in the first or second centuries BCE. The first language is pre-exilic Hebrew (pre-sixth century BCE) that ceased to exist as a living language after the exile in Babylonia. The second language is late Biblical Hebrew (in the later books of the Bible). The second language was to some extent an imitation of the pre-exilic language. Most scholars are of the opinion that the bulk of the sayings of Proverbs are pre-exilic or exilic (Biblical Hebrew). These scholars concur that most of the speeches and instructions (Proverbs 1-9) and the final editing is post-exilic (late biblical Hebrew) (Clifford 1999:4).
Proverbs has some Aramaisms, but it does not allow for an argument for a late date as the Aramaisms are only found sporadically in pre-exilic texts. A large number in a book can, however, suggest a postexilic date when Aramaic became the language of government and commerce. The majority of Aramaisms occur in Proverbs 10-31 instead of Proverbs 1-9 which are considered later. No Graecisms are found in the book to suggest a pre-Hellenistic date (before 333 BCE). It is thus clear that the book cannot be dated with any certainty from the language used in it (Clifford 1999:4-5).
Official Aramaic was used during the exilic and post-exilic periods (Yoder 2001: 24). Aramaic was the language of commerce, diplomacy and administration. It was used in daily communication throughout the Babylonian and Persian empires. Evidence of direct or indirect influence of Aramaic on the linguistic structure and vocabulary of Hebrew may be found in texts composed during or after the exile (Yoder 2001:24).
1.Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Motivation for the study
1.3 Research problem
1.4 Objectives of the study
1.5 Research methodology
1.6 Hypothesis
1.7 Chapter division
1.8 Terminology and orthography
1.8.1 Terminologies
1.8.2 Orthography
2. Chapter 2: Proverbs a guide to wisdom and wise living
2.1 Introductio
2.2 Wisdom literature
2.2.1 Definition of wisdom/Wisdom Literature
2.2.2 Wisdom Literature in the Ancient Near East
2.2.4 The theology of Wisdom Literature
2.3 Background and structure of the Book of Proverbs
2.3.1 Definition of Proverbs
2.3.2 Title of the Book of Proverbs
2.3.3 The place of Proverbs in the canon
2.3.4 Proverbs as a book of wisdom
2.3.5 The author of Proverbs
2.3.6 The date, composition and editing of the Book of Proverbs
2.4 Possible outline and sections of Proverbs
2.5 Proverbs and biblical theology
2.6 Proverbs and Pan-Oriental Wisdom Literature
2.7 Meaning and relevance of Proverbs
2.8 Conclusion
3 Chapter 3 Noble woman: an idea, illusion, myth or reality?
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Date and place of origin
3.3 Social and economic setting
3.4 Genre and purpose
3.5 Original audience
3.6 Women and their social status
3.6.1 Marriage, divorce and widows
3.6.2 Wife and mother
3.6.2.1 Motherhood
3.6.3 Infertility
3.6.4 Child bearing and the death of a child
3.6.5 Caring for the children and household
3.6.6 Female hierarchy in a household
3.6.7 Women’s sexuality and adultery
3.6.8 Activities outside the household and family
3.6.9 Religious life
3.7 Text translation
3.7. Introduction
3.8 Text analysis
3.8.1 Introduction: Proverbs 31:10-12
3.8.2 Noble wife – a portrayal (31:13-27)
3.8.2.1 Her sources of income (31:13-18)
3.8.2.2 Janus verse (Proverbs 31:19)
3.8.2.3 Her production (Proverbs 31:20-27)
3.8.2.4 Praise for the noble woman (Proverbs 31:28-31)
3.9 Conclusion
4. Chapter 4 Feminism and “woman of worth”
5. Chapter 5 Synthesis
Bibliography
