Troublesome Topic: Why Do Some Proverbs Makes Sense and Some Do Not?

Some of Solomon’s proverbs are easy to understand, but some make us ask questions. What I will share next has been the key that has helped me wrap my mind around those proverbs that otherwise would be confusing or troubling to me.

Solomon became famous for his ability to boil an issue down to a nugget of truth and put it in a package that could be remembered easily. These were later compiled into a list of just the king’s proverbs without the information of who they were spoken to or why. It is likely that part of this compilation process happened while Solomon was alive, and part of it happened shortly after his death. But it appears that some of it took place many years later. Proverbs 25:1 says, These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of King Hezekiah of Judah copied (NET Bible). Apparently Hezekiah felt there was more richness to be found in the old records of Solomon’s reign, so he commissioned some men to go through them to pull out and organize more of his proverbs. The order we have today is likely credited more to the work of Hezekiah’s men than to the men of Solomon’s day.

Unfortunately, we have often thought that the proverbs were stand-alone statements, or were written originally as concise statements of truth we call proverbs. But the proverbs have a special context. They were not suspended in mid-air with no relationship to any context. But the specific context of each nugget of truth is not stated. Proverbs 26:7 says, Like a lame man’s legs, which hang useless, is a proverb in the mouth of fools (ESV). In other words, a proverb has a setting or an application that make it useful, applying it to the wrong situation robs it of its power and makes it sound silly.

While we cannot know the specific context of each saying, there are a few key possibilities for the context of most of the proverbs. All of them hinge on the fact that King Solomon, like every king, had a scribe taking notes on everything that happened each day—who came to see the king, what was discussed, what the king’s response or decision was, who would enforce his decision, etc.

Here are the possible contexts that I see for the proverbs:

1.   Speeches that Solomon gave, either to a large group, or to a specific group.

His longer discourses would likely fall into this category. We should not imagine him sitting down and writing one of those discourses just for the sake of writing it; instead we should imagine him speaking these things, and a scribe writing it all down. We should assume that the spoken version came first.

2.  Kings often served as judges in those days.

You might say a king was like the Supreme Court, the buck stops here. Although God had established in the Law that the buck would stop with the high priest, the kings took over the judiciary and appointed judges, some of whom were priests, some of whom were not. These judges functioned under the king, who functioned as the supreme judge. Thus Solomon would judge disputes between people, or hear various types of grievances. The rationale for his ruling was put into a capsule that was easy to remember, a proverb.

3.  People came to him seeking advice and to ask questions.

 As Solomon’s reputation as a wise man became widespread, people came from far and wide to listen to him and to ask him questions. People from all nations came to hear Solomon’s display of wisdom; they came from all the kings of the earth who heard about his wisdom (I Kings 4:34) (NET Bible). They would listen as he sat as judge, and as he gave people advice who came seeking it. They probably asked some questions of their own.  When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon, she came to challenge him with difficult questions. She arrived in Jerusalem with a great display of pomp, bringing with her camels carrying spices, a very large quantity of gold, and precious gems. She visited Solomon and discussed with him everything that was on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; there was no question too complex for the king (I Kings 10:1-3)(NET Bible). Notice that the king’s wisdom was given in response to the queen of Sheba’s questions. It was just what she was looking for. If it had only been what he wanted to say it would not have struck a chord with people the way it did. I believe much of his wisdom was in knowing how to limit himself to what the people needed to hear.

True to his style, he would often encapsulate his wisdom in short, memorable statements we call proverbs. His wisdom was demonstrated, not only in knowing about lots of things, nor being able to see through difficult issues and peel back the layers of complexity, but in his ability to state the solution or related truth in a short and memorable fashion. Whereas many people who know quite a bit become long-winded and give far too much information, Solomon gained a reputation because of his ability to keep it brief.

4. Pithy, catchy bits of wisdom, inserted into an administrative statement or law, or some other official statement.

These nuggets of wisdom would show the rationale behind the law or whatever else was being established. If you look you will notice that some of the proverbs sound like a statement of rationale: “here is why we do what we do.” Once again this was recorded by a scribe. It is likely that some of these were lifted out and written down as individual proverbs when Hezekiah had his men go through the stuff Solomon had said and find proverbs and organize them into one collection as we see them today.

The point of all this is that each individual proverb had its own context, but that context is not available to us. Different situations received slightly different, and sometimes widely different answers (or proverbs).

 Take for instance the following verses: Proverbs 26:4 says, Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him, (NKJV) and Proverbs 26:5 says, Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes (NKJV).

Which was it? How are you supposed to deal with a fool?  Apparently it depended on the situation. Neither one was intended as an absolute statement for all people for all time. Granted, many of the proverbs have a universal application and do not require a unique context. But there are several types of proverbs in which considering a possible context becomes important.

The next lesson is: Proverbs that Sound Like Absolute Statements but Are Not