Proverbs.
The authorship of Proverbs has been ascribed to Solomon. He could have written but few of these proverbs, and probably wrote none. It is a compilation of maxims made many centuries after his time. Tradition represented Solomon as the wisest of men, and every wise saying whose origin was unknown was credited to him.
Dr. Oort says: “The history of Solomon’s wisdom resembles that of David’s music. In either case the imagination of posterity has given a thoroughly religious character to what was in reality purely secular; and just as David was made the author of a number of psalms, so various works of the so-called sages, or proverb-makers, were ascribed to Solomon” (Bible for Learners, vol. ii, p. 75).
The book consists of seven different collections of proverbs, as follows: 1. i, 7-ix; 2. x-xxii, 16; 3. xxii, 17-xxiv; 4. xxv-xxix; 5. xxx; 6. xxxi, 1–9; 7. xxxi, 10–31. The first six verses are a preface.
The first collection, it is admitted, was not the work of Solomon. These proverbs were composed as late as 600 B.C. The second collection is presented as “The Proverbs of Solomon.” If any of Solomon’s proverbs exist they are contained in this collection. The third collection is anonymous. The fourth begins as follows: “These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out” (700 B.C.). The fifth contains “The words of Agur the son of Jakeh.” The sixth, comprising the first nine verses of the last chapter, are “The words of King Lemuel.” The seventh, comprising the remainder of the chapter, is a poem, written after the Captivity.