PROVERBS, BOOK OF

priate proverb in a controversy always carries weight, unless the opponent can quote another in support of his claims. Thus, to the careless and inattentive man in business who says ' Prosperity is from God,' it may be retorted ' He that seeketh findeth.' Beneath some com-mendable social qualities belonging to this attitude there is a mental passivity that seeks to attain to results without the trouble of personal inquiry, and prefers the benefits conferred by truth to any sacrifice or service that might be rendered to it. G. M. Mackie.

PROVERBS, BOOK OF.— The second book among the 'Writings' is the most characteristic example of the Wisdom literature in the OT. 1. We may adopt the division of the book made by the headings in the Hebrew text as follows: —

I. 1-9, The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, Idng of Israel (heading for more than this section) . See below.

II. 10-2216, The proverbs of Solomon. III. 22i'-2422, ... the words of the wise (22"-h forma an introductory poem) .

IV. 2423-M, These also are the sayings of the wise.

V. 25-29, "These also are the proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah copied out.

VI. 30, The words of Agur, etc. VII. 311-^, The words of idng Lemuel, etc. VIII. Sli'i-^i, Without heading, but clearly distinct from VII.

Sections I., II., and III. form the body of the book; sections IV. and V. are additions to the earlier portion, and VI., VII., and VIII. are still later additions.

We consider section II. first, because here the typical Hebrew proverb is best seen, especially if chs. 10-15 are taken by themselves as IIo. These chapters consist of aphorisms in the form of couplets showing antithetic parallelism (see Poethy). The couplets are wholly detached, and little order is observable in their arrange-ment. In content they come nearest being popular, even if they are not so actually. In general they show a contented and cheerful view of life. The wise are mentioned, and with admiration, but not as a class or as forming a school of thought or instruction. They are the successful, upright, prosperous men, safe examples in affairs of common life. In II& the lines are still arranged in distiches, but the antithetic parallelism has largely given way to the synonymous or synthetic variety. This form gives a little more opportunity for classifying and developing the sentiment of the proverb. "My son' is addressed a few times, but not regularly. Section III. again marks an advance over Ila and 116. The verses 22"-2> are a hortatory introduction. There follows a collection of quatrains, instead of couplets. They are maxims with proverbs among them. Con-secutive thought has developed. The truths stated are still the simple every-day ones, but they show meditation as well as observation. Section IV. is an appendix to the third, both coming from ' the Wise.' It is very defective in rhythm, and seemingly the text has suffered corruption. In the few verses three themes are treated, chiefly the sluggard. Section V. is easily subdivided. Chs. 25-27^2 contain proverbs in the form of com-parisons. Chs. 28-29 are in the style of section II. Between the two a little piece (27^-2') praises the life of a farmer. Section VI. consists of several independent discourses. The heading (30') separates the chapter from the preceding, but otherwise adds little to our knowledge of the origin, for it is wellnigh unintelligible, Even if it consists of proper names, as is most likely, there is no gain from knowing them and nothing more. In vv.""- are several stanzas of peculiar 'numerical' style: 'there are three things that . . . and four . . . namely . . .' Section VII. is a brief manual for a king orjudge.thoughthe maxims are rather rudimentary and homely. If there is a temperance lesson, it is only for the king; the advice to the poor and oppressed is very different (see vv.' and '). The remainder of the chapter, section VIII., is noticeable for two things: its alphabetical structure, each couplet beginning with a

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PROVIDENCE

new letter in regular order, and the unusual subject, the capable housewife. A most delicate tribute is in the omission of any reference to her virtue, which Is tacitly assumed, and not even mentioned.

There remains the important section chs. 1-9. Its position at the head of the book does not show that it was first in point of time. It is clearly a preface, or hortatory introduction. It does not so much give wise counsel of a concrete kind, as praise the wisdom illustrated in the concrete counsels of the following sections. It is studied, philosophical, flowing in style. It addresses 'My son' at the beginning of a new para-graph, exactly as a teacher addresses 'My hearers' as he begins a lecture. In one chapter at least, the eighth, the adoration of wisdom is carried to the limit, and in spite of the fine personification one feels, regretfully, far removed from the plain practical precepts of sections II. and III. In this 'cosmogonic hymn' wisdom is assigned a dignity in the universe hardly inferior to that of the Creator.

Among the various attempts to explain the form in which the book comes to us, perhaps the following will be found as simple as any. We may suppose that the proverbs 'of Solomon' in Ila and 116 were collected separately and then combined in II.; that 'the words of the wise' in III. at first stood by themselves, and were supplemented by IV.; that the two groups, II. and III.-IV., were then joined together, becoming known as the proverbs ' of Solomon '; that the collection in V. was attached; that to this book section I. was then prefixed as an introduction, which was thus stamped as the literature of the school of Wisdom. The few re-maining chapters, sections VI., VII., and VIII., were added later from the mass of Wisdom literature which must have been in existence, or later came into existence.

2 . As for the date of the book, the traditional ascription of parts of it to king Solomon must, of course, be discarded. And with this rejection there disappears any reason for seeking an early date for it. The time when, all things considered, the compilation is best explained, is between B.C. 350 and ISO. From the nature of the case it is impossible to fix even approximately the date of the origin of individual couplets. Many of the arguments valid against an early date of compilation are valueless so far as the single proverbs are concerned.

3. The authors of the Wisdom literature do not claim revealed wisdom; their teachings are only practical common sense. They are humanists, basing their morality upon the universal principles underlying all human nature. From this practical interest the view broadens to the wide sweep of ch. 8. ' Proverbs may be regarded as a manual of conduct, or, as Bruch calls it, an "anthology of gnomes." Its observations relate to a number of forms of life, to affairs domestic, agricultural, urban (the temptations of city life) , commercial, political, and military' (Toy, Proverbs, p. x.). O. H. Gates.

PROVIDENCE.— 1. The word is not found in the OT. In the NT it is used only once; in the exordium of his address to Felix, the orator Tertullus says: 'By thy providence evils are corrected for this nation' (Ac 242). Here 'providence' simply means 'foresight,' as In 2 Mac 4f 'the king's providence.'

2. The first appearance of the word 'providence' (Gr. pronoia) in Jewish literature is in Wis 14', where God is represented as making for a ship 'a way in the sea'; the Jewish author, borrowing the expression from the Stoic philosophers, says: ' Thy providence, O Father, guideth it along.' In a later passage, recognizing tlie sterner aspect of the truth to which the OT also bears witness, he contrasts the destinies of the Israelites and Egyptians and describes the latter, when they were 'prisoners of darkness,' as 'exiled from the eternal providence' (172).

3. Although the OT does not contain the word ' prov-idence,' it is a continuous and progressive revelation