The first book of Proverbs announces, “These are the proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel.” However, by its testimony, did you know that the book of Proverbs had many different authors? Those are the sayings of the wise. That same idea—that the proverbs in the book were written and made by a number of sages—is repeated in Proverbs 1:6 and 22:17.
So, who wrote the Book of Proverbs?
Proverbs, like Psalms, name many different people as authors of its different sections. Solomon was uniquely qualified to act as the principal author for that book of wise sayings. Keep in mind that the First Kings 3:5-2 narrates Solomon asking God for understanding in his reign on Israel. It was a request that God later on approved.
Actually, Solomon determined himself as the source of most of the book. That’s because his name shows at the beginning of three unique segments: Proverbs 1:1, 10:1, and 25:1. That covers nearly all of the initial twenty-nine chapters of the book.
What’s more, a short section composed of Proverbs 22:17 to 24:34 narrates “the words of the wise” that Solomon may have collected and gathered from different sources. Proof that Solomon drew on different sources shows in Proverbs 24:23. That is where Solomon utilized the plural noun for “wise” (which can be translated to sages), narrating the authors of that section.
Further, it is possible that God encouraged Solomon to chronicle that section based on wise sayings he had been uncovered through his life. That’s because of the similarities of the book with Egyptian and Mesopotamian collections of probes like “The Instruction of Amenemope.”
The last two chapters determine Agur and Lemuel as their authors. That’s especially true even though these men’s identities remain mysterious in history.
Does Solomon have a pen name?
In some passages of Proverbs, the authors were named by the sages who wrote the book. Proverbs 30 was written by Agur, who is the son of Jakeh. Nonetheless, people know nothing else about this person. Others assume that Agur is a pen name or Solomon. Still, there’s a very tiny proof to back it.
Keep in mind that Proverbs 31:1 enlightens us that King Lemuel wrote the popular chapter about the righteous lady. In that verse, people understood that Lemuel was taught proverbs by his own mother. Also, there’s little else known about that indefinable king.
The Jewish tradition perceives the writer as yet another good pen name of Solomon. However, there’s no trusted and dependable evidence for that correlation.
Is the Book of Proverbs important?
Yes, of course. Remember that Proverbs achieves something no other biblical book ever does. It gathers different short instructions for living an efficient life on the planet. Other books narrate and share deep theological truths, long narratives of failure and triumph, or prophetic preaching to those disobedient individuals. On the other hand, Proverbs concerns with instructing others in the journey of wisdom.
Remember that the book’s writers understood the different circumstances of an individual’s life and presented principles to apply in a wide array of scenarios instead of basic instructions to follow in only some particular instances.
What’s the big idea here?
Proverbs explains its theme explicitly early in the book, saying, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” You see, the fear of the Lord talks about people’s viewing Him with respect He truly deserves. It also implies living your life in light of what you know of Him, holding him in the highest estimation, and counting on Him with trust. Only then, the book of Proverbs teaches people that they’ll found wisdom and knowledge.
To sum up, the creation of Proverbs remains one of the most challenging and complicated questions about the book. Its powerful connection with Solomon implies many of its contents were finished before his death in 831 BC.
It is also clear that the book remained in the southern kingdom of Judah, given that the men of Hezekiah collected more of Solomon’s proverbs in Proverbs 25-29. That also means that the book was somewhat in its final form before the end of Hezekiah’s rule in 686 BC.
You can read the book of Proverbs and then live it. This book has some of the most appropriate bits of truth in all of the Bible. On top of that, did you know that this book is terse statements overflowing over with imagery from the real world?
That tactic will enable you to see precisely how any specific proverb might be applied to any number of daily circumstances you face—from getting out of your bed in the morning to establishing a strong foundation in your relationships with other people.
Also, the book of Proverbs prompts you that God concerns Himself not only with the big, catastrophic events of life but also those dull, invisible moments in your life too.
