The Ambassador Group

The Book of Proverbs

1. Proverbs: The Call of Wisdom

0. Proverbs: Introduction to the Book of Proverbs

2. Proverbs: From Ears to Feet

3. Proverbs: A Matter of Life and Death

4. Proverbs: Divine Wisdom

5. Proverbs: The Blessings of the Righteous

6. Proverbs: What You See Is Not What You Get

7. Proverbs: Dealing With Fights

8. Proverbs: Words of Wisdom

9. Proverbs: Words of Truth

10. Proverbs: Behind the Mask

11. Proverbs: Living By Faith

12. Proverbs: The Humility of the Wise

13. Proverbs: Women and Wine

Welcome to Words of the Wise, an introduction to the Book of Proverbs, by Dr.

While many books of the Bible are filled with deep spiritual and theological truths, The Book of Proverbs is filled with practical and down-to-earth advice for daily living.

Brief, well-balanced, poetic, salty, and often humorous, the Proverbs are universal, are easy to memorize, and make their point well—sometimes even more efficiently than due eloquent speeches and rigorous argumentation.

Proverbs 6, verse 6, New King James Version commands, Go to the aunt, you sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise.

Or Proverbs 21, verse 19, It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and angry woman.

Or, Proverbs 25, verses 21 and 22, New International Version, If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat.

If he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you." Who is going to forget images like these?

The Book of Proverbs is a witness to the wisdom that had been accumulated over generations.

Many people assume that King Solomon wrote all the wise sayings that we read in the biblical book of Proverbs.

However, the book's Cuman authors are referred to as 5 different sources.

King Solomon 1.1-9.18, 10.1-22.16, 25.29 Some Proverbs were written by unidentified wise men from the ancient Near Eastern world, such as Proverbs 22, verse 17, through chapter 24, verse 22, Proverbs 24, verses 23 through 34, and as the non-Israelite, Agur, Proverbs 30, verse 1 through 33.

The book even acknowledges King Hezekiah's editorial contributions.

Also, in some cases, the book reflects ancient Near Eastern texts, especially those from ancient Egypt.

Yet the Book of Proverbs is the Word of God because it was under divine inspiration that the authors pulled their materials together.

Although God is rarely explicitly mentioned in the texts, He is always present.

Wherever we are, in the marketplace, or as we speak, eat, drink, work, buy, sell, socialize, and love, the Lord is there.

The God of Proverbs is not just the God of a religious person, whether a priest or a worshiper in the pew.

Godliness is, in the book of Proverbs, put into working clothes.

The book of Proverbs also teaches what it means to fear God.

Proverbs 1 verse 7, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

And Proverbs 31, verse 30, Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.

So, to fear God means not just how we act in church, but as we go about our everyday lives, because the way we live speaks louder than the way we preach, pray, or even sacrifice.

As 2 wise sayings indicate, Proverbs 28 verse 9 warns, He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." And Proverbs 15 verse 8 says, The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

In Proverbs, wisdom is revealed when you acknowledge the Lord in all your ways.

Proverbs 3 verse 6, New King James Version.

In other words, wisdom is living in faith and in obedience.

It's about what it means to be human before the God of creation.

From the book of Proverbs, we will learn how to be wise concretely in practical ways.

The book answers such questions as, what and how should I teach my children?

How should I cope with my anger or my tendency to vent?

Finally, Wisdom isn't necessarily intellectual might.

On the contrary, the 1 who is sure of his or her brain power is in the most danger of playing the fool, because even the smartest person knows so little.

1 may think of oneself as already wise, and therefore as having no need to seek more knowledge.

The prerequisite for wisdom is instead to be humble, to feel our need, and then to ask for wisdom.

Proverbs is deep and rich, and it deals with many topics.

Given the limitations of time, it's been necessary to pick and choose which material we could cover.

We can't cover it all, but all that we have is indeed worthy of our prayerful contemplation.

Just a word about the translations of the Bible, which you will hear.

Unless mentioned otherwise, I will be quoting mainly from the King James Version.

From time to time you will hear the New King James Version used or referenced, as well as sometimes the New International Version.

The principal contributor to our explorations of the Book of Proverbs is Dr.

Ducan, who is Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exegesis and Director of the Institute of Jewish-Christian Studies at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University.

Ducan has a doctorate in Hebrew from the University of Strasbourg and a doctorate in theology from Andrews University.

Now that we have an overview of Proverbs and learned a little bit about the leading guide for our explorations.

Series

The Book of Proverbs

0. Proverbs: Introduction to the Book of Proverbs

Transcript

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