Short Sentences Long Remembered: A Guided Study of Proverbs and Other Wisdom Literature

Top Highlights

“I tell my classes that the task of a literary author is threefold—to observe and record human experience, to interpret the experiences that are portrayed, and to entertain us with literary form and technique. The proverbs that make up wisdom literature perform exactly those three functions.” (Page 17)

“The division of duties among these religious leaders was approximately as follows: the priests represented the people to God; the prophets brought God’s word to people; the wise men taught their fellow humans.” (Page 12)

“An aphorism is a proverb—a concise, memorable statement of truth. To produce proverbs requires a special kind of thinking.” (Page 14)

“Proverbs do not convey information; they convey wisdom.” (Page 21)

“Wisdom is skill for living. This implies that wisdom focuses on practical daily living and ties into the authors’ task of observing life and human experience as noted above. The book of Proverbs contains observations and advice on such far-flung topics as farming, lawsuits, table manners, money management, avoiding bad companions, choosing a wife, and the delights of having grandchildren. This is not to minimize that other proverbs deal with the spiritual life—fearing God, worshiping properly, and enduring trial. Even here, though, the goal of the wise men is that people will navigate life well rather than poorly—with skill for living, in other words.” (Page 13)