THE RHETORIC OF THE FATHER:
A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FATHER/SON
LECTURES IN PROVERBS 1-9
A Dissertation
Presented to
the Faculties of The Iliff School of Theology and
The University of Denver (Colorado Seminary)
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
by
Glenn D. Pemberton
June 1999
Denver, Colorado
© Glenn David Pemberton 1999
used with permission
ABSTRACT
Proverbs 1-9 contains 10 instructions/lectures in which a "father" addresses
his "son(s)." These lectures are in many respects similar. They address a "son" or
"sons," urge the son(s) to listen, not forget or guard the father's teaching, and affirm
the value of this teaching. However, a curious diversity (which scholars have yet to
explain adequately) exists within these lectures. Despite their similarities, the appeals
and the argumentation of the lectures reflect differences in the father's rhetorical
objectives and strategies.
This dissertation uses rhetorical criticism to address the diversity within these
ten lectures. Analysis of the artistic proofs (logos, pathos, and ethos) of each lecture
reveals that the ten lectures may be classified into three groups or subsets on the basis
of their rhetoric: 1) calls to apprenticeship (1:8-19, 2:1-22, 4:1-9, 4:10-19), 2) calls
to remember and obey (3:1-12, 3:21-35, 4:20-27), and 3) warnings against illicit
sexual relations (5:1-23, 6:20-35, 7:1-27). Further, although the lectures of each
subset possess common features that distinguish them as a group, each lecture also
possesses unique features that distinguish it from other group members. One may
conclude that Proverbs 1-9 contain three distinct subsets of lectures with diverse
members, ten lectures with ten different rhetorical strategies. Put simply, the ten
lectures are a remarkable rhetorical anthology.
Scholars generally have assumed that these speeches were written, collected,
and edited to address important issues in the life of the community. This dissertation
proposes another option, namely, rhetorical education. The ten lectures provide
rhetorical models for different needs or situations. This hypothesis is congruent with
long standing theories regarding the composition of Proverbs 1-9 (the lectures are the
original core of these chapters) and the purpose of this composition (youth
education). The ten lectures of Proverbs 1-9 not only demonstrate the presence of
formal rhetorical interests in ancient Israel, but these lectures formed a book devised,
in part, to serve the purposes of rhetorical education.
THE ILIFF SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
AND
THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER (COLORADO SEMINARY)
Upon the recommendation of the Director
of the Joint PH.D. Program this dissertation
is hereby accepted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
_____________________________
Dr. David L. Petersen
Dissertation Advisor
_____________________________
Dr. Larry Kent Graham
Director, Joint Ph.D. Program
______________________
Date
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
A. Proverbs 1-9 as Rhetoric 1
B. The Interpretive Web: Research on Proverbs 1-9 4
1. Form-Critical Studies 4
2. Traditio-Historical Studies 12
3. Studies of the Women of Proverbs 1-9 16
4. Literary Critical Studies 20
5. Rhetorical Analyses 29
C. Summary 36
CHAPTER TWO: RHETORICAL CRITICISM 38
A. A Brief Survey of the Emergence of Rhetoric in the Ancient West 39
B. Rhetorical Criticism in Biblical Studies 46
1. Early History to the Demise of Rhetoric in Twentieth
Century Biblical Studies 46
2. The Reemergence of Rhetoric in Late Twentieth Century
Biblical Studies 52
ii
3. Rhetorical Methods in Twentieth Century Biblical Studies 55
a. The "Rhetorical Criticism" of James Muilenburg:
The Definition of Rhetoric 56
b. The "New Rhetoric" of the Postmodern Bible:
Rhetoric as Cultural Criticism 60
c. The "Socio-Rhetorical Criticism" of Vernon Robbins:
Rhetoric and Methodological Pluralism 63
d. The "Classical Rhetoric" of George Kennedy:
Western Rhetorical Theory and non-Western Texts 65
4. Summary 74
C. Rhetorical Method for Analysis of the Ten Lectures 75
1. Text and Translation 75
2. The Limits of the Rhetorical Unit 76
3. Analysis of the Artistic Proofs 77
a. Logos 78
b. Ethos 80
c. Pathos 81
4. Summary & Conclusions 81
D. Summary: Rhetorical Criticism 82
CHAPTER THREE: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF GROUP I: THE CALLS TO
APPRENTICESHIP 84
A. Proverbs 1:8-19 87
1. Text and Translation 87
2. The Limits of the Rhetorical Unit 89
3. Analysis of the Artistic Proofs 91
iii
a. Logos 91
b. Ethos 104
c. Pathos 107
4. Summary & Conclusions 108
B. Proverbs 2:1-22 109
1. Text and Translation 109
2. The Limits of the Rhetorical Unit 111
3. Analysis of the Artistic Proofs 112
a. Logos 113
b. Ethos 122
c. Pathos 125
4. Summary & Conclusions 130
C. Proverbs 4:1-9 132
1. Text and Translation 132
2. The Limits of the Rhetorical Unit 133
3. Analysis of the Artistic Proofs 134
a. Logos 135
b. Ethos 140
c. Pathos 142
4. Summary & Conclusions 145
D. Proverbs 4:10-19 147
1. Text and Translation 147
iv
2. The Limits of the Rhetorical Unit 148
3. Analysis of the Artistic Proofs 148
a. Logos 149
b. Ethos 153
c. Pathos 154
4. Summary & Conclusions 155
E. Conclusions: The Rhetoric of the Calls to Apprenticeship 156
CHAPTER FOUR: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF GROUP II: THE CALLS
TO REMEMBER AND OBEY 158
A. Proverbs 3:1-12 159
1. Text and Translation 159
2. The Limits of the Rhetorical Unit 160
3. Analysis of the Artistic Proofs 161
a. Logos 161
b. Ethos 166
c. Pathos 168
4. Summary & Conclusions 170
B. Proverbs 3:21-35 171
1. Text and Translation 171
2. The Limits of the Rhetorical Unit 173
3. Analysis of the Artistic Proofs 176
a. Logos 176
b. Ethos 185
v
c. Pathos 189
4. Summary & Conclusions 190
C. Proverbs 4:20-27 192
1. Text and Translation 192
2. The Limits of the Rhetorical Unit 193
3. Analysis of the Artistic Proofs 194
a. Logos 195
b. Ethos 202
c. Pathos 204
4. Summary & Conclusions 205
D. Conclusions: The Rhetoric of the Calls to Remember and Obey 207
CHAPTER FIVE: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF GROUP III: WARNINGS
AGAINST ILLICIT SEXUAL RELATIONS 212
A Proverbs 5:1-23 213
1. Text and Translation 213
2. The Limits of the Rhetorical Unit 215
3. Analysis of the Artistic Proofs 218
a. Logos 219
b. Ethos 231
c. Pathos 232
4. Summary & Conclusions 233
B. Proverbs 6:20-35 234
1. Text and Translation 234
vi
2. The Limits of the Rhetorical Unit 237
3. Analysis of the Artistic Proofs 238
a. Logos 239
b. Ethos 246
c. Pathos 250
4. Summary & Conclusions 252
C. Proverbs 7:1-27 254
1. Text and Translation 254
2. The Limits of the Rhetorical Unit 256
3. Analysis of the Artistic Proofs 257
a. Logos 258
b. Ethos 270
c. Pathos 272
4. Summary & Conclusions 274
D. Conclusions: The Rhetoric of the Warnings Against Illicit
Sexual Relations 275
CHAPTER SIX: THE RHETORIC OF THE FATHER 278
A. Summary: The Father's Rhetoric in Proverbs 1-9 280
1. Rhetorical Subsets in the Ten Lectures 280
2. Rhetorical Variety with the Subsets of Lectures 285
B. Implications of Rhetorical Variety within Subsets 291
C. Areas for Further Research 295
BIBLIOGRAPHY 300
vii
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Concurrence of Verbs in the Propositions of the Ten Lectures 86
2. The Rhetoric of the Father: A Comparison of Subsets 282
3. The Rhetoric of Subset I: The Calls to Apprenticeship 286
4. The Rhetoric of Subset II: The Calls to Remember and Obey 288
5. The Rhetoric of Subset III: The Warnings Against Illicit Sexual
Relations 290
viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AB Anchor Bible
ACW Ancient Christian Writers
AJP American Journal of Philology
AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures
ANET J.B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts
AOAT Alter Orient and Altes Testament
ATAbh Alttestamentliche Abhandlungen
ATD Das Alte Testament Deutsch
AV English Authorized Version (King James)
AzTh Arbeiten zur Theologie
BAGD W. Bauer, W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich, and F.W. Danker, Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament.
BDB F. Brown, S.R. Driver, and C.A. Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of
the Old Testament
BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium
BHS Biblia hebraica stuttgartensia
Bib Biblica
BN Biblische Notizen
BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin
ix
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenshaft
CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CBQMS Catholic Biblical Monograph -- Monograph Series
ConBOT Coniectanea biblica, Old Testament
DSB Daily Study Bible
ExpTim Expository Times
FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament
FOTL Forms of the Old Testament Literature
GBS Guides to Biblical Scholarship
GKC Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, ed. E. Kautzsch, trans. A.E. Cowley
HAR Hebrew Annual Review
HS Hebrew Studies
HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual
ICC International Critical Commentary
Int Interpretation
ITC International Theological Commentary
JB Jerusalem Bible
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JNSL Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages
x
JQR Jewish Quarterly Review
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament - Supplement Series
JSS Journal of Semitic Studies
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
KB L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti libros
KBW Zentrales Komitee des Kommunistischen Bundes Westdeutschland
KHC Kurzer Hand-Commentar zum Alten Testament
LCL Loeb Classical Library
LD Lectio divina
LXX Septuagint
MT Massoretic Text
NCB New Century Bible
NIB New Interpreter's Bible
NIV New International Version
NJV New Jewish Version (Tanakh, 1985)
NRSV New Revised Standard Version
OBO Orbis biblicus et orientalis
OLP Orientalia lovaniensia periodica
OTE Old Testament Essays
OTG Old Testament Guides
OTL Old Testament Library
xi
PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly
RB Revue biblique
REB Revised English Bible
ResQ Restoration Quarterly
RSV Revised Standard Version
SBFLA Studii Biblici Franciscani liber annus
SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature - Dissertation Series
SBLWAW Society of Biblical Literature - Writings from the Ancient World
SBS Stuttgarter Bibelstudien
SBT Studies in Biblical Theology
SJOT Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament
TynOTC Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries
VT Vetus Testamentum
VTSup Vetus Testamentum, Supplements
WMANT Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten and Neuen Testament
ZAH Zeitschrift fur Althebraistik
ZAW Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
ZTK Zeitschrift fur Theologie und Kirche
xii
Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
Proverbs 1-9 as Rhetoric
Proverbs 1-9 is composed, almost exclusively, of speeches. Following a brief
introduction (1:1-7), these chapters consist of ten lectures by a "father" to his "son(s)."
The delimitation of these lectures is debated, but may tentatively be defined as 1:8-19,
2:1-22, 3:1-12, 3:21-35, 4:1-9, 4:10-19, 4:20-27, 5:1-23, 6:20-35, and 7:1-27.
Interspersed within these lectures are five interludes (1:20-33, 3:13-20, 6:1-19, 8:1-36,
and 9:1-18),1 three of which are speeches by woman wisdom.2 Further, four of the ten
father/son lectures cite speeches made by other persons or groups.3
Proverbs 1-9, however, is not only composed of speeches; these speeches
express vital concern for persuasive speech, i.e., rhetoric. On the one hand, each of
the ten father/son lectures attempts to persuade the reader to accept the father's counsel
and to pursue wisdom (e.g., 1:8, 4:10-11, 7:1-4).4 To this end, the father/rhetor
employs diverse rhetorical devices and strategies. On the other hand, the lectures
_______________________
1 The terminology of "lectures" and "interludes" is adopted from Michael Fox ("Ideas of
Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9," JBL 116 [1997], 613-619).
2 1:20-33, 8:1-36, 9:1-12 (expanded by the speech of woman folly in vv. 13-18).
3 The speech of the sinners (1:10-14), the speech of the father's father (4:3-9), the speech
of the foolish son (5:12-14), and the speech of the adulteress (7:10-21).
4 See also 2:1-11, 3:1-2, 3:21-23, 4:1-2, 4:20-22, 5:1-2, 6:20-22.
1
2
caution the reader about the seductive rhetoric of the opposition. This warning occurs
in five of the ten father/son lectures (e.g., 5:3, 6::3-24, 7:13,21).5 So, interest in
rhetoric, both that of the father and the opposition, abounds in the ten lectures.
Several scholars (e.g., Aletti, Yee, Newsom, and Crenshaw; see below) have
noted the rhetorical nature and concern of Proverbs 1-9. There is, however, a lacuna
in present research. Although Proverbs 1-9 contains ten lectures, a sustained analysis
of these lectures as lectures, i.e., as rhetoric, does not exist. This dissertation seeks to
fill this lacuna by offering a fresh investigation of the ten father/son lectures from the
perspective of rhetorical criticism. More specifically, rhetorical analysis of the lectures
offers two types of contributions to present scholarship.
First, rhetorical analysis will contribute a new perspective and, thus, new
insights on old interpretive problems in the ten lectures of Proverbs 1-9. Several
interpretive cruxes continue to plague the study of these texts, e.g., the delimitation of
the lectures, the identity of the strange/foreign woman, the presence of textual
allusions, and the relationship denoted by the vocative ynib; ("my son"). Rhetorical
analysis will offer fresh testimony on these and other issues that may break present the
scholarly impasses. In addition, this dissertation will consider the rhetorical
implications of these interpretive problems and their proposed solutions.
Second and more significant, a rhetorical analysis that focuses on how each of
the ten lectures attempts to persuade its audience promises to uncover new data about
the ten lectures and the practice of rhetoric in ancient Israel. For example, rhetorical
_______________________
5 See also 1:10-19 and 2:16.
3
analysis will reveal that there are three types of lectures in Proverbs 1-9 (calls to
apprenticeship, calls to remember and obey, and warnings against illicit sexual
relations) and that the individual members of each subset employ different rhetorical
strategies. The implications of this finding may seem minimal, but, in fact, they reach
from revisions in our understanding of the lectures and the purpose of this collection
to the existence of self-conscious rhetorical reflection and, perhaps, rhetorical
education in ancient Israel.
Such rhetorical analysis of the ten lectures requires two preliminary steps.
First, it will be helpful to situate this dissertation within the history of scholarship on
Proverbs 1-9. Biblical criticism is a methodological jungle in which theoretical vines
are intricately interwoven and often intergrown. Any attempt to untangle a singly pure
methodological vine is impossible and detrimental to both the strength of the web and
the individual method. Therefore, in the remainder of this chapter, I will define the
relationship of my rhetorical analysis of the ten lectures to the existing interpretive
web of Proverbs 1-9. Second, the ambiguity of the term "rhetorical criticism"
demands clarification. While pursuit of one method alone is impossible, the lack of
methodological clarity and delimitation threatens confusion and dilution of focus.
Thus, in the second chapter I will define my rhetorical method and distinguish my
practice from other similarly titled methods. These first two chapters will be followed
by a sustained rhetorical analysis of the ten lectures. A summary and synthesis of the
contributions of this study, as well as proposals for further investigation, will comprise
the final chapter.
4
The Interpretive Web:
Research on Proverbs 1-9
Scholars writing in the twentieth century have attempted to understand four
features of Proverbs 1-9: its forms, the source(s) of its traditions, its striking references
to women, and literary concerns (e.g., unity and style). It is beyond the limits of this
study to present an exhaustive summary of this secondary literature.6 This survey is
limited to studies that provide significant stimuli or contributions to the rhetorical
analysis of the ten lectures. My goal is to situate this study within the existing
interpretive web of Proverbs 1-9. To this end, the four traditional categories of study
plus the recent emergence of rhetorical interest in Proverbs 1-9 provide the framework
for this discussion.7
Form-Critical Studies
Several scholars have utilized form-critical methodology to interpret Proverbs
1-9 within its ancient Near Eastern (especially Egyptian) setting.8 The most significant
_______________________
6 For a more comprehensive history of research, see Bernhard Lang, Die Weisheitliche
Lehrrede. Eine Untersuchung von Spruche 1-7, SBS, vol. 54 (Stuttgart: KBW, 1972), 11.26;
C. Westermann, Forschungsgeschichte zur Weisheitsliteratur 1950-1990, AzTh, vol. 71
(Stuttgart: Calwer Verlag, 1991); and Roger N. Whybray, The Book of Proverbs: A Survey of
Modern Study (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995).
7 Admittedly, some studies may be placed in multiple categories, e.g., I will discuss Christi
Maier's monograph (Die 'Fremde Frau' in Proverbien 1-9: Eine Exegetische and
Sozialgeschichtliche Studie, OBO, vol. 144 [Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1995])
under both Tradition History and The Women of Proverbs 1-9. The use of these five
categories is simply a heuristic device for presenting diverse material.
8 Christa Kayatz, Studien zu Proverbien 1-9: Eine form- und motivgeschichtliche
Untersuchung unter Einbeziehung agyptischen Vergleichsmaterials, WMANT, vol. 22
(Netherlands: Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1966); Franz-Josef Steiert, Die Weisheit Israels: ein
Fremdkorper im Alten Testament? Eine Untersuchung zum Buch der Spruch auf dem
Hintergrund der agyptischen Weisheitslehren (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1990).
5
of these studies for rhetorical criticism are the works of Roger N. Whybray and
William McKane. Although Whybray's initial work preceded McKane's commentary
on Proverbs by several years, it is advantageous to begin with McKane's research
because his work established the foundation on which Whybray constructs his
arguments.
McKane's chief contribution to the study of Proverbs 1-9 is his clear distinction
between the instruction genre and the sentence literature.9 Prior to McKane's
commentary, many scholars argued that the longer instructions had evolved from the
sentence literature and, therefore, Proverbs 1-9 belonged to the latest stage of the
development of the book of Proverbs.10 According to McKane, the discovery of
comparative wisdom texts has overturned this form-critical consensus. These ancient
Near Eastern wisdom texts demonstrate that the longer units of Proverbs 1-9 are not
the result of formal evolution from the sentence literature, but an adaptation of an
international genre of instruction.
McKane established his thesis by extensive study of both Egyptian and
Babylonian-Assyrian instructions.11 He documented the existence of an international
genre "with definable formal characteristics which can be described in syntactical "
_______________________
9 William McKane, Proverbs, OTL (London: SCM Press, 1970).
10 For example, J. Schmidt, Studien zur Stilistik der alttestamentlichen Spruchliteratur,
ATAbh 13/1, Munster: Aschendorfsche Verlag, 1936; Walther Zimmerli, "Concerning the
Structure of Old Testament Wisdom," trans. Brian W. Kovacs, in Studies in Ancient Israelite
Wisdom, ed. J. L. Crenshaw (New York: KTAV, 1976), 175-207.
11 Ibid., 51-182.
6
terms.”12 For example, the instruction form utilizes the imperative to exhort and gives
reasons why its commands should be obeyed, typically contained in subordinate
clauses (e.g., motive clauses with "for/because" as well as final and consecutive
clauses). McKane then demonstrated a formal correspondence between this
international instruction genre and texts in Proverbs. He concluded
that the formal structure of 1-9, 22.17-24.22 and 31.1-9 is that of an
international Instruction genre, and that it is not the consequence of a process
of form-critical evolution involving the agglomeration of wisdom sentences.
The Instruction is a separate genre from the wisdom sentence and the form-
critical argument for the lateness of these sections of the book of Proverbs,
involving as it does the assumption that their basic formal unit is the wisdom
sentence, falls to the ground.13
McKane's form-critical conclusion that the lectures represent a distinct genre,
rather than accumulated growth rings around a core sentence, provides a fundamental
starting point for this dissertation. He has established that the lectures (instructions)
are discrete compositions with characteristic features, and thus opened the way for
studies of the lectures as a discrete group or genre. My rhetorical analysis will build
on his conclusions in an attempt to understand further these texts as rhetorical
compositions.
In 1965, five years before McKane's commentary was published, Whybray
offered a monographic study of Proverbs 1-9 titled Wisdom in Proverbs: The Concept
_______________________
12 Ibid., 6.
13 Ibid., 7. McKane further proposes (8-10) that the Instruction form was appropriated by
Israel during the reign of Solomon to serve the educational needs of government officials.
The Instruction form established itself in Israel during this period and was adapted over time
for a more broadly based educational function. See a critique of this proposal by Scott L.
Harris, Proverbs 1-9: A Study of Inner-Biblical Interpretation, SBLDS, vol. 150 (Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1995), 26-35.
7
of Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9.14 This monograph provided a literary-historical
investigation into the evidence for the development of the idea of wisdom in ancient
Israel. Although Whybray's primary focus was the nature and purpose of the
personification of wisdom in 1:20-33, 8:1-35, and 9:1-6, his investigation included
brief consideration of the ten lectures.
Since his initial study, Whybray has offered numerous essays and monographs
that have strengthened and/or modified his original views.15 These studies offer four
fundamental insights or points of departure for my rhetorical analysis of the lectures.
First, study of formal features reveals the presence of ten "discourses" or lectures in
Proverbs 1-9.16 While the use of form-critical methodology in the interpretation of
Proverbs 1-9 and initial impetus for identifying lectures in these chapters came from
others,17 Whybray was the first to apply the form-critical method consistently and
identify ten instructions/lectures. The key feature that led him to this conclusion was
the characteristic introductory formula. According to Whybray, each of the lectures:
_______________________
14 Roger N. Whybray, Wisdom in Proverbs: The Concept of Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9, SBT,
vol. 45 (Chatham, Great Britain: SCM Press, 1965).
15 Roger N. Whybray, "Some Literary Problems in Proverbs 1-9," VT 16 (1966): 482-96;
Wealth and Poverty in the Book of Proverbs, JSOTSup, vol. 99 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990);
The Composition of the Book of Proverbs (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994); "City Life in
Proverbs 1-9," in "Jedes Ding Has Seine Zeit" Studien zur Israelitischen and Altorientalischen
Weisheit, ed. Arija A. Diesel, Reinhard G. Lehmann, Eckart Otto and Andreas Wagner (Berlin:
Walter de Gruyter, 1996), 243-50.
16 Whybray, Wisdom in Proverbs, 33-37.
17 Whybray acknowledges his dependence on F. Delitzsch (Das Salomische Spruchbuch
[Leipzig: Dorffling and Franke, 1873]) who distinguished 15 "Spruchrede" and G. Wildeboer
(Die Spruche, K.HC [Leipzig, 1897]) who identified 7 "Abschnitte."
8
1) appeals to "my son," 2) commands the son to listen, 3) asserts the personal
authority of the teacher, 4) asserts or implies the value of the teacher's words,
5) makes no reference to any authority other than that of the teacher, and 6) denotes
human wisdom when referring to “wisdom.”18 Since its publication, Whybray's form-
critical identification of ten lectures has stood without serious challenge. This
dissertation accepts and builds on this consensus.
Second, according to Whybray, the lectures of Proverbs 1-9 were developed
and first used in educational settings. He, like McKane, identified the educational Sitz
im Leben of the lectures by demonstrating a relationship between the lectures
(instructions) of Proverbs 1-9 and Egyptian wisdom instructions, which he thought
were clearly associated with education. Initially, Whybray suggested that Israel's sages
borrowed and adapted foreign wisdom traditions.19 More recently, he has asserted a
parallel development between Israel and other ancient Near Eastern wisdom traditions,
rather than one of direct influence.20 Nonetheless, this link or parallel development
enabled Whybray to place the ten lectures in their "proper" Sitz im Leben, namely
_______________________
18 Whybray, Wisdom in Proverbs, 34-35.
19 Ibid., 35-37.
20 Whybray, The Composition of the Book of Proverbs, 12-13, note 4.
9
youth education,21 despite almost complete silence in the rest of the Old Testament
regarding such education.22
Third, Whybray supplements his form-critical conclusions with redaction-
critical arguments claiming that the wisdom poems (1:20-33, 3:13-20, 8:1-36), the
prologue (1:1-7), the epilogue (9:1-12), and the didactic collection of 6:1-19 are
secondary additions to the lectures.23 According to Whybray, the original core of
Proverbs 1-9 was the ten lectures.24 This conclusion about the compositional history
of Proverbs 1-9 led him to consider further the Sitz im Leben of the collection of
_______________________
21 Whybray, Wisdom in Proverbs, 16.
22 The lack of decisive evidence about education in ancient Israel in the Old Testament has
resulted in an on-going debate regarding the specifics of the educational setting of Proverbs 1-
9 identified by Whybray. For example, whereas the use of the instruction form suggests a Sitz
im Leben among a group aware of international traditions, namely the royal scribal school, the
content of the instructions in Proverbs 1-9 does not reflect royal or scribal concerns.
Presently, this debate revolves around three potential contexts for education: 1) the tribe ,or
family, 2) the royal-court, or 3) a "private" school (see Whybray's summary in The Book of
Proverbs, 18-25). This dissertation tentatively adopts the third hypothesis, namely, the Sitz im
Leben of lectures was some type of educational setting outside the immediate family and
royal-court.
G.I. Davies ("Were there schools in ancient Israel?" in Wisdom in ancient Israel.
Essays in honour of J.A. Emerton, ed. John Day, Robert P. Gordon, and H.G.M. Williamson
[Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995], 199-211) has persuasively presented the
evidence for the existence of schools in ancient Israel. 1) Although explicit evidence from
the Old Testament itself is minimal (e.g., II Kgs 6:1, Prov 4:7, 5:13, 13:14, 15:7, 17:16, 23:23,
Isa 8:5-6,14,16), it does establish the existence of schools in ancient Israel. 2) Persuasive
indirect arguments may be made from the analogy of other ancient Near Eastern scribal
schools and the scholastic character of certain biblical books, chiefly the wisdom books.
Davies also offers valuable reviews of the contributions of A. Lemaire (Les Ecoles et la
formation de la Bible dans 1'ancien Israel, OBO 39 [Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
1981]) and D.W. Jamieson-Drake (Scribes and Schools in Monarchic Judah: A Socio-
Archaeological Approach, JSOTSup 109 [1991]).
23 Whybray, Wisdom in Proverbs, 72-74; and The Composition of the Book of Proverbs,
29-56. See also Fox, "Ideas of Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9," 613-619.
24 Other scholars, e.g., Michael Fox ("Ideas of Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9," 613-619), have
confirmed this aspect of Whybray's redaction history.
10
lectures. Initially, he claimed that the ten discourses originally formed an independent
“handbook of instruction designed for use in school.”25 More recently, while affirming
the educational nature of the lectures, he has argued against their collective existence
in the form of a teacher's manual or a student's handbook because of the redundancy
of the discourses and the lack of any clear redactional plan.26 I will return to this
point at the conclusion of this dissertation.
Fourth, in another redactional hypothesis based on form critical analysis,
Whybray maintains that the original form of the discourses was short (5-12 couplets).
For example, he edits the ninth lecture from 33 cola (6:20-35, MT) to 13 original cola
(6:20-22, 24-25, 32), and possibly only 8 (6:20-21, 24-25).27 He reduces the rhetorical
variety of the lectures to a common original form. According to Whybray, this
original form was expanded by two levels of additions: 1) additions that enhanced the
authority of the teacher by identifying his teaching with a more than human "wisdom,"
and 2) theological additions that identified "wisdom" as an attribute of Yahweh.
_______________________
25 Whybray, Wisdom in Proverbs, 51.
26 Whybray, The Composition of the Book of Proverbs, 27-28, 34, 57. His denial hinges on
his hypothesis regarding the literary history of the ten lectures. The sporadic and uneven
nature of the additions to the lectures, as identified by Whybray, lead him to conclude that the
additions were made to the individual lectures before their redaction into Proverbs 1-9 (The
Composition of the Book of Proverbs, 59). If his reconstruction of the literary history fails, so
does his denial of a pre-existent collection of lectures.
27 Whybray, Wisdom in Proverbs, 48-49.
11
Whybray's complex proposals about the literary history of the lectures has
suffered critique from a variety of perspectives.28 My rhetorical analysis will also
dispute his claims. I will demonstrate that this hypothetical literary history ignores
rhetorical features that attest to the integrity of the lectures as presented in Proverbs 1-
9 (MT). In this vein, my analysis follows Muilenburg's ' critique of the excesses of
form criticism: "there has been a proclivity among scholars in recent years to lay such
stress upon the typical and representative that the individual, personal, and unique
features of the particular pericope are all but lost to view."29
My rhetorical analysis, then, will challenge some of Whybray's form-
critical/redactional conclusions. Nonetheless, the form-critical conclusions of Whybray
and McKane are the foundation of the rhetorical analysis presented in this study.
Although my rhetorical practice differs from that of Muilenburg (see chp. 2), his
assessment of the relationship between form criticism and rhetorical criticism
accurately describes my work: "In a word, then, we affirm the necessity of form
_______________________
28 On the matter of Yahwistic reinterpretation (espoused by Whybray and McKane), see
Gerhard von Rad, Wisdom in Israel (Nashville: Abingdon, 1972), 60.68; Roland E. Murphy,
"Wisdom and Yahwism," in No Famine in the Land: Studies in Honor of John L. McKenzie,
ed. J. Flanagan ,and A. Robinson (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1975), 117-26; Roland E.
Murphy, "Wisdom Theses and Hypothesis," in Israelite Wisdom: Theological and Literary
Essays in Honor of Samuel J. Terrien, ed. John G. Gammie, Walter A. Brueggemann, W. Lee
Humphreys and James M. Ward (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1978), 40-41; M.L. Barre,
"The 'Fear of God' and the World View of Wisdom," BTB 11 (1981): 41-43; Frederick
Wilson, "Sacred and Profane? The Yahwistic Redaction of Proverbs Reconsidered," in The
Listening Heart, ed. K.A. Hoglund (Sheffield: JSOT, 1987), 319-20.
29 James Muilenburg, "Form Criticism and Beyond," JBL 88 (1969): 53.
12
criticism, but we also lay claim to the legitimacy of what we have called rhetorical
criticism.”30
Traditio-Historical Studies
Apart from, but closely related to, form-critical studies, several scholars have
pursued what they call the "tradition history" of Proverbs 1-9. Put simply, does
Proverbs 1-9 originate from, depend on, or allude to Israelite religious traditions or
foreign traditions?31 The form of the question suggests the two common tradition-
historical proposals. On the one hand, numerous scholars have attributed not only the
form but the basic content of Proverbs 1-9 to foreign, especially Egyptian, tradition.
Israelite influence is acknowledged, but regarded as secondary.32 On the other hand,
some scholars place Proverbs 1-9 more directly within Israelite traditions.33 For
example, from what source did the author of the lectures take his terminology (e.g.,
"hear," "do not forget")? Whybray asserts that this terminology was derived from
foreign wisdom instructions: "while there may be biblical reminiscences in a few
cases, the parallels with Amen-em-opet are in general much closer than the biblical
_______________________
30 Ibid., 18.
31 For many scholars working with Proverbs 1-9 (e.g., Harris and Maier, see below)
"traditio-historical" study includes the identification of citations or allusions from other texts
and "inter-textual" play. Thus, my survey broadens the definition of "traditio-historical
criticism" to accommodate these scholars.
32 The earlier position of Whybray in Wisdom in Proverbs, 33-37.
33 A. Robert, "Les Attaches Litteraires Bibliques de Prov. I-IX," RB 43 (1934): 42-68,
172-204, 374-84; 44 (1935): 344-65, 502-25; Steiert, Die Weisheit Israels, 211-308; the later
position of Whybray in The Composition of the Book of Proverbs, 159-62; Scott L. Harris,
Proverbs 1-9; Maier, Die fremde Frau' in Proverbien 1-9.
13
parallels.”34 Against this, Robert argues that this terminology was taken from biblical
sources, especially Deuteronomy.35 The resolution of this complex traditio-historical
debate falls outside the boundaries of this survey. If accepted, however, the theses of
some recent traditio-historical investigations do make limited contributions to our
understanding of the rhetoric of the lectures.
The first lecture (1:8-19) is a good example of the potential significance of
traditio-historical or inter-textual links for rhetorical criticism. Scott Harris argues that
this lecture plays upon portions of the Joseph novella of Genesis.36 He establishes this
connection by: 1) utilizing the argument of Sternberg and Bakhtin that direct discourse
may represent another discourse by means of selected words and phrases, and
2) noting the shared lexical features of Proverbs 1:8-19 and Genesis 37.37 According
to Harris, these shared lexical features include nine words or phrases:
1. xvb: "do not go" (Prov 1:10) // "and he (Joseph) went" (Gen 37:14)
2. jlh: "come with us" (Prov 1:11) // "come now" (Gen 37:20)
3. Md:"blood" (Prov 1:11, 16, 18) // "blood" (Gen 37:22, 26, 31)
4. dry: "as those going down (to the pit)" (Prov 1:12) // "I will go down
(to Sheol)" (Gen 37:35)
5. fr: "for evil" (Prov 1:16) // "evil (beast)" (Gen 37:20)
6. Md jpw: "to shed blood" (Prov 1:16) // "shed no blood" (Gen 37:22)
7. tvHrx: "paths" and "ways" (Prov 1:19) // "caravans" (Gen 37:25)
_______________________
34 Whybray, Wisdom in Proverbs, 37.
35 Robert, "Les Attaches Litteraires Bibliques de Prov. I-IX," 43:43-44.
36 Harris, Proverbs 1-9, 33-65.
37 Ibid., 52-61.
14
8. fcb+ Md: "ill-gotten gain" and "blood" (Prov 1:19) // "ill-gotten gain"
and "blood" (Gen 37:26)
9. wpn: "life" (Prov 1:19) // "life" (Gets 37:21)38
The theory of Bakhtin and Sternberg, coupled with the shared expressions of Proverbs
1:8-19 and Genesis 37, lead Harris to identify Proverbs 1:8-19 as an "inner-biblical
interpretation" of Genesis 37. He concludes that,
The backward glance at events from the Joseph story serves the dual purpose
of fixing the parent's discourse in the realm of scriptural tradition (i.e., Torah)
while at the same time providing an authoritative platform for the future
oriented nature of his/her discourse (i.e., Proverbs).39
In rhetorical terms, the traditio-historical or inter-textual links to Genesis establish the
ethos (i.e., credibility or authority) of the father/rhetor.
The acceptance or rejection of Harris' conclusion of the "inner-biblical
interpretation" of Genesis 37 in Proverbs 1:8-19 depends on one's acceptance of
Bakhtin's hypothesis about the referential and representational characteristics of
double-voiced discourse and Sternberg's claim that direct speech presupposes an
original utterance that serves as a point of orientation for understanding the speech.40
Here, I accept the possibility that Genesis 37 may serve as an object of orientation for
the direct speech of Proverbs 1:8-19, and thus may be of rhetorical significance to the
ethos of the speaker. However, I question the conclusiveness of shared lexical features
which only include common words that occur throughout the Hebrew Bible.
_______________________
38 Ibid., 52-54.
39 Ibid., 60.
40 See Harris' discussion of Bakhtin and Sternberg (ibid., 46-52).
15
Similarly, Christi Maier observes numerous anthological references
(anthologischen Bezugnahmen) in Proverbs 1-9 to other biblical books, especially
deuteronomistic texts. For example, according to Maier, the Grundtext of the second
lecture (2:1-4, 9-20) takes up the deuteronomistic concern for "forgetting the covenant"
(2:17) found in Jeremiah 3:21, 13:25, 50:5, and Deuteronomy 4:23, 31, while the later
additions to this Grundtext (2:5-8, 21-22) reflect the deuteronomistic land theology
(2:21-22). The speech of the adulteress in 7:14 (the tenth lecture), is formulated on
the basis of late priestly traditions. And, according to Maier, the ninth lecture (6:20-
35) is a midrashic interpretation of the decalogue and Deuteronomy 6:6-9.41
For Maier, these anthological references prove that Proverbs 1-9 is a scribal
work that could only have been cultivated by people in well educated upper class
circles who were familiar with the written religious traditions of Israel. This
conclusion leads to a second, namely, that Proverbs 1-9 was composed after the
written fixation of the decalogue and deuteronomistic texts. Consequently, Maier
asserts a late post-exilic date for the composition of Proverbs 1-9.
Although she does not consider the rhetorical function of "anthological
references," Maier's observations, if accepted, are rhetorically significant. First, like
Harris, the literary links to the deuteronomistic literature help establish the ethos of the
rhetor. The father's rhetorical authority is not merely positional (relative to the son) or
based on his status (an acknowledged sage), but rooted in the religious traditions of
the community. Second, Maier discloses a major source of the rhetorical topoi found
_______________________
41 Maier, Die ‘fremde Frau' in Proverbien 1-9, 92-102, 145-166, 185-194, 262.
16
in the lectures, namely the written religious traditions of Israel (esp. Deuteronomy and
Jeremiah).
Again, the ambiguities and complexities of the tradition history of Proverb 1-9
require separate study. My rhetorical analysis, however, will incorporate the traditio-
historical, anthological, or inter-textual links proposed by Harris, Maier, Robert, et al.,
insofar as these links impact the rhetoric of the lectures, e.g., the development of the
speaker's ethos and the utilization of accepted traditions to establish the speaker's
proposition.
Studies of the Women in Proverbs 1-9
Three women or groups of women are present in Proverbs 1-9: woman wisdom
(in the lectures and interludes), the strange/foreign woman (in the lectures only), and
woman folly (in the final interlude only). These women have been the focus of
extensive scholarly attention, especially in recent years.42
Numerous studies have focused on woman wisdom in Proverbs 1-9.43 Four of
the five interludes present a highly developed personification of wisdom. In the first
interlude (1:20-33), wisdom appears as a female prophet. The second interlude (3:13-
_______________________
42 Because woman folly is not present in the lectures, studies of this figure are omitted in
this survey.
43 G. Bostrom, Proverbiastudien: Die Weisheit and das Fremde Weib in Spr 1-9 (Lund:
C.W.K. Gleerup, 1935); Claudia Camp, Wisdom and the Feminine in the Book of Proverbs,
Bible and Literature Series, vol. 11 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1985); Bernhard Lang, Wisdom
and the Book of Proverbs: An Israelite Goddess Redefined (New York: Pilgrim Press., 1986);
Camilla Burns, "The Heroine with a Thousand Faces: Woman Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9,"
Ph.D. diss. (Berkeley: Graduate Theological Union, 1990); Maier, Die fremde Frau' in
Proverbien 1-9; Gerlinde Baumann, Die Weisheitsgestalt in Proverbien 1-9, FAT 16
(Tubingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1996).
17
20) contains a hymn that praises woman wisdom for her value to humans (3:13-18).
The most developed personification occurs in the fourth interlude (8:1-36). Here,
woman wisdom asserts her familial relationship to God and her existence prior to
creation. In the last interlude. (9:1-18), woman wisdom makes a final appeal to the
simple (9:4-6) and offers advice to the teacher (9:7-12).
In comparison to the personification of wisdom in the interludes, Fox observes
that the personification of wisdom in the lectures “is found in incidental or inchoate
form.”44 Seven lectures refer to hmAk;HA or MkAHA however, only two of these are
clear instances of personification: 1) in 4:5-9, wisdom is a depicted as a woman the
son should prize, embrace, and never forsake; and 2) in 7:4, the son is advised to
make wisdom his bride.45 Consequently, studies of the personification of wisdom
focus on the interludes rather than the lectures and, thus, are of minimal benefit to my
rhetorical analysis of the lectures.
One investigation of woman wisdom that is helpful for the study of the lectures
is the work of Gerlinde Baumann, Die Weisheitsgestalt in Proverbien 1-9. In addition
to her primary analysis of the personification of wisdom in the I-speeches of the
interludes, Baumann also investigates the other occurrences of hmAk;HA and MkAHA in
Proverbs 1-9. She endeavors to understand the meaning of wisdom in these texts and
_______________________
44 Fox, "Ideas of Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9," 618.
45 Elsewhere in the lectures, hmAk;HA is associated with other abstract terms (2:1-6, 10) or
simply denotes the content of the fathers teaching (4:11, 5:1). MkAHA is used to refer to "the
wise" who will inherit honor (3:35), and to warn the son of the danger of being "wise" in his
own eyes (3:7). See Whybray's analysis (The Book of Proverbs, 71) and the summary by
Baumann (Die Weisheitsgestalt in Proverbien 1-9, 249-51).
18
its relationship to wisdom in the I-speeches: “Is a personification of hmAk;HA also
presented here, or is the word to be understood in another way?”46 Further, what is
the relationship of wisdom to Yahweh outside the I-speeches: "Was it [the relationship
to Yahweh] carried out boldly or concretely as in the I-speeches, or is it perhaps
stressed differently?”47
Baumann's research leads her to classify the occurrences of "wisdom" outside
the I-speeches in three categories: 1) clear personification (lectures: 4:6,8ff., 7:4;
interludes: 3:16ff., 9:11), 2) uncertain personification (lectures: 2:1f, 4-10, 4:5, 7;
interludes: 3:13-15), and 3) non-personification (lectures 4:10-13, 5:If; interludes: 1:2-
7, 9:10).48 This schema, and especially the study upon which it is built, provides
valuable insights into the rhetorical function and meaning of wisdom in the lectures.
The strange/foreign woman (hrAzA hwA.xi and hyArik;nA) appears in four
lectures (2:16-19, 5:1-23, 6:20-35, 7:1-27).49 While the identity of this alien woman
has been the subject of numerous studies, her identity has been most recently and fully
explored by Christi Maier.50 While I have already noted Maier's concern for traditio-
_______________________
46 Ibid., 224. My translation of: "Liegt auch hier eine personifizierende Verwendung von
hmAk;HA vor, oder is das Wort in anderer Weise zu verstehen?"
47 Ibid. My translation of: "Wird es starker ausgefuhrt oder konkretisiert als in den Ich-
Reden, oder ist es vielleicht anders akzentuiert?"
48 Ibid., 249.
49 The alien woman also appears to be the basis from which woman folly has been
developed in the final interlude (9:13-18).
50 See the history of research presented by Maier, Die’ fremde Frau' in Proverbien 1-9, 7-
19.
19
historical issues (see above), the identity of the alien woman is also of crucial
significance to Maier's broader investigation of the social-historical matrix of Proverbs
1-9.
Through careful exegesis of the four lectures in which the alien woman
appears, Maier maintains that this woman is a literary figure who represents the
various life situations of real women and their positions in the late post-exilic society
of the Persian period.51 Specifically, she identifies three literary-rhetorical roles played
by the alien woman. First, the alien woman is a type of the adulteress. Thus, the
rhetorical concern of Proverbs 1-9 is not mixed marriage or cultic infidelity but the
adulteress as an "outsider" within the community.52 Second, the alien woman is a
contrasting figure to woman wisdom. In this respect, the alien woman is described in
both immanent terms reflective of the real life situations of women, and in
transcendent or symbolic terms. This use of metaphor combines symbolic and real
life.53 Third, the alien woman is a parallel figure to the wicked men (cf. 1:10b-14 and
7:14-20). She, like the men, is a social outsider who threatens communal norms and
well-being.54 According to Maier, the forcefulness and the repetition of the warnings
against the alien woman demonstrate the relevance of the (real) problem(s) caused by
her. Whereas historical concerns are secondary to my study, Maier's insights provide
_______________________
51 Ibid., 253, 264-68.
52 Ibid., 254-55.
53 Ibid., 256-58.
54 Ibid., 258-59.
20
significant data for understanding the rhetorical situations and problems confronted in
the lectures.
Thus, to recapitulate, while recent scholars have made significant contributions
to our understanding of the historical, social, and theological dimensions of the women
in Proverbs 1-9, most of these studies, due to the nature of the text and the specific
foci of the scholars, are of tertiary concern to rhetorical analysis of the lectures. There
are, however, two notable exceptions. First, because Baumann includes the lectures in
her investigation of the personification of wisdom in Proverbs 1-9, she touches on an
important issue for this study, namely, the meaning and significance of wisdom in the
lectures. Second, because the alien woman is a feature of the lectures, Maier's
investigation of this woman's literary-rhetorical roles is of great interest to this study.
Consequently, my analysis will glean important insights from both Baumann and
Maier as I consider the rhetorical function of wisdom and the alien woman in the
lectures.
Literary Critical Studies
Many scholars consider literary analysis and rhetorical criticism to be
synonymous. Indeed, some rhetorical methods are indistinguishable from literary
criticism and, by any definition, literary and rhetorical analysis are closely allied.
Both offer synchronic analysis of the present text (MT), and both practice "close"
reading. The primary difference between my practice of rhetorical analysis and
literary study is my concentrated focus on suasion and the use of conceptual
terminology from classical Western rhetorical theory as a heuristic device for
21
understanding the text (see chp. 2). However, because these differences are mitigated
by similar interests, various literary analyses of Proverbs 1-9 are of special interest and
benefit to this study.
Bernhard Lang was the first to contribute a monograph that focused exclusively
on the ten lectures: Die Weisheitliche Lehrrede. Eine Untersuchung von Spruche 1-7.55
In this study, Lang utilized literary-critical methodology in order to establish the date
(pre-exilic) and social setting (family education) of the lectures: He also explored
three exegetische Grundfragen in the lectures: 1) the relationship of action and
consequence (7:1-7, 1:15-19); 2) their teaching about piety (3:21-26, 2:1-11, 3:32-35)
and religion (3:5-12); and 3) their teaching about the foreign woman (2:16-19, 5:1-14,
6:20-35, 7:1-27).
In this survey, the results of Lang's exegesis are of secondary interest to the
method he espouses. The conclusions of McKane, Whybray, et al., regarding the
influence of Egyptian wisdom on Proverbs 1-9 (see above), are of fundamental
importance to Lang. However, Lang contends, beyond these scholars, that not only is
the individual instruction form in Proverbs 1-9 similar to the Egyptian instruction
form, but the collection of Proverbs 1-9 as a whole is similar to Egyptian instruction
texts or collections.56 Proverbs 1-9, like its Egyptian counterparts, is a loose,
_______________________
55 Lang has published numerous other works on Proverbs 1-9 and related topics: Frau
Weisheit (Dusseldorf: Patmos, 1975); "Schule un Unterricht im Alten Israel," BETL 51 (1979):
186-201; "Klugheit als Ethos and Weisheit als Beruf: Zur Lebenslehre im Alten Testament," in
Weisheit. Archaologie der Literarischen Kommunikation III, ed. Aleida Assman (Munich,
1991), 177-92; Wisdom and the Book of Proverbs; "Figure Ancienne, Figure Nouvelle de la
Sagesse en Pr 1 A 9," LD 160 (1995): 61-97.
56 Lang, Die Weisheitliche Lehrrede, 100.
22
unorganized collection of school literature that lacks any plan, unity, or content
development. Based on this observation, Lang vindicates his isolation of the ten
lectures for study outside the literary context of Proverbs 1-9.57 In other words,
because of the kompilatorische Charakter of the collection, any attempt to study the
lectures as integral parts of a unified composition is futile.
Lang's extreme conclusion about the literary fragmentation of Proverbs 1-9 has
been challenged by other critics (e.g., Burns and Overland; see below). Rhetorical
analysis of the lectures may also modify Lang's claim by contributing to our
understanding of the redactional strategy of the editor[s]. Nonetheless, an approach
similar to Lang's is adopted in this study. Here, because of their common features
(form) and their foundational role in the development of Proverbs 1-9,58 the lectures
are isolated from the interludes for independent exegesis. This segregation is more of
a heuristic device than a commentary on the literary unity of Proverbs 1-9. This move
is designed to provide clearer insight into the common and unique rhetorical features
of the lectures, insights which may contribute to our understanding of the unity of
Proverbs 1-9.
_______________________
57 Ibid., 28-29, 100.
58 See Fox, “Ideas of Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9, 613-633.
23
Against Lang, Camilla Burns' chief concern is the literary unity of Proverbs 1-
9. In order to demonstrate this unity, Burns utilizes stylistic analysis59 and the Hero
Journey as described by Joseph Campbell.60 She argues that,
personified wisdom or the Wisdom Woman is a mythic symbol of the heroine
who makes the archetypal journey and also issues an invitation to others to
follow the journey of wisdom. The elements of the journey which fit into the
pattern of the monomyth give a new means of expressing the unity of Prov 1-
9.61
According to Burns, two fundamental facts support her reading: 1) woman wisdom is a
mythic figure, and 2) the journey (way) is a dominant theme in Proverbs 1-9.62
Paul Overland, like Burns, also pursues a literary interest in the unity or
"cohesiveness" of Proverbs 1-9, although he does so by employing the methods of
_______________________
59 Burns' "stylistic analysis" ("The Heroine with a Thousand Faces," 36-44) is an amalgam
of James Muilenburg's rhetorical method and the poetics of Robert Alter.
60 Burns, "The Heroine with a Thousand Faces," 4-6.
61 Ibid., 6.
62 Ibid., 7. See also, Norman C. Habel, "The Symbolism of Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9," Int
26 (1972): 131-57.
Burns provides a unique literary perspective on Proverbs 1-9. Her analysis, however,
is of limited benefit for rhetorical study of the ten lectures. Burns' interpretive concern is for
woman wisdom and her literary role in unifying Proverbs 1-9. As stated above, the
personification of wisdom is primarily a feature of the interludes, not the lectures. Burns also
favors a thematic division of the material based on the schematics of Joseph Campbell's Hero
Journey rather than division based on formal or rhetorical criteria. For example, she outlines
1:8-2:22 (94-114) in the following way:
Separation:
The Call to Adventure (1:8-19, 20-33; 2:1-4)
Supernatural Aid (2:5-11)
The Crossing of the First Threshold (2:12-22)
This division unites the first lecture (1:8-19), the first interlude (1:20-33), and the proposition
of the second lecture (2:1-4), while dividing the second lecture (2:1-22). Thus, her literary
analysis pursues different interests and proceeds in a different direction than this dissertation.
24
New Criticism and Structuralism.63 Overland is primarily concerned to identify literary
devices responsible for the framing and coherence of the text, and to demonstrate how
selected "units inter-connect to form a unified text.”64 He achieves this goal by
establishing a catalog of macro- and micro-structural devices that occur in Proverbs 1-
9,65 and offering meticulous analysis of five texts (1:1-7, 1:8-19, 1:20-33, 2:1-22, 3:13-
26).
_______________________
63 Paul B. Overland, "Literary Structure in Proverbs 1-9," Ph.D. diss. (Brandeis University,
1988), 45.
64 Ibid., 44-45.
65 Overland (Ibid., 71-97) identifies numerous macro-structural framing and coherence
devices. Macro-structural framing devices include: opening devices (the vocative ynb, dual-
theme verses, repetition, and dense clustering of key terms), closing devices (use of Nk,
character summaries, dense repetition of key terms, chiasm, and climatic text-terminal usage of
lk), and opening & closing devices (inclusio & palistrophe, and transitional devices). Macro-
structural coherence devices include dynamic ("a series of words or ideas which form a logical
progression," 85) and metaphoric devices ("words which are related but which do not indicate
any progression," 85).
He also identifies several micro-structural framing and coherence devices (98-140).
Micro-structural framing devices include: opening devices (introductory dual-theme verses and
line-initial lexical markers [e.g., ytm-df, hnh, Mg, zx, yk tHt, and non-consecutive r-v]),
closing devices (climatic use of lk, dual-theme verse conclusion, hendiadys that produces a
climax, rhetorical questions, line-initial Nk lf, and various combinations of formal features
and content that create a sense of conclusion), and opening & closing devices (palistrophes,
inclusios [based on related terms, line-extremities, synonymous word pairs, assonance, and
repeated terms], and transitions [repetition of key terms, dual-theme verse transitions,
antecedent referents, repetition of content, development of content, and use of allusion]).
Micro-structural coherence devices include: dynamic coherence devices (imperative + motive,
series of terms that denote various progressions [e.g., passivity to activity, intensification,
general to specific, tangible to intangible], the law of increasing members, accusation +
reform, form based transpositions, directional motion, dynamic reversals, chronological
organization, description + implication), and metaphoric coherence devices (antithetical word
pairs, grammatical unity of person, affirmative/negative patterning, repetition of terms or
related terms, grammatical unity of tense, patterning of imperatives, jussives and rhetorical
questions, and assonance).
25
Overland's work offers two contributions to the rhetorical analysis of the
lectures. First, many of the structural devices that Overland identifies in Proverbs 1-9
also function as rhetorical devices.66 Indeed, Overland acknowledges this connection.
Inquiry concerning rhetoric can be instructive since it may be able to explain
why certain structures were employed. Did elaborate structures serve simply to
adorn the composition, or did they contain an inherent power to nuance
transmission of the message in a predictable manner? In order to discern
whether a structure may have impelled a pupil toward a persuasive goal,
various aspects about the structure may be considered. Does it escalate or
diminish the sense of tension in the text? Does it advance the argument
significantly? Is it instrumental for introducing a key thought into the
discourse? While this last concept (introduction of a major thought) appears
purely stylistic, it may contain rhetorical ramifications when the persuasive
effectiveness of a composition depends on the addition of a new thought.67
Despite this acute insight, Overland's rhetorical observations are minimal and only
offered in support of his avowed purpose, namely, explaining the function of some
structural features in Proverbs 1-9. Nonetheless, his connection of structure and
rhetoric is noteworthy. This study will draw from Overland's observations, but reverse
the dominant concern from structure to rhetoric and expand this focus to all ten
lectures.
Overland's second contribution to the rhetorical analysis of the lectures is his
selection of two lectures (1:8-19 and 2:1-22) and part of a third (3:21-26) for in-depth
structural analysis. These analyses will be consulted in the rhetorical exegeses of
these texts. Here, his selections warrant two observations. First, from a rhetorical
_______________________
66 For example, the dense clustering of key terms in the closing verse of a textual unit,
character summaries, and the climatic text-terminal use of lk are rhetorical devices for
persuasive conclusion.
67 Overland, "Literary Structure in Proverbs 1-9," 145-46.
26
point of view, Overland's selection of texts is objectionable. Although his criteria for
selection includes “the need for variety,”68 he fails to discern the rhetorical variety in
the lectures. Consequently his selection of texts includes two rhetorically similar
lectures and no representative from other rhetorical types (see chp. 3). Second,
Overland's delimitation of 3:13-26 as a textual unit is problematic. Although he uses
form-critical arguments to disassociate 1:7 from 1:8-19, he rejects the same form-
critical arguments to unite 3:13-26.69 Here, he combines a hymn to wisdom (3:13-18),
a theological appendix to the hymn (3:19-20), and the proposition of the fourth lecture
(3:21-26, while excising the body of this lecture [3:27-35]), into “an entire text.”70
This irregular use of form criticism denotes a weakness in Overland's method, namely,
the danger of inconsistently applying "certain criteria for recognizing unity and
division.”71 More specifically, microscopic attention to structural detail may fail to see
the independence of larger literary or rhetorical units. Despite these objections, the
detail of Overland's structural analysis of the text and the breadth of his catalog of
structural (rhetorical) devices makes his study an valuable aid for any serious literary
or rhetorical study of Proverbs 1-9.
_______________________
68 Ibid., 142.
69 Overland (ibid., 105) identifies 1:7 as the final verse of the unit 1:2-6 for three reasons:
1) the line-initial ynb fmw in 1:8 denotes a new unit, 2) the shift from the indicative mood in
verse 7 to the imperative in verse 8, and 3) verses 8-9 fit together as an imperative followed
by a yk explanatory clause. All of these observations are also true of the disjunction between
3:13-20 and 3:21-35.
70 Ibid., 86, 10-13.
71 Although Overland (Ibid., 12) makes this statement in reference to the form-critical work
of Whybray, it is equally true of his own method.
27
Another literary study that includes consideration of the rhetoric of Proverbs 1-
9 is the recent monograph by Daniel J. Estes. Hear, My Son: Teaching & Learning in
Proverbs 1-9.72 As indicated by the title, this work "endeavors to synthesize the
unorganized data from a portion of the book of Proverbs into a more systematic
statement of the pedagogical theory that underlies its teachings."73 Estes organizes this
data into seven categories: the world view of Proverbs 1-9, values for education, goals,
curriculum, the process of instruction, the role of the teacher, and the role of the
learner.
While each of Estes' categories supplies helpful information for rhetorical
analysis of the lectures, his discussion of the process of instruction is especially
noteworthy. Estes acknowledges that "the process of instruction" is "the rhetoric of
pedagogy.”74 Thus, his analysis of the process of instruction is, in fact, an
investigation of the diverse rhetorical forms in Proverbs 1-9. In this analysis, he
identifies nine distinct rhetorical strategies.75 Five of these strategies, however, he
limits to the interludes: address, description, condition with command, incentive, and
invitation. Only four of Estes' categories feature the lectures: command with reasons,
command with reasons and illustrations, command with consequences, and command
with rhetorical questions. His rhetorical analysis of the lectures lacks detailed
_______________________
72 D. Estes, Hear My Son: Teaching and Learning in Proverbs 1-9, New Studies in Biblical
Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997).
73 Ibid., 13.
74 Ibid., 104.
75 Ibid., 101-24.
28
attention to the nuances of the rhetoric; nonetheless, it provides a prelude for the type
of analysis carried out in this dissertation.
In addition to his direct concern for the logos of the rhetoric, Estes considers
what he calls the “role of the teacher.”76 In rhetorical terms, analysis of the teacher's
role, as well as discussion of the “curriculum for education,”77 includes the
development of the rhetor's ethos (credibility or right to be heard). For example, Estes
claims that three sources are utilized by the sage of Proverbs 1-9: 1) personal
observation, 2) tradition from Israel and other ancient Near Eastern cultures, and 3)
revelation from God. As I mentioned in regard to traditio-historical study (see above),
the second and third sources are significant factors in the development of the sage's
ethos or authority. Indeed, Estes comments that the sage “does not speak by personal
authority alone, but he is also the voice of the received tradition that transcends
him.”78 Thus, the sage “is qualified to speak because of his expert status as a
knowledgeable and reliable transmitter of tradition.”79 Similarly, the claim of
information via revelation asserts a strong warrant to authority and the right to be
heard.
The similar interests and practices of literary and rhetorical analysis make the
literary studies of Lang, Burns, Overland, and Estes natural conversation partners in
_______________________
76 Ibid., 125-34.
77 Ibid., 87-99.
78 Ibid., 92.
79 Ibid., 126.
29
the ensuing rhetorical exegesis. Thus, each of these scholars, now introduced, will
return to the stage at a later point. Moreover, the works of Overland and Estes serve
as excellent introductions to the rhetorical issues pursued in this dissertation, namely,
the ethos, pathos, and logos of the ten lectures. These overtures lead us to the final
category of this survey, namely, studies with primary interest in the rhetoric of
Proverbs 1-9.
Rhetorical Analyses
Interpretations of Proverbs 1-9 with dominant rhetorical interests, which include
the lectures, are uncommon and limited in scope.80 In addition to the literary studies
of Overland and Estes, numerous articles and essays have made passing reference to
the rhetoric of these chapters.81 However, four essays comprise the totality of focused
rhetorical study of Proverbs 1-9 in the twentieth century.82
_______________________
80 A few studies, not considered here, utilize the "rhetorical criticism" of James Muilenburg
(see chp. 2) and focus exclusively on the interludes: Phyllis Trible, 'Wisdom Builds a Poem:
The Architecture of Proverbs 1:20-33," JBL 94 (1975): 509-18; Matirice Gilbert, "Le Discours
de la Sagesse en Proverbes 8. Structure et Coherence," BETL 51 (1979): 202-218; and Duck
Woo Nam, "A Rhetorical-Critical Study of the Speeches of Wisdom, in Proverbs 1-9," M.Th.
thesis (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1994).
81 E.g., Michael V. Fox, "The Pedagogy of Proverbs 2," JBL 113 (1994): 233-43; and
"Ideas of Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9," 613-633.
82 Rhetorical study of Proverbs, outside chapters 1-9, has fared somewhat better. See Philip
Johannes Nel, The Structure and Ethos of the Wisdom Admonitions in Proverbs, BZAW, vol.
158 (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1982); Jutta Krispenz, Spruchkompositionen im Buch
Proverbia, Europaische Hochschulschriften, vol. 349 (Frankfurt: P. Lang, 1989); Dave
Lawrence Bland, "A Rhetorical Perspective on the Sentence Sayings of the Book of Proverbs,"
Ph.D. diss. (University of Washington, 1994); Roland Meynet, "'Pour Comprendre Proverbe et
Enigme' Analyse Rhetorique de Proverbs 1:1-7; 10:1-5; 26:1-12," in Ouvrir les Ecritures, ed.
Pietro Bovati (Paris: Cerf, 1995), 97-118.
30
The first and most significant of these essays is by J.N. Aletti, “Seduction et
Parole en Proverbes I-IX.”83 In this seminal essay, Aletti proposed that what seduces
the young man in Proverbs 1-9 above anything else are the speeches of the strange
woman. For example, in chapter 7, the young man is not seduced by the perfume,
rare fabric, or the absence of the woman's husband. Rather, he is made aware of these
things by the woman's speech and he follows her because of the persuasiveness of her
speech.84 Thus, the objective of Aletti's essay is to understand how the seductive
speeches in Proverbs 1-9 work.
In order to discern the mechanism of the seductive rhetoric, Aletti compares the
first speech of wisdom (1:22-33) to the speeches of the strange woman (7:14-20) and
the wicked men (1:11-14). He draws two conclusions from this comparison. First, the
speeches of the strange woman and wicked men seduce by utilizing and confusing the
vocabulary of the father and woman wisdom. The seduction operates by inverting the
rhetoric of the opposition. Aletti writes,
Does not the greatest seduction consist of inviting to do evil with the same
words (almost) that appeal to good? The malicious speak to the inexperienced:
"we will fill (xlm) our houses with booty" (1:13), and the sage affirms in the
same way: "I endow wealth on those who love me and I fill (xlm) their
treasures" (8:21). "Rejoice in the wife of your youth . . . may you (Mydd) be
intoxicated (hvr) by her at all times," says the teacher (5:19), and as an echo,
the adulteress repeats: "Come let us take our fill of love (Mydd: a clear allusion
to 5:19) until morning" (7:18). The clearest example, because of stylistic
_______________________
83 J.N. Aletti, "Seduction et Parole en Proverbes I-IX," VT 27 (1977): 129-44.
84 Ibid., 129-130.
31
marks, is found in Proverbs 9 where dame Wisdom and dame Folly both say:
"You who are inexperienced turn in here!" (9:4,15).85
Aletti observes numerous instances of such brouillage axiologique in the speeches of
the wicked men, the strange woman, and woman folly. These opponents invite the
young man to participate in illicit behavior with the same words used by the sage to
appeal to good character. Thus, their speeches seduce by numbing and confusing the
young man's capacity to discern.
Second, the speeches of the strange woman and the wicked men seduce by
contradicting the sage's assertion of consequences. Seduction is not achieved by
justifying the illicit action or extolling the object of pleasure, but by a counter-
evaluation of the consequences.86 For example, the adulteress persuades the young
man that the consequences of adultery affirmed by the sage (5:25-35) can and will be
avoided: her husband is far away and will not return until the full moon (7:19-20).
Similarly, the wicked men attempt to persuade the young man that happiness and
prosperity may be found without following the way of the sages (1:13-14). Thus, the
mechanism of seduction consists of divorcing socially accepted consequences from
_______________________
85 Ibid., 133 (my translation).
la [sic] plus grande seduction ne consiste-t-elle pas a inviter au mal avec (preque) les
memes paroles que celui qui appelle au bien? Les mechants disent a l'inexperimente
(1:13): "nous emplirons (ml') nos maisons de butin", et la sagesse affirme de la
meme facon (viii 21): "je procure des ressources a ceux qui m'aiment et je remplis
(ml') leurs coffres". "Jouis de la femme de to jeunesse . . . que ses seins (ddym)
t'enivrent (rwh) tout le temps" dit le maitre (v 19), et, comme en echo, la femme
adultere repete: "viens! enivrons-nous (rwh) de voupte (ddymn; allusion evidente a
v 19) jusqu'au matin" (vii 18). L'exemple le plus net, parce que stylistiquement
marque, se trouve en Prov. ix ou dame Sagesse et dame Insensee disent l’une et
1'autre: "que celui qui est inexperimente se detourne par ici! (versets 4 et 15).
86 Ibid., 134.
32
their socially condemned behaviors. Aletti observed that this means of seduction
threatens to destroy the values on which the community relies for existence.87
Aletti's insights were taken up by two essays published in 1989. In the first,
Gale Yee built on Aletti's thesis that what seduces the young man are the speeches of
the strange woman.88 While Aletti focused on the mechanics or rhetoric of individual
speeches, Yee explored the arrangement of the speeches in Proverbs 1-9. She
proposed that these speeches were arranged in chiastic patterns in order to highlight
the virtues of woman wisdom and to expose the risks of the foreign woman.89
Yee's study combined literary concern for the unity of Proverbs 1-9 with keen
sensitivity to matters of rhetoric. In addition to uncovering more examples of Aletti's
brouillage axiologique, she detected, even more than Aletti, the incredible importance
that speech (rhetoric) plays in these chapters. For example, Yee pointed out that part
of the heuristic method of the writer of Proverbs 1-9 included the citation of speeches
by various persons. Within the instructional framework of the father's speeches, the
writer cites speeches by sinners, woman wisdom, the father's father, the son, the
strange woman and woman folly.90 Further, the father's warnings against the strange
woman consistently emphasize the irresistible seductiveness of her speech. It is the
_______________________
87 Ibid., 140-142.
88 Gale A. Yee, "'I Have Perfumed My Bed with Myrrh': The Foreign Woman in Proverbs
1-9," JSOT 43 (1989): 53-68.
89 Ibid., 53.
90 Ibid., 55.
33
concern of the father.91 In other words, these chapters document a war of words and
this rhetorical battle for the allegiance of the son provides the essence of Proverbs 1-9.
In another essay published in 1989, Carol Newsom reiterated the preoccupation
of Proverbs 1-9 with speech about speech, or, to use her terminology, discourse about
discourse.92 To be sure, Newsom does not adhere to a rhetorical method in her study.
Rather, she combines insights from the linguistic theory of Emile Benveniste, feminist
criticism, and discourse analysis to investigate the symbolic structure of Proverbs 1-9.
The significance of Newsom's study for rhetoric is that her discourse analysis
discloses the rhetorical subtlety of the lectures, a subtlety largely overlooked by Aletti
and Yee. For example, Newsom summarizes the theme of the first lecture as: "how to
resist interpellation by a rival discourse.”93 She notes that the speech of the sinners is
completely controlled by the father and shaped in such a way that their invitation to
the son can scarcely be taken at face value. In other words, the son is not being
warned about adopting a career as a murderous bandit. The rhetoric operates more
subtly. The invitation of the brigands is a metaphor for illicit economic activity,
confirmed by verse 19: "such are the ways of all who cut a big profit.”94 Newsom
further asserts that the real problem addressed in this lecture is a challenge to the
_______________________
91 Ibid., 61, 65-66.
92 Carol A. Newsom, "Woman and the Discourse of Patriarchal Wisdom: A Study of
Proverbs 1-9," in Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel, ed. Peggy, L. Day (Minneapolis:
Fortress, 1989), 142-60.
93 Ibid., 144.
94 Ibid., 145.
34
vertical structure of authority (espoused by the father) by a horizontal structure based
on common enterprise and immediate access to wealth (espoused by the sinners).
Lurking beneath the surface is a generational chasm.
Four years after Aletti's initial foray into the rhetoric of Proverbs 1-9, James
Crenshaw issued an appeal for further study of the rhetorical techniques found in
Israel's wisdom literature.95 At the time, Crenshaw was responding to George
Kennedy's assertion that rhetorical consciousness was entirely foreign to the nature of
biblical literature. Specifically, Kennedy proposed that the biblical claim to speak
with divine authority excluded the need for rhetoric or the practice of persuasion.96 In
order to challenge Kennedy's claim, Crenshaw offered a brief rhetorical analysis of
texts from Israel's wisdom literature, including Proverbs 1-9.
In his analysis of Proverbs 1-9, Crenshaw challenged what he perceived to be
another misconception among biblical scholars (e.g., Zimmerli), namely, the absolute
authority of the instruction form and the advisory character of the sentence proverb.
He demonstrated that
a peculiar irony persists: precisely where authority is most lacking, i.e., in
instructions, critics assume its pervading presence, and in sentences, which
compel assent without the slightest reinforcement, interpreters emphasize their
advisory character.97
_______________________
95 James Crenshaw, "Wisdom and Authority: Sapiential Rhetoric and Its Warrants,"
Congress Volume, VTSup 32 (1981): 10-29.
96 George A. Kennedy, Classical Rhetoric and Its Christian and Secular Tradition from
Ancient to Modern Times (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), 120.
Kennedy has modified his position since 1980 (see chp. 2).
97 Crenshaw, "Wisdom and Authority," 16.
35
Crenshaw established his position by pointing out the use of sentence proverbs to
establish the authority (or validity) of four “instructions.”98 In these instructions, the
proverbs are the heart of the sage's rhetorical argument. Thus, in a single stroke,
Crenshaw demonstrated the careful rhetorical construction of the instructions (against
Kennedy) and challenged the scholarly consensus that the sentence proverbs were
inherently less authoritative than the instructions.99
To summarize, the studies of Aletti, Yee, and Newsom are of fundamental
significance to this dissertation. These scholars have demonstrated both the
importance of rhetoric within Proverbs 1-9 and the potential of utilizing rhetorical
analysis in the interpretation of these chapters. They have also shown that the lectures
of Proverbs 1-9 are not crass speeches that simply repeat the same appeals ad
infinitum. Rather, the lectures of Proverbs 1-9 exhibit marks of careful, self-conscious,
and subtle rhetorical thought.
Crenshaw's essay, beyond the specifics of his rhetorical exegesis, also has
special significance to this study. First, Crenshaw directly relates his work to the
rhetorical studies of George Kennedy. Although he argues against Kennedy,
_______________________
98 Crenshaw's four "instructions" include two lectures (1:6[sic]-19, 6:20-35) and two
interludes (6:6-11, 9:1-18).
99 In addition to his comments regarding Proverbs 1-9, Crenshaw ("Wisdom and Authority,"
17-28) utilized the concepts and terminology of classical Western rhetorical theory to explore
Job and I Esdras 3:1-5:3. Regarding Job, he concentrated on the rhetorical development of
ethos (the speaker's claim to authority), pathos (the ways a speaker sways belief or moves an
audience to action), and logos (the logic of the speech itself). In his study of I Esdras,
Crenshaw focused on basic rhetorical devices (choice of material, arrangement, vocabulary,
and style), and the combination of these devices to produce a persuasive speech.
36
Kennedy's theoretical work in classical Western rhetoric greatly informs Crenshaw's
practice of rhetorical analysis. Similarly, this study builds on studies by Kennedy (see
chp. 2). Second, Crenshaw concludes his essay with the following claim:
Similar forays into other wisdom texts, which I hope to make in the near
future, should reveal extensive mastery of rhetorical technique even where the
hand of authority weighs heavily upon the material. In a word, Israel's teachers
spoke with authority, but they also developed and refined persuasion to an
art.100
This dissertation may be viewed as a response to Crenshaw's challenge: to reveal the
mastery of rhetorical technique in the lectures of Proverbs 1-9 and, thus, demonstrate
how Israel's sages developed and refined persuasion to a fine art.
Summary
This survey has attempted to situate my rhetorical analysis of the ten lectures
within recent scholarly work on Proverbs 1-9 and to introduce key studies that will
reappear throughout this dissertation. While acknowledging the merits and
contributions of each of the methods and foci discussed, my rhetorical analysis is most
closely allied to form and literary critical methods. Traditio-historical studies and
studies of the women in Proverbs 1-9 are also partners, but most frequently, silent
partners to rhetorical analysis.
As in other biblical studies, one may also perceive in this survey an evolution
from concentrated diachronic, to synchronic analysis, to an emerging concern for the
_______________________
100 Ibid., 29. To date, Crenshaw has not yet published additional rhetorical studies of
Israel's wisdom literature. See, however, his forthcoming monograph: Education in Ancient
Israel: Across the Deadening Silence (Doubleday, Forthcoming).
37
rhetorical features of Proverbs 1-9. It is the goal of this dissertation to continue this
line of development by filling a major lacuna observed in this survey, namely, a
systematic rhetorical analysis of the ten lectures.
Chapter Two
RHETORICAL CRITICISM
AND BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION
Rhetorical criticism, as a methodological description, is rife with problematic
ambiguity. The definition, theory, and practice of rhetoric has been debated from its
inception in ancient Greece to modern times. Its history is one of constant change,
adaptation, and redefinition. Consequently, rhetorical analysis in biblical exegesis is
not a unified or single method. Rather, late twentieth century biblical interpretation is
the beneficiary of several diverse practices of rhetorical criticism, each with legitimate
roots in the history of rhetoric.
In this chapter I will define the rhetorical method to be used in this
dissertation. To begin, because my method builds on ancient rhetorical foundations, it
will be helpful to preface the definition of my rhetorical method with a brief survey of
the emergence of rhetoric in the ancient West. Next, I will review the use of
rhetorical criticism in biblical studies. This review will include an historical survey of
the use of rhetoric and an examination of four contemporary rhetorical methods in
biblical interpretation. Each of these methods raises important theoretical questions,
e.g., the definition of rhetorical criticism. Thus, in addition to a description of each
method, I will address the theoretical questions they raise and so begin to articulate the
38
39
underpinnings of my own method. Finally, I will present a programmatic statement of
the rhetorical method to be used in my analysis of the ten lectures of Proverbs 1-9.1
A Brief Survey of the
Emergence of Rhetoric in the Ancient West
Although this dissertation is a rhetorical analysis of an ancient non-Western
text (Prov 1-9), consideration of rhetoric in the ancient West is a necessary starting
point. On the one hand, presently, there is no comprehensive analysis of ancient
Israelite rhetorical theory or practice.2 On the other hand, no other ancient society
conceptualized their rhetorical practices to the degree of the rhetors of ancient Greece
and Rome.3 Thus, while limited by different cultural conditions (see below), ancient
Western rhetorical theory contributes essential conceptual terminology for identifying
and discussing the rhetorical features of non-Western texts and, hence, the ten lectures
in Proverbs 1-9.
The origins of ancient Western rhetorical theory may be traced to the Homeric
traditions of the 10th – 11th centuries BCE. However, most scholars attribute the rise of
_______________________
1 The method I espouse here would also be useful for the study of the speeches by woman
Wisdom (1:20-33, 8:1-36, 9:1-12). Although rhetorical analysis need not be limited to texts
that present themselves as speeches (e.g., 3:13-20 and 6:1-19), the method developed in this
dissertation especially focuses on rhetorical criticism as it applies to the analysis of speeches.
2 Some partial analyses are beginning to appear. See Ronald C. Katz, The Structure of
Ancient Arguments: Rhetoric and Its Near Eastern Origin (New York: Shapolsky/Steinmatzky,
1977); Isaac Rabinowitz, "Pre-Modern Jewish Study of Rhetoric: An Introductory
Bibliography," Rhetorica 3 (1985): 137-144; and Margaret D. Zulick, "The Active Force of
Hearing: The Ancient Hebrew Language of Persuasion," Rhetorica 10 (1992): 367-380.
3 See George A. Kennedy, Comparative Rhetoric: An Historical and Cross-Cultural
Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 5.
40
rhetoric, as a discrete discourse, to writers in the 5th - 6th centuries BCE. It is not
possible here, because of the compass of this history, to present even an outline of the
emergence of rhetorical theory in the ancient West.4 Rather, drawing from the
histories of this era written by Thomas Conley5 and George Kennedy,6 I will introduce
the reader to the questions addressed by ancient rhetorical theory and the diverse
answers that the rhetors of the ancient West gave to these questions. Here, in addition
to its contribution of conceptual terminology, ancient Western rhetoric will make a
second donation to this dissertation, namely that, as Conley points out, both the
questions addressed by rhetoric and the diverse answers are the same today as twenty-
five centuries ago.7
Rhetorical theory addresses the nature and function of persuasive discourse. Is
there an absolute Truth or authority to which a rhetor can appeal? If so, what are the
source(s) of this Truth? If not, what is the basis of human action? What is the role of
the rhetor? Is the rhetor to persuade the audience to accept Truth, his/her opinion, or
to present all possible sides of an issue and work with the audience to achieve a
consensus? If the task of the rhetor is to persuade, what are the most effective
_______________________
4 The bibliography on ancient Western rhetoric is immense. See Richard Leo Enos, "The
Classical Period," in The Present State of Scholarship in Historical and Contemporary
Rhetoric, ed. Winifred Bryan Homer (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1983), 10-39.
5 Thomas M. Conley, Rhetoric in The European Tradition (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1990).
6 George A. Kennedy, The Art of Persuasion in Greece (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1963); and Classical Rhetoric, 3-85.
7 Conley, Rhetoric, 24.
41
methods of persuasion? These are some of the questions addressed by rhetorical
theorists in the ancient West and rhetoricians in contemporary biblical studies.
In the ancient West, there were, according to Conley, four distinct models of
rhetoric, each with "its own fundamental commitments and each with its own view of
the nature and ends of rhetoric."8 The first two models, Protagorean and Gorgianic,
may be characterized as "Sophistic" because of their stance against the absolute nature
of truth. The third, Platonic, challenged the Sophistic view of truth and its
corresponding theory of rhetoric. And the fourth model, Aristotelian, questioned
elements of both Sophistic and Platonic rhetoric.
Protagoras (c. 490-400 BCE) may be loosely described as an ancient
postmodern.9 According to Protagoras, absolute Truth was inaccessible to humans and
perhaps even nonexistent. All matters of "truth" are contestable. Thus, disputes must
be resolved by "antilogic," the rhetorical method of examining both sides of the
question or issue, without appeal to absolute standards of Truths traditional standards
of behavior, or universal principles. In this system, "man is the measure and measurer
of all things.”10 Consequently, the role of the rhetor and rhetoric in society is of
paramount importance. The rhetor must present both sides of an argument clearly and
_______________________
8 Conley, Rhetoric, 23.
9 Kennedy's description of the Sophistry associated with Protagoras and Gorgias in ancient
Greece (Comparative Rhetoric, 225) aptly describes many postmoderns: "[Sophistry] was
characterized by celebration of power and speech, philosophical relativism or skepticism,
questioning traditional beliefs of the society; fascination with an apparent ability to
demonstrate a paradox or prove two sides of an issue; and an interest in the nature of language
and linguistic experimentation."
10 Kennedy, The Art of Persuasion in Greece, 13.
42
persuasively for the audience to reach an intelligent decision (doxa) on a course of
action. For Protagoras, it is this human opinion (doxa), not absolute Truth, that is the
only basis for action.
Gorgias (c. 480-375 BCE), like Protagoras, rejected the authority of tradition
and the idea of absolute Truth. He also asserted that the only basis of action is
opinion (doxa). His philosophical relativism is exhibited in his famous thesis that
"nothing exists, if it did it could not be apprehended, and if it could be apprehended,
that apprehension could not be communicated.”11 However, Gorgias understood the
role of the rhetor differently than Protagoras. While Protagoras viewed rhetoric as a
presentation of both sides of an issue by an active rhetor to an active audience, who
must decide the issue, Gorgias viewed rhetoric as the skillful presentation of an active
rhetor who casts a spell over a passive audience in order to persuade it to adopt the
position (doxa) of the rhetor.
Contemporaries of Protagoras and Gorgias heavily criticized their teaching of
Sophistic rhetorics. Like contemporary critics of postmodernism, many Greeks viewed
the rejection of absolute Truth and the authority of tradition as a direct threat to the
fabric of society. For example, Aristophanes accused Protagoras of teaching his
students "how to make the worse case appear the better,”12 and Plato accused Gorgias
_______________________
11 Summarized by Kennedy (The Art of Persuasion in Greece, 14) from Gorgias' On the
Nonexistent, or On Nature.
12 Summarized by Conley (Rhetoric, 6) from Aristophanes The Clouds, 112f. (Unless
otherwise noted, all references to Classical Texts utilize the reference system of the Loeb
Classical Library.)
43
of "putting a knife in the hands of a madman in the crowd."13 Conley sums up the
problem:
the reliance of both on doxa alone deprives them of any objective criterion by
which to distinguish between what is true or false or between what is right or
wrong. Protagorean debate, in other words, could easily, degenerate to a
dialogue between two equally ignorant and misguided parties, and Gorgianic
persuasion could easily become a cynical exercise in manipulation by one who
had mastered the techniques of charming one's listeners.14
It must be mentioned, in defense of Sophistic rhetoric, that Isocrates, another Sophist,
emphasized the importance of the rhetor being a good person who is actively involved
in promoting the welfare of the community. Nonetheless, for many, the Sophistic
rejection of Truth and traditional authority marked them at best as suspicious, and at
worst as heretics who threatened to destroy society.
Plato (427-347 BCE) had no tolerance for the Sophistic concept of opinion
(doxa). According to Plato, absolute Truth (the eternal and immutable essence of
things) did exist and rhetoric, as defined by the Sophists, was not only misguided, but
dangerous. Following Socrates, Plato argued that Truth was absolute, knowable, and
should guide human activity. This philosophy led Plato to scathing attacks on the
Sophists in Gorgias and Phaedrus.15
Platonic rhetoric may be described as either anti-rhetoric rhetoric, philosophical
rhetoric, or True rhetoric. Plato rejected the Protagorean rhetoric of debate, presenting
_______________________
13 Summarized by Conley (Rhetoric, 6) from Gorgias 469 C 8ff.
14 Conley, Rhetoric, 7.
15 Plato, Gorgias, trans. W.R.M. Lamb, LCL, ed. E.H. Warmington (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1925); and Phaedrus, trans. Harold North Fowler, LCL, ed. G.P. Goold
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1914).
44
both sides of an issue to determine which is better, and the Gorgianic rhetoric of
casting a spell over an audience in order to lead it to the opinion of the rhetor.
Platonic rhetoric begins and ends with Truth. The rhetor's task is to know what is
True and to lead the ignorant listener to the Truth by means of dialectical reasoning.
Thus, the effective rhetor must understand Truth, understand methods or forms of
argumentation (primarily dialectics), and understand the nature of the audience.16
Aristotle (384-322 BCE), one of Plato's students, challenged his teacher on his
limited definition of Truth as the eternal and immutable essence of things. In
Aristotle's view, truth must also include knowledge obtained from practical and
productive spheres of life, not just esoteric universal ideas. As a consequence of this
expansion of truth, Aristotle realized that the nature of truth is not always stable. For
example, "We cannot expect of ethics the same rigor we would expect from
geometry."17 In practical and productive spheres of life, truth is what usually happens
rather than an absolute. To be sure, Aristotle was not a Sophist; he believed in truth.
But against Plato, he believed truth included more than the eternal and immutable
essence of things.
Aristotle's rejection of Plato's understanding of truth led to a challenge of
Plato's disregard for rhetoric. For Aristotle, dialectic and rhetoric differ, but are not
_______________________
16 Conley, Rhetoric, 12.
17 As cited by Conley (Rhetoric, 14), from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics 1.3.1-4. See
also 2.2.3.
45
opposed to one another: “Rhetoric is the counterpart of dialectic.”18 Dialectic is
primarily a philosophical discourse that derives its arguments from universal opinion.
Rhetoric is a political discourse that derives its arguments from particular opinions.
Both are legitimate "arts," but differ in form and subject. Kennedy summarizes
Aristotle's stance:
Aristotle was practical enough to recognize the usefulness of rhetoric as a tool.
Those speaking the truth and doing so justly, have, he thought (Rhetoric
1355a21ff.), an obligation to be persuasive. They need rhetoric since the
subjects under discussion are not known scientifically and thus are not capable
of absolute demonstration.19
Aristotle's understanding of truth and rhetoric as a tool for the advancement of
truth led him to produce one of the earliest handbooks on rhetorical theory, The "Art"
of Rhetoric. In this work, he defines the art of rhetoric as "the faculty of discovering
the possible means of persuasion in reference to any subject wlatever.”20 Thus, the
rhetor must understand the difference between Truth and probabilities, and how to
develop a convincing argument based on probability. I will return to Aristotle's
concept of persuasion when I develop my own rhetorical method.
It may be helpful to consider one final issue regarding ancient Western
rhetoric, namely, why four rhetorics instead of one? As I have pointed out,
Protagorean, Gorgianic, Platonic, and Aristotelian rhetoric distinguish themselves on
the basis of their responses to two related questions. First, what is the nature of truth?
_______________________
18 Aristotle, The "Art" of Rhetoric, trans. John Henry Freese, LCL (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1926), 1.1.
19 Kennedy, The Art of Persuasion in Greece, 18.
20 Aristotle, The "Art" of Rhetoric, 15.
46
Is truth absolute (Plato), inaccessible if existent (Protagoras & Gorgias) or inclusive of
both absolutes and what usually happens (Aristotle)? Second, what is the nature of
rhetoric? Is rhetoric a cooperative exercise between a rhetor and an audience
(Gorgias), or the active persuasion of a rhetor over an audience (Protagoras, Plato,
Aristotle)? But why did these rhetors respond to the same questions in different ways?
According to Conley, each of these rhetorical models may be understood as different
responses to shifting political conditions in Athens.
For the sophists, Athenian reform presented an occasion for systematic thinking
about rhetoric. Thus, Protagorean rhetoric supplies a rationale for the
resolution of problems by means of public discussion in the absence of political
or ethical absolutes. 'Gorgianic' rhetoric likewise rejects claims to absolute
knowledge of what is true and good, but offers a set of instructions that would
make it possible for an orator to prevail in the current system, rather than a
rationale for the system itself. Plato's response, as we have seen, is negative,
denying the legitimacy both of rhetoric as it was taught and practiced and of
the democratic system that made it possible.21
In summary, ancient rhetorical theory was both fostered by cultural conditions and a
response to these conditions. Rhetorical theory has never existed in a vacuum.
Rhetorical Criticism in Biblical Studies
1. Early History to the Demise of Rhetoric
in Twentieth Century Biblical Studies
Rhetorical criticism was a significant method in biblical (especially NT)
interpretation from the earliest exegetes through the 17th and 18th centuries.22 For
_______________________
21 Conley, Rhetoric, 13.
22 See the histories of rhetoric in biblical interpretation by Kennedy (Classical Rhetoric,
132-241), Wilhelm Wuellner ("Where is Rhetorical Criticism Taking Us?" CBQ 49 [1987]:
450-451), Burton Mack (Rhetoric and the New Testament [Minneapolis: Augsburg/Fortress,
1989], 10), and Phyllis Trible (Rhetorical Criticism, GBS [Minneapolis: Fortress Press,
47
example, Augustine (354-430 CE), a student of rhetoric, interpreted biblical texts by
means of rhetorical analysis.23 In the Middle Ages, Christian (e.g., Cassiodorus of
Italy [c. 487-580 CE],24 the Venerable Bede of Britain [673-735 CE])25 and Jewish
scholars (e.g., Saadya Gaon [882-942 CE], Moses ibn Ezra [c. 1055-1140 CE])26 drew
_______________________
14-17).
23 In his treatise On Christian Teaching ([De Doctrina Christiana] trans. R.P.H. Green
[Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997], 4.19-60), Augustine raises the question of how a
person can best conduct a "careful investigation" and thus gain a "real understanding" of the
scriptures. He responds with exemplary exegeses of Romans 5:3-5, II Corinthians 11:16-30,
and Amos 6:1-6 in which he identifies the "rules of eloquence" followed in these texts (i.e.,
rhetorical devices such as climax, invective, and elaboration). He concludes: "As certain
eloquent and discerning authorities were able to see and say, the things that are learnt in the
so called art of public speaking would not have been observed, noted; and systematized into a
discipline if they had not first been found in the minds of orators; so why be surprised if they
are also found in the words of men sent by God, the creator of all minds. We should
therefore acknowledge that our canonical authors and teachers are eloquent, and not just wise,
with a kind of eloquence appropriate to the kind of persons they were" (4.60).
24 P.G. Walsh (Cassiodorus: Explanation of the Psalms, trans. P.G. Walsh, ACW, vol. 51
[New York: Paulist Press, 1990], 1:16) summarizes Cassiodorus' use of rhetoric in his
exposition of the Psalms: "Following the traditional division of speeches documented in detail
by Quintilian, he distinguishes between the demonstrative type (the speech of praise or blame
appropriate for formal occasions), the deliberative type (which was delivered in political
assemblies and offered persuasion or dissuasion on particular courses of action), and the
judicial variety (uttered in pleading in a court of law). Examples of all three are offered in the
course of the commentary; naturally enough, he equates the greatest number of psalms with
the demonstrative category, since they are predominantly expressions of praise to the Creator.
Then, in outlining the structure of individual psalms he frequently employs the terminology of
the rhetoricians, who prescribe appropriate patterns for the different types of speech; for
example, the judicial speech is divided into exordium, narratio, partitio, confirmatio,
reprehensio, conclusio."
25 Bede, following Cassiodorus, was especially sensitive to figures tropes and the poetic
structure of biblical books (see De schematis et tropes). He applied his method in studies of
the tabernacle (De tabernaculo [On the Tabernacle]) and temple (De templo [On the Temple]).
Bede also claimed that Greek rhetorical devices originated from the Hebrew. (See Trible,
Rhetorical Criticism, 15; and Dom Jean Leclerq, "The Exposition and Exegesis of Scripture
from Gregory the Great to St Bernard," in The Cambridge History of the Bible, ed. G.W.H.
Lampe, vol. 2 [Cambridge: University Press, 1969], 186)
26 See Trible, Rhetorical Criticism, 16.
48
attention to the importance of recognizing rhetorical devices in the interpretation of
biblical texts. This rhetorical consciousness continued in the Renaissance, most
notably with the Jewish scholar Judah Messer Leon (c. 1420-1498 CE), who wrote a
treatise entitled Sepher Nopheth Suphim (The Book of the Honeycomb's Flow) that
utilized classical terms and the system of ancient Western rhetoric for the
interpretation of scripture.27 In addition to Leon, other Renaissance scholars (e.g.,
Erasmus [c. 1466-1536 CE])28 also asserted the importance of rhetoric for the proper
understanding of scripture.
The modern era of biblical studies continued to see exegetes who stressed the
importance of rhetoric (e.g., Baruch Spinoza [1632-1677 CE];29 see also Blass,
Debrunner, and Funk's Greek Grammar of the New Testament, and Liddell and Scott's
_______________________
27 Trible (ibid., 17) describes this work: "Versed in Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintillian, he not
only cataloged biblical literary devices by classical terms but appropriated the entire system of
ancient rhetoric for the scriptures. Yet he maintained, as had the Christian exegetes
Cassiodorus and Bede, that the Bible, not the classics, constituted the source of rhetoric. '[I]t is
the Torah which was the giver.' Scripture became then the primary textbook for the art of
discourse and persuasion."
28 Erasmus advised (On the Method of Study, trans. Brain McGregor, Collected Works of
Erasmus, vol. 23, ed. Craig R. Thompson [Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978], 670)
that it would be advantageous for the interpreter to "have at your fingertips the chief points of
rhetoric, namely propositions, the grounds of proof, figures of speech, amplifications, and the
rules governing transitions. For these are conducive not only to criticism but also to
imitation." In his own practice, he used rhetorical terms to describe textual features. For
example, in his Paraphrase on the Acts of the Apostles (trans., Robert D. Sider, Collected
Works of Erasmus, vol. 50, ed. Robert D. Sider [Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995]),
Erasmus employs rhetorical terminology (e.g., exordium [18], proofs [96]) to illuminate the
text. See also, Trible, Rhetorical Criticism, 18; Fr Louis Bouyer, "Erasmus in Relation to the
Medieval Biblical Tradition," in The Cambridge History of the Bible, ed. G.W.H. Lampe, vol.
2 (Cambridge: University Press, 1969), 501.
29 Trible, Rhetorical Criticism, 19.
49
Greek-English Lexicon).30 However, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rhetorical
study of the Bible experienced a sharp decline. To be sure, "rhetorical studies"
continued to be published, but these studies increasingly defined rhetoric as literary
stylistics, not as the art of persuasion.31 By the middle of the 20th century, rhetorical
study of the Bible was comatose.
The authors of The Postmodern Bible, The Bible and Culture Collective (hence,
the Collective), attribute the demise of rhetoric in modern biblical studies to three
factors. First, the modern idea of the unicity of Truth in Western philosophy rendered
rhetoric impotent. Here, the Collective calls special attention to the educational reform
of Peter Ramus (1515-1572 CE), "whose effect was the institutionalization of a
separation of the study of thought or content from the study of form or feeling.”32
Ultimately, this separation of content from form led to the use of poetry for expressing
feeling and the use of scientific discourse for the demonstration of truth. Rhetoric was
discarded by both and "viewed suspiciously as mere ornamentation."33
The Collective's point may be augmented by what I have already observed
from the history of ancient Western rhetoric. The modern assettion of absolute Truth
is akin to Plato's claims about Truth: Truth is absolute, knowable, and must be the
_______________________
30 Mack (Rhetoric and the New Testament, 10-11) points out the prevalent use of terms
from classical rhetoric in both of these volumes, e.g., anacoluthon, antithesis, ellipsis,
paronomasia, periphrasis.
31 Kennedy, Classical Rhetoric, 5.
32 "The Bible and Culture Collective, The Postmodern Bible (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1995), 156.
33 Ibid., 157.
50
basis of human action. In such philosophy, ancient or modern, rhetoric tends to lose
its importance.34 Thus, both Plato and moderns viewed rhetoric with suspicion, if not
rejecting it outright, because it seemed to threaten Truth.
A second reason the Collective cites for the demise of rhetoric is the
redefinition of rhetoric as mere poetics, stylistics, hermeneutics, or literary study.
They are not clear, however, about why this redefinition led to the rejection of
rhetoric. Kennedy has pointed out that this shift from "primary" rhetoric to
"secondary" rhetoric is a persistent feature in the history of rhetoric. Such
letteraturizzazion occurred in the Hellenistic era, the Roman Empire, medieval France,
and in the 16th and 18th centuries throughout Europe. Kennedy suggests that the cause
for this shift in these societies was the tendency to teach rhetoric by rote (rather than
as an intellectually demanding discipline), and the lack of opportunities for engaging
in "primary" rhetoric.35 While these factors may be adequate explanations for the
letteraturizzazion of rhetoric in previous eras, they do not explain the demise of
rhetoric in the 20th century.
In my opinion, the redefinition of rhetoric in the 20th century contributed to its
neglect because of the modern idea and pursuit of Truth. In a modern age devoted to
scientific discovery and interpretation, anything defined as or associated with poetics
_______________________
34 Kennedy (The Art of Persuasion in Greece, 14), regarding this debate in ancient rhetoric,
writes "If, on the other hand, one were to argue that absolute truth both exists and is
knowable, then certain principles, deducible from this truth, ought to guide activity. In this
case rhetoric not only loses much of its importance, but becomes a potential danger because of
its ability to present some other and erroneous course of action in an attractive way."
35 Kennedy, Classical Rhetoric, 4-5.
51
hardly could be relevant. Truth was a matter of demonstrable scientific fact, not
poetics. Thus, rhetoric, defined as stylistics, was dismissed as unimportant to the
exegetical task of recovering Truth.
Third, the Collective credits the downfall of rhetoric to ''the emerging
awareness of alternative theories and practices of rhetoric.36 They attribute this
awareness to the study of indigenous European rhetorics in the late Middle ages (c.
1500) and the Western recognition of alternative practices of rhetoric in Jewish and
Muslim cultures. According to the Collective, these experiences exposed the classical
tradition as "enshrining an undifferentiated, universalized notion of rhetoric that
ignored cultural difference,”37 and thus led to the demise of rhetoric.
This third argument presents a better case for the New Rhetoric advocated by
the Collective than an explanation for the demise of rhetoric in modernity. There is
no evidence that the study of indigenous European rhetorics in the late Middle ages
had a significant impact on rhetorical study 200-400 years later. Further, the
acknowledgment of diverse Jewish and Muslim rhetorical traditions is a development
of the late twentieth century, not a factor in the demise of rhetoric in the late
nineteenth century.38
_______________________
36 The Bible and Culture Collective, Postmodern Bible, 157.
37 Ibid., 156-58.
38 The writers that the Collective (Ibid., 173) credits for demonstrating these rhetorical
traditions are writers from the twentieth century, e.g., Isaac Rabinowitz, Philip Alexander,
Erich Auerbach, Ronald Katz, and Wilhelm Wuellner.
52
Despite this objection, the Collective's basic thesis is accurate: The dawn of
modernity hearkened the downfall of rhetoric. Whereas the rhetorical analysis of
scripture flourished from the time of the earliest Christian and Jewish exegetes, the
cultural (philosophical) shifts associated with the modern age challenged the necessity
and even legitimacy of rhetoric. The ancient debate between the Sophists and Plato
recurred, with Platonic rhetoric emerging as the victor. Consequently, rhetoric was
redefined and displaced by the scientific recovery and presentation of Truth. To be
sure, rhetoric, as the art of persuasion, was not entirely removed from the scholarly
consciousness,39 but it did lay dormant, awaiting more favorable cultural conditions.
2. The Reemergence of Rhetoric
in Late Twentieth Century Biblical Studies
Just as rhetoric faded with the rise of modernism, so it began to blossom again
with the emergence of postmodernism. The deterioration of modernity, evident as
early as the late 19th century, accelerated with the cultural shifts and crises of the
1960's and 70's. During this time, the presuppositions that led to the demise of
rhetoric found themselves under siege. Postmodern philosophers, like their ancient
Sophistic counterparts, challenged the idea of an absolute universal Truth. Some
acknowledged that Truth may exist, but asserted that it was not recoverable by
humans. Others rejected any idea of absolute Truth, i.e., truth is nothing more than a
claim in the hands of those exercising power within a culture. In this context, a
_______________________
39 See Thomas H. Olbricht, "The Flowering of Rhetorical Criticism in America," in The
Rhetorical Analysis of Scripture, ed. Stanley E. Porter and Thomas H. Olbricht (Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 79-91.
53
recognition of the cultural specificity and instability of truth reemerged, and with it, a
renewed respect for the role of rhetoric.
Within this general cultural turbulence, Burton Mack has identified three key
moments in the revival of rhetoric for biblical studies.40 According to Mack, the initial
stimulus came from the 1955 SBL presidential address of Amos Wilder: “Scholars,
Theologians, and Ancient Rhetoric.”41 This address drew attention to the interpretation
of imaginative-symbolic language, especially in New Testament eschatological texts.
Wilder described this discourse as "an extraordinary rhetoric of faith" and encouraged
the use literary methods sensitive to anthropology and psychology for interpretation,
rather than methods espoused by the ritual-myth school and the biblical theology
school.42 His efforts led to a greater emphasis of the literary study of the Gospels,
including a seminar at the annual SBL meeting on the parables and a greater dialogue
between scholars who work from differing methodological vantage points. In recent
years, Wilder's work has had a decisive influence on Vernon Robbins' development of
"Socio-Rhetorical Criticism" (see below).43
The second stimuli for the revival of rhetoric in biblical studies came from the
1968 SBL presidential address of James Muilenburg: "Form Criticism and Beyond."44
_______________________
40 Mack, Rhetoric, 12-17.
41 Amos Wilder, "Scholars, Theologians, and Ancient Rhetoric," JBL 75 (1956): 1-11.
42 Ibid., 2,9.
43 Vernon K. Robbins, The Tapestry of Early Christian Discourse: Rhetoric, Society and
Ideology (New York: Routledge, 1996), 2-3.
44 "Form Criticism," 1-18.
54
In this speech, Muilenburg acknowledged the benefits of form critical study, but also
delineated its inadequacies (e.g., the dismissal of the unique features of a text because
of inordinate stress upon typical and representative features). Thus, he appealed for a
step beyond form criticism, a step he called "rhetorical criticism," i.e., a careful
literary study of the compositional features of the text. I will return to Muilenburg's
appeal and his rhetorical method in greater detail below.
Although the addresses of Wilder and Muilenburg were important for the re-
emergence of rhetoric in biblical studies, Mack claims that the third and most
important stimulus came from the 1969 English translation of Perelman and Tyteca's
1958 French work, Traite de 1' Argumentation (English Title: The New Rhetoric).45
In general, The New Rhetoric was a revivification of Aristotelian rhetoric. More
specifically, according to Mack, The New Rhetoric made three direct contributions to
the renewal of rhetoric.46 1) Perelman and Tyteca defined rhetoric as argumentation.
By this definition, they challenged the prevailing understanding of rhetoric as stylistic
ornamentation and reasserted the ancient definition of rhetoric as the art of persuasion.
2) They emphasized the importance of the rhetorical situation for understanding the
persuasive force of argumentation. This recognition provided an opportunity to bridge
the gap between literary and social-historical criticism, an opportunity seized by many
New Testament exegetes. 3) Perelman and Tyteca linked the persuasive power of
_______________________
45 Chaim Perelman and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca, The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on
Argumentation, trans. J. Wilkinson and P. Weaver (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame
Press, 1969).
46 Mack, Rhetoric, 14-17.
55
speech not only to its logic or argumentation, but to the manner in which it addresses
the social and cultural history of its audience and speaker. Thus, they disassociated
rhetoric from its poetic and stylistic limitations and argued for rhetoric as a social
theory of language. Mack summarizes,
On this model, rhetorical performance belongs to human discourse just as
surely as stance and style belong to any presentation of ourselves at moments
of personal encounter. Rhetoric is to a society and its discourse what grammar
is to a culture and its language. Rhetoric refers to the rules cf the language
games agreed upon as acceptable within a given society. The rules of rhetoric
can be identified and studied, just as the rules of a grammar . . . Rhetorical
theory defines the stakes as nothing less than the negotiation of our lives
together.47
Perelman and Tyteca's The New Rhetoric has played a significant role in the
revival of rhetorical analysis in biblical studies, especially among scholars associated
with the "New Rhetoric" (see below).48 Additionally, in 1982 Perelman published an
abbreviated and updated version of The New Rhetoric under the title The Realm of
Rhetoric that has reached a even broader audience.49
3. Rhetorical Methods in Twentieth Century Biblical Studies
Like its counter-part in ancient Greece, contemporary rhetorical theory is not
univocal. Rather, there are four distinct practices of rhetorical criticism in
contemporary biblical scholarship: Muilenburg's "Rhetorical Criticism," George
_______________________
47 Ibid., 16.
48 According to Mack (Ibid., 16), the impact of this publication may be gauged by the
frequent references to this book by scholars in the 1970's and 80's.
49 Chaim Perelman, The Realm of Rhetoric, Introduction by Carrol C. Arnold, trans.
Williams Kluback (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982).
56
Kennedy's "Classical Rhetoric," the "New Rhetoric" of The Postmodern Bible, and
Vernon Robbins' "Socio-Rhetorical Criticism." Although each method may be
appropriately described as rhetorical, there are significant philosophical and procedural
differences that distinguish these methods. Here, I will offer a brief description of
these four types of contemporary biblical rhetorics and, in the process, begin to define
my own rhetorical method vis-a-vis these rhetorics.
a. The "Rhetorical Criticism" of James Muilenburg:
The Definition of Rhetoric
At the time of his 1968 SBL presidential address, Muilenburg perceived a basic
problem facing biblical interpreters: Form criticism had reached its limits and had
begun to reach beyond its capacities. The merits of form-critical methodology,
according to Muilenburg, were obvious. His concern, however, was for the excessive
and exclusive use of the method.
To state our criticism in another way, form criticism by its very nature is
bound to generalize because it is concerned with what is common to all the
representatives of a genre, and therefore applies an external measure to the
individual pericopes. It does not focus sufficient attention upon what is unique
and unrepeatable, upon the particularity of the formulation.50
It is against this backdrop that Muilenburg set forth his appeal for "rhetorical
criticism" as a necessary step beyond form analysis.
Muilenburg's definition of rhetorical criticism corresponded to the prevailing
definition of his time, namely, that "rhetorical criticism" was literary analysis. Thus,
_______________________
50 Muilenburg, "Form Criticism," 5.
57
his solicitation for rhetoric was an appeal for "persistent and painstaking attention to
the modes of Hebrew literary composition,”51
What I am interested in, above all, is in understanding the nature of Hebrew
literary composition, in exhibiting the structural patterns that are employed for
the fashioning of a literary unit, whether in poetry or in prose, and in
discerning the many and various devices by which the predications are
formulated and ordered into a unified whole. Such an enterprise I should
describe as rhetoric and the methodology as rhetorical ctiticism.52
In harmony with his goals, Muilenburg's rhetorical analysis proceeded in two steps:
1) isolation of the rhetorical unit, and 2) discernment of that unit's compositional
features by careful literary analysis.
Muilenburg's appeal for a careful literary analysis that focuses on a text's
compositional elements has thrived in the years since his address. His method of
rhetorical-literary analysis has been clarified, broadened, and applied to numerous
biblical texts. Consequently, there is an enormous and constantly growing
bibliography of studies that follow Muilenburg's basic method of rhetorical criticism.53
_______________________
51 Ibid., 18.
52 Ibid., 8.
53 See Duane F. Watson and Alan J. Hauser, Rhetorical Criticism of the Bible: A
Comprehensive Bibliography with Notes on History and Method (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994).
Exemplary collected essays include Rhetorical Criticism: Essays in Donor of
James Muilenburg, ed. J.J. Jackson and M. Kessler (Pittsburgh: Pickwick Press, 1974);
and Art and Meaning: Rhetoric in Biblical Literature, ed. D.J. Clines, D.M. Gunn and
A.J. Hauser (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1982). See also, Dale Patrick and Allen Scult,
Rhetoric and Biblical Interpretation (Sheffield: Almond Press, 1990).
Certainly, scholars who claim heritage to Muilenburg's rhetoric are not
methodologically univocal. For example, Phyllis Trible, who associates herself with
Muilenburg, adopts his catch phrase - "Proper articulation of form yields proper
articulation of meaning" - in her work on Rhetoric (Rhetorical Criticism, 91).
Consequently, her practice involves careful literary study of the form and composition of
the text. However, she differs from her teacher in one significant way: While Muilenburg
was thoroughly modern in his attempt to uncover the intention of the author ("Form
Criticism," 7), Trible has been
58
Muilenburg's appeal raises the fundamental question of the definition of
rhetoric. Certainly, designating his method as "rhetorical criticism" is legtimate.
Throughout its history, rhetoric has included concern for compositional artistry and, at
times, rhetoric has been defined as literary analysis or poetics (see above, p. 50).
Further, others who claim to be rhetorical critics have asserted similar definitions. For
example, Martin Kessler proposes that "rhetorical criticism may serve as a suitable
rubric for the kind of biblical criticism which deals with the literary analysis of the
Massoretic text."54
Nonetheless, despite its legitimacy, Muilenburg's definition of rhetoric has
come under increasing fire in recent years. Wilhelm Wuellner has called Muilenburg's
method "rhetoric restrained," or more curtly "the Babylonian captivity of rhetoric
reduced to stylistics.”55 Michael Fox summaries the complaint:
Rhetorical criticism of the Bible has focused almost exclusively on revealing
the formal structures of a text: schemata formed by repetitions of roots, words,
phrases and themes. Some of these studies attempt to connect the formal data
with the text's meaning, though many often seem to assume that once the
details of the construction of the text are laid out, its rhetoric has been
discovered. But even the discovery of meaning does not constitute rhetorical
_______________________
influenced by postmodernity (Rhetorical Criticism, 95-99). Her analysis works between the
extremes of modernism (establishing The Meaning) and postmodernism (acknowledging
unlimited meanings). Thus, while Trible and others have adopted their teacher's method, these
rhetorical studies are not univocal.
54 Martin Kessler, "A Methodological Setting for Rhetorical Criticism," in Art and
Meaning: Rhetoric in Biblical Literature, ed. David J.A. Clines, David M. Gunn and Alan J.
Hauser (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1982), 10.
55 Wilhelm Wuellner, "Where is Rhetorical Criticism Taking Us?" 450-454,457.
59
criticism as that term has been understood by the great (majority of rhetorical
theorists from Aristotle on . . .56
From another perspective, Muilenburg's method corresponds to Kennedy's definition of
"secondary" rhetoric: Against "primary rhetoric" (the art of persuasion), "secondary
rhetoric" is the slippage of rhetoric from persuasion to literary concerns, e.g., figures
of speech and tropes.57
To be fair, Muilenburg's aim was not Kennedy's "primary" rhetoric nor
Wuellner's "rhetorical criticism." Muilenburg was not interested in the use of classical
models for rhetorical analysis, i.e., rhetoric as the art of persuasion. Rather, in his
address, he dates the origins of his method to Jerome "and before," omitting any
reference to classical authors,58 and decries earlier critics who were "too much
dominated by Greek prototypes.”59 Some of his students have drawn from ancient
models,60 but their working definitions remain synonymous or tear synonymous with
literary analysis.
In contrast, my definition of rhetoric, while acknowledging the validity of
Muilenburg's terminology, is drawn from the tradition associated with Aristotle:
Rhetoric is persuasive discourse and rhetorical criticism is the systematic analysis of
_______________________
56 Michael Fox, "The Rhetoric of Ezekiel's Vision of the Valley of' the Bones," HUCA 51
(1980): 2.
57 Kennedy, Classical Rhetoric, 4-5.
58 Muilenburg, "Form Criticism," 8.
59 Ibid., 12.
60 Trible, Rhetorical Criticism, 5-9,14; Kessler, "Methodological Setting," 1-3.
60
the suasive dimensions of rhetoric. Thus, since I regard rhetoric as the art of
persuasion, I will not limit my analysis to compositional and stylistic features. The
focus of my analysis is the suasion of the ten lectures (Prov 1-9), especially as it is
developed by the artistic proofs of logos, ethos, and pathos (see below). This
approach works harmoniously with Muilenburg's rhetoric insofar as his method attends
to selected elements (e.g., composition and style) within the broader concerns of
rhetoric as suasion.
b. The "New Rhetoric" of the Postmodern Bible:
Rhetoric as Cultural Criticism
The Bible and Culture Collective, in The Postmodern Bible, recognize their
"New Rhetoric" as largely a rediscovery of ancient Western rhetoric. What makes
their rhetoric "new" is the explicit postmodern setting of their practice.61 Their goal is
to recover and build on the foundations of ancient rhetorical theory in the present
postmodern situation. Ultimately, the Collective suggests that rhetorical criticism
should evolve and function as cultural criticism.
According to the Collective, the New Rhetoric retrieves and builds upon five
crucial components of ancient rhetoric: 1) the idea of rhetoric as verbal expression,
2) the view that truth is something to be discovered, 3) the concern with the creation
of meaning and the relationship of this creation to the domain of hermeneutics, 4) the
role of rhetoric in social discourse and societal formation, and 5) the validity and
_______________________
61 The Bible and Culture Collective, The Postmodern Bible, 149-86.
61
importance of appeal to the emotions.62 Against this background, the Collective calls
for a "self-reflexive" rhetorical criticism.
Self-reflexive rhetorics makes three demands of the interpreter. First, it
demands a recognition of the role of readers in creating meaning and thus requires
readers to be aware of their own rhetorical situations and interests.63 By extension,
this recognition accepts the concept of indeterminacy, i.e., the reader's role in creating
meaning leads to the decentering of any meaning. Undergirding this philosophy of
indeterminacy is the claim that knowledge (and thereby truth) is socially constructed,
not absolute.64 Second, self-reflexive rhetoric requires the critic to acknowledge the
implications of theory. "A new rhetorical theory needs to emphasize the inescapable
social, political, religious, and ideological constraints that are operative before, during,
and after reading."65 Thus, postmodern rhetorical critics operate with an acute sense of
their own social setting and the practical or political consequences of their work.
Third, the critic must subject the text to critique in order to expose its use in the
service of power, e.g., sexism or racism. Thus, the self-reflexive New Rhetoric should
become a cultural criticism that exposes the perpetuation of "cultural norms in the
name of some allegedly objective and neutral hermeneutical or rhetorical science."66
_______________________
62 Ibid., 159-61.
63 Ibid., 163-64.
64 Ibid., 10.
65 Ibid., 166.
66 Ibid., 167.
62
There are two problems with this appeal for a New Rhetoric. First, it is
important to point out that the Collective's recovery of ancient rhetoric is selective.
For example, the "crucial components" upon which the New Rhetoric builds are
representative of Sophistic rhetoric, not Platonic or Aristotelian rhetoric. Thus, the
New Rhetoric might be more accurately designated "The New Sophistic Rhetoric."
Second, not unlike the critique of the ancient Sophists, the Collective's appeal
for a New Rhetoric suffers from their failure to articulate criteria for discerning
"wrong" readings or "misreadings." They pose the crucial question: When the
possibility of multiple readings is accepted, on what basis can one exclude certain
readings? They also suggest that such "ways and means" exist. However, they fail to
supply, even provisionally, any criteria for adjudication.67
Despite these objections, the Collective's claim that rhetoric is the tool of
ideology would hardly be contested by any rhetorical critic, past or present. Rhetoric
is the means by which a speaker/writer attempts to persuade an audience in favor of
her/his own view of reality (ideology), against other competing ideologies. In this
regard, the Collective's appeal for a self-reflexive rhetorical analysis that engages
cultural criticism is understandable. Nonetheless, this is a step beyond the rhetorical
method that I will employ in my analysis of the ten lectures. I am not concerned here
to offer a critique of the ideology espoused by the writer(s) of the lectures. Rather,
my goal is to offer a reading of the text from a rhetorical perspective that identifies the
_______________________
67 Ibid., 176.
63
truth claims made by the text (e.g., the father's teaching is the path to genuine life, the
"alien woman" will destroy the son) and identifies how these claims are argued.
c. The "Socio-Rhetorical Criticism" of Vernon Robbins:
Rhetoric and Methodological Pluralism)
The "Socio-Rhetorical Criticism" advanced by Vernon Dobbins is not a method
per se, but an "interpretive analytics" that seeks to integrate various interpretive
strategies, including the various rhetorical perspectives.68 Robbins' primary concern is
the existence of isolationist methodology in biblical studies. Consequently, he
advocates an analytics that incorporates both "Socio" (social / historical) and
"Rhetorical" (literary) methods. More specifically, his Socio-Rhetorical analytics
pursues three objectives: 1) to correlate diverse methodologies, 2) to offer a guide for
systematic reading and rereading of texts, and 3) to provide a resource for rewriting
the ancient history of the church.69
In practice, Robbins identifies five "textures" in any given text. 1) Inner-
Texture. Inner-Texture refers to the words, grammar, figures of speech and other
literary qualities of a text. This texture invites various literary and rhetorical methods
of reading. 2) Intertexture. Intertexture refers to the relationship of the text to
realities outside itself, e.g., scribal intertexture (i.e., its relationship to other texts),
historical intertexture, cultural intertexture, and social intertexture. Critics with various
_______________________
68 Vernon K. Robbins, Exploring the Texture of Texts: A Guide to Socio-Rhetorical
Interpretation (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1996), 1-2; and The Tapestry, 1-
4.
69 Robbins, The Tapestry, 1-17, 240-43.
64
interests in intertexuality as well as social and cultural anthropology work in this
dimension of the text. 3) Social and Cultural Texture. Social and Cultural texture,
different from social and cultural Intertexture, refers to the stance advocated in or by
the text towards culture (e.g., withdrawal or participation) 4) Ideological Texture.
Ideological texture includes both the ideology operating in and behind the text as well
as the ideology of the interpreter. Thus, this facet of the text(s) is a source for various
self-conscious ideological readings. 5) Sacred Texture. Sacred Texture refers to the
religious, ethical, and communal aspects of the text. Here, various theological
approaches may work to appropriate the text for the modern reader.
The primary criticism that has been raised against Socio-Rhetorical criticism is
that, while Robbin's books offer a guide for systematic reading and provide another
resource for rewriting the history of the early church, they have not addressed what
Robbins claims is the chief goal of his analytics, namely the correlation of diverse
methods.70 His identification of five textures within a unified text suggests that the
diverse methods applied to these different textures may somehow be fruitfully related
to one another. However, in his own practice, he isolates these textures and methods
without suggesting how they can be brought together into an interpretive whole.
Socio-Rhetorical criticism is not the method or analytic espoused by this
dissertation. Nonetheless, Robbins has raised the key issue of how my critical practice
relates to other rhetorical and non-rhetorical methods. This issue has already been
_______________________
70 R. Alan Culpepper raised this criticism during a meeting of the Rhetoric and the New
Testament Section devoted to Robbins' books at the 1997 AAR/SBL annual meeting in San
Francisco, CA.
65
introduced in chapter one. Methods of biblical criticism are inextricably interwoven
and intergrown. Thus, my rhetorical analysis does not attempt to operate in isolation
from other methods. However, unlike Robbins, it is not my objective to correlate the
diverse methodological perspectives that have been brought to bear on the ten lectures,
or to use the data retrieved from my analysis to write a history of the wisdom tradition
in ancient Israel. Like the cultural criticism of the New Rhetoric, these are steps
beyond the objectives of this dissertation. My objective is to present a new
perspective on the lectures, namely that of rhetorical criticism. In order to accomplish
this goal, it is necessary here to focus as narrowly as possible on the rhetoric of the
lectures. Thus, this dissertation will contribute primary data for others who would use
Robbin's Socio-Rhetorical analytics to synthesize the findings of various interpretive
strategies applied to Proverbs 1-9.
d. The "Classical Rhetoric" of George Kennedy:
Western Rhetorical Theory and Non-Western Texts
George Kennedy, a specialist in ancient rhetoric, has become a leader in the
attempt to recover ancient Western rhetoric for the purposes of biblical, especially
New Testament, interpretation. Although this objective is similar to that of The
Postmodern Bible, Kennedy differs from the Collective on the fundamental issues of
truth and the relationship of rhetoric to truth. He writes,
Twentieth-century thought as seen in some of its most original philosophers,
writers, and artists, as well as at the frontiers of theoretial science, points
towards a conclusion that mankind cannot know reality, at least not directly or
not under contemporary conditions. At most, it is argued, we can know
structures, words, and formulae perhaps representative of aspects of reality.
Even if an individual were to perceive reality experientially or intuitively, there
66
is some pessimism whether this understanding can be communicated through
the media available to us to any general segment of the population. I do not
share this view in its more extreme forms . . . 71
Thus, against the New Rhetoric of The Postmodern Bible, Kennedy's more
conservative (modern) method may be described as Classical or Aristotelian Rhetoric.
In New Testament Interpretation Through Rhetorical Criticism, Kennedy works
out the details of utilizing Classical Rhetorical theory for the interpretation of the New
Testament. In this book, Kennedy associates his rhetorics with Muilenburg. The chief
difference between the two, according to Kennedy, is that whereas Muilenburg and his
students applied their rhetorical method to Old Testament texts, his goal is to present
an outline of rhetorics for the study of the New Testament.72 Despite this claim,
Kennedy's method greatly differs from Muilenburg's in its heavy reliance upon ancient
Western rhetorical theory. The important theoretical concepts underlying Kennedy's
rhetorics are drawn from Aristotle and other ancients.73 As a result, his rhetorical
interpretation is more concerned with rhetoric as suasion than rhetoric as an
elucidation of compositional features.
Kennedy advocates a rhetorical practice that incorporates the knowledge of
ancient rhetorical theory in four circular steps of exegesis. First, it is necessary to
_______________________
71 Kennedy, New Testament Interpretation Through Rhetorical Criticism (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1984), 157. As might be expected, the Collective of the
Postmodern Bible is highly critical of Kennedy's position. According to the Collective (The
Postmodern Bible, 163), Kennedy is a striking example of a critic who overlooks the role of
the reader in the creation of meaning.
72 Kennedy, New Testament Interpretation, 3-4.
73 Ibid., 12.
67
determine the boundaries of the rhetorical unit and its setting within larger rhetorical
units, including the rhetoric of the entire book. Kennedy claims that this delimitation
corresponds to the isolation of a pericope by form critics. However, apart from typical
form critical methods, Kennedy suggests seeking signs of opening and closure such as
proem and epilogue, analytical categories drawn from rhetorical theory.
Second, the interpreter should attempt to define the rhetorical situation of the
unit. Again, Kennedy claims that this step "roughly corresponds to the Sitz im Leben
of form criticism.”74 This correspondence is indeed "rough." The rhetorical situation
Kennedy seeks to define is much more specific than the Sitz im Leben pursued by the
form critic. Following Bitzer, Kennedy defines the rhetorical situation as a complex of
persons, events, objects, and relations that presents some situation in which an
individual (or group) is called upon to make some response. Further, "the response
made is conditioned by the situation and in turn has some possibility of affecting the
situation or what follows from it.”75 Within this rhetorical situation, the speaker usually
faces one major rhetorical problem, i.e., one major obstacle that must be overcome in
order to persuade the audience.76
_______________________
74 Ibid., 34.
75 Ibid., 35.
76 For example, Kennedy (ibid., 36) explains that the audience may already be "prejudiced
against him and not disposed to listen to anything he may say; or the audience may not
perceive him as having the authority to advance the claims he wishes to make; or what he
wishes to say is very complicated and thus hard to follow, or so totally different from what the
audience expects that they will not immediately entertain the possibility of its truth." In the
ten lectures, the rhetor will confront rhetorical problems such as the rhetoric of the sinners and
alien woman, the lackadaisical attitude of the son toward his teaching, and the apparent
success of those who reject his teaching.
68
Both the rhetorical situation and the rhetorical problem addressed by a text may
be uncovered by insights drawn from classical theory. For example, the problem is
often especially visible at the beginning of a discourse, in the proem, proposition
and/or the beginning of the proof. Consequently, it is of paramount importance that
the critic properly identify these rhetorical elements and discern how they work
together to address one or more problems. Further, recognizing the species of rhetoric
(e.g., judicial, epideictic, and deliberative)77 may indicate the type of situation or
problem addressed by the speaker. For example, identifying Paul's letter to the
Galatians as deliberative rhetoric enables Kennedy to recognize that this letter looks to
the immediate future, not to the judgment of the past. The question is not whether
Paul had been right, but what the Galatians were going to believe and do in the
immediate future.78
Third, the critic should attempt to discern the arrangement of the text, i.e., its
subdivisions, the persuasive effect of these units, and how they work together. This
discernment may be accomplished by a close reading of the text that analyzes the
argument of the text, including its assumptions, topics, formal features, and stylistic
_______________________
77 Deliberative rhetoric attempts to persuade an audience to adopt an attitude or make a
decision regarding actions in the future. Judicial rhetoric seeks to persuade the audience to
make a judgment regarding a past event. Epideictic persuades an audience to hold or confirm
some view in the present, e.g., speeches of blame or praise.
78 Kennedy, New Testament Interpretation, 36-37, 144-52. Kennedy advances this
argument against Hans Dieter Betz's identification of Galatians as judicial rhetoric. My point
is not the correctness of Kennedy's position, but the significance of his identification of
rhetorical species in his reading of Galatians.
69
devices. Such a close reading is not to be confused with stylistics. Rather, this
analysis seeks to define the function of these devices within the argument as a whole.
Fourth, the process of rhetorical analysis should conclude with review and
synthesis. Does the text successfully meet the rhetorical situation and problem? Is the
analysis of details consistent with the argument of the unit as a whole? These
questions can help critics evaluate their own interpretations. Further, at this stage the
critic may perform a "creative act" of looking beyond the target text to the human
condition and to religious or philosophical truth.79
My own rhetorical method is quite similar to Kennedy's approach (see below).
Like Kennedy, I rely heavily upon ancient Western rhetorical theory for analytical
tools. However, Kennedy's Classical Rhetoric raises a fundamental issue for this
dissertation. How appropriate is it to use ancient Western theory in the interpretation
of a non-Western text, namely Proverbs 1-9?
In addition to his consideration of this problem as it relates to the study of the
New Testament,80 Kennedy has addressed the relevance of classical rhetoric for the
study of non-Western texts, including the Old Testament, in his most recent book,
Comparative Rhetoric: An Historical and Cross-Cultural Introduction. Here, he
advances several arguments in defense of comparative rhetoric.
_______________________
79 Ibid., 38.
80 Kennedy argues (ibid., 8-12) that the process of Hellenization, including rhetorical
education, was widespread by the time of New Testament. Although the writers of the New
Testament may not have had formal rhetorical training, it would have been extremely difficult
for them to escape an awareness of rhetoric as it was practiced in the, culture around them.
Thus, Kennedy justifies the study of the New Testament by means of Classical Rhetoric on
historical - cultural grounds.
70
First, Kennedy asserts that rhetoric is a universal phenomenon. People in every
culture and society seek to persuade others to act or refrain from acting, or to accept,
maintain, or discard some belief. The essence of this rhetoric, according to Kennedy,
is mental or emotional energy that arises from the basic instinct of self-preservation.81
It is a natural phenomenon which exists in all life-forms that can give signals.82
Rhetoric, in the most general sense, may thus be identified with the energy
inherent in an utterance (or an artistic representation): the mental or emotional
energy that impels the speaker to expression, the energy level coded in the
message, and the energy received by the recipient who then uses mental energy
in decoding and perhaps acting on the message.83
This is a bedrock definition that not only provides a foundation for the study of more
complex manifestations of rhetoric among humans,84 but expands the compass of
rhetorical study to the "rhetoric" of social animals such as elk, monkeys, bees, and
birds.85 The implication is that all communication carries some rhetorical energy; "it
may be slight, some phrase of conventional etiquette, but there is no zero-degree
rhetoric."86 Thus, for this dissertation, the question is not whether rhetoric exists in the
_______________________
81 Kennedy, Comparative Rhetoric, 216. Consequently, Kennedy claims that "the basic
function of rhetorical communication is defensive and conservative."
82 Ibid., 3-4.
83 Ibid., 4-5.
84 Kennedy (Ibid., 215) explains, "Rhetorical energy in its simplest form is conveyed by
volume, pitch, or repetition; more complex forms of rhetorical energy include logical reasons,
pathetic narratives, metaphor and other tropes, or lively figures of speech such as apostrophe,
rhetorical question, or simile."