PROVERBIAL POETRY:
ITS SETTINGS AND
SYNTAX
by
Ted
A. Hildebrandt
Submitted in partial fulfillment of
requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Theology in
Grace
Theological Seminary
May 1985
Title: PROVERBIAL
POETRY: ITS SETTINGS AND SYNTAX
Author: Ted
A. Hildebrandt
Degree: Doctor
of Theology
Date: May,
1985
Advisers: Richard
Averbeck, Weston Fields and Donald Fowler
Hebrew poetry has long proven itself an
elusive and
enticing
object of study. It has been the purpose
of this
study
to explore the potentialities of poetic expression
and
to provide an adequate model for capturing the
profundities
of the syntax of Hebrew poetry. Proverbs
10-15
was chosen as the corpus because of the atomistic and
independent
character of each of its bi-cola. It was
hoped
that
here one would be able to isolate the true nature of
the
bi-colon qua bi-colon.
Since pragmalinguistics has
demonstrated the
impossibility
of understanding the poetic moment(s) without
some
sort of cognition and/or participation in the original
perlocutionary
and locutionary acts of the expression, the
various
settings of wisdom literature were elucidated.
The
setting
of Proverbs in the wisdom tradition of the ancient
Near
Eastern literacy and intellectual milieu helped
provide
a broad framework for understanding the sage's
manner
of expression and message. His mode and
meaning
conformed
to the literary patterns established for over a
millennia
prior to the Israelite collection in Proverbs.
The
historical Sitz im Leben and rhetorical/literary forms
characteristic
of Israelite wisdom were isolated and
exampled. The canonical setting of wisdom traced the
influence
of the wisdom tradition through the Old Testament
canon.
Having treated the historical,
literary, canonical,
and
conceptual settings of wisdom, the study moved toward
the
development of an approach to Hebrew poetry.
It was
shown
that the rhythmical equivalences and creative
variations
of Hebrew poetic expression should not be
limited
to phonetic features (meter, alliteration,
paronomasia
et al.); nor should one myopically employ a
method
which merely observes semantic parallelism without
semantically
specifying precisely what the components of
the
parallel relationships are. While the
phonetic and
semantic
components of equivalence and variation were
mentioned,
this study went on to develop a method for
exposing
the poetic craftsmanship of the syntax.
The
studies
of Collins, and especially, O'Connor (also Berlin,
Geller,
and Greenstein) were used as comparative benchmarks
in
terms of grammatical parallelism.
Various linguistic
approaches
were examined and a six-box tagmemic approach
opted
for. The study then demonstrated and
explicitly
specified
the syntactically parallel mappings between the
cola
(homomorphic and isomorphic), in terms of both surface
and
deep grammar. It was shown that
proverbial genre is a
function
of poetic syntactic constraints. It was
also
discovered
that Proverbs 10 manifests a large degree of
literary
cohesion--contrary to most modern studies.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It would indeed be a great impropriety
not to
acknowledge
and praise those to whom this writer is greatly
indebted
in the research, writing, and conceptual
development
of this paper. Through four years of
research,
ordering
and xeroxing of seemingly endless articles, this
writer
is indebted to the services of Floyd Votaw, whose
time
and expertise was so generously given, and to the
Grace
Seminary library staff (Bob Ibach, Bill Darr, Paula
Ibach
et al.). Regarding the conceptual
development in
terms
of linguistics and reading of poetry, Dr. Rik
Lovelady
and Dr. Michael O'Connor have provided the
stimulus,
theoretical framework and enamorment which drew
this
writer into this study. This writer will
never forget the
three
hours spent with Michael O'Connor, while he went
far
beyond the brilliant insights of his seminal tome,
Hebrew
Verse Structure,
to show this neophyte how poetry
should
be read. While this paper reflects but a
fraction
of
such a reading, this writer is grateful for the model
which
has allowed him to feel as if he has re-participated
in
the creative poetic moment with the proverbial sages.
The
interest of friends, Cyndy Miller and Jim Eisenbraun,
helped
encourage this project on to completion.
Thanks
also
to the three advisers/friends (Richard Averbeck,
Weston
Fields and Donald Fowler) who made their corrections
in
such an encouraging manner. Finally,
this writer would
be
remiss not mention Dr. Larry Crabb, whose insights
have
provided the search light to reveal the true character
and
motivation behind this study.
There is no way to repay the
four years missed and
damage
done emotionally and spiritually to those closest to
this
writer. My inexpressible and remorseful
thanks to my
wife/friend,
Annette, both for proofreading the entire
manuscript
twice and for participating in the angst which
accompanied
this project. To Rebekah, Natanya and
Zachary:
while
the time is gone forever, hopefully the destructive
intra-personal
transformation which took place will provide
you
with a father who has learned the hard way what it is
to
fear God. This project was used as a
weight by which
the
Almighty broke this writer of his mind and
independence,
as he tried to prove something to himself
which
was unnecessary and an affront to the One whose cross
work
had already given proof of His unconditional love and
acceptance. So to my Creator I confess thanks for showing
me
the depths of my depravity and for continuing Your
steadfast
love even in the face of arrogant rebellion.
Accepted by the Faculty of
Grace Theological Seminary
in partial fulfillment of
requirements for the degree
Doctor
of Theology
Adviser:
Donald Fowler
Adviser:
Weston Fields
Adviser:
Richard Averbeck
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST
OF ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . xi
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter I. THE
COMPARATIVE LITERARY SETTINGS
OF WISDOM
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Introduction . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 11
Egyptian Wisdom . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 12
Ptahhotep to 'Onchsheshonqy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12
Amenemope and Proverbs . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Sumerian Proverbs . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
21
Babylonian and Assyrian "Wisdom" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 27
Syro-Palestinian Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
32
Concluding Remarks . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
37
II. THE CONCEPTUAL SETTING OF WISDOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 39
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Neglect
of Wisdom in Past Old Testament
Theologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Creation
Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Cosmic
Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
47
Ma'at
in Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Israelite
Wisdom and Ma'at . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Cautions and Caveats . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 55
Wisdom and Heilsgeschichte
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 57
Secular Humanist or Theistic Humanist
Wisdom? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Empirical, Rational, and Eudaemonistic
Wisdom? . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 68
Evolutionary Model: From
Secular to
Religious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
74
Conclusion . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 79
III. THE CANONICAL SETTING OF WISDOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 82
Introduction . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 82
Methodology . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 84
Vocabulary Approach . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Motif Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
86
Form Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
88
Wisdom and the Pentateuch .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Genesis and Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Exodus, Deuteronomy and Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 95
Wisdom and the Historical Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 97
Wisdom and Esther . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
99
Wisdom and the Psalms . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 100
Wisdom and the Prophets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
103
Conclusion . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 112
IV. THE HISTORICAL SETTINGS OF WISDOM . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
The Context of Sentence Literature? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 114
The Multifaceted Context of Wisdom
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Introduction to the Sitz im Leben . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 120
The Importance of Scribes .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 125
Scribes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Scribes in Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Scribes in Mesopotamia . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Scribes in Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
136
Class-Ethic? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
142
Proverbial Court Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Schools and Wisdom . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 147
Egyptian Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Mesopotamian Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Schools in Israel? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
The King and Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
160
The King and Wisdom in Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 161
The King and Wisdom in Mesopotamia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 164
The King and Wisdom in Israel . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
The Cult and Wisdom . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 174
The Family and Wisdom . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
The Family and Egyptian Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 183
The Family and Mesopotamian Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 185
The Family and Proverbial
Folklore Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
The Family and Israelite Wisdom . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
189
The "Father" in Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 191
The "Mother" and
"Wife" in Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
The "Son" in Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Popular and Folk Wisdom .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
One-Line to Two-Line Evolution?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Conclusion . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 208
V. THE STRUCTURAL SETTING OF WISDOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 211
Introduction: Importance
of
Literary Form . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 211
Deep Structure Thought Forms
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Form List Survey . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Examination of General Wisdom Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Onomastica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
223
Riddle
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Allegory and Fable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Hymn
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Dialogue and Imagined Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 232
Proverbial Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Admonition (Mahnwort) . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Numerical Sayings . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Better-Than Sayings . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Comparative Sayings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Yhwh Sayings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Abomination Sayings . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Macarism ('asre Sayings)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
"There is . . . but . . . "
Sayings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Paradoxical Sayings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
The Acrostic, Rhetorical Question and
Quotation
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 267
Final Comments Concerning Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 271
VI. APPROACHES TO HEBREW
POETRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Introduction to Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 274
Phonological Analysis . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Metrical or Not Metrical; That is
the Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 285
How and What to Count . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
291
Non-metrical Approaches . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
295
A Syntactic Alternative . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
296
Phonological Ornamentation:
Alliteration, Paronomasia,
and Onomatopoeia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 298
Semantic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Standard Description Approach to
Semantic Parallelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 306
Problems with Semantic Parallelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Other Semantic Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 321
The Dyad of Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 321
Repetition . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Variational Techniques:
Double Duty
Gapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 331
Syntactic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 334
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 334
O'Connor's Constraints and Tropes . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Collins' Types, Forms, and
Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 342
Resultant Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 348
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 351
VII. A LINGUISTIC APPROACH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Aspects of Language Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Introduction to Linguistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
360
Linguistic Models . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 365
Traditional Grammar . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Structural Linguistics . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Transformational Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 378
Other Recent Grammars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 386
Stratificational Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 387
Relational Grammars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 389
Pragmalinguistics . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 393
The Role of Case Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Tagmemic Grammar . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
VIII. CORPUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 427
IX. LITERARY COHESION IN PROVERBS 10? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 615
Hugger-mugger
Advocates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Theoretical Basis of Cohesion
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
Order in Proverbs outside of
Proverbs 10-15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
628
Ordering Principles . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 643
Cohesional Features in Proverbs 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
Conclusion on Cohesion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
689
X. A LINGUISTIC SYNTHESIS OF THE SYNTAX OF
PROVERBIAL POETRY . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
A Comparison of Collins' Prophetic Corpus
with the Proverbial Corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
705
A Line Type Comparison . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706
Basic Sentence Frequency Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 709
A Comparison of Syntactically Matching
Lines
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 710
A Comparison of Syntactically Mixed
Bi-Cola
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 720
A Comparison of the Ordering of Syntactic
Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
730
A Comparison with O'Connor's Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 732
A Survey of Bi-colonic Syntactic
Isomorphisms and Homomorphisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 748
Isomorphic Syntactic Equivalences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 751
Homomorphic Syntactic Equivalences . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
760
An Examination of the Patterns of
Proverbial Noun Phrases . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
Four Major Noun Phrase Tagmemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 772
Matching Noun Phrase Morphological
Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775
Four Noun Phrase Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 777
Select Grammatical Transformations of
Proverbial Poetry . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 785
Noun Phrase Reduction Techniques . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
786
Verbal Collapsing Transformational
Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794
XI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806
The Comparative Literary Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
The Conceptual Setting of Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
The Canonical Setting of Wisdom
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
The Historical Settings of Wisdom
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
The Structural Setting of Wisdom
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817
Approaches to Hebrew Poetry
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 821
A Linguistic Approach . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 826
Literary Cohesion in Proverbs 10?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
A Linguistic Synthesis of the Syntax
of Proverbial Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
835
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
APPENDIX I: Collins' Line
Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 843
APPENDIX II: An O'Connorian
Analysis of the
Lines of Proverbs 10-15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848
APPENDIX III: Ordered by
First Colon
Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
859
APPENDIX IV: Ordered by
Second Colon
Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864
APPENDIX V: A Comparison
with O'Connor's Line
Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
APPENDIX VI: Types of Noun
Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CITED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 889
INDEX OF AUTHORS . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949
SCRIPTURE INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
963
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AB Anchor
Bible
AJSL
American Journal of Semitic
Languages and Literature
ANET
J. B Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts
AnOr Analecta Orientalia
BA
Biblical Archaeologist
BASOR
Bulletin of the
American Society of Oriental Research
Bib Biblica
BO Bibliotheca
orientalis
BSac Bibliotheca
Sacra
BTB Biblical
Theology Bulletin
BWL
W. G. Lambert, Babylonian
Wisdom Literature
BZAW Beihefte zur ZAW
CBQ Catholic
Biblical Quarterly
Con
B Coniectanea biblica
CurTM Currents
in Theology and Missions
EvQ Evangelical
Quarterly
EvT Evangelische
Theologie
ExpTim Expository
Times
HTR Harvard
Theological Review
HUCA Hebrew
Union College Annual
IDB
G. A. Buttrick (ed.), Interpreter's
Dictionary of the Bible
IEJ Israel
Exploration Journal
Int Interpretation
ITQ Irish
Theological Quarterly
JAAR Journal
of the American Academy of Religion
JANESCU Journal
of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia
University
JAOS Journal
of the American Oriental Society
JBL Journal
of Biblical Literature
JBR Journal
of Bible and Religion
JCS Journal
of Cuneiform Studies
JEA Journal
of Egyptian Archaeology
JETS
Journal of the Evangelical
Theological Society
JJS Journal
of Jewish Studies
JNES Journal
of Near Eastern Studies
JQR Jewish
Quarterly Review
JSOT Journal
for the Study of the Old Testament
JSS Journal
of Semitic Studies
Or Orientalia
OrAnt Oriens
antiquus
OTL Old
Testament Library
OTWSA Ou-Testamentiese
Werkgenmeenskap South Africa
SAIW
J. L. Crenshaw (ed.), Studies
in Ancient Israelite Wisdom.
New York:
KTAV, 1976.
SBLASP
Society of Biblical Literature
Abstracts
SBT Studies
in Biblical Theology
Scr Scripture
SJT Scottish
Journal of Theology
TB Tyndale
Bulletin
TBu Theologische
Bucherei
TToday Theology
Today
UF Ugaritische
Forschungen
VT Vetus
Testamentum
VTSup Vetus
Testamentum, Supplements
ZAW Zeitschrift
fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
INTRODUCTION
Until recently, the teachings of the ancient
sages
found
in the book of Proverbs had been neglected by modern
scholarship,
which viewed the atomic statements as trite
truisms
too simplistic to speak to the psychologically and
sociologically
labyrinthical quandries faced by modern
man. The bald, empirical sentences and facile,
rationalistic
deductions were perceived as culturally-
bound
expressions with little relevance to the modern
pother. Proverbs' banal earthiness did not appear to
rise
to
the lofty heights of divine encounter, as found in
Isaiah;
nor did its sayings penetrate the mysteries of the
divine
hand's piloting history from chaos to the salvation
of a
remnant, as beautifully narrated in the historical
books. Thus, exegetes and Old Testament theologians
alike,
thinking that Proverbs did not participate in the
major
motifs of the Old Testament, left Proverbs
untouched--as
the orphan of the Old Testament. Its
claims
of
being the reflections of the wisest sages were viewed
as
unattractive, abecedarian quips whose hugger-mugger and
disarray
left the more systematic western mind with a
feeling
of muddledness rather than mystery. The
parallelistic
beauty of the poetic bi-colon no longer
fascinated
its readers, who viewed the antitheses as
redundant
and banally prosaic.
The purpose of this study is to
recreate the
pragmatic
context from which the sentences arose and to
which
they spoke in such a way as to provide a foundation
for
the establishment of the vitality and applicability of
these
sayings to the present situation. The
approach will
be
in two complementary directions. First,
the pragmatic
setting
will be developed in order to provide an
illocutionary
(i.e. the author's/user's speech act) basis
for
reviving of the perlocutionary (i.e. the effect of
that
speech act on the original audience) appreciation of
the
message and artistry of the sentence literature.1
Second,
the creative, poetic genius of the sages and
amazing,
aesthetic delight will be unlocked via modern
techniques
of linguistic and poetic analysis. These
two
major
goals may be broken down into more easily obtainable
sub-goals.
The first goal of providing an adequate
description
of the pragmatic setting should not be foreign
to
Old Testament students, as it stresses the necessity of
____________________
1 John Searle, Ferene Kiefer, and Manfred
Bierwisch,
Speech
Act Theory and Pragmatics,
in Synthese Language
Library,
vol. 10 (Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel
Publishing
Co.,
1980), p. vii.
recreating
the historical poetic moment in which the
proverbial
sentences were originally given, both in
terms
of the original author's intentions (illocutions)
and
in terms of what it did to the initial hearers
(perlocutions). Thus, the study is akin to a Sitz im Leben
type
of approach in that it desires to show how a
particular
setting gives rise to a corresponding literary
form. While this paper will seek to demonstrate
that such
a
one-to-one mapping from setting to form is too
simplistic,
there will be an examination of the various,
original,
sociological and institutional settings of
wisdom
and the diverse forms which flowed from those
settings. The pragmatic situation goes beyond the
setting
in
life to a consideration of the Sitz im Literatur of the
sayings
as formulated in the other ancient Near Eastern
cultures
from third millennium Ebla and Sumer down to
Ptolemaic
Egypt. The international character of
the
sayings
will provide a helpful backdrop for understanding
how
and why the Israelite sages formulated their messages
as
they did. Not only are the original
historic and
literary
settings necessary for an adequate understanding,
but
also the canonical and philosophical settings must be
forwarded. What role do the proverbial sentences play in
the
canon? How are they different from other
canonical
formulations? How are they similar? What is their unique
contribution? What nexus is there between the message of
the
rest of the canon and the wisdom literature?
A survey
of
the theological arena in which wisdom operated will
help
highlight wisdom's contribution. It is
indeed
peculiar
that the great redemptive act of the Old
Testament,
the Exodus, is not mentioned, nor are any of
the
mighty acts of God in the conquest and settlement.
The
heroes of Heilsgeschichte are all strangely absent, as
are
the cutting pronouncements of divine judgment on a
sinful
people. These canonical expressions of
the
supernatural
seem to give way to mundane fatherly
directives
to hard work and techniques for pleasing one's
superiors. The literary forms employed are, particularly
in
Proverbs 10-15, much shorter than those used by poets
elsewhere. These forms will also be examined as
reflective
of the sages' Weltanschauung.
Having broadly introduced the
historical,
literary,
canonical, and philosophical settings of the
sentences,
the study will then turn to the analysis of the
text
(Proverbs 10-15) itself. An attempt will
be made to
isolate
and analyze the grammatical constraints which
provide
the parameters of proverbial poetic expression.
In
order to recapture the poetic moment from the
perspective
of the either sage or the student, one must
come
to an aesthetic appreciation of Proverbs--not just in
terms
of the message of its words, but more in terms of
the
artistic relationship between words and larger
constituents
of poetic expression, including the line
itself. Until one can thrill in the understanding of
the
poetic
line and the situation of the proverbial moment,
the
sayings will remain but trite observations of the
obvious. Proverbs, more than any other Hebrew poetic
expression,
allows one to examine the bare bi-colon with
minimal
strophic constriction. This study
desires to
synthesize
the most sophisticated techniques of poetic
analysis
which have recently arisen in a plethora of
needed
dissertations and discussions1 on Hebrew poetry
(vid.
studies by A. Berlin, T. Collins, A. Cooper, E.
Greenstein,
S. Geller, J. Kugel, and especially M.
O'Connor). Recent work has moved to further refine the
Lowth-Gray-Robinson
semantic parallelism approach
(synonymous,
antithetic, emblematic, etc.) and to
explicitly
describe grammatical parallelism (syntactic and
morphological). The merits and demerits of each approach
will
be discussed and a combination of the methods
employed
by O'Connor and Collins will be applied to the
proverbial
corpus (Proverbs 10-15). Geller's
approach,
____________________
1 For recent discussions of
poetics vid. JSOT 28
(1984),
especially articles by Patrick Miller ("Meter,
Parallelism,
and Tropes: The Search for Poetic
Style," pp.
99-106),
Wilfred Watson ("A Review of Kugel's The Idea of
Biblical
Poetry,"
pp. 89-98), Francis Landy ("Poetics and
Parallelism: Some Comments on James Kugel's The Idea of
Biblical
Poetry,"
pp. 61-87), and James Kugel ("Some
Thoughts
on Future Research into Biblical Style:
Addenda
to The
Idea of Biblical Poetry," pp. 107-17).
though more comprehensive, was not opted for because it
was
felt that its notational system would probably be too
daedal
for the present purposes.
Not only will this dissertation seek to
utilize
and
reflect sensitivities gained from these excellent
studies,
but an attempt will be made to propose a deictic
linguistic
tool for the collection and analysis of poetic
syntactic
data. There will be a survey of recent
linguistic
techniques and the selection of a modified form
of
Kenneth Pike's tagmemics. The six box
tagmeme will
allow
the analyst to monitor and collect data from both
the
surface grammar and deep grammar of the poetic lines.
Case
grammar, which explicates deep grammar relationships,
is
as close as this study will get to a semantic analysis.
Because
both deep and surface grammar are explicitly
monitored
in the tagmeme, inter-lineal crossovers between
surface
syntax and deep grammar will manifest the
craftsmanship
of the ancient sages. Thus, modern
linguistics
provides the tool which will highlight poetic
syntactic
artistry both within and between lines.
Such
techniques
are extremely important, not only because they
reflect
more adequate theories of language than the
traditional
approach, but also because they allow for the
compilation
of syntactic data via computer-aided
analysis.1 Once such data is collected, comparisons can
be
made with syntactic data from other corpora, which, in
this
study, has facilitated syntactic specification of
genre
constraints. Chomsky's notion of
syntactic
transformation
has been employed with great benefit, as
often
there are syntactic transformations between the
parallel
lines. This extremely potent idea will
be
broached
and initial experimental studies and preliminary
results
will be compiled specifying the syntactical
transformations
commonly used by the sages. The presence
of
syntactic transformations suggests that the parallel
lines
may be even more closely syntactically knit than
earlier
proffered by approaches which merely noted
syntactic
repetitions. Thus describing the syntax
by the
most
satisfying linguistic techniques available has moved
the
modern reader one step closer to the recreation of the
syntactic
constraints which the original author employed
and
the hearers enjoyed. Thus,
syntactically, the modern
reader
may now participate in the aesthetic appreciation
and
dynamic understanding of the proverbial sentences as
they
were originally given. No claim to
completeness or
exhaustiveness
has been made. Rather a method is
proposed
____________________
1 F. I. Andersen, The
Hebrew Verbless Clause in the
Pentateuch (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1970) provides an
example
of a tagmemic approach to the nominal clause in the
Pentateuch.
which
this writer believes a more satisfying description
of
Hebrew poetry. If nothing else this
study demonstrates
the
infinitely intricate beauty both in terms of the
expression
of poetic features of syntactic equivalence and
variation. The stressing of syntax and the relative
avoidance
of phonetics and semantics leave the present
study
knowingly lop-sided. Various phonetic
equivalences
and
sound-sense relationships have been observed in a
non-structured
way and the reader does well to pay
attention
to the brief comments which suggest that formal
phonetic
studies are needed for a fuller appreciation of
proverbial
poetry.1 Since the discipline
of semantics is
presently
developing, it is hoped that an approach
retaining
the meaning orientation of traditional
semantics,
the lucidity of componential analysis, and the
scientific
precision of formal semantics will be
forthcoming
within the next decade. The need
ultimately
is
for a composite approach to poetry which includes
linguistically
sophisticated approaches to syntax,
phonetics,
and semantics in such a way that equivalences
and
variations between and within parallel lines may be
monitored
as well as plays between categories (vid. Prov
11:18). Until then, modern perceptions of the rich
hues
of
Hebrew poetry will remain faded into monochromic
____________________
1 Leo Weinstock, "Sound
and Meaning in Biblical
Hebrew,"
JSS 28 (1983):49-63.
prosaicness. An exordial discussion will, in an intuitive
manner,
demonstrate the fecundity of such a comprehensive
approach
by validating the presence of literary cohesion
in
Proverbs 10--a text in which literary cohesion is
almost
universally ignored or rejected.
The actual chapters of the dissertation
break down
basically
into two halves. The first examines the
various
types
of settings: (1) the comparative
literary setting;
(2)
the conceptual wisdom setting; (3) the canonical
setting
of wisdom; (4) the historical setting of wisdom;
and
(5) the structural setting of wisdom.
These
background
chapters will be followed by a more
linguistically
and textually oriented section which will
introduce
various approaches to poetics (ch. VI) and
linguistics
(ch. VII) and then apply the scheme designed
in
this study to the text of Proverbs 10-15 (ch. VIII).
The
corpus (ch. VIII) is included, as it is in most recent
dissertations
(vid. Geller and O'Connor), so that the
results
may be checked and the method illustrated.
Finally,
chapter IX will demonstrate the literary cohesion
of
Proverbs 10. This is one of the
discoveries made by
this
study--demonstrating the vitality of the method
employed. Chapter X will provide a desultory analysis
of
selected
syntactic patterns which the corpus has brought
to
light.
The goal of this study has not been the
production
of
results, but of a methodology which will adequately,
not
exhaustively, describe Hebrew poetic syntax.
The
model
will be tested on the corpus of Proverbs 10-15 and
the
results compared to the analyses of Collins and
O'Connor. The study corroborates O'Connor's suggestion
that
there are syntactic constraints on the Hebrew line.
It
goes on to suggest that there are many sub-lineal
binding
techniques, which occur below the isomorphic
matching
of syntactic lines, between the
units/constituents
of the paralleled lines. These
iso/homomorphic
syntactic mappings between lines often
manifest
surface structure equivalences and at other times
evince
deep structure equivalences with all sorts of
aesthetically
pleasing combinations in-between. It is
hoped
that the reader will be able to go beyond the
mechanical
details of the linguistic system employed to
begin
to intuitively read and delight in the artistic
creativity
of the ancient sages. Only then will one
be
able
to return and recreate the original poetic moment in
his
own culture and blissfully inculcate its trans-
cultural
principles into the memory (זכר) of his own son.
CHAPTER I
THE
COMPARATIVE LITERARY SETTINGS OF WISDOM
Introduction
Renewed scholarly attention to wisdom
literature
has
received impetus from two sources, which have
provided
not only an inchoation for initial studies but
also
have biased the direction which those inquiries have
taken. The first source of stimulation was the
discovery
of The
Teaching of Amenemope in 1888, its consequent
publication
by Budge in 1924,1 and, later, Erman's2
elucidation
of the nexus between Amenemope and the book
of
Proverbs. Erman's work created a tidal
wave of
publications,
which has continued unintermittently to the
____________________
1 E. A. Wallis Budge, Facsimiles
of Egyptian
Hieratic
Papyri in the British Museum with Description
and
Summary of Content,
second series (London: Longmans
and
Co., 1923), p. 12; also E. A. W. Budge, The Teaching
of
Amen-em-Apt Son of Kanekht: The Egyptian
Hieroglyphic
Text
and an English Translation with Translations of the
Moral
and Religious Teachings of Egyptian Kings and
Officials
Illustrating The Development of Religious
Philosophy
in Egypt During a Period of About Two Thousand
Years
(London: Martin Hopkinson and Company, 1924).
2 Adolf Erman, "Ein
agyptische Quelle der 'Spruche
Salomos,'"
Sitzungs-berichte der Preussischen Akademie
der
Wissenchaften zu Berlin: Phil.-hist.
Klasse 15
(May
1924):86-93.
present.1 Further discoveries of numerous
"Instruction"
texts
from Egypt, several proverb collections from Sumer,
and
the libraries of Ashurbanipal have provided the needed
texts
to sustain this recent interest in wisdom
literature.
The second source of stimulation has
come from the
discipline
of Biblical Theology. Major tensions
have
arisen
in the attempt to fit wisdom into theological
models
which have myopically focused on the
Heilsgeschichte or covenant motifs.
This chapter will briefly survey the
ancient
wisdom
materials from Egypt, Mesopotamia and Syro-
Palestine. The following chapter will summarize the
discussions
which have taken place under the province of
biblical
theology in its struggle with the relationship
between
alleged Mitten and wisdom.
Egyptian Wisdom
Ptahhotep to 'Onchsheshonqy
A survey of the ancient Near Eastern sources
provides
a requisite Sitz im Literatur for a study of the
biblical
book of Proverbs, in terms of the literary forms,
____________________
1 Glendon E. Bryce, A
Legacy of Wisdom: The
Egyptian
Contribution to the Wisdom of Israel (London:
Associated
University Presses, 1979). Bryce gives
the
most
recent, thorough treatment of the subject.
Coming to
quite
a different conclusion is John Ruffle, "The Teaching
of
Amenemope and its Connection with the Book of
Proverbs,"
TB 28 (1977):29-68.
genres, and motifs utilized in wisdom literature. Such
materials
greatly aid our understanding of Proverbs and
provide
a corroboration of the biblical statements as to
the
international character of wisdom (1 Kgs 4:30f. [MT
5:10f.]).1 No attempt will be made to reanalyze these
sources;
rather, the goal will be to select samples which
are
characteristic of the two-thousand-year history of
this
form of literature in Egypt.2
The following
rather
jejune list of the most well known Egyptian wisdom
____________________
1 Perhaps the most
convenient list and analysis of
this
material is found in William McKane's, Proverbs: A
New
Approach.
The Old Testament Library (Philadelphia:
The
Westminster
Press, 1970), pp. 51-201. Another fine
overview
is James L. Crenshaw's, Old Testament Wisdom: An
Introduction (Atlanta:
John Knox Press, 1981), pp. 212-35.
A
very exhaustive list, which includes the location of the
materials,
is found in K. A. Kitchen's, "Proverbs and
Wisdom
Books of the Ancient Near East: The Factual
History
of a
Literary Form," TB 28 (1977):111-14. R. J. Williams
provides
a thorough synopsis of Egyptian wisdom studies
between
1960 and 1981 in "The Sages of Ancient Egypt in the
Light
of Recent Scholarship," JAOS 101 (1981):1-19.
Finally,
an excellent chart may be found in E. E. Heaton's,
Solomon's
New Men: The Emergence of Ancient Israel
as a
National
State
(New York: Pica, 1974), pp. 203-4.
2 English translations of
Egyptian wisdom texts are
easily
accessible in James B. Pritchard's, ANET,
pp. 412-24
or
in Miriam Lichtheim's, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 3
vols.
(Los Angeles: University of California
Press, 1980),
1:58-82,
97-112, 134-92; 2:135-80; 3:159-217.
Other
translations
are: William Simpson, The Literature
of
Ancient
Egypt
(reprint ed., New Haven: Yale
University,
1973)
and K. A. Kitchen, "Studies in Egyptian Wisdom
Literature--1,"
OrAnt 7 (1969):189-208 and "Studies in
Egyptian
Wisdom Literature--2," OrAnt 8 (1970):203-9.
Kitchen
translates the Instruction by a "Man for His Son"
and
the "Counsels of Discretion."
An older collection, but
still
of value, is Adolf Erman, The Literature of the
Ancient
Egyptians,
trans. A. M. Blackman (reprint ed., New
York: Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1971), pp. 54-85.
texts provides a chronological sequence demonstrating the
antiquity
and continuity of this type of literature in
Egypt.
OLD KINGDOM (DYNASTIES 1-7)
The Instruction of Prince Hardjedef (ca.
2400 B.C.)
The Instruction Addressed to Kagemni (ca.
2200 B.C.)
The
Instruction of Ptahhotep (ca. 2200 B.C.)
MIDDLE KINGDOM (DYNASTIES 11-14)
The Instruction of King Amenemhet (ca. 1985
B.C.)
NEW KINGDOM (DYNASTIES 18-20)
The Instruction of Any (ca. 1500-1300 B.C.)
The Instruction of Amenemope (ca. 1100-600
B.C.)
THE LATE PERIOD
The Instruction of 'Onchsheshonqy
(Ptolemaic?)
The Instruction of Papyrus Insinger
(Ptolemaic?)1
There are two genres of Egyptian wisdom
literature: (l) sebayit (instructions), and
(2)
onomasticon. The sebayit are
instructions given by an
authority,
often a father or teacher, to his son/pupil.
They
structure their advice in an admonition form
(Mahnspruch),
which is hortatory, and a statement or
saying
form (Aussage) which makes empirical remarks about
the
realities of life.2 So in
"The Instruction Addressed
____________________
1 The dates are generally
taken from Lichtheim's
Ancient
Egyptian Literature.
2 Brian Kovacs, "Is
there a Class-Ethic in
Proverbs?"
Essays in Old Testament Ethics, ed. James L.
Crenshaw
(New York: KTAV Publishing House, 1974),
p. 173.
to Kagemni" one reads an admonition concerning table
etiquette:
When you sit with company,
Shun the food you love.1
"The
Instructions of Any" gives the following admonition
from
a familial setting.
Do not control your wife in her house,
When you know she is efficient; . . .
Let your eye observe in silence,
then you recognize her skill.2
An
illustration of the sentence or saying form may also be
found
in "The Instructions of Any," describing the
empirical
realities of life in a non-hortatory fashion.
One man is rich, another is poor,
But food remains for him [who shares
it].3
Both
of these forms are attested to in Proverbs, as will
be
shown later. Disputation literature and
scribal texts
are
also found in Egypt, but, since they are not
particularly
germane to the discussion, they have not been
included.
A few examples from the Instruction
literature may
be
cited to illustrate the correspondence of both form and
content
between Egyptian and Israelite sources.
In
Ptah-hotep
is written this instruction:
____________________
1Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient
Egyptian Literature,
1:59.
2Ibid., 2:143.
3Ibid., 2:142.
If
you are one among guests
At
the table of one greater than you,
Take
what he gives as it is set before you.1
A
similar note is struck in Proverbs 23:1:
When
you sit to dine with a ruler.
Note
well what is before you.
Though manifesting several differences
from the
book
of Proverbs--for example, 'Onchsheshonqy's slender
use
of antithetical parallelism and its employment of
single
line proverbs--'Onchsheshonqy does have some points
in
common with Proverbs. The idea that
"man proposes but
God
disposes" is found in both Proverbs and
'Onchsheshonqy:
In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps (Prov
16:9).
This
may be compared with 'Onchsheshonqy 26,l.14:
The
plans of the god are one thing, the thoughts of
[men] are another.
Gemser
further cites eight common motifs between the two
texts. Themes such as the condemnation of laziness,
the
warning
against wayward married women, the end of a man's
way
determining the course he should take, and even the
advice
that one's fear of god be great, will be easily
recognized
by students of Proverbs.2
While, surely, no
one
____________________
1Ibid., 1:65.
2B. Gemser, "The
Instructions of 'Onchsheshonqy
and
Biblical Wisdom Literature," in Studies in Ancient
Israelite
Wisdom
(New York: KTAV, 1976), pp. 142-43, 156.
Hereafter
cited as SAIW.
would
suggest borrowing between 'Onchsheshonqy and
Proverbs,
the comparison does show a common ethos
prevalent
in this type of literature, both in Egypt and in
Israel.
Amenemope and Proverbs
A matter which demands special
attention is the
debate
concerning the viability and direction of borrowing
between
Amenemope and Proverbs. The text of
Amenemope
suggests
a very strong nexus between Egypt and Israel.1 A
scrutiny
of this problem will not be attempted here since
pertinent
literature is abundant.
Amenemope is dated by some as early as
1000 B.C.
and
by others as late as 600 B.C. The usual
triad of
solutions
is forwarded:2 (1) Israel
borrowed;3
____________________
1Ludwig Keimer, "The
Wisdom of Amen-em-ope and
the
Proverbs of Solomon," AJSL 43 (1926):8-9 surveys the early
discovery
and analysis of this "Instruction."
2Bryce, A Legacy of
Wisdom, pp. 33-39 surveys
the
three views, as do Martin R. Johnson, "An Investigation of
the
Fear of God as a Central Concept in the Theology of
the
Wisdom Literature" (M.A. thesis, Trinity Evangelical
Divinity
School, 1974), p. 7 and Brian Kovacs,
"Sociological-Structural
Constraints upon Wisdom: The
Spatial
and Temporal Matrix of Proverbs 15:28-22:16"
(Ph.D.
dissertation, Vanderbilt University, 1978), p. 167.
3This is the view held by the
majority of
scholars. Bryce, A Legacy of Wisdom, pp. 74-75,
158, 212
gives
the most recent and well-stated exposition of this
position,
in which he allows for adaptive, assimilative
and
integrative stages to account for differences in the
texts.
James L. Crenshaw, Old Testament
Wisdom: An
Introduction (Atlanta:
John Knox Press, 1981), p. 220.
Ronald
J. Williams, "The Alleged Semitic Original of the
(2)
Amenemope borrowed;1 or (3) they both referred to a
common
setting or common original.2
____________________
'Wisdom
of Amenemope,'" JEA 47 (1961):100-106 gives a
refutation
of Drioton (vid. the next footnote for Drioton's
articles). R. B. Y. Scott, "Solomon and the
Beginnings of
Wisdom
in Israel," in Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient
Near
East,
ed. Martin Noth and D. W. Thomas, VTSup 3
(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1969), p. 278. Roland E. Murphy,
"Israel's
Wisdom: a Biblical Model of
Salvation," Studia
Missionalia 30 (1981):15. Note R. N. Whybray, The
Intellectual
Tradition in the Old Testament, BZAW, 135 (New
York: Walter de Gruyter, 1974), p. 40, where
Whybray says
Proverbs'
dependence is "universally admitted."
Scholars
who
hold this position are: Zimmerli,
Eissfeldt, Childs,
Rylaarsdam,
Heaton, Skladny, Rankin, B. Andersen, Erman,
von
Rad, Keimer, Gemser, McKane et al.
1Two older works are: Robert O. Kevin, "The Wisdom
of
Amen-em-apt and its Possible Dependence upon the Book of
Proverbs,"
Journal of the Society of Oriental Research 14
(November
1930):115-56; and James M. McGlinchey, The
Teaching
of Amen-em-ope and the Book of Proverbs
(Washington,
DC: The Catholic University of America,
1939),
pp.33-36. More recently the Egyptologist
Drioton
has
attempted to support a Semitic original.
E. Drioton,
"Le
Livre des Proverbes et la sagesse d'Amenemope," in
Sacra
Pagina: Miscellanea biblica congressus
internationalis
Catholici de re biblica
1, ed. J. Coppens,
A.
Descamps, and E. Massux, Bibliotheca ephemeridum
theologicae
Lovanienes, vol. 12 (Gembloux: J.
Duculot,
1959),
pp. 229-41. E. J. Young, An
Introduction to the Old
Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,
1964),
p. 314. Finally, and perhaps the most
interesting,
is: John Ruffle, "The Teaching of Amenemope
and its
Connection
with the Book of Proverbs," TB
28 (1977):29-68.
This
is a reworking of his thesis: "The
Teaching of
Amenemope
and its connexion with the Book of Proverbs"
(M.A.
thesis, University of Liverpool, 1965).
Cf. also
Lorne
A. McCune, "Wisdom Theology and Proverbs:
A
Historical
and Theological Evaluation" (Th.M. thesis, Grace
Theological
Seminary, 1979), pp. 1-111.
2W. O. E. Oesterley,
"The 'Teaching of
Amen-em-ope'
and the Old Testament," ZAW 45 (1927):9-24;
While the majority of scholars hold to
Proverbs'
dependence
on Amenemope, there has been a steady and
substantial
group that has held to the priority of
Proverbs. Ruffle's delightful article sardonically
compares
parallels between Amenemope with the Precepts of
the
Elders,
which is an Aztec set of proverbs. This
aptly
points
out the problem of suggesting that "a common
proverb
means common origin." Recent
paroemiological
studies
have also shown this deduction to be hazardous.
For
example, who would suggest that the Swahili proverb,
"Where
there is a will there is a way," was borrowed by
the
English, alliteration and all (or vice versa)?
Is one
to
suppose that the Yemenite folk proverb, "When the cat
is
absent the mice will dance," is really the original
form,
with certain minor transformations of the English,
"While
the cat's away the mice will play"?
G. Neuman has
well
said, "Apparently there is a common manner of thought
and
presentation which--in spite of all differences--
unites
them [proverbs] across national boundaries."1 It
____________________
also
his, The Book of Proverbs with Introduction and Notes,
Westminster
Commentaries (London: Methuen and Co.,
Ltd.,
1929),
p. xxxvi; and The Wisdom of Egypt and the Old
Testament (London:
Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge,
1927), pp. 36-74. Bruce K. Waltke,
"The Book
of
Proverbs and Ancient Wisdom Literature," BSac 136
(July-September
1979):235. R. K. Harrison, Introduction
to
the Old Testament
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing
Co., 1969), p. 1015.
1 Gerhard Neuman, Der
Aphorismus: zur
Geschichte,
zu der Formen und Moglichkeiten einer Literarischen
Gattung, in Wege der Forschung, vol. 356
(Darmstadt:
Wissenschaftliche
Buchgesellschaft, 1976), p. 1. A
translation
of this was generously received through
seems
that a common universe, rather than borrowing, may
account
for many proverbial similarities between cultures,
though
by no means does this deprecate the fact that
proverbs
often are transmitted trans-culturally.
It is fitting that several parallels
between
Amenemope
and Proverbs be noted, not in an effort to
demonstrate
borrowing, but to show similarities in form
and,
to some extent, content.1
Better
a little with the fear of the Lord