(2) Ch. lOi-Sa's, the ' proverbs of Solomon ' {'h-^'r: nbS^ 10'*; LXX om.), forming the real kernel of the book. Each verse, consisting usually of seven, sometimes eight, rarely nine to eleven, words, forms a saying complete in itself and Independent. In chs. 10-15 the antithetic parallelism predominates, in chs. 16-22'' the synthetic, along with which we find also the synonymous, in wnieh the second member limits or expands or continues the first.
(3) Ch. 22" -24-. These 'words of the wise' (22""-') contain maxims and warnings which only exceptionally are comprised in a single verse ; u^Qally they extend tf two, sometimes tliree, once even seven, verses. They are again addressed, like 1'*', to ' my son,' a form of address which is found in (2) only in the corrupt passage 19^. The rigid poetical rhytlim of (2) is not prominent in this section, here anil there it is wanting entirely.
(4) Ch. 24-^"*'. This appears to be an appendix to (3). It is headed, ' These are also words of the wise,' and may perhaps be reduced to seven sayin-js and exhortations, comprised for the most part in one verse, although the second consists of two, and the seventh of five, verses.
{b) Chs. 25-29, with the heading, 'These also are proverbs of Solomon, Avhich the men of Heze- kiah, king of Judah, collected,' 2.5'. Here again, as a rule, each verse makes up a proverb (so al« ays in chs. 28. 29), although at times two, in 27^-" even five, verses have to go together. Some of the sayings are duplicates of proverbs contained in 10'-22". The parallelism is not regular as in (2), but these sayings are distinguished by the pithiness of their contents and the rich imagery of their language. The religious character recedes far into the background ; notably in chs. 25-27, they are for the most part sayings bearin" purely upon a prudent direction of the conduct of lite.
(6) Ch. 30, entitled ' Words of Agur,' made up, as to form and contents, of enigmatical sayings, and a few numerical proverbs such as meet us elsewhere only in 6*"'". The title in 30' is mani- festly connipt (cf. Frankenberg or Wildeboer ad loc, and art. Ac UK).
(7) Ch. 31'-', exhortations to 'Lemuel, king of Massa' (see Lemukl and Mar.sa), spoken by his mother. These may really be re<luced to a single saying consistinj' of eight verses, in which tlie mother cautions lier son against wine and women, and exhorts him to rule righteously (cf. MUlilau, De Proverb. qu(E dimntur Agnn ct Lemuelis origine atniie indole, Lipsiie, 1869, and Kuenen, Onrlerzoek\ § 95, note 10). The book closes with —
(8) Ch. 31'"'", an alphabetical poem, standing by itself, without any connexion with what pre- cedes, devoted to a panegyric on the virtuous housewife.
ii. Unity and Authorship. — It is beyond question that in the present book we have to du not witli a collection of proverbs which took their rise in the mouth of the people, but with arti ticially constructed poetry. Delitzscli has pointed to the saying contained in 1 S 24''' [Eng. '^J, ' Out of the wicked cometh forth wickedness,' as a specimen of the folk-proverb. The latter wants tlie rhythmical form, and is generally marked by pregnant brevity ; cf. also 1 S W\ 1 K 20", Jei 31-", Ezk IS"-, Lk 4^, Jn 4" (see the preceding article). Cut for such sayings we seek in vain in the Book of Proverbs. This is generally recog- nized to be the case, as is shown by tlie inquiry as to the authorsliip of our book and its sayings. From the titles in 10' 25' 22" 24=3" 301 311 (cf_ i6) it results with certainty tliat the traditional view, which credits Solomon with the authorship of our book and its individual parts, must be rejected. It must, further, be admitted that no principle can be distinguished upon which the proverbs are arranged. Sometimes, indeed, sajangs of similar purport are brought together, which collectively make up a series of admonitions ; or sayings in which the same word recurs are found in juxta- position ; but these are only isolated occurrences. Finally, it is a significant circumstance that the same proverbs are repeated in identical or almost identical terms in diti'erent parts of the book : compare 218 „.jt,]i 2o-\ W with 26-^ 20'» with 27", 22' with 27'=, 19" with 26", 17*' = 27=>», 19" = 28%
J518»_-Og'J2ji OO-'Sh^; 0310a 2433- S4 _ glO. 11 OO-Sa — 0311^
24' compared with 20'"' and ll'*"" ; nay, even within the same division such repetitions make their ap- pearance, e., 17. 14'-=16'», 10■-'•=ll*^ 10"»=18"% IP" = 16">^ 15*"'= 18'='', and oft. ; cf. Delitzscli, Comm. p. 21 ff. ; Nowack (in the Kgf. Hdbch.), p. xxiv ; Comill, Einleitung^, p. 225; briver, LOT', p. 397. The phenomena just noticed necessitate the assump- tion that the different parts of our book belong to ditt'erent authors, and consequently exclude the authorship of Solomon.
But although the book in its present form does not proceed from Solomon, may not parti- cular portions of it be assigned directly or indi- rectly to him ? One title (10') plainly credits him with the authorship of 10' -22", while anotliei (25' 'proverlis of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, collected ') ascribes chs 25-29 at least indirectly to him. But thest titles simply give exjiression to the tradition tlia* prevailed at a particular period, while the fact that the men of Hezekiah are spoken of in the third person would appear to indicate that this note does not proceed from themselves, nay, the way in which Hezekiah is spoken of not as ' king,' but as ' kingof Judah,' suggests that the note was written down at a time when there was no longer a king of Judah (cf. Baudissin, Die. alttest. Spruchdu-h- tung, p. 11). We need not then regard it as im- possible that we have to do with a literary fiction which attributed proverbs to Solomon, perhaps in order to enhance their value, just as the books of Qoheleth and Wisdom are also ascribed to him. Such a tradition is all the more intelligible, be- cause not only was Solomon regarded as the beau ideal of wisdom, but in 1 K 4*" it is expressly stated tliat he spoke three thousand proverbs. This passage, in fact, has been sought to be used in support of the Solomonic authorship of our book, but (a) the Book of Proverbs contains only nine hundred and thirty-five verses, (b) 1 K 4^ saj's only that Solomon spoke three thousand pro- verbs, (c) this passage does not lead us to suppose that the contents of these proverbs belonged to the religious and moral sphere, rather would they appear from v.*' to have dealt with subjects of quite a difierent kind. Consequently the author