RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Protestantism Proverbs
Corfu, 1367) had an almost episcopal position with nine archpresbyters under him (Nicholas Bulgaris, Katechesis hiera, Venice, 1681, preface). At present " protopresbyter " or " protopope " is an honorary title in the Greek Church. In the Russian Church it designates a minor supervisory office (cf. Archdeacon and Archphiest).
(Philipp Meyer.)
PROVERBS, BOOK OF.
Place in the Canon; Name (§ 1).
The Poetic Form (§ 2).
The Introduction, i. 1-ix. 18 (§ 3).
The Central Portion, x. 1-xxii. 16 (§ 4).
The Date of this Part (§ 5).
The Third Section, xxii. 17-xxix (§ 6).
The Closing Section, xxx.-xxxi (§ 7).
Conclusion (§8).
The Book of the Proverbs of Solomon, which is known to have consisted of 915 verses in, the Masoretic text as early as the time of Jerome, belongs in the Hebrew canon to the three poetic books (Psalms, Job, and Proverbs) which were distinguished by a special system of punctuation from the rest of the writings. It was recki. Place in oned to the Hagiographa (see Canon the Canon; of Scripture, I., 1, § 3, c. 4, §§ 1-2), Name, though its position there is not uniform; sometimes the poetical books are preceded by Chronicles (because the latter books begin with Adam); indeed the order of the three poetical books as a separate collection is subject to variations in the manuscripts. The inclusion of the book in the canon was not entirely a matter of course, and was debated at Jamnia, a ground of opposition being found in the contradiction discovered in xxvi. 4-5, and in the character of the passage vii. 7-20. The Hebrew title of the book is the first word, Mishle, from mashal, a word often used in the Old Testament with various significations, such as proverb, parable, riddle, satirical poem, and the like (I Sam. x. 12; Ezek. xvii. 25, xviii. 2-3; Isa. xiv. 4). The common element in all these meanings is evidently that of comparison, a conclusion which is borne out by the signification of the Assyrian mashalu. P. Haupt (SBOT, Proverbs, p. 32) goes to the Assyrian mishlu, " half," and derives the term from the fact that the proverb is in two balanced propositions. This is opposed by the other fact that in the Hebrew the singular form is used for a proverb, while the theory requires the plural (or dual). Further, the distich formation is not the only one employed in this form of composition; there are proverbs with only one member, and those with three or more (cf. I Sam. x. 12).
This introduces the subject of the form of the book. The fact that Proverbs is among the poetical books shows that the ancients regarded it as poetical in form. Some Hebrew manuscripts as well as important codices of the Septuagint preserve it in — lines as poetry, though this is not the
2. The usual form of the Masoretic text; the Poetic characteristics of Hebrew poetry (see Form. Hebrew Language and Literature, III.) are abundantly evident. Thus there are present the parallelism of members and the easily recognizable rhythm. The measure is pre-
vailingly trimeter, combined in distiches, tristiches, or even in longer combinations, while other variations are not uncommon. The collection x. 1-xxii. 16 is composed entirely of distiches in trimeter, of which x. 2 is an excellent example, presenting two propositions or epigrams usually in antithetical relation. Sometimes the distich is composed of 3 + 4 feet, an example of which is found in xiv. 28; or of 4 + 3 feet, as in xii. 1. There are also distiches in tetrameter, cf. xxv. 2-3 or xxvi. 1. But these longer arrangements are lacking in the section x. 1-xxii. 16, also in xxviii.-xxix. It is to be noticed, moreover, that while there are collections of proverbs which are related in subject-matter (x. 2-5, xiii. 2-3, xviii. 6-8), each proverb is in itself a complete whole. It is also true that the longer measures preserve the distich character, the members being sometimes in the form of antithesis, sometimes in that of identity or of synonymous parallelism. Examples of the first have been given above; an example of synonymous parallelism is xvi. 6, while a third variety, called synthetical parallelism, is partly illustrated in xv. 20. But parallelism is not an absolutely invariable form; in thought there is sometimes a progress, as is illustrated by xvi. 3. This last form is not confined to the distich, but appears also in the tristich, though there is always the possibility that the latter is not the original form, cf. the original Hebrew of xix. 7.
The book opens with a long introduction beginning with the words: " The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel," and continuing with a statement of the purpose of the collection: " To know wisdom and instruction," etc., i. 1-6. The basis of this tradition of Solomonic authorship is easily discovered in I Kings iv. 32, in 3. The In- which the statement is made that Solotroduction, mon " spake three thousand proverbs." i. i-ix. 18. On the other hand, it is perfectly clear that the statement of the introduction can not apply to the whole book, since in the later parts other authors are named. Still it must be maintained that the writer of the introduction meant to attribute the principal part of the present book to Solomon. The next section of the book is i. 7-ix. 18, which is a connected composition in longer or shorter collections of verses, in which the reader is addressed as " my son," and the speaker is characterized as teacher or instructor, who admonishes in the name of wisdom (i. 20). In this the form of parallelism is often preserved, sometimes in a long series of verses (chaps, ii.-iii.), and sometimes Wisdom herself is represented as the speaker (i. 20, viii.). The contents reach their climax in the exhortation to receive and cherish wisdom, though exactly what this wisdom is is not expressly stated. What is clear, however, is that the wise is to look for salvation or success, the fool for the contrary; that wisdom is of God and that the fear of him leads to wisdom. Indeed, not only is wisdom of God, it was before the worlds and was present with him in creation (viii.), and is his throne companion. The reader is warned against grave sins and given rules for guidance in practical affairs; by following these is the blessing of God attained, and an ethical content is injected. The morality is
Proverbs