Book Description

Excerpt from The Book of Proverbs A. The general question. The view has been held by some in the past that Solomon was the author of the whole book, the names Agur and Lemuel which appear as those of authors in chap. 30 and 31 being merely descriptive designations of Solomon. This view was never very widely held and has been generally abandoned, so that it is not necessary to give it detailed consideration. Two general views concerning the date and authorship of the book are now quite commonly held. One is that most or all of the book was written and collected in pre-exilic times, Solomon being the author of a greater or less amount, but at any rate of the kernel of the book. The other is that the book was all written and collected in late post-exilic times, none of it being written by Solomon. The dates assigned for the final collection of the book vary from about 350 to 180 B. C., the time of the composition of the various parts being supposed to cover about a century. Most of the recent writers on the book hold the second view. In considering this question there will be noticed, first, the arguments adduced in favor of the late date, with answers to them; and second, the arguments that may be offered in favor of the early date. 1. The arguments in favor of the late date. The arguments of this kind here considered will be chiefly those found in the recent commentaries of Wildeboer, who favors a date for the final collection of about 250 B. C.; Frankenberg, whose date is not earlier than 180 B. C.; and Toy, whose date for the completion is "in the second century B. C." These arguments are of two kinds, arguments from language, and arguments from the substance of the book, including thought and historical allusions. (1) Arguments from language. These, without referring to the Hebrew, can only be considered in a very general way. These arguments are of three kinds: a. from the occurrence of some late Hebrew words; b. from the occurrence of some Aramaisms, or words borrowed from the Aramaic; and c. from the occurrence of one or two late syntactical constructions. In general answer it may be said that in a book like Proverbs, which is avowedly a compilation, unless such usages were quite numerous they would at most indicate that some verses might be post-exilic, but not that the whole book must be. Also the number of late Hebrew words and Aramaisms is much less than has sometimes been claimed, although it may be admitted that there are a few. More specifically: (a) In the lists of late Hebrew words are often placed those which occur outside of Proverbs only in books which are considered by some late, by others early. It is plainly illegitimate to put much dependence upon these. Even the few words which do occur only in Proverbs and in books certainly late should be used with caution. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.