February 24th, 2025
What is a proverb?
Since we are studying Proverbs, I thought I’d do a word study and try to nail down what exactly a proverb[1] is. I’d say it is a deep dive, but my mental pool is pretty shallow, so we’ll just wade in and see what we find.
According to Strong’s[2] the Hebrew word, mashal, conveys a sense of “superiority in mental action”. It is described as a metaphor or “pithy maxim” that shows us how to live in a better way. It is related to a word that means “rule” or “dominion” with the idea that this type of knowledge is superior to other types. It can also mean “comparison”, which makes sense as many of examples in use a simile to give insight into what are the best choices in day-to-day life[3].
As we work our way through Proverbs, it is interesting to me that there are different kinds. One is shorter and these tend to be the ones we remember, i.e. “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool that repeats his folly”[4]. The second are longer “discourses” like the acrostic in 31.10-31. Scholars differentiate between primitive and complex proverbs to distinguish between the two[5]. It is important to put all this in context and remember that these would have been developed in an oral tradition long before they were written down. The primitive form of parables, then, would be topical pieces of advice that would be easily remembered and used to guide daily living as applicable situations arose[6]. From an application standpoint, we need to take these shorter Proverbs and not just read them, but try and commit them to memory so they will actually guide us in how we live. With the longer “complex” proverbs, we should think back to the idea of comparison and superior knowledge. As we read these we should hold them up our own lives to them and see how closely what we do aligns with either examples of wisdom or examples of folly.
We at FCC Grayson hope you are having a great week. We’ve had some fantastic sermons already on this book and we hope as we move forward you find practical, applicable wisdom to use in your life. As always, if there is anything we can help you with or anything you would like prayer for, please let us know. Those who are doing the independent study with Men’s Ministry will be looking at structural issues in Proverbs which will expand some on what this blog discussed.
[1] For reference, the word is also used in Eccles 6.35 & 47.17
[2] 4912 in the Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary, see also 4910
[3] See Oxford Companion to the Bible, “Proverbs” p 624-626
[4] Proverbs 26.11
[5] See “Proverb” in Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible p 934-936
[6] We see Jesus, perhaps, using this very thing in Luke 4.23
Since we are studying Proverbs, I thought I’d do a word study and try to nail down what exactly a proverb[1] is. I’d say it is a deep dive, but my mental pool is pretty shallow, so we’ll just wade in and see what we find.
According to Strong’s[2] the Hebrew word, mashal, conveys a sense of “superiority in mental action”. It is described as a metaphor or “pithy maxim” that shows us how to live in a better way. It is related to a word that means “rule” or “dominion” with the idea that this type of knowledge is superior to other types. It can also mean “comparison”, which makes sense as many of examples in use a simile to give insight into what are the best choices in day-to-day life[3].
As we work our way through Proverbs, it is interesting to me that there are different kinds. One is shorter and these tend to be the ones we remember, i.e. “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool that repeats his folly”[4]. The second are longer “discourses” like the acrostic in 31.10-31. Scholars differentiate between primitive and complex proverbs to distinguish between the two[5]. It is important to put all this in context and remember that these would have been developed in an oral tradition long before they were written down. The primitive form of parables, then, would be topical pieces of advice that would be easily remembered and used to guide daily living as applicable situations arose[6]. From an application standpoint, we need to take these shorter Proverbs and not just read them, but try and commit them to memory so they will actually guide us in how we live. With the longer “complex” proverbs, we should think back to the idea of comparison and superior knowledge. As we read these we should hold them up our own lives to them and see how closely what we do aligns with either examples of wisdom or examples of folly.
We at FCC Grayson hope you are having a great week. We’ve had some fantastic sermons already on this book and we hope as we move forward you find practical, applicable wisdom to use in your life. As always, if there is anything we can help you with or anything you would like prayer for, please let us know. Those who are doing the independent study with Men’s Ministry will be looking at structural issues in Proverbs which will expand some on what this blog discussed.
[1] For reference, the word is also used in Eccles 6.35 & 47.17
[2] 4912 in the Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary, see also 4910
[3] See Oxford Companion to the Bible, “Proverbs” p 624-626
[4] Proverbs 26.11
[5] See “Proverb” in Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible p 934-936
[6] We see Jesus, perhaps, using this very thing in Luke 4.23
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