The Coherence of the Collections in the Book of Proverbs

Book excerpt: The book of Proverbs is a large collection made up of diverse wisdom sayings emanating from different wisdom circles in different times. The author investigates the vocabulary of the book in order to interpret the distinctive wisdom characteristics of the seven collections of Proverbs. He argues that exclusive words of a collection will best reveal the peculiar nature of the collection, and that the collections which exclusively share common wisdom words are inevitably coherent in terms of wisdom traditions. This book provides a new understanding of Proverbs, especially with regard to the relationship between collections I (chs. 1-9) and VII (ch. 31), collections II (10:1-22:16) and V (chs. 25-29), and collections VI (ch. 30) and VII (ch. 31). In addition to the investigation of more than three hundred words, this volume contains the lists of exclusive words of the seven collections and thirty-four tables of words related to wisdom. Kim's work will prove a useful resource to those who want to study Proverbs.