Approaches to Proverbs 1-9

The earliest modern inquiries into Israelite wisdom tradition focused on historical93

questions especially on the origin of personified wisdom and its relationship to Egyptian, Hellenistic or ancient Near Eastern wisdom prototypes, e.g. Ma‘at, Astarte, Isis, Sophia, Asherah, Innana, etc. ( Sinnott 2005:11-12)94_{. In time, other approaches to the study of}

(personified) wisdom than the mythological began to emerge such as the literary, and the sociological.

Literary approaches initially concentrated on the idea that Woman Wisdom was a hypostasis of YHWH, that is, the figure possessed divine attributes95. However, some scholars have considered personification as a literary convention or creation - the figure is seen as a metaphor rather than a person or hypostasis (e.g. Habel 1972; Sheppard 1980)96. Camp (1985:65) notes that, “Von Rad, Habel, and Lang have all, in one way or another and with varying degrees of consistency, focused our attention on the poetic nature of the traditions that embody personified Wisdom”. She points out that treating

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Camp (1985:23ff) provides a good review of scholarly interpretations (from Albright onward) of personified wisdom from the perspective of history of religions.

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Clements (1992:158) claims that such tradition-historical approaches to the figure of wisdom in Proverbs have been of limited value and tend to point in the wrong direction.

95 _{Camp (1985:35); Lang (1986:138-140) and Boström (1990:56) all note that H Ringgeren (1947) was a notable}

proponent of the theory of wisdom as a hypostasis. McKane (1970) also contends that wisdom was a child of YHWH because of the contested word qanani (which has been translated variously as begot, birthed, created, acquired, purchased or possessed) in Proverbs 8:22, (cf. Lang 1986:63 and Schäfer 2002:26-27). For Camp (1985:49), the theory of hypostatization is not always clearly defined or uniformly applied. Lang (1986:138-40) also rejects the theory of wisdom as a hypostasis because, in his view, the wisdom poems must have been composed at the pre-exilic period when “hypostases did not play a major role in Israel’s way of thinking and religious rhetoric”. Murphy (1990:133) equally faults the theory of hypostatization based on the reasoning that Israel was strictly monotheistic during the post-exilic period.

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the Proverb poems as a literary work paves the way for a literary analysis of the poems in terms of metaphor, personification or symbolism (1985:71)97. We shall consider more fully the issues regarding the literary analysis of Woman Wisdom in the next section.

Furthermore, varieties of sociological approaches to the study of Woman Wisdom can be ascertained. Sinnott (2005:13) claims that such approaches “perceive personified Wisdom as a product of social impulses within Israel that drew upon the lives of Israelite women for their imagery”. A good example is Camp (1985:17-18), who states her preference for understanding the meaning of female Wisdom within a socio-historical setting98. While Yoder (2001; 2009: xxii) also presents a socio-historical, specifically, a socio-economic reading of Proverbs 1-9 and 31:10-31, Dell (2006) investigates both the social and theological context of the entire book of Proverbs but her recent article focuses on Proverbs 1-9 (Dell 2009a)99_.

It seems appropriate to note here the tendency by scholars, who situate the text of Proverbs 1-9 in the exilic/post-exilic era and interpret Woman Wisdom from a sociological viewpoint, to regard wisdom’s origins and development as the response to Israel’s situation after 587 BCE. For instance, Sinnott (2005:53-87, 171) argues that the situation of exile made it necessary and acceptable to personify wisdom as a female figure who speaks for God. With the fall of Jerusalem; the loss of the Temple, the Davidic monarchy, and the land, as well as the exile, Israel’s understanding of a God who acts could not effectively address the crisis that ensued.

Sinnott (2005:54) notes that a crisis of faith in YHWH in the aftermath of the events of 587 BCE was inevitable as the crisis called into question the foundations of the people’s traditional beliefs, understandings and assumptions. Wisdom, a tradition, which was not confined to Israel, therefore, emerged as a vital resource for coping with the situation of

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A number of other literary analyses of Proverbs 1-9 can be cited. Such analyses are often based on certain imageries or literary devices used in the text (Weeks 2007).

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Schroer (1995) embraces a similar approach. Note, however, Yoder’s (2001:9) claim that both Camp and Schroer have prioritized the literary expression of Woman Wisdom over the socio-historical context.

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exile. Sinnott (2005:82) further states that, “Through the personification of Wisdom the authors of Proverbs 1-9 created a new model for understanding the relationship between YHWH and Israel apart from the historical mode (salvation history) in which it was usually cast…100”

Closely related to the issue of the socio-historical context of Proverbs 1-9 and the emergence of personified wisdom within the milieu of the exile is the analysis of the life setting of the text. Dell101 (2009a:230) identifies two possible social contexts – the family and the school, that is, because of the educational character of the instructions. However, she does not rule out a court or administrative setting on the account that it would take educated scribes to write down the instructions, that is, if it is assumed that the instructions had an original oral context (Dell 2009a:231)102_.

On the other hand, scholars demonstrate that the setting for wisdom in the poems of Proverbs 1-9 is the street, the city square, and the city gates (Lang 1986:22)103. Lang (1986:31) explains that wisdom appears in those places to demonstrate her usefulness

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Evidently, Sinnott’s assumption above is not new. Clements (1990:22) notes that wisdom served as a bridge between Israel’s older national institutions and the new life in Diaspora. Furthermore, Clements (1992:25-26; 1990:26) points out that the Jews were in a state of liminality in the face of the dislocation that many of them faced during the exilic/post-exilic period, having been stripped of their former lives and identity. Since they needed to redefine what “it meant to be the people of God”, wisdom became a natural resource for coping with the new situation, i.e. it became the intellectual tool for the survival of the Judaic community in Diaspora. See also Ceresko (1999:25-29) and Yoder (2009: xxiv).

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In her earlier discussion, Dell (2006:24-32) shows that scholars have made a wide range of suggestions for the social context of Proverbs 1-9.

102 _{Lang (1986:15, 34-37) claims that Proverbs 1-9 has its origin in the educational climate and that the classroom}

setting can be assumed for some parts of Wisdom’s address but Clements (1992:124ff) argues that the primary institution for wisdom instruction in Israel was the household. Baumann (1998:47ff) also takes into account the suggestions that the school might be the Sitz im Leben of the text but she cautions that the existence of such schools has not be proven (cf. Golka 1993:13-14). She argues that although it is difficult to determine the Sitz im Leben of the text, an approach to the Sitz im Buch, i.e. the literary setting, is more plausible. According to Ceresko (1999:16-18), the family and clan as well as the scribal school (which he regards as a part of the royal court) served as the context for the development and transmission of ‘popular’ wisdom. Waltke (2004:61-62) proffers a court setting for the origin of Proverbs 1-9 and a home or family setting for its dissemination. Overall, there is no consensus on the Sitz im Leben of Proverbs 1-9 (Whybray 1995:71).

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Whybray (1996:245ff) demonstrates persuasively that the social and material background of Proverbs 1-9 is the city because the text contains various allusions to the busy life of an Israelite city and that the many descriptions of the houses, streets and squares, and the invitations to dinner parties all point to a city and not to a village life. He points out that the text represents the interests of wealthy, self-satisfied, upper class urban-dwellers. Maier (1998:103) also holds that the authors of Proverbs 1-9 belong to the upper class as the sapiential instruction reveals an upper class perspective.

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in the public arena – a place that was ordinarily exclusively reserved for men. Offering a different perspective, Sinnott (2005:57) infers that the setting for the wisdom speeches, i.e. the market places, the city, the pathway and the city walls, suggests a situation that was removed from the cult or royal court setting.

Besides the various approaches highlighted above, theological interpretations of Proverbs 1-9 are widespread. Many of them are based on specific themes identified within the corpus. For instance, whereas Perdue (1977:142-155) examines cultic identifications in Proverbs 1-9, Perdue (1994:77ff) addresses the understanding of creation in wisdom. He states that, “Thematically expressed, wisdom theology centers in creation” (Perdue 1994:326; 1991:12, 36-38 and 2007:48-58)104_{. Although Boström}

(1990:48) admits the occurrence of creation motifs in Proverbs 1-9, the main thrust of his study is to recognize and describe the qualities used to depict God in the text. He, therefore, goes on to claim that the entire book of Proverbs consistently depicts God as the Supreme God of the world (1990:142).

Another theological interpretation of Woman Wisdom is that which identifies her with God as a nourisher (McKinlay 1996 and Claassens 2004:83-98). In Proverbs 9:1-6, Woman Wisdom sends out an invitation to her lavish banquet that would take place in the house, which she built. Woman Wisdom as a host or provider of food is related to the metaphor of the God who feeds his people - a common image of God in the Old Testament (Ps 104:15; Is 55:1-2). Therefore, Claassens (2004:90) affirms that, “there is a parallel between Wisdom’s and God’s provision of food”. This point will be explored further in Chapter 4.

Without a doubt, many scholars are inclined to use a combination of theories or approaches to analyse the book of Proverbs and, in particular, chapters 1-9 as the instances above suggest. Perhaps the multivalent character of the text (in terms of genre, setting, dating, etc.) makes it difficult for interpreters to approach it from a single

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Murphy (1998b:35-40) also draws on Proverbs 1:20-21; 3:19; 8:4-5, 22-31 and 9:4 to associate ‘Lady Wisdom’ with creation. See Baumann (1998:57ff) for other theological analyses of Proverbs 1-9 and Woman Wisdom.

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well-defined perspective. Yoder (2009), for instance, employs a multiplex approach - literary, exegetical, theological and ethical - to comment on the book of Proverbs105.