Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Title
  The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is "The Proverbs of Solomon, the Son of David, King in Israel"(cf. 1:1). The Greek Septuagint called this book "Proverbs of Solomon."The Latin Vulgate named it "The Book of Proverbs....
• Writer
  Proverbs claims to be a compendium of the wise sayings of several different individuals.4Solomon originated some of them (10:1-22:16 and chs. 25-29 definitely, and probably chs. 1-9 as well).5Unnamed wise men (sages) wrote ot...
• Message10
  The Book of Proverbs contains no history. It is purely didactic. It is a book of explicit instruction. Like the other Old Testament wisdom books, Job and Ecclesiastes, it does not contain references to Israel's laws, rituals,...
• Outline
  I. Discourses on wisdom chs. 1-9A. Introduction to the book 1:1-71. The title of the book 1:12. The purpose of the book 1:2-63. The thesis of the book 1:7B. Instruction for young people 1:8-7:271. Warning against consorting w...
• I. DISCOURSES ON WISDOM chs. 1--9
  Verse one introduces both the book as a whole and chapters 1-9 in particular. The Book of Proverbs is a collection of at least five separate groups of proverbs. There are those that Solomon spoke and or wrote (possibly chs. 1...
• B. Instruction for Young People 1:8-7:27
  The two ways (paths) introduced in 1:7 stretch out before the reader (cf. Matt. 7:13-14). In this section Solomon spoke to his son guiding him into God's way. "My son"was and is a customary way of addressing a disciple."It de...
• V. TWO DISCOURSES BY OTHER WISE MEN chs. 30--31
  Chapters 30 and 31 form a distinct section in Proverbs because neither Solomon (1:1-22:16; chs. 25-29) nor the unnamed sages (22:17-24:34) wrote them. Two other wise men whose names the text records did. Some expositors specu...
• B. The Wisdom of Lemuel ch. 31
  Some commentators have regarded only the first nine verses of this chapter as Lemuel's writing. One reason for this is that the Septuagint translators separated verses 1-9 from verse 10-31 by five chapters (chs. 25-29). Howev...
• 1. The introduction of Lemuel 31:1
  King Lemuel was evidently not a king of Israel or Judah. No king by this name appears in Kings or Chronicles. Some scholars have suggested that "Lemuel"(lit. "Devoted to God") may have been a pen name for Solomon. There is no...
• 2. The wise king 31:2-9
  31:2 The unusual address, "What, O my son?"is "affectionately reproachful."210She was getting his attention and appealed to him strongly to give heed to her words for two reasons. She had borne him, and he had some connection...
• Conclusion
  The quality of wisdom that Proverbs presents is much more than the ability to apply knowledge to various situations in life effectively. It also involves submission to the way of God that is the order of life God has revealed...
• A. Introduction 1:1
  What follows are the words (i.e., collected messages, cf. Prov. 30:1; 31:1; Eccles. 1:1; Jer. 1:1) of Amos (lit. Burden), who was one of the sheepherders who lived in the Judean town of Tekoa, 10 miles south of Jerusalem. Thi...