The book of Proverbs in the Bible has 31 chapters. I see them organized as follows:
- Chapters 1 to 9: Solomon’s personal instructions to his son or sons (Proverbs 1:8).
- Chapters 10 to 24: More wise sayings (proverbs) of Solomon (Proverbs 10:1).
- Chapter 24:23-34: A brief collection of proverbs from other sources (Proverbs 24:23).
- Chapter 25-29: An apparent addendum, added by King Hezekiah’s men, but understood to have been from Solomon (Proverbs 25:1).
- Chapter 30 and 31: Two appendices by other people that fit the book’s overall theme: the sayings of Agur (Proverbs 30:1) and the sayings of King Lemuel (Proverbs 31:1), followed by an epilogue, about the wife of noble character (Proverbs 31:10), which is perhaps the most familiar passage in the entire book.
So there are essentially three segments to Proverbs:
- Solomon teaching his son
- More wise teachings from Solomon
- More wise teaching from other people
In the next few weeks, we will look at the book of Proverbs in greater detail.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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