Introduction

The Book of Proverbs of Solomon in the Hebrew Bible is placed in the third part of the biblical canon among the so-called Ketubim or Hagiographs, and among them occupies the second place — after the Book of Psalms and before the Book of Job. The Hebrew name of the Book of Proverbs: Mishle-Shelomo or more commonly simply Mishle, as is the Greek of the LXX: Paroimiai Salomontos, and the Latin of the Vulgate: Parabolae Salomonis or liber proverbiorum and similar terms — point to the predominant form of exposition of this sacred book, whose content consists precisely of proverbs, that is, in most cases, fragmentary, aphoristic, and sometimes connected, in sequential order (embracing entire sections) sayings, in which are proposed both speculative truths — principally of a religious character, for example about God, His attributes, His governance of the world, about Divine (Hypostatic) Wisdom and so forth, and — more frequently — various rules of practical wisdom, prudence, and good conduct in religious-moral, social, family, labor, and economic life, and so on, and — sometimes — empirical observations about the course of life, deeds, and destinies of humans and the world; in short, “proverbs” encompass or capture the entire sum of questions of knowledge and life that presented themselves to the observation and reflection of the ancient Hebrew — theocrat, whose spiritual character was defined by the law of Moses and the distinctive character of ancient Hebrew Old Testament history. The fundamental meaning of the Hebrew mashal: “comparison,” “likeness,” that is, speech not merely with literal meaning, but also with figurative, speech in which a phenomenon, for example, of moral world-order, is clarified through comparison with a phenomenon of the physical world (see Ezek 17:2; Prov 25:11). The comparison takes on different forms, from which arise various types of proverbs:

1) synonymous proverbs; the second half of the verse repeats the thought of the first, only in somewhat different form (Prov 11:15 and others);

2) antithetical, in which the second hemistich expresses the reverse side of the truth given in the first line, or its direct opposite (Prov 10:1);

3) parabolic proverbs, combining in themselves elements of both synonymous and antithetical proverbs: they present something similar in completely different kinds of phenomena, especially ethical and physical phenomena, and the first line of the verse presents some feature from scenes of nature, while the second — some ethical truth; the first hemistich presents, so to speak, an allegorical picture, while the second — an explanatory caption to it (for example, Prov 11:22).

From such an artificial form of proverbs it naturally follows that they can in no way be identified or compared with folk proverbs, of which there are many among every people (among the Greeks: a collection of proverbs of the seven sages, poets, and Pythagoras; among the Romans — Cato, Julius Caesar), and there were especially many among the peoples of the ancient East, for example among the Arabs (collections of proverbs, as products of folk wisdom, among the Arabs were known under the name — Abu Ubaidah and al-Maydani). On the contrary, in the collection of the Proverbs of Solomon are given the works precisely of one or several wise men — to embrace the truths of religion or general wisdom in application to the many diverse particular cases of life and express them in brief, clever, and easily memorized sayings (see Explanatory Bible, vol. II, p. 383), which, having no close logical connection among themselves, are arranged only in external connection with one another.

Although it is undoubtedly true that “proverbs” are, in a certain sense, a product of the subjective creativity of the wise man, a product of the independent exercise of the wise man in the law, nevertheless it is completely inadmissible to think, as some Western biblical scholars do, that the wisdom of the Book of Proverbs has no connection with the religion of the people of God, or even stands in contradiction with it; on the contrary, religion forms the basic foundation of all the sayings of the Book of Proverbs, the law of Moses — the fundamental presupposition of all the moral and other teachings of this book: Divine revelation — an unchanging source of all divinely-illuminated wisdom of the sacred proverb-maker. Hence the proverbs of Solomon are distinguished from other Eastern proverbs precisely by their religious direction and the character of revelation stamped upon them, from which they proceed, and as a result — the character of purity, definiteness, and inerrancy, with which all the relationships of life are understood here and raised to knowledge of the definite purpose appointed by God for humanity.

The aggregate of sayings contained in the Book of Proverbs constitutes the so-called “wisdom,” Hebrew hokhmah. This wisdom, spoken by various wise men, is an independent and autonomous Power, speaking through the wise men, giving them and all the knowledge of revealed truth (Prov 29:18: “without revelation from above the nation is not restrained, but he who keeps the law is blessed”). All the teaching of the Book of Proverbs is the word of Jehovah or the law of Jehovah: more specifically, it proceeds from the person of the eternal Wisdom that created the world (Prov 8:27-30; see Prov 3:19), and even before the creation of the world was with God (Prov 8:22-26), always near to the sons of men (Prov 8:31), and in Israel was especially proclaimed publicly to all the common gatherings (Prov 1:20-21), listening to the prayers of those who ask (Prov 1:28), pouring out the spirit of wisdom on those receiving her (Prov 1:23), in a word — the personal or hypostatic Wisdom of God.

“Psalm 36. The essential character of the wisdom taught by the Book of Proverbs, as well as all the so-called wisdom sacred biblical literature (some psalms: Ps. 36, Ps 49, Ps 72, the Book of Job, the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Book of Jesus, son of Sirach), is composed of two fundamental characteristics. This wisdom, in the first place, is wholly founded on a religious basis and is in its essence true knowledge of God and worship of God: “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord” (Prov 1:7); “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov 9:10). This wisdom, in the second place, has primarily and especially a practical character: whereas in the prophetic writings very much space is devoted to speeches about the fates of the people of God, about their beliefs and so forth, in the Book of Proverbs all this theoretical element appears only as the foundation, the presupposition of all the judgments of the sacred writer, while the main subject of his speech always forms the practical life of the theocratic community and the individual member of it according to the guidance of the law of Jehovah. There exists a way of the Lord and this way is a stronghold for the blameless, and a fear for those who work wickedness (Prov 10:29). The source of all true wisdom is in the law of Jehovah: “From the Lord are established the steps of a man; and He delights in his way” (Prov 20:24). Accordingly, as people follow the way of Jehovah or turn away from it, all humanity is divided into the wise and the foolish, that is, those disposed to receive the law of God and follow His ways — godly people, and those trying to place their partial will in place of the general will of God that applies to all, and thus disturbing the harmony of the world — ungodly and sinful people (see, for example, Prov 10:23). Moreover, as inevitable consequences by God’s judgment, virtue has as its consequence good and happiness, while wickedness and sin — all kinds of calamities (see, for example, Prov 12:21). From this fundamental principle flow all the numerous instructions of the Book of Proverbs, embracing all the diversity of the vital and everyday relationships of a person. As a whole, the aggregate of sayings of the Book of Proverbs presents itself as a kind of special moral legislation, parallel to the legislation of Moses. But if the books of Moses, by their very character as law-giving books, direct preeminent attention to the development of the national forms of the civil and religious life of the Hebrews, as an exclusively divinely-chosen people, then the legislation of the Book of Proverbs stands from a universal point of view (in the entire book the name of Israel is never mentioned) and aims at, alongside the specific traits of biblical Hebraism, also developing the general human aspects of spiritual life, a common humanitarian direction toward truth and good. The concept of wisdom — in the sense of the Book of Proverbs — is not limited to mere religiosity, piety, and godliness, but encompasses the life of the Hebrew theocrat in all its diversity, in all directions, and in all respects; for example, the concept of wisdom necessarily includes: prudence, discernment, caution, artistic talents, and much else. Agreeing in respect to the predominant legislative content with the books of the law of Moses and differing in this from the historical and prophetic writings, the Book of Proverbs has that similarity with the latter in that the moral element in it, as among the prophets, decidedly predominates over the cultic and ceremonial. But there can be no question of any so-called hostile relationship of the philosophy of the Book of Proverbs to the law of Moses (which some admitted, for example, I. F. Bruch, Weisheitslehre der Hebraer. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Philos. Strassburg. 1851). On the contrary, the law of Moses in the moral legislation of the Book of Proverbs found a new point of support, inasmuch as the development of general human humane virtues had to soften the hard-hearted spirit of the people and dispose them to the fulfillment of the commandments of the law, besides which the decision of moral questions in the Book of Proverbs gives only in the spirit of the law. It is therefore just that the Jewish tradition (Midrash on the Book of Song 3:2) asserts that Solomon, passing gradually from saying to saying, from comparison to comparison, in this way investigated the secrets of the Torah, and even that before Solomon no one understood the words of the Torah in the proper manner. If in Prov 21:3 righteousness and good deeds are placed above sacrifice, this is by no means a protest against the law of Moses (whose authority, on the contrary, is in every way protected in the Book of Proverbs, see Prov 28:9: “whoever turns his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination”), but merely a clarification of its meaning — the very same clarification that we find throughout and repeatedly in the prophets (see 1 Sam 15:22; Isa 1:10-20; Hos 6:6). Since, according to the view of the Book of Proverbs itself, for the understanding of its instructions and counsel there are required: a certain wisdom, a developed sense and feeling of human dignity, the legislation of the Book of Proverbs, like our moral-Christian philosophy, was originally intended for the intelligentsia of the people, first of all for the rulers of the people themselves (as is evident from many passages of the book, the heirs of Solomon were taught by its lessons before all and more than others).” Judging by all the content of the Book of Proverbs, as a teaching on wisdom, as well as by the very title of the book Prov 1:2-6, in which it is called, among other things, wisdom and words of the wise, one should consider the ancient name of the book, parallel to the accepted “Proverbs,” Hebrew Mishle, to be another: “book of wisdom or Wisdom,” Hebrew sefer Hokhmah. Under such a name the book was known already in ancient Hebrew tradition (in the Talmud see tosefta to tr. Baba batra 14b), and from there the name passed into Christian, ancient church tradition. Although Origen uses only the designation “Proverbs,” when he conveys Hebrew Mishle with Greek transcription Misloth, the more usual designation among ancient church teachers of our book was sophia, panareios sophia. Thus, Saint Clement of Rome (1 Epistle to the Corinthians 67:3), citing the passage Prov 1:23-33, expresses himself: “Thus says the all-virtuous wisdom.” Melito of Sardis (in Eusebius of Caesarea “Church History,” book IV, chapter 26, §13) cites both names of the book, as equally common: “Paroimiai Salomonos, and also Sophia.” According to the testimony of the church historian Eusebius (Church History, book IV, chapter 22, §9), not only Melito of Sardis, Hegesipos, and Saint Irenaeus of Lyon cited by him, but all ancient Christendom called the Proverbs of Solomon the all-virtuous wisdom, panareios sophia (“the whole choir of the ancients called the Proverbs of Solomon panareios sophia”) and, in the opinion of Eusebius, such a designation came “from the unwritten Jewish tradition.” The name “book of Wisdom,” without doubt, is more fitting for the Book of Proverbs of Solomon than for the two non-canonical wisdom books: “Book of the Wisdom of Solomon” and “Book of the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach.” And even in comparison with two canonical books — the Book of Job and the Book of Ecclesiastes, ordinarily counted among the wisdom biblical literature, that is, containing the revelation of the teaching on wisdom — the Book of Proverbs has the advantage of fullness, wholeness, and completeness of the revelation of the teaching on wisdom. In the Greek, Slavic, and Russian Bible, as in the Vulgate, the Book of Proverbs belongs to a sevenfold collection of sacred books — the Book of Job, the Psalter, the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach — which by their content are called wisdom books (Orthodox Catechism) or wisdom books, “because in them we are taught wisdom and true Wisdom” (Preface to the first-printed Slavic Bible), and by the form of their exposition are poetic (Saints Gregory the Theologian, Cyril of Jerusalem, John of Damascus, and others), that is, in the broad sense poetic, more specifically in their exposition everywhere presenting the so-called parallelism of members (concerning the types of this parallelism in the Book of Proverbs we have spoken above). The origin and composition of the Book of Proverbs. As the creator of the proverbs in Prov 1:1 King Solomon is named. And Christian antiquity recognized the Book of Proverbs as a single work of Solomon alone, just as the Book of Psalms was known by the name of David. Both external biblical testimony and the internal character of the proverbial wisdom of the Book of Proverbs speak in favor of Solomon’s authorship. According to 1 Sam 4:32, Solomon spoke three thousand proverbs (and his songs were one thousand five). Jesus, son of Sirach, praising the wisdom of Solomon, among other things, cries out to him: “Your soul covered the earth, and you filled it with dark sayings... for your songs and discourses, for your proverbs and interpretations the countries marveled at you” (Sir 47:17). The fame of Solomon’s wisdom, and according to the testimony of the 3rd book of Kings (1 Sam 4:34 following), spread very far, and his wisdom, serving as an object of wonder among the surrounding peoples, later became for them the subject of all sorts of legends and fabulous works of poetry. True, those 3,000 proverbs which, according to 1 Sam 4:32, Solomon spoke cannot be identified with the canonical Book of Proverbs, neither by their quantity nor by their character and content; in the entire Book of Proverbs there are no more than 915 verses, and consequently the majority of Solomon’s 3,000 proverbs could not enter the book: moreover, judging by 1 Sam 4:34, Solomon’s proverbs and wisdom in general were expressed most of all in knowledge of nature and its individual phenomena and so forth; on the contrary, in the Book of Proverbs there are no proverbs of such a kind, but there predominate vitally-practical and especially religious-moral motifs. It is therefore not without significance the supposition that the Book of Proverbs included only a certain, chosen part of all Solomon’s proverbs, of a character predominantly religious-moral. The threefold repetition in the Book of Proverbs of the inscription “Proverbs of Solomon” (Prov 1:1) represents, in any case, important testimony in favor of the origin, at least of the greater part of the Book of Proverbs from Solomon. Some particular features and indications of the content of the Book of Proverbs, in their correspondence with the person and circumstances of Solomon’s life, testify in favor of its origin from him. Here, for example, the advice is very often repeated to turn away from a dissolute woman and dissoluteness, in general to beware of the allurements of women (Prov 5:18). This advice reminds the reader of the history of Solomon’s fall through women (1 Sam 11:1 following): it is natural to see in these counsels a warning from the same danger to which the wise proverb-maker himself was subjected. In the Book of Proverbs, furthermore, there is much said about royal power, about the benefits of the rule of a wise king (Prov 28:16), God’s anointed and herald of God’s justice (Prov 21:1), mercy and truth (Prov 20:28), about his wrath upon the wicked and benefits for the righteous (Prov 19:12); about rulers both wise and foolish, about their counselors and the character of their rule (Prov 11:11-14). And here one can see the fruit of the governmental experience of the wise Hebrew king — Solomon, wholly devoted to governing the people and who experienced both the bright and dark sides of royal service. Likewise, the testimony of the Proverb-maker about himself, as the beloved son of his father and mother, as a son whom his father carefully taught to keep God’s law (Prov 4:3-4), is precisely applicable to Solomon: of Solomon being taught by David to keep the law speaks 1 Sam 3:3 (see Explanatory Bible, vol. II (St. Petersburg, 1905) p. 368). But alongside the indicated external and internal testimony of the origin of the Book of Proverbs from Solomon, there is another series of data, both external and internal, whose presence requires a limiting of Solomon’s authorship to only a certain, though very significant, part of the book. Namely, in the Book of Proverbs, besides the general inscription at the beginning of the book (Prov 1:1), there are six other inscriptions, by which the book is divided into several sections of unequal length and character, and some of these sections apparently do not belong to Solomon as a writer, but arose after Solomon and from other persons. There is some indication of these other writers already at the beginning of the book Prov 1:6, where mention is made of “words of the wise and their riddles” (divre-khakhamim ve-khidotam) as one of the constituent parts of the content of the Book of Proverbs. Then in chapter X, verse 1 (Prov 10:1) according to the Hebrew Masoretic text, and the Latin translation of Jerome, as well as according to the Russian Synodal and archimandrite Macarius, there is an inscription “Proverbs of Solomon”: by this inscription, apparently, a new period in Solomon’s proverbial creativity is marked, and the new section from Prov 10:1 to Prov 22:16 — is noticeably different from the first section of the book chapter Prov 1:1 — Prov 9:1; if in the first section the teaching on wisdom and the incentives to it are set forth in connected periodic speech, then in the second section the speech of the proverb-maker is constructed in the form of brief, aphoristic judgments according to the principle, mostly, of antithetical parallelism. Many Western biblical commentators (led by the well-known Ewald), on the basis of such an aphoristic form of speech in the section Prov 10:1-22:16, considered this section the most ancient part of the Book of Proverbs, belonging to the pen of Solomon himself, whereas the first section Prov 1-9 with its extraordinarily systematic development of thoughts, by Western biblical exegesis is considered the most recent part of the book, both in character and content, and chronologically close to the Book of Jesus son of Sirach. But the difference in form of speech, in itself, does not give grounds for considering the first and second sections of the book as belonging to different times and different writers; Solomon’s genius naturally disposed him to a multitude of forms of expressing thoughts: remaining on biblical ground, we must, in any case, recognize the entire part of the book chapter Prov 1:1-22 as Solomon’s work. The situation is different with the subsequent sections of the book. So, the sections: third, Prov 22:17 (Slavic 18) — Prov 24:22 and fourth, Prov 24:23-34, judging by the inscriptions, belong to some, unnamed wise men; it is possible that these wise men were contemporaries of Solomon, even belonging to his school, like those mentioned in 1 Sam 4:31 Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Darda. The fifth section of the book or the third main part of it is formed by chapters Prov 25:1-29:1, “Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah collected (Hebrew: hetiku. LXX: exegrapsan, Vulgate: transtulerunt)” (Prov 25:1), in which one ordinarily sees the prophet Isaiah, as well as Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah (2 Sam 18:26); thus in this section are contained proverbs, although originating from Solomon, but receiving their present form only 300 years after Solomon — from the learned college of divinely-illuminated men of Hezekiah, who collected these proverbs from archival records (corresponding to the reading of the LXX) or even from oral tradition. In Prov 30:1, according to the Hebrew inscription, are contained the proverbs of Agur, son of Jakeh, to certain Ithiel and Ucal (Prov 30:1). In the LXX these names are transmitted figuratively, by which the meaning of the inscription of verse 1 of chapter XXX was lost. Jerome also transmits the Hebrew inscription figuratively: “Verba congregantis filii vomentis,” whereby the first is understood to mean Solomon as the gatherer of wisdom, and the second David, who belched out a good word (Ps 44:2). But the figurative understanding of a proper name of a person, moreover having a patronymic (“son of Jakeh”), is scarcely permissible. Solomon himself even in his allegorical name Ecclesiastes is called the son of David (Eccl 1:1); it remains to see in Agur an unknown wise man. Prov 31:9 contains the instruction of a certain king Lemuel, taught to him by his mother. In this name one ordinarily sees a symbolic name or of Solomon (Jerome) or of Hezekiah (Aben-Ezra, Professor Olesnitsky). Prov 31:10-31 contain praise of a virtuous wife, composed alphabetically (as an acrostic). In view of the testimony of 1 Sam 4:32, that Solomon wrote more than 1,000 songs, and the obvious similarity of the “song” of the virtuous wife with indisputably Solomonic proverbs (for example, compare Prov 31:10 and Prov 12:4; Prov 31:20 and Prov 19:17; Prov 31:22 and Prov 7:16; Prov 31:30 and Prov 11:22), it is natural to consider this praise as originating from Solomon, only its placement at the end of the book apparently indicates a later origin of this section. Thus, from the inscriptions of the book — these self-testimonies of the book about itself — we learn that the writers of it were Solomon, Agur, Lemuel, and some other, unnamed wise men. If, then, on the basis of the general inscription Prov 1:1, one calls the Book of Proverbs by the name of Solomon, then this inscription and this name — a metonymy, since the name of Solomon, the wisest of all men, has always been connected, as it is now for us, with the concept of “wisdom”; the Book of Proverbs may or can be called Solomonic in the same sense in which the entire Psalter is called and has been called Davidic, that is, in the sense of the preeminent and chief authorship of Solomon in this field. The entire composition of the present Book of Proverbs existed already by the time of King Hezekiah, the circle of friends of whom, according to the testimony of Prov 25:1, brought out in all the Book of Proverbs — according to the inaccurate expression of the Talmud (Baba Batra 15a), wrote the Book of Proverbs — more precisely, edited it, gave it its present form, by adding to the chapters collected, perhaps by Solomon himself (in the opinion of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem and Jerome) 1–24 the last seven chapters of the book, Prov 25:1-31:1, and included here proverbs that did not enter into Solomon’s own collection. The Fathers and teachers of the Church, not placing significance on the question of the origin of the present edition of the book, saw and praised in it the wisdom of Solomon. Indeed, the question of the participation alongside Solomon of other writers in its composition does not at all affect the understanding of the book, so long as faith in the divine inspiration of the book is preserved. Against the divine inspiration and canonical dignity of the Book of Proverbs individual voices were raised both among Jews and among Christians. The former were troubled by the apparent contradiction between the proverbs Prov 26:4 and Prov 26:5, and the allegedly inappropriate in a sacred book plastic description of a dissolute woman Prov 7:10-27. Both these objections were raised at the Jamnia Jewish council (c. 100 AD), but there received a satisfactory resolution, and the book in its entirety was recognized as canonical. In the Christian Church isolated voices were raised (in antiquity, for example, Theodore of Mopsuestia, in modern times — Clericus, Meyer, and others), claiming that the Book of Proverbs contains only earthly, purely human wisdom of Solomon, with earthly well-being of humanity in view. But although the rules, prescriptions, and instructions of the Book of Proverbs concerning the acquisition of wisdom do not yet reach the perfection and ideal purity of the moral teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles, nevertheless the divine inspiration and canonical authority are confirmed already by many citations of the Book of Proverbs in the New Testament. For example, Prov 1:16 and following are cited in Rom 3:15-17; Prov 3:11-12 — in Heb 12:6; Prov 3:34 — in Jas 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5. The apostolic men frequently cited the Book of Proverbs as divinely-inspired Old Testament writing (Apostle Barnabas, epistle chapter V, Saint Clement of Rome, 1 Corinthians chapters XIV, XXI, Ignatius the God-bearer, Eph 5, Polycarp of Smyrna, Филип.6). In the apostolic canons (canon 85) and in all canonical council enumerations of the Orthodox Church the Book of Proverbs has always been placed among the 22 canonical books of the Old Testament. The Christian Orthodox Church testifies to its high respect for the Book of Proverbs by the wide use of readings from this book in church worship. Readings or pericopes from this book are encountered in church services more often than from other Old Testament books: from the preeminent use of the Book of Proverbs in church worship, in Greek “pericopes,” this last designation has become common for all readings from sacred books taken for church use. Pericopes from the Book of Proverbs are offered daily except on Saturdays and Sundays at the evening services of the holy Lent, as the best edifying reading on these days of fasting and repentance (during the holy Lent almost the entire first 24 chapters are read, and Prov 31:8-31). Several readings of pericopes from the Book of Proverbs are appointed for feast days (from Prov 3-10 July, August 1, September 13 and 14: from Prov 8-1 January and March 25, from Prov 9 — on the feast days of the Mother of God and so forth) and on the days of commemoration of saints, as it were comparing the counsels of wisdom with examples of godliness, visibly presented through the lives of saints. Concerning the purpose of the Book of Proverbs, Saint Gregory of Nyssa says: “As those who labor in physical exercises in a gymnasium prepare themselves through this for bearing greater labors in actual struggles, so the proverbial teaching seems to me to be a kind of exercise, teaching our souls and making them flexible in spiritual endeavors” (Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Precise Commentary on Eccl 1:1). The two non-canonical wisdom books had a similar purpose and similar character: the Book of Jesus son of Sirach and the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon. By the composition of its content, the Book of Proverbs, as was already mentioned, presents three main parts, and the second and third parts have some additions. The first part is constituted by a collection of exhortatory speeches, embraced by the first nine chapters Prov 1-9; this — above all is the book of Wisdom, depicted as the highest good and the only worthy object of human aspiration. The first part can be subdivided into three sections, three chapters in each; in the first section are contained: negative and positive incentives to wisdom (Prov 1), the qualities of Wisdom and the good fruits and consequences of her for human life (Prov 2), and particular manifestations of wisdom in relation to God and neighbors (Prov 3); in the second section (Prov 4-6) are set forth more specifically and in detail the incentives to acquiring wisdom and the demands which it presents to a human being (Prov 4), then exhortations are offered — to avoid sensuality and curiosity (Prov 5), and also to be careful, honest, conscientious in the fulfillment of civic, communal, and other obligations (Prov 6); in the third section are depicted foolishness and wisdom, as thinking, living images or persons, each with its distinctive internal qualities and actions: in contrast to the seductions of foolishness, personified in the form of a harlot (Prov 7), there appears personified wisdom with authoritative calls to people to follow her as the sole true good (Prov 8-9). The second part of the book is formed by “Proverbs of Solomon” (Prov 10:1-22:16), with two additions: “words of the wise” — Prov 22:17-24:23-34. Here, on the foundation of the general concepts of wisdom and godliness set forth in the first part of the book, are proposed particular and diverse rules and instructions for religious-moral conduct and communal relationships of people. The third part of the book is constituted by the Proverbs of Solomon which the friends of Hezekiah, king of Judah, collected and inscribed in the book (Prov 25:1-29:1); here proverbs of a political character predominate (about the king and his rule and so forth) and practical ones (in relation to civic and social life). The conclusion of the book consists of two additions to the Proverbs of Solomon (Prov 29: a) proverbs of a certain Agur, in a very artificial and intricate form teaching true wisdom and its conduct in life (Prov 30:1), and b) instructions of the mother of Lemuel the king (Prov 31:1-9) and praise of the virtuous woman (Prov 31:10-31). General introductory information about the Book of Proverbs see in the “Survey of the Book of Proverbs of Solomon” in the synopses of Saint Athanasius the Great of Alexandria (Christian Readings, 1841, part 4, p. 355 and following) and Saint John Chrysostom (Homilies on Various Places of Holy Scripture, Russian translation, St. Petersburg, 1861, p. 537 and following); an extraction of patristic material about the Book of Proverbs can be read in the book of Professor A. A. Olesnitsky, Guides to Sacred Scripture of the Old and New Testament from the Writings of the Fathers and Teachers of the Church (St. Petersburg, 1894, p. 67 following). Scholarly investigations about the Book of Proverbs — Russian: 1) by the same Professor A. A. Olesnitsky, the Book of Proverbs of Solomon and its Newest Critics (Proceedings of the Kiev Theological Academy, 1883, nos. 11–12), 2) Bishop Michael, Biblical Science: The Wisdom Books of the Old Testament (Tula, 1900), p. 86 following, and 3) Professor P. A. Yungerov, The Origin of the Book of Proverbs (Orthodox Conversations, 1906, October, p. 161 following), 4) educational guides: Kh. M. Ordin (†Bishop Irenaeus), Kiev, 1871; D. Afanasyev, Stavropol, 1838, and others. Noteworthy is the Russian translation (from Hebrew) of the Book of Job made by Archimandrite Macarius (Glukharev), Moscow, 1861. Commentary on a large part of the Book of Proverbs was presented by the late bishop Vissarion (Nechayev) in his “Commentary on Pericopes,” vol. II (ed. 2, St. Petersburg, 1894). From foreign commentaries on the Book of Proverbs let us mention F. Mercerus (Geneva 1573), F. Umbrert (Heidelberg, 1826), E. Bertheau (Leipzig, 1847), F. Hitzig (Zurich, 1858), F. Keil, Delitzsch (1873), H. Ewald (1867), J. Lange — O. Zöckler (1867), the most recent W. Frankenberg (in Nowack’s Handkommentar) Göttingen, 1898. The views of Jewish tradition on the content of the Book of Proverbs expressed themselves, for example, in the midrash on this book, see Der Midrasch Mischle, translated by A. Wünsche, Leipzig, 1885, partly — in D. Israelitische Bibel, III (1859) by L. Philippson. * * * According to Jewish tradition, cited by a pilgrim of the 4th century, Solomon wrote the Book of Proverbs in one of the chambers of the temple. See Professor A. A. Olesnitsky, The Old Testament Temple (St. Petersburg, 1889), p. 851