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 a status quo faith 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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