(Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, and even
Ugaritic).1 Wisdom's setting in the scribal school, royal
court and family will be surveyed, as will be its nexus
with the cult. However, not only its Sitz im Leben is
important, but one must also be aware of the literary
milieu. The subsequent chapter will provide a
classification of the various genres and literary forms
employed by the wise men. A form critical approach should
not straight-jacket the material by demanding a one-to-one
correspondence between a particular form and a specific
historical setting, as has been implied in some Psalmic
studies. Rather, the various forms and settings should be
viewed as hermeneutically fructiferous and indicative of
the great care taken by those who created, recorded and/or
arranged these sentences.
The procedure will be to move from the broader
questions of setting in life and setting in literature to a
detailed syntactic analysis of the sentence literature of
Proverbs 10-15. Then, via linguistic method, an attempt
will be made to draw poetic features together on the
syntactic level. This study will investigate how the
____________________
1Philip Nel, "A Proposed Method for Determining the
Context of the Wisdom Admonitions," Journal of Northwest
Semitic Languages 6 (1978):36-37.
sentences employ Hebrew poetic forms and language to
produce such trans-contextual, time and culture
transcending proverbs. Having atomized and analyzed the
text, the cohesiveness of the sentences will be an object
of inquiry. As much as is possible, the ordering features
of the proverbial sentences, will be exposed which may
provide contextual indicators for understanding their
theological tendenz, and architectonic principles, which
may expose canonical intent.
Another area of contextualization should be
mentioned, regarding the excellent studies which are being
done in modern proverbial folklore. Archer Taylor has
shown the beauty of returning to the proverbial moment,
which originally generated the proverb, in a kind of
proverbial etymology. That is, the original setting does
not determine how it is presently used, nor does it inhibit
the potential meaning of the proverb; but, it certainly
does heighten one's appreciation for and interest in the
proverb. He notes, for example, that "like a bull in a
china shop" actually reflects a situation when a bull did
invade a china shop in London, in 1773.1 Others have
____________________
1Archer Taylor's work on proverbial materials is
well known in paroemiological circles, though it is almost
unheard of in biblical proverbial studies. Vid. his The
Proverb (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931);
"Problems in the Study of Proverbs," Journal of American
Folklore 47 (1934):1-21; and "The Study of Proverbs,"
Proverbium 1 (1965):3-11. It is in "Method in the History
and Interpretation of a Proverb: 'A Place for Everything
examined living proverbial materials by isolating how they
actually are employed in a culture. Unfortunately, this
luxury is often outside of the purview of biblical
proverbial study.1 Numerous studies have scrutinized the
function of proverbs in modern cultures. "How is this
proverb used?" has been a profitable question in
determining the meaning of a proverb. Kirshenblatt-
Gimblett demonstrates the importance of cultural use in
determining proverbial meaning when she shows the different
interpretations of the proverb "A rolling stone gathers no
moss." In Scotland, where moss is undesirable, it means:
"Keep abreast of modern ideas or you will soon become
antiquated and useless." On the contrary, in England,
where stately, draped moss is a symbol of stability, it
means: "If things are continually in a state of flux,
desirable features will not have time to develop." Thus,
the bond between culture and proverbial imagery is crucial
in constructing a hermeneutic of the proverb, which, if
possible, should reflect the proverb's original setting and
____________________
and Everything in its Place,'" (Proverbium 10 [1968]:236)
that the bull/china shop illustration is discussed.
1Excellent examples of this type of analysis may be
seen by Alan Dundes and Ojo Arewa, "Proverbs and the
Ethnography of Speaking Folklore," in Analytic Essays in
Folklore, ed. Alan Dundes, Studies in Folklore, no. 2 (The
Hague: Mouton, 1975), pp. 35-49; and Carol Eastman, "The
Proverbs in Modern Written Swahili Literature: An Aid to
Proverb Elicitation," in African Folkore, ed. Richard M.
Parson (Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1972), pp.
193-210.
its subsequent usages.1
Seitel's method of analyzing the existential
situation of a proverb--via a scientific mapping of the
proverb situation onto a context situation (A:B::C:D where
"X says to Y that A is to B as C is to D)--has been
employed in biblical studies with tremendously rich results
by Carol Fontaine. She brilliantly analyzes Gideon's
proverbial riposte to the offended Ephraimites in Judges
8:2:--the gleanings of Ephraim = A, the vintage of Abiezer
= B::execution of chiefs = C, Gideon's rout of Midianites =
D, where A and C are greater than B and D.2
Such studies create a sense of despair and caution
in that the use and function of biblical proverbs are now
often beyond the horizon of the biblical enthusiast, except
for an occasional use of the proverb in an historical
setting (Judg 8:2, 18-21; 1 Sam 16:7; 24:13[14 MT]; 1 Kgs
____________________
1Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, "Toward a Theory of
Proverb Meaning," Proverbium 22 (1973):821-27.
2Carol Fontaine, "The Use of the Traditional Saying
in the Old Testament" (Ph.D. dissertation, Duke University,
1979), p. 156. This dissertation has been published as
Traditional Sayings in the Old Testament: A Contextual
Study (Sheffield: The Almond Press, 1982). Cf. Peter
Seitel, "Proverbs: A Social Use of Metaphor," in Folklore
Genres, ed. Dan Ben-Amos (Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1976), pp. 125-44. Nigel Barley also comments in a
similar vein in his brilliant semantico-logical proverbial
model (Nigel Barley, "A Structural Approach to the Proverb
and the Maxim," Proverbium 20 [1972]:737-50). An
interesting study yet to be done is the examination of the
use of proverbs in Ecclesiastes, utilizing the model
provided by the proverbial folklorists.
20:11, all of which are discussed by Fontaine). The
parameters of this study, with regard to the utilization
of context, will be put in terms of suggested, generalized
situations in life. Then there will be a form analysis of
the sentence literature through a comparison with other
wisdom forms which the sages employed in conveying their
observations concerning life. Such a discussion should
not be viewed as a digression from a linguistic analysis
of the proverbial, poetic patterns. Rather, it provides
the needed broad synthetic and diachronic tapestry into
which a detailed and rather atomistic, synchronic,
linguistic analysis should be placed.
Introduction to the Sitz im Leben
The meaning of any group of symbols is dependent
on the context from which they originate and in which they
function. Form critical studies have been helpful in
reinstating the value of the historical setting, which had
been destroyed by nineteenth century "literary critics."
This is not to say that there are no problems with a Sitz
im Leben approach or with the chimerical data upon which
it must sometimes draw its conclusions.1 Knight defines
the Sitz im Leben as "the environment from which any
literary entity might derive its meaning and in which it
____________________
1Douglas A. Knight, "The Understanding of "Sitz im
Leben" in Form Criticism," SBLASP (1974):107.
might be designated to fulfill some purpose."1
Hence, there are two aspects to Sitz im Leben: a
"milieu d'origine" and a "milieu usager." Numerous other
scholars have concurred.2 Thus, if one would know not
only what the proverb says, but also what it means, he
must wrestle with its setting in terms of authorship (the
sociological milieu into which the author desires to
express himself) and into what settings it later came to
be used.
The query may be raised as to how the Sitz im
Leben is determined. While the following is by no means a
denigration of the value of form criticism, which has been
so helpful in the study of the psalmic material, several
problems do arise in attempting to use a single saddle for
two different types of literature. Form and content are
usually utilized to provide the basis for determining the
Sitz im Leben. Proverbs, however, provides several
problems in this regard. Fontaine correctly objects to
the coupling of proverbial content with original life
setting. This approach results in a hazardous
fragmentation of proverbs since the topics discussed
____________________
1Ibid.
2Peter C. Craigie, "Biblical Wisdom in the Modern
World: 1. Proverbs," Crux 15.4 (1979):7; Bryce, A Legacy
of Wisdom, p. 151; and Marzal, Gleanings from the Wisdom of
Mari, p. 11; Kovacs, "Sociological-Structural Constraints,"
p. 5.
are very diverse--from the farm to the palace, from the
home to international affairs, from outward deportment to
inner thought patterns, from cultic to non-cultic
materials, in addition to judicial, school and home
instructions for both parents and children.1 Fontaine
points out the need not so much to search for an elusive
Sitz im Leben as to examine how the proverbs actually
function in a given culture.2
Though the study of form should not be divorced
from situation, the isomorphic bonding of form and setting
is being assailed both from within the form critical
school3 and from those studying the wisdom corpus.4 The
very nature of proverbial material evades such neat
____________________
1Fontaine, "Traditional Sayings in the Old
Testament," pp. 22-23, 303; Perdue, Wisdom and Cult, p.
140; Roland E. Murphy, "Form Criticism and Wisdom
Literature," CBQ 31 (1969):482; and Crenshaw, "Wisdom," p.
236.
2Fontaine, "Traditional Sayings in the Old
Testament," pp. 25, 79, 126, 312.
3Knight, "The Understanding of 'Sitz im Leben' in
Form Criticism," p. 114; and David Greenwood, "Rhetorical
Criticism and Formgeschichte: Some Methodological
Considerations," JBL 89 (1970):418-19.
4Nel, The Structure and Ethos, pp. 4, 79, 82;
Murphy, "Form Criticism and Wisdom," p. 481; Glendon E.
Bryce, "The Structural Analysis of Didactic Texts," in
Biblical and Near Eastern Studies: Essays in Honor of
William Sanford LaSor, ed. G. A. Tuttle (Grand Rapids: Wm.
B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978), p. 109; Crenshaw,
"Wisdom," p. 236; Murphy, "Form Criticism and Wisdom
Literature," p. 481; and Proulx, "Ugaritic Verse Structure
and the Poetic Syntax of Proverbs," p. 22.
categorizations. Barley well notes the uncanny ability of
proverbial forms to interpenetrate disparate cultures.1
Others perceive the timeless character of the proverb as
severing any direct ties to a single, temporal setting.2
Bryce, rather significantly, adds a concluding
observational directive:
Now however, after more than a century of this
reconstructive enterprise, some scholars are beginning
to look with greater interest upon the first task,
that of interpreting the Bible in its final form.3
After much discussion, many are opting for a broad
Sitz im Leben which will accommodate the diversified
forms.4 Murphy is undoubtedly correct in describing
the general situation as didactic.5 Cases have been made
____________________
1Nigel Barley, "A Structural Approach to the
Proverb and the Maxim," Proverbium 20 (1972):740, 746.
2Nel, The Structure and Ethos, p. 6; Murphy, "The
Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament," p. 140; and
Williams, Those who Ponder Proverbs, p. 40.
3Bryce, "The Structural Analysis of Didactic
Texts," p. 107.
4Morgan, Wisdom in the Old Testament Traditions,
p. 16; Fontaine, "Traditional Sayings in the Old
Testament," p. 42; Samuel Terrien, review of Wisdom in
Israel, by Gerhard von Rad, in USQR 29 (1973):131; R. B.
Y. Scott, "The Study of the Wisdom Literature," Int 24
(1970):29; and Khanjian, "Wisdom in Ugarit," p. 2.
5Murphy, "Form Criticism and Wisdom Literature,"
p. 9; and also Gladson, "Retributive Paradoxes in Proverbs
10-29," p. 147.
for accepting an original setting of the family/clan1 or
the court.2 Others proffer a strong scribal influence for
Proverbs3 and Brown even proposes a commercial setting.4
Kovacs and Nel are perhaps more helpful when Nel, for
example, describes the types of ethos reflected in
wisdom--family, school, official (court), priestly,
prophetic, and individual.5 Kovacs speaks of the demesnes
or domains which wisdom addresses--Yahweh, king,
aristocrat, wise, righteous, ignorant, foolish, and
wicked.6 This paper will provide support for three areas
of origin and use--the family, the royal court/king, and
the schools/scribes.7
____________________
1Erhard Gerstenberger, Wesen und Herkunft des
'Apodiktischen Rechts', pp. 110ff.; and von Rad, Wisdom in
Israel, p. 17.
2Perdue, Wisdom and Cult, p. 327 cites Richter's
view from Recht und Ethos.
3B. W. Kovacs, "Is There a Class-Ethic in
Proverbs?" pp. 171-90. Kovacs sees the importance of three
types of wisdom: folk, royal and scribal
("Sociological-Structural Constraints," p. 108).
4John P. Brown, "Proverb-book, Gold-economy,
Alphabet," pp. 173, 191.
5Nel, The Structure and Ethos, pp. 79-81.
6Kovacs, "Sociological-Structural Constraints," p.
518.
7Perdue, Wisdom and Cult, p. 266; Crenshaw,
"Wisdom," p. 227; Roland E. Murphy, "The Interpretation of
Old Testament Wisdom Literature," Int 23 (1969):293, and
also his Introduction to the Wisdom Literature, p. 12.
The Importance of Scribes
Scribes
One facet of the Sitz im Leben which has recently
flowered in light of the prolific discoveries of ancient
Near Eastern materials is the role of the scribe in the
ancient world. It is impossible to overestimate modern
indebtedness to this group of ancient writers/officials,
for they provide the scholar with eyes to peer into
cultures which have been dead for over three thousand
years.1
Not only were the scribes of immense literary
importance, but they were also the oil which lubricated
the cogs of the ancient governmental and temple machinery.
Oppenheim is not wrong when he states that "the
Mesopotamian scribe is likely to emerge as a central
figure in the workings of his civilization."2 The complex
writing systems both in Egypt and Mesopotamia lent
themselves to a sharp bifurcation between the literate and
____________________
1Barry Halvorsen provides a beautiful synthesis on
the scribe in the ancient world and also in Israel in
"Scribes and Scribal Schools in the Ancient Near East: A
Historical Survey" (Th.M. thesis, Grace Theological
Seminary, 1981).
2A. Leo Oppenheim, "A Note on the Scribes in
Mesopotamia," Assyriological Studies 16 (1965):253; also
Oppenheim, "The Position of the Intellectual in
Mesopotamian Society," Daedalus 104.2 (1975):38; and R. J.
Williams, "Scribal Training in Ancient Egypt," JAOS 92
(1972):214.
illiterate.1 The script itself favored the development of
a scribal guild. Hammurabi's call for all to read his
code, Landsberger suggests, was a dream.2 While some have
alleged that a democratization of reading accompanied the
development of the alphabet, this in no way necessitates
the antiquating of the need for scribes.3 Rainey observes
that everything was put in writing and the court scribes
had the responsibility of seeing that the material
recorded was put into proper "form."
The association of scribalism with guilds suggests
that closed groups would tend to cloister and segregate
____________________
1Thompson (The Form and Function, p. 44) and Kovacs
("The Sociological-Structural Constraints," p. 73) both
point to the difficulty of scripts as an impetus for
scribal groups.
2Benno Landsberger, "Scribal Concepts of
Education," in City Invincible: A Symposium on
Urbanization and Cultural Development in the Ancient Near
East, ed. C. Kraeling and R. M. Adams (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1960), p. 98. Landsberger quotes from a
text mentioning a person who could not write his name: "I
am of Sumerian descent, the son of so and so. You are the
son of a dirty rowdy, you cannot even write your name."
This also shows the elitism among those who could write (p.
96).
3Brown ("Proverb-book, Gold-economy, Alphabet," p.
188) suggests such a democratization took place, in spite
of the "scribal monopoly." W. L. Humphreys ("The Motif of
the Wise Courtier in the Old Testament," p. 117) points out
the scribal duties of knowing the forms of various
governmental letters and documents and A. F. Rainey ("The
Scribe at Ugarit," Israel Academy of Science and Humanities
Proceedings 3 [1969]:130, 132) cites lexical texts in
Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian and Hittite at Ugarit. Such
correspondence would demand scribal training.
themselves into distinct locations. Mendelsohn notes that
Jabez was a scribal city (I Chr 2:55).1
When one thinks of scribes, writing immediately
comes to mind and, unfortunately, his other duties are
often ignored. The importance of these men is not only to
be seen in their accurate transmission of texts,2 but also
in their holding of key influential positions, both in
governmental and temple realms. Thus, their influence was
much broader than merely their ability to write.3
Scribes in Egypt
The importance of the scribe in Egypt may be seen
in his relationship to the king, who, in Egypt, was
considered to be a god. Horemheb, Pharaoh of Egypt, had
____________________
1I. Mendelsohn, "Guilds in Ancient Palestine,"
BASOR 80 (1940):18. Cf. his "Guilds in Babylonia and
Assyria," JAOS 60 (1940):68-72. George Mendenhall comments
on the closedness of this type of society ("The Shady Side
of Wisdom: The Date and Purpose of Genesis 3," p. 322).
Gadd also notes the presence of adopted "sons" and women
within this group (C. J. Gadd, Teachers and Students in the
Oldest Schools [London: School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London, 1956], pp. 23-24).
2Waltke, "The Book of Proverbs and Ancient Wisdom
Literature," BSac 136 (1979):227. Crenshaw notes that they
were "to embody the traditions they preserved" (Old
Testament Wisdom, p. 224).
3McKane properly condemns Eissfeldt and Mowinckel
for only viewing the scribes as learned writers and
ignoring their political clout (McKane, Prophets and Wise
Men, pp. 23, 44). J. Begrich, commits the root/meaning
himself represented in a statue as a scribe.1 Imhotep, a
famous Egyptian scribe, was considered so influential that
he was deified by later generations.2 Second in command
in Egypt, directly under the Pharaoh and with great
influence upon the Pharaoh, was the vizier. It was this
statesman who decided difficult court cases, made sure
that the law was upheld, and oversaw the ploughlands and
economy of Egypt. The pharaoh correctly said to Rekhmire'
that the vizier was "the mainstay of the entire land." It
is also interesting that it is assumed that the vizier
could read the room "full of all past judgments." The
scribe under him is called the "Scribe of Justice." The
vizier himself was also considered to be a scribe.3
The influence of the scribe upon the court may be
seen in the El Amarna letters, in which Abdi-Hepa of
____________________
fallacy, as he always seems to come back to the writing
capacity of the scribe ("Sofer und Mazkir," ZAW 58
[1940]:20-23.
1IDB, s.v. "Education, Old Testament," by J.
Kaster, 2:28; and Adolf Erman, The Literature of the
Ancient Egyptians, p. xxvii. Indeed, writing itself was
considered to be a gift of the gods.
2Thompson, The Form and Function, p. 111. R. J.
Williams points out that Snofru, a fourth dynasty ruler,
himself wrote on papyrus and are record that even some
tombs were written on by the Pharaoh himself ("Scribal
Training in Ancient Egypt," JAOS 92 [1972]:215).
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