with useful bibliography. Vid. David B. Weisberg, Guild
Structure and Political Allegiance in Early Achaemenid
Mesopotamia, Yale Near Eastern Researches 1 (New Haven:
Yale University, 1967); Mark Wischnitzer, "Notes to a
History of Jewish Guilds," HUCA 23.2 (1950-51):245-63; I.
Mendelsohn, "Guilds in Ancient Palestine," BASOR 80
(1940):17-21; and also his "Guilds in Babylonia and
Assyria," JAOS 60 (1940):68-72.
1Nel, "The Concept 'Father' in the Wisdom
Literature of the Ancient Near East," p. 66.
2Gordon, Sumerian Proverbs, p. 301; cf.
also Nel, "The Concept 'Father' in the Wisdom Literature of the
Ancient Near East," p. 57; and Khanjian, "Wisdom in
Ugarit," p. 45.
Egyptian wisdom.1 "The Instruction of Ani," also gives
reference to a "mother" where the young man is tenderly
encouraged to take care of his mother, besides being
admonished not to supervise an efficient wife too closely
or to pursue the woman from abroad.2 The importance of
the mother of the king, while often genetic, is seen both
in the Assyrian sources (Nakiya, Sennacherib's wife and
Esarhaddon's mother, who received official correspondence
from state officials concerning sacrifices and military
operations) and in the Amarna letters, where a mother is
addressed directly as a person of political authority and
understanding.3 Biblical examples may be illustrated by
Jezebel and Athaliah. Proverbs reflects the counseling
role of the mother of the king (Prov 31:1).
In Israel, De Boer has shown the midrashic
technical use of the term "mother" in reference to the
Law. Earlier traces of this technical use may be seen in
the title given by the wise woman to the town of Abel as
"a mother in Israel" (2 Sam 20:19). It is interesting to
note that the title "mother" given to Deborah, may
____________________
1Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom, p. 223;
and Pritchard, ANET, pp. 432-34. Note that boy's parents
rejoice when he has mastered the scribal art. This again
suggests a strong familial support of the school system.
2Pritchard, ANET, pp. 420-21; cf. Crenshaw, Old
Testament Wisdom, p. 33.
3De Boer, "Counsellor," pp. 64-65.
possibly have tituler overtones (Judg 5:7).1
Most recent writers on wisdom, while acknowledging
the possibility of the technical use of "mother," suggest
that the references in Proverbs are not merely stylistic
but do, in fact, refer to a familial setting.2 Whybray
observes that the use of "mother" as a teacher in Proverbs
(1:8; 6:20; 31:1, 26) was "unique in ancient Near Eastern
literature."3 The proverbial job description of the wife
of noble character depicts her as an instructor whose
mouth speaks wisdom (Prov 31:26). The inclusion of
intimate family matters into wisdom (Cant; Prov 5:15-18),
the encomium about the prudent wife (Prov 18:22; 19:14),
and the baleful and repeated laments over the quarrelsome
wife (Prov 21:9, 19; 27:15) stresses the familial matrix
of Proverbs.4
The "Son" in Wisdom
It is universally acknowledged that the term
"son," characteristic of wisdom addresses in Israel, Egypt
____________________
1De Boer, "The Counsellor," p. 58.
2Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom, p. 93;
Kovacs, "Sociological-Structural Constraints," p. 250; and Murphy,
Wisdom Literature, p. 7.
3Whybray, The Intellectual Tradition, p. 41.
4Gordis, "The Social Background of Wisdom
Literature," pp. 111-12.
and Mesopotamia, often denotes a "student."1 In Egypt,
Williams notes that the advanced age of Ptahhotep and the
story of Djedi's advice to Prince Hardjedef (where Djedi
is said to be 110 years old) strongly suggest that they
are addressing their students, rather than physical
sons.2
The apprentice relationship is made explicit in "Papyrus
Lansing: A Schoolbook."3 Others have taken the term
"son" to refer to an adopted relationship between the student
and teacher. It is clear both in Egyptian and Israelite
wisdom sources that grown men are being addressed--often
ones with the responsibility of ruling about to be placed
upon their shoulders. While the technical use of "son" is
inferred in numerous pieces of Egyptian wisdom, the
familial use of the term is seen in the historical
____________________
1Bullock, An Introduction to the Old
Testament Poetic Books, p. 75.
2Williams, "Scribal Training in Ancient Egypt," p.
215. One wonders however, about the ages of the sons.
Judging from the advice given, the sons would have reached
manhood already. Moreover, the age of child bearing, as
indicated in the ages of Abraham and Isaac, would suggest
that age alone is not a conclusive argument.
3Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature,
2:168. Here the apprentice is told by the sage to "Love writing,
and shun dancing; then you become a worthy official." The
student later responds in thanks to his teacher's wise
instruction: "You beat my back; your teaching entered my
ear. . . . Sleep does not enter my heart by day; nor is it
upon me at night. (For I say): I will serve my lord just
as a slave serves his master" (p. 172). Cf. also Kovacs,
"Sociological-Structural Constraints," pp. 250-51; and
Hellmut Brunner, Altagyptische Erziehung (Wiesbaden: Otto
Harrassowitz, 1957), pp. 1-55.
settings described in some of the prologues. "The
Instruction of King Amen-em-het" is addressed to a son,
warning him in an intimate fashion about the dangers of
the palace. "The Instructions of Ani" advises his son on
marriage, the proper care of his mother, and other
familial topics.1
In Mesopotamia, the situation is quite the same,
with the addition of the guild structure. Kitchen,
surveying the use of "my son" in Mesopotamia, notes its
use as a structural divider in the prologues of the
Old-Sumerian Suruppak.2 In the Sumerian edubba,
"son" was the title given to a student.3 Mendelsohn has shown
the extensive use of "son" terminology in the guild setting,
both in Mesopotamia and in Israel.4 MacRae finds traces
____________________
1Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom, pp.
218-19. The historical setting of "The Instruction of 'Onchsheshonqy"
has been discussed above. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian
Literature, pp. 159-63.
2Kitchen, "Proverbs and Wisdom Books of the Ancient
Near East," p. 81. He gives a very handy survey of the
ancient sources. Also see Alster, The Instructions of
Suruppak, pp. 35-45 (Lines 7-9, 39, 66, 84, 154, 165 et
al.); and Kramer, "Sumerian Wisdom Literature: A
Preliminary Study," p. 30.
3Landsberger, "Babylonian Scribal Craft and its
Terminology," p. 124; and Gadd, Teachers and Students in
the Oldest Schools, p. 15.
4Mendelsohn, "Guilds in Babylonia and Assyria," p.
69; and "Guilds in Ancient Palestine," p. 18; cf. use of
the term "sons of the prophets." Lambert notes this usage
particularly in the Cassite period (Lambert, BWL, p. 13).
of this phenomena in the personal names at Nuzi.1 The
calling of students "sons" also occurs at Ugarit.2
These technical usages are found in Israel too (2
Kgs 2:3, 5, 15 ["sons" of the prophets]; Neh 3:8, 31; 1
Chr 4:14 [possibly guild sons].3 Several times the term
"son of the King" does not refer to his actual, son, but
is a type of cognomen for an official (1 Kgs 22:26-27 [2
Chr 18:25-26]; Jer 36:26; 38:6).4
Thus, it must be recognized that the familial
vocabulary may reflect a school or technical sense; yet,
such terminology, when accompanied by explicit familial
statements, demonstrates that one should not neglect the
family as a wisdom matrix. The tender admonitions of
Proverbs 4:1-5 and the frequent reference to family
members (wives, parents, brothers [Prov 17:2, 17; 18:9,
19; 19:7]) all indicate that, though such materials may be
utilized in the school, their direction and reflective
____________________
1I. Gelb, P. M. Purves and A. MacRae, Nuzi
Personal Names, pp. 282-83. Here MacRae notes Akkadian fathers of
non-Akkadian named "sons." Thus actual parentage is
doubtful.
2Khanjian, "Wisdom in Ugarit," pp. 165, 191, 255.
3Mendelsohn, "Guilds in Ancient Palestine," p.
18; Halvorsen, "Scribes and Scribal Schools," pp. 54, 81, 144;
cf. also Murphy, "Form Criticism and Wisdom Literature," p.
481.
4Humphrey, "The Motif of the Wise Courtier in the
Old Testament," p. 94; and De Vaux, Ancient Israel, 1:119.
nature draw on and point to their domestic orientation.1
Popular and Folk Wisdom
A complementary original setting which has been
suggested more recently has been to reckon the
thematically royal proverbs to a court setting and to
allow for the more domestic proverbs to have originated in
a pre-monarchial clan setting. Morgan portrays "popular
wisdom" as that "which reflects a popular ethos in some
way detached from (or unaffected by) the monarchy and the
more complex forms and more theological (religious?)
concerns." Popular wisdom is usually detected by its
form. As far back as Eissfeldt's work in 1913, one-line
proverbs (Gen 10:9; 1 Sam 19:24; 2 Sam 5:8; 1 Kgs 20:11;
Ezek 12:22; 16:44; 18:2; Hos 8:7; Amos 6:12; Isa 5:19),
parables (2 Sam 12:1-4), riddles (Judg 14:14-18) and
fables (2 Kgs 14:9; Judg 9:8-15) were identified as
folk/popular/clan wisdom. Examples of popular wisdom are
also found in Proverbs (Prov 10:6, 11, 15; 11:2, 22, 27;
13:3; 14:4, 23; 18:11, 14; 20:19). All of these forms
were developed and utilized in pre-monarchial Israel and
were originally viewed as being more simple in form than
____________________
1Roland E. Murphy, "The Kerygma of the Book of
Proverbs," Int 20 (January 1966):4; also his Introduction
to the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament, p. 12; and
Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom, p. 33.
the later, more artistic, wisdom forms.1 Those who
emphasize "popular wisdom" often see an evolution from a
simple, one-line form to a more artistic wisdom sentence
(Kunstsprichwort--artistic saying).2
Folk wisdom has been characterized as:
(1) originating among the folk, often with a long history
of transmission; (2) anonymous; (3) brief;
(4) paradigmatic; (5) more "secular"; and (6) non-didactic
(e.g., Ezek 18:2; Jer 31:29). Fontaine summarizes
Eissfeldt's categorization into four types: (1) sayings
called mashalim by the text (1 Sam 10:12; 24:13 [MT
24:14]; Ezek 12:22); (2) sayings preceded by "and
therefore they say" (Gen 10:9; 2 Sam 5:8; 20:18; Ezek
9:9); (3) texts which have a proverbial ring to them (Gen
16:12; Judg 8:2, 21; 1 Sam 16:7); and (4) folk proverbs
(Volkssprichwort; Prov 10:6, 9, 15; 11:2).3 Scott
notes
____________________
1Morgan, Wisdom in the Old Testament Traditions,
pp. 31, 32-39; and Otto Eissfeldt, Der Maschal im Alten
Testament, BZAW 24 (Giessen: Verlag von Alfred Topelmann,
1913). Also vid. Carole R. Fontaine's fine work:
Traditional Sayings in the Old Testament: A Contextual
Study.
2Ernst Sellin and Georg Fohrer, Introduction to
the Old Testament, trans. David E. Green (Nashville: Abingdon
Press, 1968), p. 311. For a chart, vid. Eissfeldt, Der
Maschal im Alten Testament, p. 43; or Fontaine, "The Use of
the Traditional Saying in the Old Testament," p. 6. Priest
correctly questions the neat distinction between popular
and aristocratic wisdom (Priest, "Where is Wisdom to be
Placed?" p. 282).
3Vid. Fontaine's ("The Use of the Traditional
Saying in the Old Testament," p. 8) summary of Eissfeldt,
the predominance of a moralizing element in folk proverbs,
as compared with the more observational character of
literary proverbs.1
E. Gerstenberger suggests a tribe, rather than a
court, as the setting for wisdom. Richter traces the
apodictic and wisdom sayings to a family or clan setting.
These studies have pushed wisdom back prior to the court
setting to a clan/tribal origin (Sippenethos).2
Crenshaw correctly summarizes the situation when he writes:
"Israel's sapiential tradition seems to have arisen during
the period of the clan, flourishing subsequently at the
royal court and in houses of learning."3 Nel also traces
____________________
Der Maschal im Alten Testament, pp. 45-46. Crenshaw, Old
Testament Wisdom, p. 93; also his "Wisdom," p. 231. Murphy
points out the contrast between Volksspruch (folk saying)
and the Kunstspruch (artistic saying) (Roland E. Murphy,
"The Interpretation of Old Testament Wisdom Literature,"
Int 23 [1969]:300). Morgan gives an extensive listing of
popular proverbs in Wisdom in the Old Testament Traditions,
pp. 34-35.
1R. B. Y. Scott, "Folk Proverbs of the Ancient Near
East," in SAIW, p. 418. Scott collects the types of
proverbs into seven, deep-structure, semantic categories.
He gives excellent and numerous examples of each type (pp.
49-55). Cf. also Fontaine, "The Use of the Traditional
Saying in the Old Testament," p. 317.
2Gerstenberger, Wesen und Herkunft des
'apodiktischen Rechts', pp. 110-17, 146-47; Richter, Recht
und Ethos; Nel, "A Proposed Method for Determining the
Context of the Wisdom Admonitions," p. 35; Khanjian,
"Wisdom in Ugarit," p. 2; Emerton, "Wisdom," p. 223;
Jensen, The Use of tora by Isaiah, p. 60; Kovacs, "Is There
a Class-Ethic in Proverbs?" p. 173; and J. L. McKenzie,
"Reflections on Wisdom," JBL (1967):8.
3Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom, pp. 57, 78; and
the original setting back to the family educational system
in the pre-Mosaic period.1 Ancient Near Eastern parallels
are not lacking and Fontaine, using the traditional
sayings in the Amarna Letters, suggests that popular
sayings are indigenous to "pre-Conquest" Palestine.2
Lambert, noting the absence of popular proverbs in the
Babylonian collections, explains that in the more
academically-inclined Cassite period, the scribes did not
wish to record or preserve traditional sayings, which were
common among the uneducated, but drew their traditional
proverbs from Sumerian originals.3
Thus, many writers distinguish between family/clan
wisdom and royal court wisdom. The aim of the first is
the mastering of life, while the goal of the second is the
education of a select group in matters of the court.4
____________________
"Wisdom," p. 227; cf. also Roland E. Murphy,
"Wisdom--Theses and Hypotheses," in Israelite Wisdom:
Theological and Literary Essays in Honor of Samuel Terrien,
ed. J. G. Gammie et al. (New York: Union Theological
Seminary, 1978), p. 37.
1Nel, "A Proposed Method for Determining the
Context of the Wisdom Admonitions," p. 36.
2Fontaine, "The Use of the Traditional Saying in
the Old Testament," p. 331. Her discussion of this whole
area is most helpful (pp. 1-50), as is her perceptive and
refreshing analysis of some traditional sayings in their
historical settings. She skillfully employs the tools of
modern paroemiology.
3Lambert, BWL, pp. 275-76.
4James L. Crenshaw, "Method in Determining Wisdom
Influence upon 'Historical' Literature," JBL 88
Though folk wisdom undoubtedly continued even after the
development of court wisdom, many think that there was a
development from the clan to the court and later to a more
theologized scribal wisdom (Ben Sirach). Although a
unilinear development is rejected, a general movement is
detected by many scholars.1 This evolution seems
compatible with the historical data.
One-Line to Two-Line Evolution?
Another suggested development, which was proposed
by Eissfeldt and embraced by Schmidt, is the one-line to
two-line evolution, by which simple one-line, popular
sayings were transformed into two-line, didactic, artistic
proverbs.2 Thompson accepts this position, as seen in the
following statement: "But given a popular, one line prose
proverb, one can easily imagine its becoming poetic
____________________
(1969):130. Crenshaw also adds a category of scribal
wisdom, which had as its aim the education of all into a
dogmatico-religious tradition via a dialogico-admonitory
format ("Wisdom," p. 227). Scott, The Way of Wisdom, p.
137.
1Fontaine, "The Use of the Traditional Saying in
the Old Testament," p. 39; Scott, The Way of Wisdom, p. 18;
Crenshaw, "Wisdom," p. 227; Morgan, Wisdom in the Old
Testament Traditions, p. 33; and von Rad, Wisdom in Israel,
p. 11.
2Crenshaw, "Wisdom," p. 232; Johannes Schmidt,
Studien zur Stilistik Der Alttestamentlichen
Spruchliteratur (Munster: Verlag der Aschendorffschen
Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1936); Eissfeldt, Der Maschal im Alten
Testament; Udo Skladny, Die altesten Spruchsammlungen in
Israel pp. 5-6; cf. Gladson, "Retributive Paradoxes in
Proverbs 10-29," p. 54; and McKane, Proverbs, pp. 2-3.
through the addition of a parallel stich; and one may
suspect that this often happened."1 An example of an
accretive process may be seen in the Abu Salabikh and
Classical versions of the Sumerian "Instructions of
Suruppak."2 Gordon notes that 95 of 154 preserved
Sumerian proverbs are one line in length and 44 are two
lines.3
Thompson proposes a mechanism by which he thinks
the one-line saying was extended into two lines--via a
riddle game in which the first line was answered by its
respective second. He cites similar practices in Chinese
and African Kuanyama proverb usages as supportive of this
thesis, which Gemser originally proposed.4
____________________
1Thompson, The Form and Function, p. 67.
2Alster, The Instructions of Suruppak, pp.
15, 35. Compare, for instance, the call to attention in the
prologue of each version:
My son, let me give you instructions,
May you pay attention to them!
(Abu Salabikh I.8-9)
My son, let me give you instructions,
May you take my instructions!
Do not neglect my instructions!
Do not transgress the word I speak!
The instructions of an old man are precious,
may you submit to them!
(Classical Version, Lines 9-13)
3Gordon, Sumerian Proverbs, p. 154.
4Thompson, The Form and Function, pp. 32, 92;
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, s.v. "Proverbs," by
James A. Kelso, 10:413, 415; and Edwin M. Loeb, "Kuanyama
Ambo Folklore," Anthropological Records 13 (1951):332.
The evolution from one-line to two-line proverbs
has been challenged and most recent scholars reject this
evolutionary model as the explanation for the difference
between the one-line and two-line proverbs.1 Both
Crenshaw and Murphy cite the reverse possibility--that is,
that the one-line saying is a fragment of an original two-
line wisdom saying.2 Claiming that the one-line saying
is necessarily earlier smacks of being a simplistic
diachronic solution to a complex matter. The fable of
Jotham and longer forms were often used in the
pre-monarchial period. There simply is not enough data to
support a historical, developmental theory, since the
pre-history of these forms is vague, in terms of origin,
development, and use.3
____________________
1P. J. Nel, "The Genres of Biblical Wisdom,"
Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 9 (1981):139; also
Nel, The Structure and Ethos, p. 16; Patrick Skehan, "A
Single Editor for the Whole book of Proverbs," in SAIW, p.
338 (24); von Rad, Wisdom in Israel, p. 27; Christa B.
Kayatz, Studien zu Proverbien 1-9, pp. 4-5; David
Greenwood, "Rhetorical Criticism and Formgeschichte: Some
Methodological Considerations," JBL 89 (1970):420; and
Fontaine, "The Use of the Traditional Saying in the Old
Testament," p. 33.
2Crenshaw, "Wisdom," p. 232; Murphy, "Form
Criticism and Wisdom Literature," p. 478; and Fontaine,
"The Use of the Traditional Saying in the Old Testament,"
p. 31.
3Murphy, "The Interpretation of Old Testament
Wisdom Literature," p. 300; and Gladson, "Retributive
The examination of the Egyptian literature, which
provides a clear model of wisdom forms within a more
clearly defined historical setting and over a longer
period of time, has caused this one-line to two-line
developmental theory to be rejected. Gemser, in his
superb analysis of 'Onchsheshonqy, notes that
'Onchsheshonqy, although being one of the latest pieces of
Egyptian instructions, reflects a less developed character
in form and content than earlier works of Ptah-hotep or
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