Premium
Wisdom as Parental Teaching in Proverbs 1–9
Author(s) -
Moss Alan
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
the heythrop journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.127
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1468-2265
pISSN - 0018-1196
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2265.00058
Subject(s) - redaction , context (archaeology) , denotation (semiotics) , judaism , sociology , church fathers , literature , old testament , philosophy , new testament , linguistics , theology , history , art , archaeology , semiotics
It is the contention of this article that Proverbs chs. 1–9 is a literary unity in which wisdom has the denotation of the parental household teaching. Teachings which have other contexts in other parts of the Old Testament have in Pr. 1–9 a parental teaching context. Besides denoting the parental teaching, personified speaking Wisdom has the personal features of a teacher. Both Wisdom’s features and her message serve to reinforce the parental teaching. Personified Wisdom also denotes the teaching of the entire Book of Proverbs. Through the device of personified Wisdom, the wisdom of Solomon enshrined in the Book of Proverbs is re‐located from the royal court to the individual Israelite household. This is evident in the literary design of the book. It also reflects the situation of the book’s redaction in post‐exilic Judaism.