Proverbs

Fox’s two-volume Anchor Yale commentary is, in my view, the best overall scholarly commentary on Proverbs. Its outstanding strength is the combination of meticulous Hebrew philology, textual criticism, ancient Near Eastern comparison, literary sensitivity, and unusually independent exegetical judgment. Fox is particularly valuable because he resists forcing the sentence collections into elaborate structures: he recognizes genuine pairs and clusters where the evidence supports them, but allows individual sayings to stand independently where it does not. This methodological restraint makes him an exceptionally reliable guide when commentators disagree. His theological interpretation is sometimes less satisfying than his exegesis, particularly where he distinguishes relatively sharply between wisdom and revelation, but this is easily supplemented by Waltke or Ansberry. For serious exegetical work, Fox is the commentary I would consult first and the one I would choose if limited to a single major scholarly treatment of Proverbs.

Detailed and illuminating, combines ancient near eastern parallels, classical jewish exegesis, diligence and linguistic excellence of the author. When I do not understand something, Fox has the answer in 90% cases.

Longman calls Fox “a master interpreter.” In his excellent volumes, Fox examines Proverbs’ place in the intellectual history of ancient Israel. In volume one, he includes a survey of ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature. Then, in addition to his translation and commentary proper, he includes extended thematic essays on Proverbs 1–9, covering themes like the origins of personified wisdom, what wisdom is, and where wisdom can be heard. In volume two, Fox gives special attention to comparable sayings in other wisdom books, particularly from Egypt, and makes extensive use of medieval Hebrew commentaries, which receive scant attention in previous Proverbs commentaries. [Full Review]