Proverbs

The commentary seeks to clarify the composition history of Proverbs by defending a distinctive thesis, anticipated by the talmudic attribution of Proverbs to the men of Hezekiah (b. B. Bat. 15a) and by several modern studies (by Estes, Bullock, and McKane) that hypothesize a Solomonic manual enlarged by a Hezekiah or a late-kingship edition of Proverbs. Serving an Anabaptist-Mennonite series committed to imparting the original, simple sense of Scripture and its contemporary meaning, the commentary is written in a style unburdened by academic jargon. The essays appended on pages 31130 provide more detailed and documented accounts of the distinctive features of the work vis--vis the current scholarly pos itions on the issues at hand. The central thesis is that Proverbs began as a Solomonic edition passionate about acquiring wisdom that was then expanded, modified, and Yahwehized by the men of Hezekiah, thereby constituting a contribution to the Hezekiah reform movement along with editions of prophetic texts by contemporaneous prophets (Isaiah, Micah, Amos, Hosea) and Deuteronomy, which is presumed to have been published at this time and then rediscovered a century later under Josiah. [Full Review]