Week #45 - Proverbs 10-31 & Nahum
Week # 45 Study Page
Proverbs 10-31
Nahum (1-3)
Suggested Daily Reading Breakdown
Sunday: Proverbs 10-12
Monday: Proverbs 13-15
Tuesday: Proverbs 16-19
Wednesday: Proverbs 20-23
Thursday: Proverbs 24-27
Friday: Proverbs 28-31
Saturday: Nahum 1-3
Degree of Difficulty: 9 out of 10. In my opinion, this is one of the most challenging readings in our Bible reading plan. the chapter and word-count are average, but I’m asking you to read 22 chapters of a book that is mostly intended to be read 2-lines at a time. We’re being careful to read whole-books of the Bible, because understanding the author, literary structure, and context of each book is so incredibly crucial to understanding the words that you’re reading, but I’ll freely admit that reading Proverbs from start to-finish is not ideal. The advantage of reading proverbs in this manner is that you will get a good sense for the structure of the various collections of the book and how the literature in each of them is slightly different. The disadvantage is that you will likely experience difficulty reading whole chapters at a time, and may find it difficult to fully consider each pair of lines as you attempt to complete this week’s assignment. If ever there was a week to not* binge all 25 chapters in one day - this is that week. Reading Proverbs in this way may be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing to do, once you’ve got a sense for the structure and style of the book, then going forward, the most beneficial way to consume this book is one or two verses per day. Proverbs is the perfect book for a verse-a-day phone app (like “Daily Bible Proverbs” by the Christian Channel in the Google Play Store) or a tear-away calendar. A one-a-day pace would allow you to give full reflection and consideration to each proverb. At the end of the week, our hard work is rewarded with Nahum, a perfectly-sized minor prophet for reading all-at-once. You have to know a little history and context to understand Nahum, we’ll work on that below.
About the Book(s)
Proverbs
Date of Authorship: Proverbs is a compilation of various collections of proverbs demarcated by the various sub-titles that you’ll read in the text. C. Hassell Bullock divides the book into three distinct compilations and dates them as follows
Proverbs 1:1 - 24:34, the first edition of Solomonic proverbs which were written and collected during the last part of the tenth century BC. Solomon died in 931 BC.
Proverbs 25:1-29:27, the second edition of Solomonic proverbs, prepared by “Hezekiah’s men” (see Proverbs 25:1) in the late eight or early seventh century BC.
Proverbs 30:1-33 & 31:1-31, the final edition of the book of proverbs edited at an indeterminable date after Hezekiah. These proverbs are likely not Solomonic, and were added to the book as a sort of appendix.
Author: Solomon is the author of all but chapters 30 &31 of proverbs. we know nothing of the authors of those two chapters. While the words of proverbs are Solomon’s they have been arranged and compiled by editors.
Structure: there are a number of different “collections” or subsections of proverbs in this book. We read through the first collection last week, and we’ll blaze through the final four collections this week. because each of these sections seem to be separate collections which have been edited together, you will notice moments of repetition and duplication between them.
Chapters 1-9: First collection of Solomonic Proverbs - longer form
10:1 - 22:16: Miscellaneous proverbs of Solomon - shorter form
22:17-24:22 & 24:23-34: Words of the wise
25:1-29:27: Final collection of Solomonic proverbs collected by Hezekiah’s scribes
Chapters 30 & 31: Non-Solomonic appendices
Purpose: The purpose of Proverbs is to initiate the reader into wisdom and instruction. The book claims to be a primer of right conduct and essential attitudes toward life, aimed at producing lives in conformity to the divine will. The immediate object was to train and educate for the preservation of the family unit, and social stability of the society as a whole. Therefore, prominent in wisdom was the recognition that fulfillment of God’s will is actualized in the personal and social conduct and institutions of His people. Proverbs in an instructional manual, much like the ancient instructions found in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Nahum
Date of Authorship: Nahum is relatively easy to date. He mentions the Assyrian capture of Thebes in 3:8-9 which occurred in 663 AD, and he deals with the fall of Nineveh as a future event (1:13-14). Nineveh did indeed fall in 612 AD. Therefore we are able to date the prophecy of Nineveh from 663-612 AD.
Author: Nahum the prophet is likely the author of this book. He is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, and we know almost nothing about him. We’re only told that he is an “Elkoshite” but all attempts to locate that town or identify a clan by that name with any certainty have been unsuccessful
Setting: (check out the section below, in “as you read”)
Purpose: Nahum has a two-pronged purpose, well reflected by these verses in his opening chapter:
7 The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,
8 but with an overwhelming flood
he will make an end of Nineveh;
he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness.
God is sovereign in judgment and salvation, his command of the world and its inhabitants (all of them, not just his chosen people) is an expression of His essential being. Nahum pronounces the disposition of this sovereign Judge to the people of Judah. It is good news for them as their oppressive occupier will fall, and they are comforted by the promise of God’s faithfulness to them. Nahum teaches us that God has enmity towards the wicked, and mercy towards the faithful.
As You Read Notes:
Proverbs 10:6: a constant and invisible principle
Blessings crown the head of the righteous,
but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked. (Proverbs 10:6)
This verse is emblematic of a theme that is present throughout not only proverbs, but all the wisdom literature of the Bible. There is a certainty in God’s word that God is actively monitoring and judging the way of mankind; He is not asleep at the wheel, or indifferent about how we live. There is confidence in this verse, and elsewhere in proverbs, that good will come to the righteous and that evil people will suffer, and that both of these outcomes are the result of God’s judgment.
Proverbs acts as a sort of guide to find this path through life which walks in righteousness before God and is characterized as wisdom, integrity, and humbleness, and it offers God’s blessing as a reward for living this way. It teaches us that there is an invisible pathway through life, one that is not limited to religious observance, but cuts through each arena of life, by which we can pursue righteousness and that, ultimately, walking on this path is in our best interest. On the other hand this literature teaches the reader that evil or foolish behavior will, ultimately, not be rewarded. The wisdom tradition makes it clear that there is a retribution principle operating in the universe which punishes wickedness and rewards righteousness. As is made evident by the wide range of situations addressed in proverbs, the life of righteousness/wisdom permeates all topics, and areas of life, not just those which we think of as ‘religious.’
Proverbs 31:10-31: The wife of Noble character
The first thing to note about this section is that it is an acrostic with each verse starting with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This is one of those literary features that would have been immediately apparent to the Hebrew reader, but is invisible in our English translations. Up to this point, proverbs had discussed women and wives mostly in the form of warnings against unfaithfulness and impertinence. However, in proverbs 18:22 a blessing is pronounced upon whim who finds a wife:
He who finds a wife finds what is good
and receives favor from the Lord.
Now, in the appendix of Lemuel, the virtuous wife is depicted. The roles and responsibilities of the woman described are indicative of the important role of the woman in ancient Israelite society. She provided both clothing and food for her family and servants, managed the estate, cared for the poor, sold her own handiwork, and taught (see 31:26) This chapter makes clear that the pursuit of the path and life of wisdom/righteousness is not only available to men, but also to women who must also seek the virtuous life. Notice that that the ultimate expectation or standard for the virtuous woman here in chapter 31 is the same as the description of wisdom at the very beginning of Proverbs
But a woman who fears the lord is to be praised. (Proverbs 31:30b)
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7)
Nahum: Setting and Info
The Assyrian empire rose to prominence in the ancient Near East in the middle of the 8th century BC. Nahum is prophesying against “Nineveh” which is one of the capitol cities of the Assyrian empire, situated on the Tigris River, but by this name he speaks against the entire Assyrian kingdom. At its height, the Assyrian empire extended from the Persian gulf to the middle of Egypt.
While Jerusalem avoided military destruction at the hand of the Assyrians, they (Judah) served as a vassal state of the empire (with varying degrees of fealty) for more than a century, from 734 in the reign of Ahaz, until the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC. King Ahaz paid tribute to Tiglath Pileser III and stayed out of the plots to gain independence that led to the destruction of the norther kingdom of Israel and the devastation of many of the other neighboring states. Hezekiah did attempt to assert some measure of independence, but that led to an invasion of Judah by Sennacherib, the destruction of many towns like Lachish, the deportation of some of the population, and a siege of Jerusalem that impoverished the nation. The long reign of Manasseh (Hezekiah’s son) was marked by a complete submission to Assyrian control. Manasseh’s cooperation allowed for a period of peace and rebuilding, but represented a political and theological compromise that marked him, in the eyes of the biblical writers, as the worst of kings.
This status continued through the reign of the last great king of Assyria, Ashurbanipal (668-627 BC). His death marked the beginning of a rapid decline in power for the Assyrian Empire. This decline saw Judah finally assert its independence from the Assyrians under king Josiah. The prophecy of Nahum comes true just 15 years after the death of Ashurbanipal, when the combined Medean and Babylonian army conducted a 3-month siege against the city of Nineveh that ended with the city’s destruction. Nahum was not the only prophet to foretell the demise of Assyria, Isaiah did so in 14:24-27 and a number of other places throughout that book, and it is also foreseen in Zechariah 10:11.
When you read Nahum you need to feel the century-long oppression of the Israelite people at the hand of the Assyrians, recall the destruction that Sennacherib caused in Judah when he nearly overwhelmed Jerusalem, and feel the elation that the people of Israel would have experienced upon hearing a prophet of the Lord promise their demise.
Nahum 1:5: Blessed Are the Feet:
There is a reoccurring passage in Scripture:
How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news, (Isaiah 52:7a)Look, there on the mountains,
The feet on one who brings good news (Nahum 2:4)And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15)
It is fun to note how differently these identical phrases are being used. In Isaiah the good news is the hope of a restored Jerusalem, and God’s return to Jerusalem before it had ever even been destroyed. In Nahum the good news is the proclamation of Assyria’s demise, the news that Judah would soon be liberated from its political oppressor. Paul then quotes this passage in Romans (he likely has the Isaiah passage in mind) to praise those who would witness about Jesus to the Jewish people.