Proverb


Literary form and literary genre

Proverbs are concise and memorable, simple and profound, specific and universal. They aim to make an insight permanent. They are true to human experience, so they never go out of date. They can be descriptive or prescriptive.

They often use a particularized situation to stand for a broader principle of life. And if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there is will life. (Ecclesiastes 11:3) points to the principle of finality that characterizes many events in life.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 144-145)

In the Bible

Proverbs and Ecclesiastes consist wholly of proverbs, but Jesus' discourses rely heavily on proverbs as well. The Epistles contain aphorisms, James employs the techniques of wisdom literature, and the stories of the Bible impart their share of proverbs.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 144-145)