The poem in Prov 31:10ff. has been read in various ways, by men and by women, as an oppressive and as a liberating text. I will suggest two clues to making sense of the poem. The first is to read it in the context of the book of Proverbs (and not as an isolated poem), and [...]
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While it is quite clear that Proverbs is a gendered text, the way it speaks of women is interesting. For a text coming from an ancient patriarchal society human women who serve as aspirational models are a surprise. No doubt any real Feminist would instantly switch into “pedestal” mode, but I think it’s worth pausing [...]
There certainly should certainly be humour in Proverbs, after all the books says: A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. (Proverbs 17:22) And sure enough when I went humour-hunting Google quickly fitted me up with Hershey H. Friedman, he used to be Bernard H. Stern Professor of Humor [...]
Proverbs are pithy sayings. Short, thought-provoking, often using vivid imagery proverbs work by making you think. But they are often used as a source of quick simple answers. The book of Proverbs is a collkection of loads of such sayings with a long preface and short epilogue that encourage young men to meditate on this [...]
Most of Proverbs contains collections of proverbs (pithy sayings about life) but the book has a nine chapter prologue and a half chapter epilogue. The epilogue is a poem describing an ideal(ised) wife. The prologue seeks to motivate the student (a young male – notice all the “my son” language) to follow his mother’s advice [...]
This week’s 5 is a somewhat artificial collection, putting together two different things. Yet both Psalms and Proverbs work differently from the narrative/history and prophecy that comprise the bulk of the Old Testament, and both are used a lot by Christians along with Genesis and Isaiah (while most of the Old Testament lies unread the [...]
This ‘cast continues the theme of Jesus as the “fulfilment” of Scripture, looking at one topic that’s been settled for decades, and another that’s as hot as today’s headlines. (At least here in NZ where a bill to criminalise parents spanking children is set to become law shortly!) Right-click here to save the podcast for [...]
