In our Bible Study, Pastors Rob Sauers and Nathanael Mayhew discuss the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is one of the poetic books of the Old Testament. Hebrew poetry does not consist of rhyme and meter as English poetry does, but it uses parallelism as a tool to lead us into God’s truth.
Proverbs is an example of wisdom literature and is similar to other wisdom literature found in the ancient world and even today. Even without a special revelation from God, people everywhere have been able to distill certain helpful truths about human behavior into pithy saying. While this is true, Biblical wisdom literature, like Proverbs, rises above the rest. Its source lies not in the observations of sinful human beings, but in the LORD who created life and knows best how it is to be lived. The Bible’s Proverbs are rooted in “the fear of the Lord” (1:7). Therefore, they are entirely reliable and true.
One of the great challenges in reading this book is that Proverbs speaks very little about justification but is focused more on sanctification. As we study this book, we remember that Biblical wisdom finds its highest fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who is the very wisdom of God.
This book speaks on a variety of topics that apply to the lives of God’s people today as much as they did 3,000 years ago when they were first written – a powerful testimony to the timeless value of God’s Word.
May the LORD bless our study!