The Writings, Part 2

Wisdom Literature
This literature, written during the third millennium BCE, is concerned with the realities of human experience from the mundane to the sublime, and with the relationship between that experience and the divine.

One example of the genre of Wisdom literature is Proverbs. Proverbs are short sayings that express insight into ordinary life in human experience. Proverbs often reflect a kind of folk wisdom preserved in the royal courts. The story of the wronged courtier is common to this type of literature. Also, the Proverbs are often presented using a relational metaphor such as father/son, teacher/student, or master/apprentice.

The books of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes share a concern with the present and are largely focused on the human condition as it is actually experienced, though they rarely make explicit reference to the main events and personality of Israel’s history and ancestors, prophets, or kings. Much of the Wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible is attributed to Solomon, just as many of the Psalms are attributed to David. This attribution to Solomon is supported by his reputation as an exceedingly wise ruler, as illustrated in the number of passages in 1 Kings which says, “He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.”