Proverbs 25:1-27

V. COLLECTION 5: SOLOMON’S MAXIMS EXPRESSING WISDOM CHS. 25-29

We return now to consider more proverbs of Solomon (cf. Proverbs 1:1 to Proverbs 22:16). Chapters 25-26 contain proverbs that are mainly comparisons. The key words in these chapters are "like . . . so." Chapter 27 is a mixture of comparative and antithetical proverbs. Chapters 28-29 contain maxims that are mainly contrasts marked by the word "but." In all these chapters there are mostly couplets but also some longer proverbs. I counted 66 proverbs in the group of analogies (Proverbs 25:1 to Proverbs 27:22) and 54 in the group of contrasts (chs. 28-29). This gives us 120 proverbs in this major section of the book if we exclude the discourse on prudence in Proverbs 27:23-27.

"The proverbs in these chapters differ in that there are more multiple line sayings and more similes; chapters 28-29 are similar to chapters 10-16, but chapters 25-27 differ in having few references to God." [Note: Ross, p. 1078.]

I shall again (in chs. 25-29, as in Proverbs 10:1 to Proverbs 22:16) comment only on those verses that seem to me to need clarification.