54

Structural Variety.

The same thing may be said even of different verses in one section-thus 14. 12 is identical with 16. 25. There are also however, interspersed throughout the section compiled by Hezekiah's copyists, some longer proverbs or addresses, extending over a plurality of verses, as, for instance, 25. 6-7, 21-22, 26. 24-26, 27. 23-27, and thus. resembling chapters first to ninth.

These divisions and diversities in the structure of Proverbs 1 to 29 have led to a denial of the Solomonic authorship of much in the Book of Proverbs besides chapters 30, 31. Such structural variety however is quite common in the Scriptures; so that in some cases where it is not disputed that what purports to be one book is in reality one book, the book yet consists of two or more distinct sections, each of which is to some extent a book in itself.

Thus, not to speak of the fivefold division of the Psalter, nor of the miscellaneous sections of Isaiah-some of them (5. 25; 9 thrice; 10. 4) marked off by a common refrain, and chapters 36-39 constituting a portion clearly separate from what precedes, yet as clearly forming part of the same book-the Apocalypse may be specially noticed. That remarkable book is certainly one whole. Yet, apart from the introductory sentences (verses 1-3), the second and third chapters, including the historic narrative prefixed to them in I. 4-20, have a highly artificial symmetry quite peculiar to them, yet not absolutely uniform;

The Words of the Wise.

55

as the different positions of the precept to him. that hath an ear plainly show. This unique symmetry marks these chapters off with unmistakable clearness from the chapters which follow. And yet it is evident, from the internal characteristics of the twenty-two chapters, that they constitute one book, all the parts of which are closely connected together-the relation between the two sections being like the relation between the head and the body, which are distinct from yet one with each other. Now the case is similar with Proverbs 1-29; and any successful comparison between these chapters and the Book of Ecclesiastes with the view of proving the Solomonic authorship of Ecclesiastes, must incidentally disclose such common features pervading these twenty-nine chapters as will indicate that all of them are truly designated Proverbs of Solomon. And here, in passing, notice may be taken of a remark by Delitzsch, with reference to the section extending from the seventeenth verse of the twenty-second chapter to the end of chapter twenty-fourth, that if these ' proverbs are composed by the D', "the wise," then they are not the production of the one

TT

, "wise man," Solomon, but they are "the words of the wise" in contradistinction to "the Proverbs of Solomon." To this however it may be replied that the maintenance of the Solomonic authorship is not inconsistent with the supposition that Solomon may have incorporated in his Proverbs proverbial sayings of earlier ages, which he, having been familiar with them from his youth,

56

The Proverbs of Solomon.

had so recast and reproduced as to make his own. Ancient proverbs, which might well be called words of the wise, are referred to and quoted in Numbers 21. 14, 15, 17, 18; 1 Samuel 24. 14; Job 8. 8-11, 15. 17-20. And the comparing of such maxims as Proverbs 9. 10 and 24. 19 with Job 28. 28 and Psalm 37. 1 respectively, is sufficient to show that Solomon did not overlook the pithy proverbial sayings which had been handed down to him from former days, but stored his mind with them, and was thus well qualified for bringing out of his treasure things new and old. Indeed in Proverbs 4. 4 he expressly states that certain precepts which he rehearses had been communicated to him by his father. Still further, it is surely obvious that if the name ' was used to denote a certain class of persons, the words of any one man in the class might correctly be called Thus in I. 6, proverbs which are unquestionably Solomonic in their authorship are designated, not words of Dan, as Delitzsch would have it, but on. And the presence of the same phrase in Proverbs 22. 17, so far from supporting Delitzsch's view, points in the opposite direction; for verses 19 and 20 show clearly that the 7 of the seventeenth verse are the words of one man, who, speaking as he does in the first person singular, can be none but Solomon:

דברי חכמים

Comparison of Books.

57

Ecclesiastes compared with the Proverbs and the Song of Solomon.

As already observed, it is not any resemblance between one book and another that is sufficient to indicate identity of authorship. Many passages in Ecclesiastes bear a close resemblance to passages in books undoubtedly written by others than Solomon. Thus 10. 8 resembles Psalm 7. 16 (15); and 5. 14 (15) resembles Job 1. 21. There are likewise many points in which the Pauline Epistles resemble those Epistles and Gospel narratives which were not written by the apostle Paul. The resemblance however, both in extent and in characteristic features, between Paul's epistle to the Ephesians and his epistle to the Colossians is of a very different kind, pointing conclusively to identity of authorship. Here the force of the proof lies, not in an isolated coincidence between a passage in the one book and a passage in the other, for such coincidences might probably be proved between certain passages in any two books of the Bible, but in the extent and character of the coincidences subsisting between the two books. Now although it cannot be said of Proverbs, Canticles, and Ecclesiastes, that they are alike in outward form and design, as two of Paul's epistles to two different churches are, yet it is perhaps not too much to affirm that, with this exception, a resemblance not less close and conclusive than the resemblance between Paul's

58 Evidence of the Solomonic Authorship.

epistle to the Ephesians and his epistle to the Colossians subsists between the three books ascribed to Solomon; and indeed their very dissimilarity enhances their resemblance as an evidence of their common authorship. In comparing the Book of Ecclesiastes with the Proverbs and with the Canticles, so as to show that he who wrote them wrote it, frequent reference must be made likewise to the historic records of Solomon's life and reign. Besides a preliminary comparison of passages in the English Bible, the variety of comparisons thus instituted may be arranged under these two heads

I. Identity of Words.

2. Coincidences in Style and Phraseology.

Characteristic Differences between Solomon's
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

While the style and structure of Ecclesiastes are widely different in various respects from the style and structure of the Proverbs of Solomon, yet some objects prominent in both books are spoken of in both after one and the same fashion; and both are pervaded by similar exhortations and precepts and proverbs-the inner resemblance of which, as proceeding from the same author, is enhanced by external differences of connection and arrangement. On the one hand, there are in Ecclesiastes admonitions and addresses similar to