Schipper - Hermeneutics of Torah - Proverbs, Deuteronomy, Composition of Proverbs

This book is a revised and expanded English edition of my 2012 study Hermeneutik der Tora. Whereas I wrote my 2012 book six years before the first part of my commentary on Proverbs was published (2018), this book follows two years after the publication of the English edition of my commentary. This gave me the opportunity to adjust the argumentation from 2012. Especially the first and the two last chapters of this book benefited from my work on Proverbs in the past several years and in some cases present a rather different argument than the original German version. To some extent, some paragraphs of this book draw on articles published in recent years such as “Afterword: Wisdom and Torah" “The Phenomenon of Textual Coherence" “Teach Them Diligently to Your Son!" and “Der Dekalog im Sprüchebuch.” The work on this book also gave me the opportunity to reflect on previous studies in Egyptology. I am grateful to my teacher at the Institute for Egyptology at the University of Bonn, the late Ursula Rößler-Köhler, for drawing my attention, more than twenty years ago, to Egyptian wisdom literature.

 

I am grateful to Thomas Römer, who supported the idea of publishing a revised English edition of the book in the distinguished Ancient Israel and Its Literature series. Furthermore, I wish to thank Peter Altmann for translating the manuscript into English and Isabell Hoppe and Yannik Ehmer for their help with proofreading the English text and their many suggestions and clarifications. Moritz Kulenkampff and Berenike Brandes assisted with the bibliography, and Nicole Tilford from SBL Press was an invaluable help in all formatting questions.

 

As already mentioned in the German edition, this study would not have been possible without the support of the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). Within the context of the research project “Diskursive Weisheit" the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft gave me the opportunity to develop my approach to the book of Proverbs. In this regard the present study can serve as a key to understanding my commentary. It is my strong opinion that the sapiential instruction of Prov 2 not only unlocks the perspective of the first part of the book of Proverbs (Prov 1-9), but also helps to decipher the masterful network of connections that shaped the final form of Proverbs as a book. All of this happened in relation to a discourse on wisdom and torah that was determined by Deuteronomy.

 

(Ancient Israel and Its Literature, Number 43)

Atlanta, SBL Press, 2021. - 392 pp.

 

Preface

Abbreviations

1. Introduction

1.1. On Previous Interpretations of Proverbs 2

1.2. Proverbs and Deuteronomy in Previous Scholarship

1.3. Egyptian Wisdom Literature and the Phenomenon of “Textual Coherence”

1.4. The Approach of This Book

2. Textual Analysis: The Instruction of Proverbs 2

2.1. Translation

2.2. Textual Analysis

2.3. On the Composition of Proverbs 2

2.4. Conclusion: On the Intention of Proverbs 2

3. On the Tradition History of Proverbs 2

3.1. Deuteronomic-Deuteronomistic Traditions

3.2. Wisdom Psalms

3.3. Late Prophetic Texts

3.4. Conclusion: Proverbs 2 in the Context of Other Traditions 

4. Proverbs 2 in the Context of the Book of Proverbs

4.1. Proverbs 2 in the Context of Proverbs 1-31

4.2. On the Composition of Proverbs 1-9 in the Context of the Book of Proverbs

4.3. Conclusion: Proverbs 2 and the Composition of Proverbs 1-9

5. The Hermeneutics of Torah: Deuteronomy and Proverbs

5.1. “Torah” in the Postexilic Period

5.2. The Reception of Deuteronomy in the Book of Proverbs 

5.3. The Composition of the Book of Proverbs and the Sapientialization of Torah

5.4. Wisdom and Torah in the Books of Ben Sira and Baruch: A Prospectus

6. Conclusion

6.1. The Phenomenon of Textual Coherence and Proverbs 2

6.2. Proverbs 2 and References to Other Traditions

6.3. Proverbs 2 and the Composition of Proverbs 1-9

6.4. The Hermeneutics of Torah: Proverbs 2, Deuteronomy, and the Book of Proverbs

Bibliography

Ancient Sources Index

Modern Authors Index