Proverbs Footnotes

¹ Most English translations have the word “instruction” here in verse 2, but the Hebrew word is better translated “correction or discipline” (Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, 416).

² Paraphrased from Tim Keller, “True Wisdom.”

³  I ( Jon) learned the phrase “Israelite Dear Abby” from Russell Moore’s messages on Proverbs.

⁴  The structure and flow of this sermon was helped tremendously by Dennis Johnson’s discussion of how to preach the wisdom literature of the OT in Him We Proclaim, 303–13.

⁵  See the great discussion by Waltke on the proverbs as promises in The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 1–15, 107–9.

⁶  This insight came from Bruce Waltke, and the entire sermon is built on this premise (Proverbs, Chapters 1–15, 238–50).

⁷  Mark Dever says, “Individual proverbs are always ultimately true. . . . Individual proverbs are normally true now” (Message, 510, emphasis original).

⁸  Much of this section is built on Russell Moore’s insights into the wisdom of Proverbs.

⁹ “Stay as far away from it as you can!” (Wiersbe, Be Skillful, 52).

¹⁰  This insight about seemingly innocuous patterns that lead to destruction in the area of sexual morality comes from Russell Moore, “Proverbs 5:1-23—The Horror of Adultery and the Gospel of Christ.”

¹¹ Jimmy Scroggins—my youth pastor growing up—referred to her with the nickname “Honey Lips.”

¹² This is a great ebook on fighting pornography.

¹³ Kidner has a great discussion of Woman Wisdom and how she functions in this way. He also believes that the New Testament reader should see this as Jesus, as I argue in the next paragraph.

¹⁴ Fox draws out this contrast.

¹⁵ The editors of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament see Revelation 3:14 as a citation or an allusion to Proverbs 8:22, thus connecting Proverbs 8 with Jesus in Revelation 3.

¹⁶  Longman explains how Wisdom and Folly point to Jesus and idols or Satan, and he shows how this decision affects whether or not one can follow the wisdom of the rest of Proverbs. His insights are extremely helpful here. Longman, Proverbs, 58-60, 64-69.

¹⁷ Many of these insights on how Proverbs 9 helps us understand how to read Proverbs 10–31 come from Longman’s terrific discussion.

¹⁸ For a good discussion of the structure of Proverbs, see Garrett, Proverbs, 39–46.

¹⁹ Waltke sees 10:1–15:29 as paralleling the righteous versus the wicked.

²⁰  For a good discussion of how Proverbs functions as Solomon obeying Deuteronomy 6, see the discussion by Hamilton in God’s Glory, 320.

²¹  Longman has a great discussion on wealth and poverty in Proverbs. See Longman, Proverbs, 573–76.

²²  See the excellent discussion by Dennis Johnson (Him We Proclaim, 303–13) on how to preach Christ from texts like this. His insights greatly helped me.

²³  The exposition of this verse was greatly helped by Longman’s insights in Proverbs, 229.

²⁴  This is the thesis of my dissertation. See Jonathan Akin, “Theology of Future Hope.”

²⁵ “Twelve Rules for Raising Delinquent Children,” accessed October 13, 2015. There are many variations of this anonymous and often-quoted list, but it is historically attributed to the Juvenile Division of the Houston Police Department. For more information, see http://www.snopes.com/glurge/12rules.asp.

²⁶  Garrett calls this dealing “with a fool on his own terms” in Proverbs, 212.

²⁷  Waltke argues that this is how one stoops to the fool’s level by answering insult with insult (Proverbs, Chapters 15–31, 349).

²⁸ There are many thorny issues in the superscript. For a good discussion see Waltke, Proverbs, Chapters 15–31, 454–67.

²⁹  See Longman’s explanation of excrement and ritual uncleanness in Proverbs, 527.

³⁰  Waltke argues that verse 17 covers all four actions. See Proverbs, Chapters 15–31, 489.

³¹  This section was greatly aided by Waltke, Proverbs, Chapters 15–31, 490–92.

³² Garrett’s discussion helped this section tremendously. See Garrett, Proverbs, 242.

³³  Waltke makes these connections, including the royal connection, in Proverbs, Chapters 15–31, 495–500.

³⁴  Goldsworthy argues we will have disorder in our lives until we have a right relationship with God (Tree of Life, 174).

³⁵  Longman also connects this to home building in Proverbs, 436.

³⁶  Longman argues similarly. He writes that perverse speech “offends righteousness and goes against the dictates . . . of God himself ” (Proverbs, 123).

³⁷  A garrulous person is excessively talkative, especially about trivial matters.

³⁸  The conclusion is dependent on Poirier’s fantastic article, “The Cross and Criticism.”

³⁹ Dennis Johnson’s great discussion on this issue shaped my thinking here.

⁴⁰  See similar remarks in Lillian Kwon, “Stop Separating Gays From ‘Normal’ People, Says Evangelical.”

⁴¹  For a New Testament perspective on this topic, see Daniel Akin’s sermon, “My Body Belongs to God.”

⁴² The fact that wisdom is found in the Son and the Word should not be shocking because the New Testament reveals to us that the Word is a person—Jesus of Nazareth ( John 1:1-14). See Goldsworthy’s discussion of this in Tree of Life, 187.

⁴³ Many of the insights here on the multifaceted nature of sloth in Proverbs come from Russell Moore’s teaching on sloth in “Walking the Line.”

⁴⁴  The conclusion to the section was also aided by Moore’s insights here.

⁴⁵  My ( Jon’s) thinking on wrath and forgiveness has been greatly shaped by Piper’s sermon.

⁴⁶  See Waltke’s discussion of these two options in Proverbs 15–31, 330–32.