Freedom in Christ

From the Household into the World
THE WOMEN’S BIBLE COMMENTARY
(Proverbs 10: 1-22: 16)

Proverbs 1–9 culminates at a crossroads. The youth hears the voices of wisdom
(9:3–6) and folly (9:16–17) beckoning him home for supper, each with initially
identical invitations (“you who are naive, turn in here,” 9:4, 16). Wisdom and folly, it
seems, are not always distinguished quickly. Will the youth choose to feast in secret
on stolen water and bread? Or choose the house of wisdom and step across her
threshold into the next major section of the book (10:1–22:16)?

The wise reader encounters a starkly new literary landscape. Proverbs 10:1–22:16
consists primarily of two-line proverbs, each of which stands on its own and appears,
at least initially, disconnected to the proverbs that precede and follow it. Disorienting
at first, the arrangement fosters the development of moral imagination by shifting the
responsibility for making sense of the proverbs from the parent in Proverbs 1–9 to
readers. Lack of prioritization among the proverbs requires careful consideration of
each one and when it might be applicable…

Taken from THE WOMEN’S BIBLE COMMENTARY by Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley