Proverbs of Solomon
10:1 to 22:16
We know that there are 375 proverbs in Proverbs 10:1 to 22:16 (375 being the number value of the Hebrew name Solomon) that form the second major section of the book; and this is divided into two parts as well. The first part (see Bq – The First Collection of Solomon’s Proverbs) includes mostly antithetical (contrasting) parallels of the righteous sage and the wicked fool. In the 185 proverbs of this section, language seems to be the dominant theme. Proverbs 10:1a provides the title; then 10:b-16 focuses on wealth and speech; 10:17 to 11:31 deals with deeds and destinies; 12:1-28 is about speech and deeds; 13:1-25 is on good teaching, ethics, and learning; 14:1-31 focuses on living in wisdom; 14:33 to 15:4 emphasizes gentle speech; 15:5-19 stresses the importance of correction; and 15:20-29 records the consequences of both righteousness and wickedness.212
The second part (see Cm – The Second Collection of Solomon’s Proverbs) of this collection has 190 sayings, with sayings and proverbs from ADONAI with the king and the court being prominent themes. Only a few of the verses in this second section are contrasts; most of the verses are either comparisons (in synonymous parallelism) or completions (in synthetic parallelism), with the conjunction “and” introducing the second line in many of the verses (see Ac – Proverbs from a Messianic Perspective: Parallelism). The frequent change of subject from one verse to another may be intentional to force readers to grapple with and meditate on the thoughts in one verse before moving on to the next. However, occasionally, two or more consecutive verses are linked by a common subject or word.213
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