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Proverbs – Proverbs and Parables (Matthew 13:10-16)
How are proverbs and parables similar? Both are short and memorable (which is part of their teaching power). Both use human situations to teach divine wisdom – earthly stories and situations with heavenly meanings. Both used existing and accepted ways of teaching but raised them to a new level – neither Solomon nor Jesus invented their teaching methods. Both methods became associated with their master teachers, Solomon and Jesus. Both compact a lot of teaching in a few words. It is this last point that will make proverbs more interesting.
But what is not so obvious is that both are more obtuse than what first appears. This is because of the compacted nature of the teaching form combined with the illustrations whose meanings go deeper than their physical counterpart.
Since we are so accustomed to Jesus’ parables they appear intellectually undemanding. They were not so viewed when Jesus taught them (Matthew 13:10-16). Either through our own open ears, or familiarity, the parables of Jesus are considered some of His simplest sermons.
Hermeneutically it is rightly taught that parables generally teach one lesson, maybe that lesson itself goes deeper than the illustration. Possibly there is more to the parables than even meets our accustomed eyes and ears. Likewise, perhaps due to our familiarity with the proverbs, we fail to see their depth.
“A proverb is a wise saying in which a few words are chosen instead of many, with a design to condense wisdom into a brief form both to aid memory and stimulate study. Hence proverbs are not only ‘wise sayings,’ but ‘dark sayings’ – parables, in which wisdom is disguised in a figurative or enigmatic form like a deep well, from which instruction is to be drawn, or a rich mine, from which it is to be dug. Only profound meditation will reveal what is hidden in these moral and spiritual maxims” (Arthur T. Pierson, via J. Sidlow Baxter, Explore the Book, v.3, p.132)
The proverbs found in the book by that name “have to be mastered before someone can truly be said to possess it…” (James L. Kugel, How to Read the Bible, p.507). The example given is Proverbs 26:9. Various translations give various implications which shows the complexity of some things that seems simple.
- (HCSB) A proverb in the mouth of a fool is like a stick with thorns, brandished by the hand of a drunkard.
- (ESV) Like a thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
- (CEV) A thornbush waved around in the hand of a drunkard is no worse than a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
- (GNB) A fool quoting a wise saying reminds you of a drunk trying to pick a thorn out of his hand.
- (NASB) Like a thorn which falls into the hand of a drunkard, So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
- (AMP) Like a thorn that goes [without being felt] into the hand of a drunken man, so is aproverb in the mouth of a [self-confident] fool.
- (CPDV) In the manner of a thorn, if it were to spring up from the hand of a drunkard, so also is a parable in the mouth of the foolish.
- (GNT) A fool quoting a wise saying reminds you of a drunk trying to pick a thorn out of his hand.
- (MSG) To ask a moron to quote a proverb is like putting a scalpel in the hands of a drunk.
It is the very nature of a proverb to be brief – “Part of the skill involved in being a sage was the ability to a complex idea and stick it into six or seven words….” (Kugel, p.507). A wise man of our time and age, Albert Einstein said,
- Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
- If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
Brevity consequently can bring confusion. And yet that confusion might be part of the overall genius. Few words can have more meanings than many words which narrow the meaning. While such sounds contradictory, we should remember that such a method occurs elsewhere. In Romans 1:16, what does salvation mean? Or in 1:17, righteousness and faith? I suggest to you that Paul “unpacks” (N.T. Wright) these words with various applications. In the gospel of John, “truth” can mean the opposite of error, or the reality as opposed to the shadow.
As someone who like to write proverbial type statements, I have noticed that some generate reactions that are quite interesting and even beyond my original meaning, and yet the fit the proverb.
- When reading the Bible are we also reading ourselves?
Another example given by Kugel suggesting that these proverbs need to be “mastered” before “possessing” is Proverbs 26:17:
Proverbs 26:17 (HCSB) A person who is passing by and meddles in a quarrel that’s not his is like one who grabs a dog by the ears.
In checking various translations, there did not appear to be any confusion as to how this is to be understood. But what Kugel suggests is that the obvious goes even deeper:
“Someone who grabs a dog by the ears is, in the biblical world of unfailingly nasty dogs, in trouble. He should have just let the dog go by. Now, as soon as he lets go, the dog will bite him; in fact, if he lets go of just one ear, the dog will surely try to wheel around and bite the hand that is still holding the other ear. So is it with the person who meddles in someone else’s quarrel. A first he was in no danger, but as soon as he butted in, he became a party to the dispute. Now he cannot extricate himself, and he certainly cannot side with one of the disputants without the other turning to attack him. Beside this point, the proverbist probably intended us to understand that although such meddling begins with the disputants’ ears – that is, the meddler seeks to be heard by them – in the end, he is going to get it from their mouths.” (ibid., p.508)
Proverbs, parables, and much the rest of the Bible are filled with layers of truth and understanding. The deeper we go, we never contradict what is on the surface, and yet we see the majesty, glory, intelligence, and imagination of God. So read and understand, and then keep reading and understand more.
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