Review in: Journal of the American
Oriental Society 126/1
Gevonden op: http://www.academicroom.com/article/book-proverbs%2C-chapters-1-15-%5Bending-15%3A29%5D-and-chapters-15-31-%5Bbeginning-15%3A30%5D
Reviewed work(s): The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 1-15 [Ending 15:29]
and Chapters 15-31 [Beginning 15:30] by Bruce K. Waltke
The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 1-15 [ending 15:29] and
Chapters 15-31 [beginning 15:30]. By BRUCE K. WALTKE. The New International
Commentary on the Old Testament. 2 volumes. Grand Rapids, Mich.: EERDMANS,
2004, 2005. Pp. xxxv 693; xxxxi 589. $50 each.
This book is aimed at an audience of religious people and particularly home-schoolers, not especially scholars. Waltke's approach assumes that the Bible, including Proverbs, should be read holistically, that is, as a part of the Christian monotheistic revelation. This approach is doubtful since Proverbs does not mention the salvation history of Israel and can be seen as part of a critique of many of the basic ideas of the salvation tradition.
Waltke has distinguished himself in a long career as an expert on Hebrew syntax, and that should recommend him as a commentator on Proverbs. But the homiletic urge has overwhelmed his scholarship, and the critical reader must sift through his ecclesiastical assumptions to find useful hints at understanding this pivotal Biblical book.
I look for a modern Biblical commentary to be based on a broad bibliography drawing from many traditions of scholarship, and Waltke does have the bibliography. He lists articles in the major languages of Europe except Russian, and he seems to have followed Israeli scholarship in Hebrew. Obviously this is the work of a lifetime, but it might have been revised for currentness; for example, Harold Washington's 1992 Ph.D. thesis appears in the bibliography, but not his 1994 book, Wealth and Poverty in the Instruction of Amenemope and the Hebrew Proverbs; this is also the case for Knut Martin Heim's 1996 thesis and 2001 book, Like Grapes of Gold Set in Silver.
In a modern commentary I look for a careful study of the junctures among collections and relations among them, including repetitions of words and phrases as well as ideas. If one thinks that Solomon wrote it all, such matters are of little interest. In fact, nothing that might show any historical change or development is of concern, since Waltke knows that the overall meaning must be the teaching of obedience to religious authority supposedly sanctioned by salvation history. Still, he rather naively suggests that repetition in 14:12 and 16:25 points to "originally distinct collections incorporating the same proverb" (vol. 1, p. 16), though my 1991 book Twice-Told Proverbs, which he lists in his bibliography, showed that that really has to be demonstrated. He does not explain most of his text divisions, including why his first volume ends before the end of chapter fifteen or why the second one starts there.
In a modern commentary I look for thoughtful reflection on the history of the text as seen in its ancient versions. Waltke is informed about the problems with the Septuagint of Proverbs and is open to the possibility of emendation of the Massoretic text. Waltke also freely admits that a final editor was "the real author of the book," though "not of its sayings," and lived during the Persian or Hellenistic period (vol. 1, p. 37). I do not understand what Waltke's statement here means, but I understand why he makes it: he wants Solomon to be the originator, but admits that another hand might have reworked the book.
Waltke's statement, "The spread of homosexuality in America in less than a generation validates the danger of progressive hardening in sin" (vol. 1, p. 291), derives from a view of the history of North America and of Western culture completely alien to many serious persons of belief. Since it is irrelevant to Proverbs 4:17, one must guess that it is supposed to appeal to Waltke's intended audience. Similar is the linking of immorality and venereal disease (vol. 1, p. 293), the evil of "a welfare loafer" (vol. 2, p. 487), and overtaxation (vol. 1, p. 612). That audience may also like his attack on the Enlightenment (vol. 2, pp. 468-69). But do we really reject the success of science or the decipherment of the ancient Near Eastern languages?
The author's grip on the ancient Near East and its literature seems weak. He says that William Moran's study of the idea of love in the ancient Near East rests on a passage in a suzerainty treaty. It comes rather from El Amarna letter 29, from the ruler of Upper Mesopotamian Mittani to the king of Egypt; it may be part of negotiations about treaty language, but it is not a treaty. Waltke thinks the Code of Eshnunna was "the earliest extant legal source" (vol. 2, p. 207 n. 75), ignoring the code of Ur-Nammu or perhaps Shulgi (M. Roth in The Context of Scripture, ed. W. W. Hallo and K. L. Younger, vol. 2 [2000], 408-10). Waltke's lament that politics supposedly stopped the publication of a collection of proverbs from the Syrian site of Ebla (vol. 1, p. 29), based on a 1976 article by G. Pettinato, is not informed by current work. Politics may have had a role in the toning down of the sweeping claims of that time, but it has not suppressed study of texts.
Waltke's grip on Hebrew culture may also be doubtful. He thinks that jealous cuckolds could enslave adulterers (vol. 1, p. 313 to 5:10). This is very unlikely, and the relevant verses only underline that adultery was not a crime that could be compensated for (6:26, 30-35). His rejection of the meaning of "slave" for the word he correctly translates in 12:9 reflects a general desire to whitewash Hebrew society and to avoid a confrontation with the real differences between the ancient society and ours (vol. 1, p. 525); this is not unprecedented, but it is disappointing. And did "noblemen" really exist? I rather doubt it (vol. 2, p. 101 to 19:6). The rabbi Ilaj cited vol. 1, p. 534 via Meinhold's German is called Ila'i in English, and his witty comment that a man is known by his cup, his pocket, and his anger (all have both kaf and samekh in Hebrew) is supplemented in the Talmud by those who added "and by his laughter" (with samekh and qof, Erubin 65b).
But actually there is not much fun in Waltke's volumes, though Proverbs is just as bright and witty, cynical, and pungent as any Biblical book. The only wit I can see is when he criticizes the elder Delitzsch for his apparent belief that children do not dissemble by asking, "Did he have children?" (vol. 2, p. 138). Franz Delitzsch's son was Friedrich (1850-1922), "the most important Assyriologist not only of the German but of the whole scientific world" according to his entry in the Reallexikon der Assyriologie 2 (1938), 198. Maybe he did dissemble, but he was already twenty-two years old when his father published his commentary, and perhaps the father had forgotten. One of Waltke's favorite commentators is the evangelical Church of England priest Charles Bridges (1794-1869), making one wonder if Waltke really thinks nothing has been learned in the last century and a half. Bridges' son, incidentally was the positivist John Henry (1832-1906), a champion of services for the poor, a worthy successor but not religious in any traditional way (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 7 [2004], 579, 587-88).
Waltke uses a vocabulary that derives from his study of the New Testament and from his teaching at seminaries where his students would be steeped in these terms, but the vocabulary is so Hellenized as to be incomprehensible to his right-wing audience. For example, the word "paronomasia," word-play, appears frequently and is never explained. Waltke idiosyncratically uses the term janus meaning "a traditional transitional saying looking backward and forward" from its current position in the text several times before defining the term (vol. 1, p. 47). Finally, from context one sees that his idiomatic use of "gapped" means that some element used in the first part of a verse is meant also to apply in the second (vol. 1, p. 322 to 5:20).
The author sometimes quotes at length from his secondary sources, potentially making his work a compendium of recent commentaries. But I must caution that the references are not always correct and should be checked, e.g., vol. 1, p. 219 to Ploger 1984, and p. 573 n. 113 to Bostrom 1928. Waltke is good at saying how many times words occur and at discussing their usage in books outside Proverbs, as in the note on rolling stones, vol. 2, p. 365 n. 118.
There is a certain lack of proofreading and an occasional repetition of content within the text and the notes (vol. 1, p. 56 and n. 41, p. 232 and n. 77). These features may indicate the absence of an engaged editor. The volumes are nicely produced except for the irrelevant picture of Abraham and three angels on the dust-jackets, an image no doubt of the old-time religion, in this case of a Venetian Rococo artist. There are separate indices in each volume of subjects, authors, scripture references, and Hebrew words and phrases; there is no combined index of both, and this feature will make using the volumes awkward.
But overall the historian of religion finds little of interest in the work. Waltke explicitly rejects any such concerns (p. 1, p. 78). He actually recants his earlier search for an understanding of ancient wisdom as a way of approaching the world without revelation (vol. 1, p. 80 and n. 49).
This book might be of use to someone who has to preach frequently, but even for such a person there are more helpful and much shorter commentaries available, like Richard Clifford, Proverbs (1999), or Raymond van Leeuwen, The Book of Proverbs, The New Interpreter's Bible, vol. 5 (1997). It is sad that someone who is quite capable of discussing the real uncertainties of the Proverbs text has retreated into his confessional tradition. There is a market for such things, but not usually among the readers of these pages.
This book is aimed at an audience of religious people and particularly home-schoolers, not especially scholars. Waltke's approach assumes that the Bible, including Proverbs, should be read holistically, that is, as a part of the Christian monotheistic revelation. This approach is doubtful since Proverbs does not mention the salvation history of Israel and can be seen as part of a critique of many of the basic ideas of the salvation tradition.
Waltke has distinguished himself in a long career as an expert on Hebrew syntax, and that should recommend him as a commentator on Proverbs. But the homiletic urge has overwhelmed his scholarship, and the critical reader must sift through his ecclesiastical assumptions to find useful hints at understanding this pivotal Biblical book.
I look for a modern Biblical commentary to be based on a broad bibliography drawing from many traditions of scholarship, and Waltke does have the bibliography. He lists articles in the major languages of Europe except Russian, and he seems to have followed Israeli scholarship in Hebrew. Obviously this is the work of a lifetime, but it might have been revised for currentness; for example, Harold Washington's 1992 Ph.D. thesis appears in the bibliography, but not his 1994 book, Wealth and Poverty in the Instruction of Amenemope and the Hebrew Proverbs; this is also the case for Knut Martin Heim's 1996 thesis and 2001 book, Like Grapes of Gold Set in Silver.
In a modern commentary I look for a careful study of the junctures among collections and relations among them, including repetitions of words and phrases as well as ideas. If one thinks that Solomon wrote it all, such matters are of little interest. In fact, nothing that might show any historical change or development is of concern, since Waltke knows that the overall meaning must be the teaching of obedience to religious authority supposedly sanctioned by salvation history. Still, he rather naively suggests that repetition in 14:12 and 16:25 points to "originally distinct collections incorporating the same proverb" (vol. 1, p. 16), though my 1991 book Twice-Told Proverbs, which he lists in his bibliography, showed that that really has to be demonstrated. He does not explain most of his text divisions, including why his first volume ends before the end of chapter fifteen or why the second one starts there.
In a modern commentary I look for thoughtful reflection on the history of the text as seen in its ancient versions. Waltke is informed about the problems with the Septuagint of Proverbs and is open to the possibility of emendation of the Massoretic text. Waltke also freely admits that a final editor was "the real author of the book," though "not of its sayings," and lived during the Persian or Hellenistic period (vol. 1, p. 37). I do not understand what Waltke's statement here means, but I understand why he makes it: he wants Solomon to be the originator, but admits that another hand might have reworked the book.
Waltke's statement, "The spread of homosexuality in America in less than a generation validates the danger of progressive hardening in sin" (vol. 1, p. 291), derives from a view of the history of North America and of Western culture completely alien to many serious persons of belief. Since it is irrelevant to Proverbs 4:17, one must guess that it is supposed to appeal to Waltke's intended audience. Similar is the linking of immorality and venereal disease (vol. 1, p. 293), the evil of "a welfare loafer" (vol. 2, p. 487), and overtaxation (vol. 1, p. 612). That audience may also like his attack on the Enlightenment (vol. 2, pp. 468-69). But do we really reject the success of science or the decipherment of the ancient Near Eastern languages?
The author's grip on the ancient Near East and its literature seems weak. He says that William Moran's study of the idea of love in the ancient Near East rests on a passage in a suzerainty treaty. It comes rather from El Amarna letter 29, from the ruler of Upper Mesopotamian Mittani to the king of Egypt; it may be part of negotiations about treaty language, but it is not a treaty. Waltke thinks the Code of Eshnunna was "the earliest extant legal source" (vol. 2, p. 207 n. 75), ignoring the code of Ur-Nammu or perhaps Shulgi (M. Roth in The Context of Scripture, ed. W. W. Hallo and K. L. Younger, vol. 2 [2000], 408-10). Waltke's lament that politics supposedly stopped the publication of a collection of proverbs from the Syrian site of Ebla (vol. 1, p. 29), based on a 1976 article by G. Pettinato, is not informed by current work. Politics may have had a role in the toning down of the sweeping claims of that time, but it has not suppressed study of texts.
Waltke's grip on Hebrew culture may also be doubtful. He thinks that jealous cuckolds could enslave adulterers (vol. 1, p. 313 to 5:10). This is very unlikely, and the relevant verses only underline that adultery was not a crime that could be compensated for (6:26, 30-35). His rejection of the meaning of "slave" for the word he correctly translates in 12:9 reflects a general desire to whitewash Hebrew society and to avoid a confrontation with the real differences between the ancient society and ours (vol. 1, p. 525); this is not unprecedented, but it is disappointing. And did "noblemen" really exist? I rather doubt it (vol. 2, p. 101 to 19:6). The rabbi Ilaj cited vol. 1, p. 534 via Meinhold's German is called Ila'i in English, and his witty comment that a man is known by his cup, his pocket, and his anger (all have both kaf and samekh in Hebrew) is supplemented in the Talmud by those who added "and by his laughter" (with samekh and qof, Erubin 65b).
But actually there is not much fun in Waltke's volumes, though Proverbs is just as bright and witty, cynical, and pungent as any Biblical book. The only wit I can see is when he criticizes the elder Delitzsch for his apparent belief that children do not dissemble by asking, "Did he have children?" (vol. 2, p. 138). Franz Delitzsch's son was Friedrich (1850-1922), "the most important Assyriologist not only of the German but of the whole scientific world" according to his entry in the Reallexikon der Assyriologie 2 (1938), 198. Maybe he did dissemble, but he was already twenty-two years old when his father published his commentary, and perhaps the father had forgotten. One of Waltke's favorite commentators is the evangelical Church of England priest Charles Bridges (1794-1869), making one wonder if Waltke really thinks nothing has been learned in the last century and a half. Bridges' son, incidentally was the positivist John Henry (1832-1906), a champion of services for the poor, a worthy successor but not religious in any traditional way (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 7 [2004], 579, 587-88).
Waltke uses a vocabulary that derives from his study of the New Testament and from his teaching at seminaries where his students would be steeped in these terms, but the vocabulary is so Hellenized as to be incomprehensible to his right-wing audience. For example, the word "paronomasia," word-play, appears frequently and is never explained. Waltke idiosyncratically uses the term janus meaning "a traditional transitional saying looking backward and forward" from its current position in the text several times before defining the term (vol. 1, p. 47). Finally, from context one sees that his idiomatic use of "gapped" means that some element used in the first part of a verse is meant also to apply in the second (vol. 1, p. 322 to 5:20).
The author sometimes quotes at length from his secondary sources, potentially making his work a compendium of recent commentaries. But I must caution that the references are not always correct and should be checked, e.g., vol. 1, p. 219 to Ploger 1984, and p. 573 n. 113 to Bostrom 1928. Waltke is good at saying how many times words occur and at discussing their usage in books outside Proverbs, as in the note on rolling stones, vol. 2, p. 365 n. 118.
There is a certain lack of proofreading and an occasional repetition of content within the text and the notes (vol. 1, p. 56 and n. 41, p. 232 and n. 77). These features may indicate the absence of an engaged editor. The volumes are nicely produced except for the irrelevant picture of Abraham and three angels on the dust-jackets, an image no doubt of the old-time religion, in this case of a Venetian Rococo artist. There are separate indices in each volume of subjects, authors, scripture references, and Hebrew words and phrases; there is no combined index of both, and this feature will make using the volumes awkward.
But overall the historian of religion finds little of interest in the work. Waltke explicitly rejects any such concerns (p. 1, p. 78). He actually recants his earlier search for an understanding of ancient wisdom as a way of approaching the world without revelation (vol. 1, p. 80 and n. 49).
This book might be of use to someone who has to preach frequently, but even for such a person there are more helpful and much shorter commentaries available, like Richard Clifford, Proverbs (1999), or Raymond van Leeuwen, The Book of Proverbs, The New Interpreter's Bible, vol. 5 (1997). It is sad that someone who is quite capable of discussing the real uncertainties of the Proverbs text has retreated into his confessional tradition. There is a market for such things, but not usually among the readers of these pages.
DANIEL C. SNELL
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
COPYRIGHT 2006 American Oriental Society
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
COPYRIGHT 2006 American Oriental Society
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