Like Grapes of Gold Set in Silver: An Interpretation of Proverbial Clusters in Proverbs 10:1-22:16

Abstract

Like Grapes of Gold Set in Silver: An Interpretation of Proverbial Clusters in 10:1-22:16, by Knut Martin Heim. BZAW 273. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2001. Pp. xiv + 378. E98.00. Recent scholarly opinion on the sayings assembled in Prov 10:1-22:16 has tended to view this as purposely arranged and ordered by the editor of these Proverbs of Solomon. In line with this trend, Knut Heim presents his doctoral research, carried out under A. R. Millard at Liverpool. Heim sets out to study how individual sayings in this collection function in context, and provides a enjoyable study of proverbs and their contextual connections. The beginning of this work is occupied with a survey of scholarship. Heim begins by examining the positions of those scholars who have denied that sentence literature is to be read in literary context. They believe that sayings are to be read individually and that interpretation of them is not to be colored by surrounding proverbs. Heim offers a fair reading of these scholars, but deftly points out the deficiencies of such approaches and the fallacies of arguments used to defend them. His major contention is that readers of tend to read sayings without reference to their context because of the very nature of proverbs as self-contained units. Therefore, many have a legitimate concern to safeguard the integrity of individual proverbs that denies any external constraint (such as context) on their meaning. A second chapter surveying scholarship on proverb performance demonstrates that paroemiologists agree that in oral usage the performance context provides clues for understanding and applying proverbs. While paroemiologists consider proverbs in collections to be dead, Heim argues that they are basing this assessment on the field notes and anthologies compiled by anthropologists. These tend to be random collections of sayings. Heim contends that the editors) of purposely arranged sayings into small groupings based on features such as theme, catchwords, paronomasia, and the like, thereby providing them with a literary performance context. His argument is persuasive, if not totally new. A third chapter explores recent scholarship that has recognized coherent editorial groupings in Proverbs. Heim's concern here is twofold: to demonstrate the growing consensus that sayings were purposely arranged by the editor and to show deficiencies in method that have hindered reliable delimitations of clusters of proverbs. He concludes that there has been an overreliance on chapter divisions and literary features as delimiters. Heim also expresses doubt about using paronomasia and catchwords absolutely to determine coherence between adjacent proverbs. Instead, he advocates control mechanisms for evaluating their significance as tools producing coherence among individual sayings. Most importantly, he notes that most scholars who favor reading the sayings in their literary context also identify two major sets of appellations throughout these sayings: The righteous are identified with the wise, and, in binary opposition to this, fools are identified with the wicked. These identifications are not possible when the sayings are read atomistically. The second section of Heim's study aims at three goals. The first goal is to develop a theory of reading contextually. This is addressed by theorizing about the use of proverbs in oral contexts. He notes that speakers of proverbs have a mental collection of sayings from which they choose one that they feel best applies to a given situation. Hearers, conversely, reverse this process. They begin by comparing the situation with the perceived truth expressed by the proverb and either accept or reject its application. Reading proverbs in a collection is different according to Heim. Readers who do not perceive any editorial organization generally read the proverbs independently. Such readers find numerous truths expressed by these proverbs, and each proverb can be applied to a wide range of situations. …