Book of Proverbs: Chapters 15-31, The

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The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 15-31. By Bruce K. Waltke. Grand Rapids: Berdmans, 2005, xxxiii + 589 pp., $50.00.

The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 15-31 is the second half of Bruce Waltke's NICOT commentary on Proverbs. Like its companion (The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15), this volume is first-rate in nearly every respect. (see my review of the first volume in JETS 48 [2005] 628-30). Together, the two works form a model for what a solid OT exegetical commentary should provide: a fresh translation with extensive text-critical notes; a discussion of the structure and poetic features of each section; extensive comments on key Hebrew words and relevant Hebrew syntax; discussion of parallels in ANE literature; judicious interaction with relevant modern and older scholarly views; a clear unfolding of the meaning of each verse; and relevant application.

The publisher explains the commentary was originally planned and written as a single volume, but length dictated that it be broken into two. Indeed, the first volume is 728 pages (including front matter) and this volume is 622 pages. The two books really must be read together, since no introduction or bibliography appears in the second volume. (In the first volume, the introduction is 133 pages long and the bibliography an additional 38 pages.)

This division of the work leads to two minor difficulties. First, the title of the second volume indicates coverage of chapters 15-31, but in reality the commentary begins at 15:30, covering only the last 4 verses of chapter 15. Why did the publishers not end the first volume at the end of a chapter, rather than split the chapter into two unequal parts? For example, it would have made far more sense for volume 1 to cover the introduction plus chapters 1-13 (a total of 664 pages, including the front matter) and then volume 2 would cover chapters 14-31 (a total of 685 pages). This suggestion would have prevented the awkward overlapping in the titles of the two volumes (both containing chap. 15). second, and more importantly, the indices to volume 2 only cover the material in that volume. It would have been far more helpful to include complete indices (subjects, authors, Scripture references, and Hebrew words) to both volumes at the end of volume 2. In this manner, a person wishing to look up a subject such as "speech" would only need to refer to one index to see the references in the entire two-volume set.

As in the first volume, each section of Waltke's commentary begins with a fresh translation and notes on the Hebrew text and significant differences in the versions (especially the LXX). His text-critical discussions are excellent. He emends the Hebrew text only occasionally, and not without significant discussion. For example, he emends a S ("from, than") to a 3 ("like") in Prov 18:19; emends "harlot" to "unchaste wife" in 23:27; and emends the MT slightly in 25:27b, 28:16, 18, and 23. In a very thorough discussion (the footnote is over a page long) Waltke emends "formerly" to "thirty" in 22:20 (with the 30 sayings then paralleling the 30 chapters of The Wisdom ofAmenemope). Whether one agrees with Waltke here or not, the discussion is fair and thorough. The same is true for Waltke's convincing emendation in 30:1 of the second occurrence of "to Ithiel" in the MT to "I am weary, O God," and taking the following word as a verb ("I can prevail") rather than a proper noun. Waltke has a half-page footnote on this issue in the translation section, followed by another long footnote in the exegesis section (pp. 455-56, 467-68).

Notes on the translation do not merely deal with variants or proposed emendations. Often they deal with a grammatical point (usually with a reference to Waltke and O'Connor's Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax), a poetic device (e.g. recognition of sarcasm in Prov 19:27), or the meaning of a particular word (e.g. his nearly full-page footnote on ... in Prov 21:28, where he understands it to mean "successfully" rather than "forever"; or his half-page discussion of ... in 26:23, preferring "silver dross" instead of "glaze").

Next, Waltke discusses the structure of each section. In Proverbs, this is no easy task, since the rationale behind the arrangement of each proverb and the relationship of one proverb to the next is not always easy to discern. At points I am not convinced the "catchwords" or inclusios Waltke proposes are actually deliberate markers in the text (perhaps at times he is guilty of overlinking), but overall his approach is a welcome change to the common tendency to view each proverb from 10:1-31:9 as a distinct entity unrelated to its context. Often Waltke will bring out key poetic features of each section as well (assonance, consonance, alliteration, paronomasia, chiasm, and more).

The heart of the commentary is Waltke's careful verse-by-verse exposition of the text. Here Waltke includes numerous references to ANE literature (primarily Egyptian and Babylonian texts), further poetic features, excellent word studies, helpful background information, and detailed interaction with secondary literature on the verse/topic at hand. To give an idea of the level of detail, 2177 footnotes adorn this volume alone! Many of the footnotes are explanatory, not simply citations. Sometimes Waltke provides so much detail on so many levels that the effect is a bit overwhelming, and the transitions are not always smooth. But in general Waltke's style of writing is excellent, considering the volume of information he conveys in any given paragraph.