Roots of Wisdom: The Oldest Proverbs of Israel and Other Peoples.

• Author: Crenshaw, James L.

The origin and function of biblical proverbs continues to confound the experts. Claus Westermann joins the ranks of those who view the aphoristic sayings as an oral folk tradition expressing discoveries through observation and analogy. He thus opposes those who understand such proverbs as the product of literary production in schools. In his view, the invention of writing stands between these expressions of early wisdom and later didactic wisdom, which assumes the form of imperatives and hortatory poems intended to educate and instruct. The oral sayings lack such authority, he insists, and derive from an autonomy rooted in "creatureliness." Accordingly, they merely observe something without condemning anyone. The speaker stands on the same level as the hearer, according to Westermann.

He reaches these conclusions by form-critical analysis, as well as by comparing African proverbs with their biblical counterparts. Use of such collections of a preliterate tradition raises questions about possible "literary taint," especially when the sayings actually resemble biblical proverbs. Those Westermann cites are closer in form than in subject matter. His own analysis of wisdom forms ignores my extensive study ("Wisdom," pp. 225-64 in Old Testament Form Criticism, ed. John H. Hayes [San Antonio: Trinity Univ. Press, 1974]; reprinted in James L. Crenshaw, ed., Urgent Advice and Probing Questions [Macon, Ga.: Mercer Univ. Press, 1995], 45-77). We differ, among other things, on the matter of authority presupposed by the one who uses an aphorism, perhaps not at its actual formulation, and on the extent of instruction in earlier wisdom. Few sayings are actually neutral in context, and I suspect that their original setting may also have included an element of implicit, at least, didacticism.

Readers familiar with Westermann's analysis of the book of Job will not be surprised by his continued insistence that it be labeled a lament, but they may take comfort in the concessions to wisdom (Job 28, much of the dialogue [the friends' speeches], and Elihu's speeches are considered to be...