Exegesis of Proverbs

Proverbs is a strange book. It has moments of rapture, lines of true greatness, and individual thoughts that evoke a deep beauty. Yet it also contains much that is repetitive, all but useless, repulsive, and untrue. All of it sits together, placed in some kind of poetic form that is yet inferior to the Psalms or Job. I have long avoided an in-depth study of the Book, except for chapters here and there, until now.

Proverbs is to be approached differently than other books. There is no doubt that my overall conversational framework is uniquely apt to approaching Proverbs, as many of the contradictions speak to an ongoing conversation between various thinkers, prophets, and sages. Yet whereas generally I take the Bible to be something that should be read as a complete unit, and eschew proof-texting, I take proverbs to be something that should be atomized. Reduce it down to it's parts and investigate each thread. The individual saying is the locus of the divine revelation, the book as a whole can't be read 'all together'...it just doesn't hang together. There are exceptions. Proverbs 8 for instance should be read as a complete unit. But most of the book needs to be broken down and thought about very piecemeal. By doing this you can more easily draw the real divine value from the Book.