"God's Wisdom in Proverbs": What's the Deal?

by Dan Phillips

I realized that I haven't actually told you much about God's Wisdom in Proverbs, beyond the fact that it's coming and it's pre-orderable at 50% off. Realizing this, I'm truly all the more humbled and grateful to the many of you who have pre-ordered the book, regardless. Thank you so much; please know that I never, ever take it for granted.

Perhaps others would like a sneak-peek at what's in it, and such like? In that case, I'm here to serve.

Because the 50%-off price is, seriously, a terrific deal, if you ever think you'd be interested in this book. (For that matter, I'm tempted to order a bunch of copies myself!)

For starters, here's the...

Table of Contents Preface......................................................................................................xv Acknowledgments......................................................................................xx Chapter One Essentials for Understanding Proverbs...........................................................1 Chapter Two The Stated Design of Proverbs.....................................................................35 Chapter Three The Foundation of Wisdom..........................................................................65 Chapter Four WISDOM: Seeking and Finding..................................................................107 Chapter Five Relating to God by Trust and Worship.........................................................127 Chapter Six Skill in Godly Relationships........................................................................161 Chapter Seven Skill in Godly Marriage...............................................................................187 Chapter Eight Skill in Godly Child-training........................................................................243 Epilogue A Word to the Wise.....................................................................................307 Appendix One Who Wrote Proverbs, and What Difference Does It Make?..........................317 Appendix Two Words Related to Teaching in Proverbs.......................................................337 Appendix Three Proverbs 22:6—Promise…or Threat?...........................................................353 Appendix Four Preaching and Teaching the Book of Proverbs............................................381 Bibliography..............................................................................................397 Index of Major Subjects..............................................................................403 Index of Scriptures.....................................................................................404

What that doesn't show is that each chapter is followed by a series of study questions for consideration. This will make the book more useful for Bible studies, Fellowship groups, electives, college/seminary courses.

Now let me tell you a bit more about what is in God's Wisdom in Proverbs — though I will mostly let others do the talking. How can I? We sent a penultimate version of the manuscript to a broadly-selected group of readers who included PhDs, moms, pastors, and others of varying levels of theological education. The following quotations are from their responses to a series of questions about their experience in reading the manuscript.

Style. God's Wisdom in Proverbs is rather different from The World-Tilting Gospel. TWTG is conversational in tone. While one hopes that it is evident that the author did his homework, the muscle is kept largely "under the hood." There are relatively few academic-type footnotes, and what Greek and Hebrew notes are included are phonetically transliterated.

In God's Wisdom in Proverbs, by contrast — to use a math metaphor, which, my dear wife will confirm, is pretty funny for me to be caught doing — I "show my work." Hebrew, Greek, scads of footnotes, pages of bibliography, charts, graphs, arguing with previous writers, the whole nine yards. A fair bit of exegetical, expository, theological, and applicational nuts and bolts are provided for your edification.

On the other hand, it's still by me. It's still my style, or one of my styles. The intent is to reach as wide a spectrum of readers as possible with some of the best work in Proverbs that I'm capable of offering. My desire as always is to be of use to as many as possible — in fact, to absolutely anyone who wishes to understand the Word better. That is my life-goal, under God. So the most technical information is in the footnotes, while the main text is kept more flowing.

Does the extensive reference to Hebrew make the book unusable to a non-Hebrew-reader? Hear one such pre-reader speak to just that question: "I definitely found the use of Hebrew to be appropriate, and certainly understood why it was there. After all, we’re studying a book written in Hebrew, let’s get to the language. ...Dan’s obvious familiarity with the language boosted my confidence in his treatment of the text."

Another, who had studied some Hebrew previously, said, "I found [the use of Hebrew] helpful, because Dan explains his terms. He explained his terms well enough that a serious student who may be ignorant of Hebrew could easily manage his way through his book and benefit greatly from it."

Does the fact that it's more "show-my-work" than The World-Tilting Gospel make God's Wisdom in Proverbs any less accessible?

"I found this book’s style highly engaging. ...I found the book to be a page-turner. Loved the warmth, wit and obvious love for God’s word and concern for the reader" (grandmother) "Yes, Dan has an easy 'let’s chat about' this style...." (PhD/professor) “Yes hard to put down. ...Very encouraging. Too many OT works in general, and works on the poetic books in particular, get lost in theory, diagramming, and seem to lose application and spiritual vigor” (PhD/pastor) "Dan has done a really superb job in keeping the material accessible" (associate pastor)

Usefulness. Who could make use of God's Wisdom in Proverbs? My intent was that it be useful to as many sorts of people as Lady Wisdom summons in the streets (Prov. 1:20-33). Here are the folks the pre-readers felt it would reach:

• Pastors
• Pastors in training
• Seminary students
• Bible college students
• College students
• Bible study leaders
• Biblical counselors
• Discipleship trainers
• SS teachers
• Parents, specifically home-school parents and parents of struggling or wise teenagers
• Young parents who want to start their households off on the path of wisdom
• Single parents
• Grandparents
• Serious-minded Christians
• Pretty much anyone who is serious about studying the Proverbs
• Anyone wanting to expand their knowledge of Hebrew or understand how intricately translations affect understanding and application
• All kinds of people from all kinds of walks of life
• Home school co-op teachers

But don't take my word for it. Before we did the final edit, we ran the book before readers from all walks of life. Here are some of their impressions:

"I enjoyed and benefited immensely from this book, as a parent, a grandparent, a teacher, counselor, and most of all as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a great read, as evidenced by how much I ruminated on it and looked forward to getting back to it when I had to lay it down. ...The material was accessible; although the work is plenty academic, the language was direct and real, and never stuffy. I very much enjoyed Dan’s sense of humor even as he was speaking pastorally. ... will heartily recommend this book to friends and fellow church members. I believe it’s an important book that can fill a huge need in the church." (a grandmother) "Spiritually convicting, helpful, pastoral." (PhD/pastor) "...it was a thoroughly enjoyable read. It was engaging to the point I would seriously think about teaching through the book of Proverbs with a class or congregation" (Bible teacher/ employee in Christian org.) "Without exaggeration, this book will become a 'go-to' resource for Proverbs... I especially thought that [the introductory material is] worth whatever may be the price of this book. Dan’s discussion of Solomonic authorship and intent, the structure and unity of Proverbs, as well as interpretive guidelines were exceedingly helpful in cutting through the higher critical presumptions on Proverbs, many of which have unfortunately infiltrated the evangelical pew and necessitate treatment by any pastor or teacher. "Dan’s strength is not just the exhaustive treatment (and interaction with other literature and commentaries), but the accessible manner in which he treats them. It is a rare-find to have a book that deals with all the necessary issues in a readable fashion. Dan very much exemplifies a model for teaching Proverbs to pastors and teachers and I do not believe I have yet to encounter another work on Proverbs that is this accessible, thorough, and helpful.  Furthermore, Dan’s applicational comments are both relevant and suggestive to how one may preach and apply Proverbs to our contemporary context and churches. ...I believe I would go so far as to say that if you own only one book on Proverbs for teaching and preparation, this is the book." (Associate pastor)

Of course, as the author, to see both "accessible" and "academic" applied repeatedly to the same book does not ruin my day. To say the least.

I hope that's helpful in telling you whether this sounds like a book for your library. In the days to come, I am thinking of putting up an excerpt or two. Maybe I'll tease you with a bit from Appendix Three, concerning which Dr. Kevin Zuber said it might make some readers "take that old 'cross-stitch verse' off the nursery wall."

But if you have any interest in it at all, I sincerely encourage you to take advantage of the 50% off deal that is currently being offered. When Amazon has it, I can't imagine they're get anywhere near that price.

Publication date is targeted for September 1, 2011. Soon!

Readers outside of America: the person to contact is Tonya Waycaster, at tonya.waycaster, then @, then stl-distribution.com. Ask her any questions you have about coupons, delivery, all the rest. Thanks for your interest!

Kindle? Logos? Audio version? All that probably depends on sales of the hardcover edition, and that is what this post and meta are about.

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