Why should advice on proper manners be considered sacred literature?
How does the general ethics of Proverbs—that those who do good will be rewarded, and that those who are successful must therefore have done good—relate to contemporary political and social debates? What about religious positions?
What does the nearly verbatim overlap between Proverbs and the Wisdom of Amenemope mean for our understanding of the origins of the Bible? What difference does it make?
Application Questions:
In what contexts have you most often heard proverbs? Why do you think that is?
To what extent does the way in which proverbs are presented to us frame our understandings of them?
Do you thinhk Jesus followed traditional proverbial wisdom in his life?