Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 32:2 (Spring 2018)
Article: Daughter Divine: Proverbs’ Woman Of Wisdom
Author: Glenn Pemberton

PP 32:2 (Spring 2018) p. 14

Daughter Divine: Proverbs’ Woman Of Wisdom

Glenn Pemberton

Glenn Pemberton has served churches in Texas and Colorado and has taught the Bible at Oklahoma Christian University and at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. He is now professor emeritus at Abilene. Glenn holds a PhD in Old Testament and has published several books, including The God Who Saves: An Introduction to the Message of the Old Testament (Leafwood, 2015) and A Life That is Good: The Message of Proverbs in a World Wanting Wisdom (Eerdmans, forthcoming in 2018).

Over the past forty years, the remarkable presence of women in Prov 1–9 has drawn an equally remarkable number of studies, a gift from the rise of feminism and women in the academy. The combination of these two forces brings attention to the once invisible women in the text, figures generally overlooked or ignored as males have read and interpreted the text for other males. Now, however, the text again gives birth to these marginalized figures, providing them with bodies, eyes, ears, hands, feet, and especially, mouths for speech. Of 256 verses in Prov 1–9, 132 specifically mention or speak about women1 and another seventeen verses either introduce these texts or draw conclusions from them;2 hence fifty-eight percent of Prov 1–9. Yet, ironically, all this attention to women comes because of the writer’s interest and concern for young men (1:4), with a secondary appeal to older, wise men (1:5). For the sages, it would seem that the way to a man’s heart is not through food, but through women. After all, the author seems to assume, what better way to engage the attention of a young man than by speaking about or describing women?

Women And The Message Of Proverbs 1–9

In Prov 1–9, five women take the stage to carry the load or speak the sage’s message.

1. The young man’s mother speaks alongside his father (1:8–19 and 6:20–35).
2. The writer speaks about the young man’s wife (5:15–19).
3. The writer speaks about the strange or other woman: any woman who pursues his sexual favors, other than the young man’s wife (2:16–19, You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
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