Updated August 20, 2022 There were quite a number of bad links which were fixed.

Chapters covered so far: Proverbs 1–9 (and the introduction to the first 9 chapters) only. The study, so far, is 4772 pages.

What follows are LINKS to the various chapters of Proverbs, each of which is a document of 100 or more pages. Also included in this document are Chapter Summaries of those chapters so far exegeted, as well as a chart of all the completed chapters. The examination of each chapter is so lengthy as to preclude gathering them up into one document.

The exegesis of these books will not put before you a bunch of brand new doctrines which are different from those already delivered by orthodox Christianity; that is, a study of this book is not going to upend your doctrinal foundation, or get you interested in joining some cult of some sort; these questions have doctrinal answers and fit in very well with the essential doctrines that we have learned and have believed in (see the Doctrinal Statement).

As an aside, even though I have attended Berachah Church for over 40 years, these are not my notes re-worked from R. B. Thieme, Jr.’s excellent notes. On most chapters, I refer back to my old notes from that class to make certain that I did not leave anything out (when such notes exist); but R. B. Thieme, Jr. did not cover most of the material included here (at least, not during the time that his lessons were recorded and distributed). And, as always, the bulk of this study is original, with view toward contemporary events. There are a great many things in these chapters that Bob did not cover. However, the theology is essentially the same.

There should no longer be any problems with the graphics or the Hebrew characters in any of the HTML documents listed below.

A possible problem with the following pdf files is, they are quite large and they may not display on computers with limited memory (a typical chapter will be 200–300 pages long). If that is the case, then you should be able to right-click the link, choose save as, and put the file on your hard drive and open it there using Adobe Acrobat Reader. That will give you a complete view of the graphics and the Hebrew characters. However, since WordPerfect now properly prints out Hebrew words (reading from right to left), HTML files also properly display the Hebrew characters, but the PDF files read left to right. In older documents, I placed each letter where it belonged by typesetting, and WP and PDF would display properly (but this would not transfer to HTML documents). For most people, this does not mean anything, but I did have one person who noticed the problem in the PDF documents.

The following documents will open up on your computer, either into WordPerfect or into Word (although the formatting might be a little funky in Word).

Now and again, I have seen that I have made some mistakes in spelling as well as in the morphology (I took the information from Owen, but changed it whenever there was a mistake in his work). If you discover mistakes, then I would want to know what they are so that I could change them and update the documents. I enjoy studying the Word of God, but I so hate to proofread.

For most chapters, the original wpd (WordPerfect document) is also available online. Just go to http://kukis.org/Proverbs/, right click, and choose save as. These documents will open in WordPerfect and sometimes in Word (although that is a dicey proposition). Each document (chapter) is typically around 100–300 pages.

Brief Chapter Synopses

Proverbs 1–9 Introduction A Father’s Advice to His Son: Become Wise (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

Word Cloud for Proverbs 1–9 (ESV)

Although there is a lot of material from other commentators, there is also material in this introduction which is unique to this study, including Jesus Christ in Proverbs 1–9 and God in Proverbs 1–9.

This document includes discussion of the vocabulary of Prov. 1–9, quite a number of outlines of these first 9 chapters (some simple and some quite complex), an overview of the format found in these 9 chapters along with some treatment of the translations used and why they are classified as they are, and the authorship specifically of these first 9 chapters.

Also included: 2 original translations of these first 9 chapters.

Even though I am not completely happy with my organization of this material, dividing up the introduction to this section of Proverbs from the rest of Proverbs is the correct thing to do. 71 pages.

Proverbs 1 Choosing God’s Wisdom or Rejecting It (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

Although the study of this particular chapter is quite extensive, I may have gotten somewhat carried away with some of the internal doctrines, borrowing liberally from Precept Austin for all the occurrences of this or that word in the book of Proverbs.

I may also have gotten carried away with quotes from various commentators. There are over 500 footnotes in this chapter, and most of them are quotations from others.

The combination of the imported text from other sources, and the original material found within, you should be able to fully understand this chapter of Proverbs and everything that is found within it, including some of the more difficult and obscure passages (like the one about the bird watching a net being set for him).

It should be easy to see why R. B. Thieme, Jr. spent in excess of 30 hours teaching this one chapter of Proverbs. Not only does this lay the foundation for the book of Proverbs, this is the essential pamphlet of the spiritual life in Israel and the Christian life for us today.

What we do not find are scores of thoughtful Proverbs simply thrown together. There is an organization throughout this chapter, as well as an internal organization to every section and passage. Often understanding the structure of a passage makes the passage more understandable, as well as easier to remember.

One of the important discussions in this book is canonicity—when was it developed, how were books added, when did we understand what it meant for Scriptures to be inspired, etc. There are a lot of misunderstandings about these things which misunderstandings can be dispelled with some simple logic. For instance, some people believe that some person or some influential group decided what would be in the Bible and what would not be; and that they chose these things according to some set of doctrines which they already held. Not only is this belief not historical, it is also illogical.

Doctrines covered in this chapter: Authority, The Old Testament and Typology, Fear of the Lord, Separation, The Importance of Bible Doctrine, Basic Divine Discipline, Murder, and Socialism.

Also examined: The organic formation of the canon of Scripture; What you may judge; Ann Landers on motherhood; parents’ basic training for children; the promises of criminals; Sheol; and client nations Great Britain and the United States.

I probably got carried away with including quotations from outside sources. A lot of people had a lot of good things to say about Prov. 1.

At some point in time, perhaps a quarter of this material will be transferred over into an introduction to the book of Proverbs. 308 pages.

Proverbs 2 The Path of Righteousness versus the Ways of Evil (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

I had far too many quotations in Proverbs 1 and over 500 footnotes. This time, I made a conscious attempt to have as few as possible, but without cheating the reader of the information found in this chapter (there are only 160 footnotes in Prov. 2). My intention is that each chapter exegeted from the Bible stand on its own as a separate literary unit. That is, all that you need to understand in any chapter is what is found in the exegesis of it. Therefore, there are some overlapping doctrines in Prov. 1 and 2.

Prov. 2 is a discourse from father to son. The father extols the virtues of knowledge, wisdom and understanding, and gives some of the results of having a heart filled with understanding: wisdom with come into the heart and understanding be pleasant to the soul. A man with wisdom and understanding will know how to avoid evil and how to avoid the wrong woman. In the end, those who are upright and have integrity will inhabit the earth, while the wicked will be uprooted from it.

The doctrines studied in this chapter: the Doctrine of the Heart, the Fear of the Lord, the Doctrine of Evil, the Doctrine of Adultery, the Doctrine of Flattery, the Palestinian Covenant, and the Baptism of Fire.

Applications in this chapter involve Alexis de Tocqueville, the day that your child asked you 50 questions, why banks and Walmart are not evil, the so-called 99%, the Ferguson riots and Jonathan Gruber.

We study and discuss how wisdom is not a function of I.Q., storing up Bible doctrine in your heart, the importance of Bible doctrine, the joy of Bible doctrine, the problems of cults, King David and how he raised most of his sons poorly, and even ask the question is the Bible racist? 163 pages.

Proverbs 3 The Benefits of Wisdom (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

David continues teaching his son in Proverbs 3. This chapter could be summed up as the application of wisdom of life and its many benefits; contrasted with the lives of those who reject the wisdom of God.

Proverbs 3:6 (graphic) from Unveiledwife.com; accessed February 12, 2015.

There is a great emphasis in this chapter about the physical and mental health benefits of knowing and applying God’s knowledge to life. This will be discussed because this has both been overblown by some, and, by others, disregarded.

One of the mysteries of this chapter is the mention of the Tree of Life. We can understand what the Tree of Life was back in Genesis and even what it means in Revelation; but what does it mean here, in the middle of a wisdom book? What is the relationship? This will be explained (as far as I know, this has not been correctly explained before).

Proverbs 3:18 (graphic) from media.salemwebnetwork.com; accessed February 12, 2015. This verse reads: Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace it; those who lay hold of it will be blessed.

Because of the emphasis of this chapter on Bible doctrine and health, we will look at the topic of Suicide and Gay Teens. Because of the relationship of God’s wisdom to His creation, and the mention of the water cycle, we will examine the water cycle, the concept of irreducible complexity, and several topics in science. Because there is an emphasis in this chapter on giving, we will study that particular topic in great detail. The Bible has a lot to say about the benefits of wisdom, which, in some cases, might be financial. This will be discussed, along with wealth inequality and socialism. This topic today was greatly distorted by the communists back in the 1970's and 1980's, which distortions are preserved today in leftist politics and liberal idealism.

In this chapter, we will study the doctrines of Operation Z; Human Viewpoint versus Divine Viewpoint; the Old Testament Spiritual Life; Divine Discipline; and Envy (I don’t think this particular doctrine is found on any other doctrinal site). 238 pages.

Proverbs 4 Embrace Wisdom and Do Not Follow the Wicked (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

This is a very unusual chapter in Scripture, as God is not named in this chapter. You can see this when you examine the Word Cloud for the translation of this chapter. However, it is still a part of the Word of God; and divine inspiration is clearly a part of Proverbs 4. This would suggest that this chapter deals mainly with the laws of divine establishment. This is true; but it also deals with the spiritual life as well.

Black Americans used to be a powerful spiritual force in America; and now they are a drag on American society. What happened? How does Proverbs 4 help to explain what happened?

We study how evil and sin become a part of our nature as we sin more often or commit acts of evil more often (evil may include acts of sin and acts of human good). This is presented in parallel to eating and drinking, and how the food becomes an actual part of us (just as Bible doctrine; or acts of sin and evil become a part of us).

Topics discussed: teaching your children; the necessity of discipline; the use of the word heart in Proverbs (and the rest of the Bible); gays and gay marriage; taxing sin; the variety of gifts of the body of Christ; Proverbs 4 and Operation Z; the concepts of evil and sin; the consistency of the Bible with heart science;

Doctrines covered: Crowns; Scriptural Promise for a Long Life; Crime and Punishment; God and Light; the Spiritual Life in the Age of Israel; Darkness; Walking, Running; Sins of the Tongue; Sin. 219 pages.

Proverbs 5 The Wrong Woman/The Right Woman (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

David talks about one of his favorite subjects in this chapter of Proverbs: women—in particular, the right woman for any man (and, in this case, it is the right woman for Solomon, his very young son). One of the things which is fascinating is, David had 10 wives and 10 mistresses; Solomon had 1000 wives and mistresses; and yet David is teaching his son about the importance of one wife, of one relationship, of one love. This is the boundary given by God for personal and sexual love. The reason that this is fascinating is, most people like to justify themselves. Most people like to point to things that they have done and say, “You may think that I got it wrong, but what I was doing was a-okay.” But David does not do this. Solomon, in recording this information, does not do this. Both men, David by his teaching and Solomon by his recording of this information, testify to God’s plan for men and women, which is not the plan which they followed. At no time in any of their writings does either man try to justify their own mistakes. Solomon never writes, a man with one wife is blessed and a man with two is double-blessed. David never says, you know, in this line, we men of Judah have the sexual vigor of 20 men, so we need to have many women at our beck and call.

Much of this chapter can be taken as allegorical, which only one or two commentators have done. Furthermore, from the earliest times, a significant portion of the chapter has been incorrectly interpreted. A correct interpretation will be given, along with a complete argument as to why the previous explanation was wrong and why the explanation found here is correct.

Doctrines covered: Wormwood; Flattery; Lusts of the Soul; Sheol; the Cosmic System; Sexual Love in Marriage; and the Sin unto Death.

Important topics covered: Islam and Multiple Wives; The Cost of Sexual Immorality; Children being raised without fathers; Marriage and the 3^rd Divine Institution; the Omniscience of God; and a Metaphorical Approach to Proverbs 5.

This is one of the most common sense and applicable chapters of the Bible. 196 pages.

Proverbs 6 Laziness, Adultery and Things Which God Hates (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

Unlike the previous chapters of Proverbs, Prov. 6 covers a wide range of topics, although one can certainly see a relationship between each topic going into the next. (1) In life, we all accumulate debt; we all are under a variety of obligations. David tells Solomon to honor his obligations; what he says binds him to that thing. (2) David then speaks about the importance of hard work, and talks about the ant and his industriousness (obviously, David did not own a house cat as a pet). (3) The man who does not work hard is covered in the next section, the worthless man. (4) Obviously God does not care for laziness; but the things which He hates are then listed. (5) An oft-time repeated refrain of Proverbs is for the hearer/reader to pay attention to the doctrinal teaching of his parents and keep that in his soul at all times. Knowing Bible doctrine and divine establishment principles, (6) keeps a man from getting involved with the wrong women and (7) keeps a man from committing adultery.

As an aside, the reference work on ants was fascinating to me.

There is a marked difference between the way a father relates to his son and how a mother does. This difference explains why so many children raised without a father grow up to be little thugs (and sometimes, lifetime thugs). Hidden in this study is how mothers and fathers raise their children differently; and what a single mother must do in order to keep that from happening.

If you teach your children properly, then they will respect hard work and they will be willing to work hard. They will avoid premarital sex and intoxicants. As a result, most children of believers grow up to be materially successful. A portion of this study is devoted to living the spiritual life in a material world.

Although I draw upon a great many sources and include a great deal of commentary within this document, there is nearly always be information unique to this commentary. One thing which I have not read elsewhere is the spiritual application of surety (the first 5 verses of this chapter). However, there is an application. Surety foreshadows where we should place our own faith.

Doctrines covered in Proverbs 6: The Doctrines of Work, Evil, Pride, Murder, Lying, and Adultery. Also, The Western Work Ethic; Living the Spiritual Life in a Material World.

Important studies in this chapter: The importance of living up to your word and to the agreements which you sign; the importance of working.

There are a great many applications of this chapter to modern life, including the concept of evil and an example of someone who embodies evil. Modern examples of arrogance and sowing discord among brothers are given. Also, a great (ane relevant) Peanuts cartoon. 287 pages.

Proverbs 7 Seduced by the Adulterous Woman (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

Proverbs 7 concentrates on the subject of adultery, and what the author of this chapter (probably King David) personally observed. He is teaching Bible doctrine and divine establishment principles to his sons, so that they will not make the same mistakes.

Besides the topic of adultery, there seems to be a parallel narrative occurring under the surface—the lure and flattery from the adulterous woman, is much like the lure and flatter of false doctrine, human viewpoint, and cosmic thinking. The parallels are remarkable.

Included in this study is a new look at the Edification Complex Structure, having both a man-ward and a God-ward view; the Doctrine of Adultery; a Parallel Interpretation of Proverbs 7; and a very important new doctrine: Why didn't God just give us a simple list of what to do and what not to do?

Like all previous studies, there will be up-to-date applications to the events of today, so that you can take the doctrine from the Bible and apply it to what we observe every day. 191 pages.

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Proverbs 8 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). Wisdom Calls Out

Prov. 8 is offered up in contrast to Prov. 7. In Prov. 7, we had the temptation of the immoral adulteress, calling out to the young man in the night; but in Prov. 8, we have Lady Wisdom calling to all believers from the most public places. We are warned as to the dangers of hooking up with the married woman (who represents false doctrine and human viewpoint thinking) in Prov. 7; we are encouraged to take advantage of the wisdom of God, which is offered to us in Prov. 8 (however, we do not acquire wisdom overnight).

We studied a variety of doctrines in this chapter, including The Wisdom of God; 2 Doctrines of Evil; Grace Apparatus for Perception; Fear of the Lord; the Concept of Divine Institutions; the Fifth Divine Institution (Human government); the Royal Family Honor Code; the Trinity in the Old Testament; the Omniscience of God; the Water Cycle and the Bible; and the Dual Authorship of the Scriptures.

There are several very important topics discussed in detail in this exegetical study: the Dual Authorship of Scriptures (and what that applies); the great availability of Bible doctrine in this day and age (and how it is being rejected, even in the United States); and how the Bible accurately refers to scientific phenomenon from time to time.

For believers who do not really understand the importance of reaching maturity so that quality divine good can be produced, an excellent illustration is given to explain why this is of the utmost importance.

We saw many applications of the principles found in this chapter to modern politics (specifically, the dishonest language of President Obama); and the importance of Bible doctrine to the founding fathers. 340 pages.

Lady Wisdom by Adam Howie (apparently a photo of something that he created); from Red Bubble; accessed November 26, 2015. He sells this image to hang on the wall, to decorate the back of a laptop, or as a throw pillow.

Proverbs 9 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). The Banquets of Lady Wisdom and Madam Folly

Chapter 9 presents the final arguments of both Lady Wisdom and Mistress Folly, and completes the first section of the book of Proverbs.

Interestingly enough, the first proverbs actually found in the book of Proverbs are found in this chapter. There are 3 proverbs of wisdom and 1 proverb of foolishness.

Proverbs 9:8 (The NIV) (a graphic); from Wife Begins; accessed December 12, 2015. This is one of the 3 proverbs of wisdom.

Wisdom and Folly pursue the same categories of young men, but with very different intentions. Wisdom seeks to provide what is lacking, to repair the deficiency; whereas, Folly seeks to exploit that deficiency. Wisdom is there for the benefit of the young man; Folly is there to achieve her own ends. Wisdom looks to extend the life of those influenced by her; Folly seeks to end to lives of those who follow her.

There is certainly more going on than a morality play here. Mistress Folly represents human viewpoint and cosmic thinking; and she is always pursuing the souls of men. In this world, the key to life, is what you think. Satan always wants your thinking to be opposed to God’s. This cannot be over-emphasized this more. 161 pages.

Proverbs 10 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). Righteousness versus Wickedness; Wisdom versus Folly

Chapter 10 begins a whole new section in the book of Proverbs. We think of proverbs as pithy, self-contained sayings which illustrate fundamental truths (often establishment truths). This is what we find in Prov. 10, a chapter primarily of antithetical distichs.

Because of the nature of the proverb, it is much more difficult to organize Prov. 10 (although some sections of this chapter lend themselves to organization). There is no simple approach like, this is the section on wisdom, this is the section on love, etc. At no time did I come across a person who organized a chapter, and remarked, “Okay, I get it; that makes sense.”

A word should be said about the concentrated study of the remainder of Proverbs: don’t. I found this one chapter to be quite exhausting. When it comes to the study of this material, you may want to limit yourself to a chapter at a time, or a particular topic, or, on occasion, a simple read through.

Furthermore, whereas, a pastor might reasonably teach Prov. 1–9 as a cohesive unit over a period of months or years; that same pastor would not serve his congregation well to cover the rest of Proverbs in a similar fashion. With the remainder of Proverbs, it is better taught a chapter at a time, or taught from the standpoint of a particular subject area.

Consider it a very rich food. It is wonderful in small doses, but it is not to be taken as the entire meal.

As in Prov. 1, I probably went overboard with the quotations of other commentators, registering over 800 footnotes. Someday, I will need to go back and weed some of these out and perhaps edit out as much as 100 pages. In any case, the idea is to provide as much relevant material as possible, so that you can read and understand each proverb.

There are a plethora of topics found in this chapter as well as doctrines from the Word of God. Topics found: Advising the Pastor-teacher about teaching this portion of Proverbs; Wealth (the complications of; and believer and unbeliever and wealth); Work, the Work Ethic; work and the believer; European Socialism; Laziness and Television; Personal Integrity; Gay Marriage and the Believer; Hatred; Love Covers all Sins; True Knowledge; Laying Up Knowledge; Material Wealth; the Proper Use of Wealth; Life Comes with Rules; Believers and Verbal Sins; the Blessing of God; Hostility Toward Wealth; Lengthen Lives, Shortened Lives; and Expectations of Life. Doctrines presented: Antithetical Parallelism; Wealth; Diligence and Prosperity; Redeeming the Time; the Variety of Spiritual Gifts; Wealth and Poverty; Authority; Sins of the Tongue; the Way of God; and the Problem Solving Devices. Quite obviously, there are far more topics and doctrines found in this chapter as compared to most.

There are four discussions in this study which are quite important: Gay Marriage and the Believer; Dealing with Sin in Your Home or Around the Church; the Varieties of Spiritual Gifts, and Life Comes with Rules. All of these discussions relate directly to your individual life and the things that you say and do when interfacing with friends, family members and business associates.

Proverbs 10:5 (ESV) Graphic; from Mark My Les; accessed February 9, 2016.

Every attempt has been made to make this a self-contained unit where all the information you need to find on Prov. 10 are found in this document. 410 pages.

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As is nearly always the case, both the list of Doctrinal Terms (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) and the list of Old Testament topics which are covered (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) are both updated and posted with each new chapter of Proverbs.

Chapters and Stage of Completeness

There are some recently discovered commentaries which should be integrated into the Proverbs chapters. Most of them can be found in Prov. 3 and forward.