The Hidden Riddle in Proverbs 1:1

I am convinced that Proverbs is one of the most misunderstood, or more properly, under-understood books in the Bible. People think it is a simple book with no real depth.

But look at its introduction. After the first few verses list the purposes of the proverbs, the last one comes in verse 6: “to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.” The final, climactic thing we are told about the proverbs is that they are riddles.

And the riddles start in the very first verse:

The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel.
(Proverbs 1:1)

There is a lot going on in this one line.

A Whole Story in One Verse

First, notice the progression: from “son of David” to “king of Israel.”

This verse captures the narrative of the entire book. The whole purpose of Proverbs is to take a son while he is young and turn him into a king. Over the course of the book the son grows, in the complexity of what he learns and in his status, until by the end he receives a wife who is Wisdom herself. (I trace that whole progression, the story behind the book, in another piece.) It is the maturing of a son into a married king.

So in “The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel,” we already have the structure of the whole book.

Proverbs Inside Solomon

But there is more. You can’t see it in English, but listen to the first two words in Hebrew, “proverbs” and “Solomon”: Mishlei Shlomo.

They sound alike because the Hebrew words for “proverb” and “Solomon” are built on the same three consonants, simply in a different order. Mashal, proverb, is built on m-sh-l. Shlomo, Solomon, is built on sh-l-m.

You might think that’s just a clever bit of wordplay. But there is more to it than that. Why would the word for proverbs be made from the same letters as the name of the book’s author?

I think there are two reasons. The first, simpler reason is that the proverbs are found inside Solomon. Their letters are in his name, because Solomon is the one who produces them.

But I think there is a deeper reason. To get to the proverbs, the tools that make us wise, Solomon himself has to be rearranged. His name, his identity, the very way he is, must be reordered. Solomon’s soul has to be reordered. To become wise, he can’t stay the same person and simply pick up some knowledge. His whole practical life must be reorganized.

Wisdom Is Thought and Action

This is at the heart of Proverbs, because wisdom isn’t merely intellectual knowledge. It involves both the mind and action. In the Bible, you could not be a wise person if your life was not wise.

Today we have a concept of smartness: speed of mental computation, capacity of memory. In the ancient world there was no separate concept for the skill of the intellect. That isn’t because the Bible didn’t think about the intellect or value it. It simply belonged under another concept: wisdom. You can see this in the whole idea of riddles.

Placing our intellectual capacities under wisdom means they are bound up with morality, good and evil, and with action. Today we largely measure a person’s excellence by their intellect, their smartness. The Bible measures it by wisdom, which includes the intellect but also the moral dimension and how you act. It is one big, beautiful package.

So to be wise, Solomon didn’t just need to write a collection of proverbs and store them in his head. He had to be wholly wise, in thought and in action. And so it is with us. If we want to be wise, our lives and our identities need to be reordered.

And that, my friends, is why the Bible is art.