Does anyone have a curiousity like mine to know what those other mysterious 22 books the Bible mentions that are outside our normal 66 book collection?  This website highlights the references in a nice way:

http://www.answering-christianity.com/lost_books.htm

In my next block of free time perchance?

Even a quick reading of the first 9 chapters of Proverbs confronts the reader with a teaching father.  What an advantage to a son to have a father spend the time going through what works and what doesn't work in this life.  My own father was largely absent during my formative years and even now I wonder what having a Godly father would have been like.  Wisdom is something that isn't just taught in an isolated classroom but in the daily life classroom.  What an asset for Solomon's sons to be taught like we see in Proverbs.  I pray I can be that sort of teacher for my son Dylan.

Just how LOUD is the 'woman of wisdom' versus the 'woman of folly' portrayed in Proverbs 1-9?  Both seem to be 'crying out in the street' raising their voices?  The woman of wisdom has built a nice place up on the heights for good visibility, has setup some nice feasts and offers life whereas the woman of folly is seductive, wild, simple, and appealing toward those who don't want to think too much.  Who finds the most success?  Wisdom isn't hiding but neither is folly and it seems folly is getting the upper hand - at least it did for Solomon later in his life...

In my quiet times with the Lord the last several years, consistently reading through Proverbs has been a staple of my Scripture plan.  I've always thought the first chapters were in fact more personal and focused on a relationship between a father and his son (namely Solomon and say Jereboam?).  Now that I've been studying more in depth, there is definitely a change of pace between chapter 9 and chapter 10.  I love how a whole new set of ideas are confronting me, like for instance, how the first 9 chapters set up the wisdom statements that follow starting in chapter 10.  There is definitely a foundation created in those first 9 chapters that I never really considered.  Once again, everytime we study, we find new gems in the Scriptures!  What other book is like this?

Proverbs and Amenemope

So even Solomon, in his immense wisdom, may likely have been influenced by the wisdom literature available to him as he composed his wisdom work Proverbs.   The Egyptian wisdom collection called The Instruction of Amenemope, written several hundred years before Solomon's birth, contains some similar phrases and notes of wisdom.  Now, as a new Christian or Bible college student, I would likely have been shocked by this.  How can that be?  Does this cast a shadow over the divine inspiration of Biblical books like Proverbs?  Well, even though knowledge of this may give rise to Bible critics and their theories, I maintain that Solomon would have been, as a literate leader, well versed in any available literature and if he found The Instruction of Amenemope helpful to his compilation, I am not offended.  In fact, I may be strengthened in my faith knowing that Solomon knew the importance of being well-read as well as well grounded in his relationship to God as his father David was.

I was unaware that there was another ancient wisdom document from Egypt called The Instruction of Amenemope that survived antiquity.  The entire document was quite interesting to read really...

Some light reading...mmmmkay?

I'm excited to be starting my journey toward a Masters degree with my first graduate level class through Corban University!  Proverbs here we go!