Proverbs - Concordia Commentary

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In this Volume

It easy to think of Proverbs as merely a collection of aphorisms, useful for a quick quip but lacking the depth of other Old Testament books. But, as part of a larger Hebraic wisdom tradition, Proverbs offers a thoughtfully arranged collection of Godly advice on character and action. In addition to this faithful teaching, Proverbs presents a distinct perspective on God in the form of His Wisdom, which plays a prominent role throughout the book.

Features

• A faithful exposition of the wisdom tradition in Proverbs
• A Pastoral perspective on understanding, applying, and teaching Proverbs
• An overview of types of sayings in proverbs

Additional Essays

• Wisdom and the Adulteress in Proverbs 1-9
• Good as Applied to the Words of Wise People
• Luther on Proverbs

View the rest of the series.

About the Author

Dr. Andrew E. Steinmann is Professor of Theology and Hebrew, as well as University Marshal, at Concordia University, River Forest, Illinois. He studied at the University of Cincinnati (B.S.), Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana (M.Div.), and the University of Michigan, where he earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern studies.

Endorsments

"The strengths of this text include the author's scholarly yet practical exposition of the Hebrew Text, the conservative theological approach, and the understanding that the Proverbs are not formulaic, but relational: "If the first part [Proverbs 3:1-12] is read by itself, the reader might conclude that obtaining blessings from God is simply a matter of following instruction. However, the second part [Proverbs 3:13-20] reminds the reader that Wisdom comes before obedience to the commands" (114). An extensive bibliography and exhaustive subject and passage indexes make this text valuable for research and useful for sermon preparation. 

To sum up: this text, along with a couple of other commentaries on Proverbs, will provide the preacher with a deep and broad understanding of the meanings embedded in this wisdom literature. I am pleased to add it to my principal works on Proberbs."

–Timothy S. Warren, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, TX in The Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society (Fall 2011)

"Andrew Steinmann has provided the church and academy with an excellent resource for the study of the book of Proverbs.  With careful research and great insight, he illuminates the meaning of the text and situates its teaching within the context of the whole canon.  Like most commentaries, Steinmann begins his work with an introduction that covers issues of authorship, date, literary form, structure, and text.  In addition, he treats the rich vocabulary of wisdom and folly as well as poetical conventions (particularly different forms of parallelism).  Steinmann also describes how law and gospel play out in the book (pp. 39-42), a topic that proves very important for his passage-by-passage analysis of the book.

I greatly benefited from reading this commentary and will reference it in my future work on Proverbs. "

–Tremper Longman, Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Concordia Journal (March 2010)

About the Series

The Concordia Commentary Series: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture is written to enable pastors and teachers of the Word to proclaim the Gospel with greater insight, clarity, and faithfulness to the divine intent of the Biblical text.

The series will cover all the canonical books of the Old and New Testament, with an original translation and meticulous grammatical analysis of the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek of each text. The foremost interpretive lens centers on the unified proclamation of the person and work of Christ across every Scriptural book.

The Commentary fully affirms the divine inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of Scripture; Each passage bears witness to the confession that God has reconciled the world to Himself through the incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ His Son.

Authors expose the rich treasury of language, imagery, and thematic content of the Scripture, while supplementing their work with additional research in archaeology, history, and extrabiblical literature. Throughout, God’s Word emanates from authors careful attention and inculcates the ongoing life of the Church in Word, Sacrament, and daily confession.

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