Review
Title: Proverbs 1–15: A Commentary on the Book of –
Author: Bernd U. Schipper (Transl. Stephen Germany)
Publisher: Fortress Press
Genre: Hebrew Bible; Biblical Studies; Canon
Year Published: 2019
Number of Pages: xxvi + 580
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN10: 0800660676
ISBN13: 978-0800660673
Price: $
Reviewed by Colby Townsend for the Association for Mormon Letters
Bernd Schipper’s commentary on the first fifteen chapters of Proverbs continues the high quality and approachability of a decades long, international effort to provide the highest quality scholarly commentary series on the Bible as possible. The Hermeneia commentary series, published by Fortress Press, has produced fifty-six volumes of commentary on texts in the Hebrew Bible, apocryphal and pseudepigraphic texts relating to the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and noncanonical early Christian literature. Because of Mormonism’s clear interests in the history of the Bible and scripture-as-history this series, with its focus on historical-critical questions, is key to any academic or lay Mormon approach to understanding biblical history and the composition of biblical and related texts. Schipper’s commentary is also being published in two separate commentary series, in the Hermeneia series in English and in the Biblischer Kommentar Altes Testament series in German. This will allow Mormon audiences in both English and German speaking circles access to this important commentary.
The first in a two-volume set, the main body of this volume only runs to . Due to the compositional history of the book, the introduction Schipper provides for chapter 10 includes a description of the compositional history of – because the book divides itself into three sections: (1) a superscription at attributes authorship of – to King Solomon; (2) a new superscription at both ascribes authorship to Solomon and sets ff apart from chapters 1–9; and (3) a third superscription at separates this third section from the previous two by stating simply that the following material in – is “Words of the Wise.”
Although Schipper and Fortress Press did not separate the two volumes at the end of chapter 9 according to these internal divisions (as the Anchor Yale Bible Commentary by Michael V. Fox did), this should not cause any problems in the accessibility of the material to the reader. The fact that Schipper comments on the composition of material not included in this first volume both connects the two separate volumes even more strongly together as one project as well as hinting at what is in store for the reader with the upcoming volume. Likewise, with the Anchor Yale Bible commentary the end result is a much smaller first volume than the second. This commentary will likely end in two similarly sized volumes.
Schipper’s introductory remarks on the commentary, running only forty-three pages, work as a general introduction to the entire book. In it he covers diverse questions covering all aspects of the book’s history, reception, and composition. In the first part of the introduction Schipper briefly describes the development of the academic study of the book of Proverbs over the last few centuries and situates his own project within recent study. Schipper describes how his commentary focuses on three major positions on Proverbs: the book’s connections to other biblical texts; the clear connections between Proverbs and Egyptian wisdom instructions; and the function of the book in the development of the moral self. All three are key to understanding the book.
Mormon audiences will be interested in Schipper’s commentary on Proverbs 8, “the most discussed text in the book of Proverbs,”[1] because of its importance for its description of heavenly Wisdom as personified and feminine. This has played an important role in the reception history of the Bible in Mormonism for the idea of a Heavenly Mother. According to Schipper, the chapter is divided into four sections that each have individual subjects: a group of men, Wisdom herself, YHWH, and “sons.” Wisdom was the first of YHWH’s creations and therefore existed prior to creation. She watched as creation occurred and acted “as an intermediary between the creator and humanity.”[2] This would suggest to Schipper that in acting as an intermediary Wisdom actually acted in creation with YHWH.
There is a lot of material in this volume that would greatly benefit an academic and lay Mormon audience far beyond a short note about the importance and implications of Proverbs 8. Based on the content and quality of this volume alone we have much to look forward to in Schipper’s final installment on the commentary.
Schipper has added an impressive work to an already high-quality academic series that should not go unnoticed by a Mormon audience. There is too much waiting in store in this volume to pass it up.
[1] Schipper, Proverbs 1–15, 284.
[2] Schipper, Proverbs 1–15, 287. Emphasis in the original.