A commentary on the book of Proverbs in the liberal scholarship "tradition." The author spends some time discussing the ancient Near Eastern wisdom traditions. The book follows the paradigm of the Interpretation series, breaking down each "collection" of proverbs-- believed time and place, literary analysis, conclusion, and theology.

The quality and depth of the exegesis is extremely haphazard-- some parts of the proverbs collection are passed over relatively quickly while other portions are discussed in greater depth, and there does not seem to be much logic behind it. Explanations that take context and culture into account, providing historical detail, have value.

Overall, however, the book suffers from the presumption that the majority of Proverbs as we know it derives from the Persian period, and the evidence for such a view is rather scanty. It would have been better to avoid postulating regarding things that cannot be known and to have focused on more that can be fleshed out regarding the proverbs and their role in Israelite society. ( )