SOLOMON'S CO-AUTHOR? WORDS OF KING LEMUEL FROM CHAPTER 31 OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS OF SOLOMON

Georgy Vladimirovich Andrianov

Kostroma Theological Seminary, Kostroma, Russia

Email: rector44@mail.ru

ORCID: 0000–0001–7534–6776

Issue: № 1 (25), 2024

Pages: 11

Annotation

The article discusses the issue of authorship of the 31st chapter of the Book of Proverbs of Solomon. In modern biblical studies, the question of the authorship of this fragment remains open. In the Jewish tradition, it is generally accepted that the author is the son of King David, Solomon. But at the same time, even in ancient times, the opinion was established that the collector of the book was the pious king Hezekiah (7th century BC), and the final edition of the Proverbs appeared after the Captivity (6th century BC). Certain passages of the Book of Proverbs have references to certain persons, for example: “the parables of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah collected together” (chapters 25–29), “the words of Agur, the son of Jacob” (chapter 30) and “the words of Lemuel the king” (31 chapter). The last fragment listed is the subject of this article. Using the example of chapter 31, the question is explored that the Book of Proverbs, in addition to Solomon, formally has more authors, who technically can be called “co-authors of Solomon.”

Keywords

Bible, Book of Proverbs of Solomon, Solomon, Bathsheba, King Lemuel, Ruth, literary parallels, Bible translations, Rev. Macarius Glukharev, biblical criticism

For citation

Andrianov G. V., priest. Solomon's co-author? Words of King Lemuel from chapter 31 of the Book of Proverbs of Solomon // Ipatievsky vestnik. 2024. № 1. Р. 11–23 (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.24412/2309–5164–2024–1–11–23