Texts in Conversation
Proverbs describes wisdom as the ability to understand stories, parables, and riddles, presenting these forms as an important way to communicate. Sirach echoes this, praising the one who devotes time to the study of parables and hidden sayings.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Proverbs 1:6
Hebrew Bible
4 To impart shrewdness to the morally naive, a discerning plan to the young person. 5 (Let the wise also hear and gain instruction, and let the discerning acquire guidance!) 6 To discern the meaning of a proverb and a parable, the sayings of the wise and their riddles. 7 Fearing the Lord is the beginning of discernment, but fools have despised wisdom and moral instruction. 8 Listen, my child, to the instruction from your father, and do not forsake the teaching from your mother.
Date: 600–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Sirach 39:2
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
1 He will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients and will be occupied with prophecies. 2 He will keep the sayings of the men of renown and will enter in amidst the subtleties of parables. 3 He will seek out the hidden meaning of proverbs and be conversant in the dark sayings of parables. 4 He will serve among great men and appear before him who rules. He will travel through the land of foreign nations, for he has learned what is good and evil among men.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Given the ambiguity of parables, recent scholarship has stressed their mysterious and elusive qualities. We should note that Ezekiel 17:2 labels the short story in the following verses not only as a comparison (mashal) but also as a riddle (hidah). This is not a unique situation since the Hebrew Bible labels several other proverbs, prophecies, or songs both as comparisons (meshalim) and riddles (hidot [the plural form of hidah]) (e.g., Habakkuk 2:6; Psalm 49:5; 78:2; Proverbs 1:6; compare Wisdom of Solomon 8:8; Sirach 39:3; 47:17). As with meshalim, hidot come in a variety of forms. Although the words mashal and hidah have two distinct meanings that we should not confuse, they can both describe the multiple functions of a single proverb, song, or parable ..."
Jeremy Schipper, Parables and Conflict in the Hebrew Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 16.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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