Who Wrote the Book of Proverbs in the Bible?

Looking at the authorship of the Bible’s most practical book

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No single author stands behind the entire Book of Proverbs. It is best to understand the Book of Proverbs as an anthology consisting of a number of texts and recorded wisdom sayings from ancient Judaism.

Here is the Book of Proverbs laid out according to its superscriptions:

1. Proverbs 1:1–9:18 — “The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel”
2. Proverbs 10:1–22:16 — “The proverbs of Solomon”
3. Proverbs 22:17–24:22 — “The sayings of the wise”
4. Proverbs 24:23–34 — “These also are sayings of the wise”
5. Proverbs 25:1–29:27 — “These are more proverbs of Solomon, compiled by the men of Hezekiah king of Judah”
6. Proverbs 30:1–33 — “The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh”
7. Proverbs 31:1–9 — “The sayings of King Lemuel — an inspired utterance his mother taught him”
8. Proverbs 31:10–31 — “A wife of noble character”

Please note that scholars don’t agree on the exact meaning or significance of the superscriptions. Some argue that they reflect the actual authors of each section, while others suggest that they are merely literary devices.

And some don’t even agree with the superscriptions when they are given. I’m not in that camp. If a superscription attributes a section of the book to Solomon, I take that at face value. I trust the Bible.

The leading contributor to the anthology that is the Book of Proverbs is, of course, Solomon. The extent of Solomon’s contribution, though, remains a matter of debate among historians, theologians, and literary scholars.

The authorship of the Proverbs has been a matter of debate among scholars for centuries. The heading of the book ascribes authorship to Solomon (1:1), but this claim has been disputed on the grounds that some of the proverbs in the book date to a much later time period.

(Longman III, Tremper. Proverbs. Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms, edited by Tremper Longman III, vol. 3, Baker Academic, 2006)

Longman is one of many scholars who resists giving Solomon too much credit. But the debate is complicated by the fact that we don’t even know for sure the timeline of the book’s writing and compilation.

As an anthology, Proverbs was written over a long period of time. How long is not clear, since there are anonymous sections as well as a mention of authors about whom we know nothing outside of the book. Indeed, we are on firm ground only with those sections ascribed to Solomon (tenth century BC) and with the redactional activity of Hezekiah’s men (c. 700 BC).

(Dillard, Raymond B. and Tremper Longman III. An Introduction to the Old Testament: Second Edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2006)

Nevertheless, this much we can safely conclude…

Solomon was a pioneer (if not the pioneer) in the recorded wisdom traditions within ancient Judaism. His influence is all over the Book of Proverbs, even if he didn’t directly write every verse in it.

And, based on the superscriptions, he did indeed write most of it!

The most important thing to reflect on, though, is that the wisdom contained in this ancient book is still relevant today.

We would do well to read it and study it.

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