CHAPTER II.
THE FORM AND ORIGIN OF THE PROVERBS.
In one of the opening verses of the Book of Proverbs (i. 6)
three technical names for varieties of proverbs are put
together:—(1) māshāl, a short, pointed saying with reference
to some striking feature in the life of an individual, or in
human life generally, often clothed in figurative language
(whence, according to many, the name māshāl, as if 'similitude;'
comp. [Greek: parabolê]), (2) m'lîça, perhaps a 'bent',
'oblique' or (as Sept.) 'dark' saying, (3) khîda, a 'knotty' or
intricate saying, especially a riddle. Each of these words
has a variety of applications; for instance (1) is used in Num.
xxiii., xxiv., for a parallelistic poem, (1) and (2) sometimes
mean a 'taunting speech' (see below, and comp. Hab. ii. 6,
Isa. xiv. 4, Mic. ii. 4), and (3) can be used, not merely of true
riddles with a moral meaning, such as we find here and there
in Prov. xxx., but also of didactic statements upon subjects as
difficult as riddles (see Ps. xlix. 5, A.V. 4, lxxviii. 2). We
have no collection of popular proverbs, such as exists in
Arabic; the proverbs in the canonical collection show great
technical elaboration, though some may be based on the
naive 'wisdom' of the people. A very few specimens of the
popular proverb have indeed been preserved in the canonical
literature.[1] 'Is Saul also among the prophets?' (1 Sam. x. 12,
xix. 24) preserves the memory of a humorous fact in the
story of that king. 'Wickedness proceeds from the wicked'
(1 Sam. xxiv. 13) is, unlike the former, a generalisation, and
means that a man's character is shown by his actions (comp.
- ↑ In the Midrash-literature, proverbs are often quoted with an express statement that they are from the lips of the people.
