Bible Students

I do not believe the statements in Proverbs are meant to be absolute promises. I do not believe there is a strong case for them acting as absolute promises. The proverbs (Proverbs and otherwise) of the Bible are true sayings which are helpful for understanding the world we live in and the way God interacts with the world. They describe the way things usually are, or the way they usually should go. Additionally, they are short saying of a much more complex issue. The famous example in Proverbs is the two sayings (Proverbs 26:4-5): Do not answer a fool according to his foolishness. Answer a fool according to his foolishness. The explanation for these two sayings is given: In the case of when to not answer, it is so that one would avoid becoming a fool. In the case of when to answer, it is so that the fool would not believe he is correct. There are two different responses to fools depending on the circumstance.

For wisdom to be in the Word of God is no issue. Wisdom is not meant to be taken as a promise, it is meant to be taken as true wisdom (wisdom, itself, is not meant to always be true, but generally true). For someone to say wisdom must always be true in every sense, because it is in the Word of God, I say to them, the Scriptures say: “There is no God.” Psalm 14:1 says the fool claims there is no God, and yet if you take it apart from the context (a true recording of what fools believe), and make it to be “true” in every sense, the Scriptures would be saying there is no God. Rather, the truth of Scripture is accurately recording truth according to the type of literature. All types of literature are interpreted differently, including proverbs, which are to be interpreted as generally true.