PARALLELS TO PROVERBS AND ECCLESIASTES
THE NATURE OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS AND THE PARALLELS. BABYLONIAN
PROVERBS FROM THE LIBRARY OF ASHURBANIPAL. PRECEPTS FROM THE LIBRARY
OF ASHURBANIPAL. COMPARISON WITH THE BIBLE. EGYPTIAN PRECEPTS OF
PTAHHOTEP. COMPARISON WITH THE BIBLE. PARALLEL TO ECCLESIASTES FROM
THE GILGAMESH EPIC.
Both Egypt and Babylon furnish parallels to the book of Proverbs. The
Biblical book of Proverbs contains a long connected discourse of advice
(Prov. 1-9) and various collections of disconnected proverbs (Prov.
10-29). Parallels to both are found in Egypt and in Babylonia. The library
of Ashurbanipal contained a collection of proverbs in two languages,
arranged as reading lessons for students. A few examples are here given.
=1. Some Babylonian Proverbs from the Library of Ashurbanipal.=[574]
1. A hostile act thou shalt not perform, that fear of vengeance (?)
shall not consume thee.
2. Thou shalt not do evil, that life (?) eternal thou mayest obtain.
3. Does a woman conceive when a virgin, or grow great without eating?
4. If I put anything down it is snatched away; if I do more than is
expected, who will repay me?
5. He has dug a well where no water is; he has raised a husk without
kernel.
6. Does a marsh receive the price of its reeds, or fields the price of
their vegetation?
7. The strong live by their own wages; the weak by the wages of their
children.
8. He is altogether good, but he is clothed with darkness.
9. The face of a toiling ox thou shalt not strike with a goad.
10. My knees go, my feet are unwearied; but a fool has cut into my
course.
11. His ass I am; I am harnessed to a mule; a wagon I draw; to seek
reeds and fodder I go forth.
12. The life of day before yesterday has departed today.
13. If the husk is not right, the kernel is not right; it will not
produce seed.
14. The tall grain thrives, but what do we understand of it? The
meager grain thrives, but what do we understand of it?
15. The city whose weapons are not strong--the enemy before its gates
shall not be thrust through.
16. If thou goest and takest the field of an enemy, the enemy will
come and take thy field.
17. Upon a glad heart oil is poured out of which no one knows.
18. Friendship is for the day of trouble; posterity for the future.
19. An ass in another city becomes its head.
The idea is similar to Matt. 13:57: “A prophet is not without honor, save
in his own country, and in his own house.”
20. Writing is the mother of eloquence and the father of artists.
21. Be gentle to thy enemy as to an old oven.[575]
22. The gift of the king is the nobility of the exalted; the gift of
the king is the favor of governors.
23. Friendship in days of prosperity is servitude forever.
24. There is strife where servants are; slander where anointers
anoint.
25. When thou seest the gain of the fear of god, exalt god and bless
the king.[576]
=2. Precepts from the Library of Ashurbanipal.=[577]
Thou shalt not slander, (but) speak kindly;
Thou shalt not speak evil, (but) show mercy.
Him who slanders (and) speaks evil,
With its recompense will Shamash[578] visit (?) his head.
Thou shalt not make large thy mouth, but guard thy lip;
In the time of anger thou shalt not speak at once.
If thou speakest quickly, thou wilt repent (?) afterward,
And in silence wilt thou sadden thy mind.
Daily present to thy god
Offering and prayer, appropriate to incense.
Before thy god mayest thou have a pure heart,
For that is appropriate to deity.
Prayer, petition, and prostration
Early in the morning shalt thou render him; he will judge thy
burdens (?),
And with the help of God thou wilt be abundantly prosperous.
In thy wisdom learn of the tablet;
The fear (of God) begets favor,
Offering enriches life,
And prayer brings forgiveness of sins.
(The text of the rest is too broken for connected translation.)
=3. Comparison with the Bible.=
None of the sentiments expressed in these proverbs is identical with any
in the Bible. No. 21 is on the same subject as Prov. 24:17; No. 22 reminds
one slightly of the first clause of Prov. 14:35; No. 23 has the same
sentiment as Prov. 18:24: “He that maketh many friends doeth it to his own
destruction”; while No. 6 is somewhat similar to Prov. 24:21.
Among the “precepts,” that on guarding the lips recalls to one’s mind
Prov. 10:19; 13:3; 14:3; 17:28. Reference is made to the “gain of the fear
of God” and it is declared to “beget favor.” Job 28:28 declares “the fear
of the Lord, that is wisdom.”
=4. The Precepts of Ptahhotep.=
These precepts are attributed to a man who lived in the time of the fifth
Egyptian dynasty, about 2650 B. C., and are at least as old as 2000 B. C.
The text is very difficult. The examples given below are taken from
Breasted’s[579] condensation of the moral precepts which the treatise
contains.
1. If thou findest a wise man in his time, a leader of understanding
more excellent than thou, bend thy arms and bow thy back.
2. If thou findest a wise man in his time, thy equal, .......... be
not silent when he speaks evil. Great is the approval by those who
hear, and thy name will be good in the knowledge of the princes.
3. If thou findest a wise man in his time, a poor man and not thy
equal, be not overbearing against him when he is unfortunate.
4. If thou art a leader (or administrator) issuing ordinances for the
multitude, seek for thee very excellent matter, that thy ordinance may
endure without evil therein. Great is righteousness (truth, right,
justice), enduring ..........; it has not been disturbed since the
time of Osiris.
5. Put no fear (of thee?) among the people .......... What the god
commands is that which happens. Therefore live in the midst of quiet.
What they (the gods?) give comes of itself.
6. If thou art a man of those who sit by the seat of a man greater
than thou, take what (food) he gives, ...... look at what is before
thee, and bombard him not with many glances (don’t stare at him)
...... Speak not to him until he calls. One knows not what is
unpleasant to (his) heart. Speak thou when he greets thee, and what
thou sayest will be agreeable to (his) heart.
7. If thou art a man of those who enter, whom (one) prince sends to
(another) prince, ...... execute for him the commission according as
he saith. Beware of altering a word which (one) prince speaks to
(another) prince, by displaying the truth with the like of it.
8. If thou plowest and there is growth in the field, the god gives it
(as) increase in thy hand. Satisfy not thy own mouth beside thy kin.
9. If thou art insignificant, follow an able man and all thy
proceedings shall be good before the god.
10. Follow thy desire as long as thou livest. Do not more than is told
(thee). Shorten not the time of following desire. It is an abomination
to encroach upon the time thereof. Take no care daily beyond the
maintenance of thy house. When possessions come, follow desire, (for)
possessions are not complete when he (the owner) is harassed.
[Compare with this precept Eccles. 11:9 and 7:15-17.]
11. If thou art an able man, (give attention to the conduct of thy
son).
............................................
16. If thou art a leader (or administrator), hear quietly the speech
of the petitioner. He who is suffering wrong desires that his heart be
cheered to do that on account of which he hath come ....... It is an
ornament of the heart to hear kindly.
17. If thou desirest to establish friendship in a house, into which
thou enterest as lord, as brother, or as friend, wheresoever thou
enterest in, beware of approaching the women ...... A thousand men are
undone for the enjoyment of a brief moment like a dream. Men gain
(only) death for knowing them.
[Compare Prov. 5:3, f.]
18. If thou desirest that thy procedure be good, withhold thee from
all evil, beware of occasion of avarice ...... He who enters therein
does not get on. It corrupts fathers, mothers, and mothers’ brothers.
It divides wife and man; it is plunder (made up) of everything evil;
it is a bundle of everything base. Established is the man whose
standard is righteousness, who walks in its way. He is used to make
his fortune thereby, (but) the avaricious is houseless.
19. Be not avaricious in dividing ...... Be not avaricious towards thy
kin. Greater is the fame of the gentle than (that of) the harsh.
20. If thou art successful, establish thy house. Love thy wife in
husbandly embrace, fill her body, clothe her back. The recipe for her
limbs is ointment. Gladden her heart as long as thou livest. She is a
profitable field for her lord.
[Compare Eccles. 9:9.]
21. Satisfy those who enter to thee (come into thy office) with that
which thou hast.
22. Repeat not a word of hearsay.
23. If thou art an able man who sits in the council of his lord,
summon thy understanding to excellent things. Be silent.
24. If thou art a strong man, establish the respect of thee by wisdom
and by quietness of speech.
25. Approach not a prince in his time. [Apparently an idiom for some
particular mood.]
26. Instruct a prince (or official) in that which is profitable for
him.
27. If thou art the son of a man of the council, commissioned to
content the multitude, ...... be not partial. Beware lest he (the man
of the multitude?) say, “His plan is that of the princes. He utters
the words in partiality.”
...............................................
29. If thou becomest great after thou wert little, and gettest
possessions after thou wert formerly poor in the city, ...... be not
proud-hearted because of thy wealth. It has come to thee as a gift of
the god.
30. Bend thy back to thy superior, thy overseer of the king’s house,
and thy house shall endure because of his (or its) possessions and thy
reward shall be in the place thereof. It is evil to show disobedience
to a superior. One lives as long as he is gentle.
31. Do not practise corruption of children.
32. If thou searchest the character of a friend, ...... transact the
matter with him when he is alone.
33. Let thy face be bright as long as thou livest. As for what goes
out of the storehouse, it comes not in again; and as for loaves
(already) distributed, he who is concerned therefor has still an empty
stomach. [“There is no use in crying over spilt milk.”]
34. Know thy merchants when thy fortunes are evil.
.........................................
37. If thou hearkenest to these things which I have said to thee, all
thy plans will progress. As for the matter of the righteousness
thereof, it is their worth. The memory thereof shall circulate in the
mouths of men, because of the beauty of their utterances. Every word
will be carried on and not perish in this land forever ....... He who
understands discretion is profitable in establishing that through
which he succeeds on earth. A wise man is satisfied by reason of that
which he knows. As for a prince of good qualities, they are in his
heart and tongue. His lips are right when he speaks, his eyes see, and
his ears together hear what is profitable for his son. Do right
(righteousness, justice, truth), free from lying.
38. Profitable is hearkening for a son that hearkens ...... How good
is it when a son receives that which his father says. He shall reach
advanced age thereby. A hearkener is one whom the god loves. Who
hearkens not is one whom the god hates. It is the heart (=
understanding) which makes its possessor a hearkener or one not
hearkening. The life, health, and prosperity of a man is his heart.
The hearkener is one who hears and speaks. He who does what is said is
one who loves to hearken. How good it is when a son hearkens to his
father! How happy is he to whom these things are said! ...... His
memory is in the mouth of the living who are on the earth and those
who shall be.
39. If the son of a man receives what his father says, none of his
plans will miscarry. Instruct as thy son one who hearkens, who shall
be successful in the judgment of the princes, who directs his mouth
according to that which is said to him ...... How many mishaps befall
him who hearkens not! The wise man rises early to establish himself,
while the fool is scourged.
[With the first of this section compare Exod. 20:12; Deut. 5:16. With
the end of it, Prov. 6:9-11; 10:26; 13:4.]
40. As for the fool who hearkens not, he accomplishes nothing. He
regards wisdom as ignorance, and what is profitable as diseased
....... His life is death thereby, ....... he dies, living every day.
Men pass by (avoid?) his qualities, because of the multitude of evils
upon him every day.
41. A son who hearkens is a follower of Horus. He prospers after he
hearkens. He reaches old age, he attains reverence. He speaks likewise
to his (own) children, renewing the instruction of his father. Every
man who instructs is like his sire. He speaks with his children; then
they speak to their children. Attain character, ...... make
righteousness to flourish and thy children shall live.
42. .......... Let thy attention be steadfast as long as thou
speakest, whither thou directest thy speech. May the princes who shall
hear say, “How good is that which comes out of his mouth!”
43. So do that thy lord shall say to thee, “How good is the
instruction of his father from whose limbs he came forth! He has
spoken to him; it is in (his) body throughout. Greater is that which
he hath done than that which was said to him.” Behold, a good son,
whom the god gives, renders more than his lord says to him. He does
right (righteousness, etc.), his heart acts according to his way.
According as thou attainest me (“what I have attained”), thy limbs
shall be healthy, the king shall be satisfied with all that occurs,
and thou shalt attain years of life not less than I have passed on the
earth. I have attained one hundred and ten years of life [compare Gen.
50:26], while the king gave to me praise above (that of) the ancestors
(in the vizierial office) because I did righteousness for the king
even unto the place of reverence (the grave).
=5. Comparison with the Bible.=
These precepts, which were written before 1800 B. C., like most of those
in the book of Proverbs, embody much worldly wisdom. They are based on
experience, and while, like Proverbs, they sometimes urge a religious
motive as a reason for right conduct, they frankly advocate it, as
Proverbs often does, on the ground of expediency. The points where the
text is closely parallel to that of Proverbs are few, and these have been
sufficiently pointed out. Some of the passages, as already noted, are
closely parallel to parts of the book of Ecclesiastes. The religious
appeal of the precepts is to Egyptian polytheism, while that of Proverbs
is to Hebrew monotheism.
=6. A Parallel to Ecclesiastes.=
The following striking parallel to a passage in Ecclesiastes is taken from
a tablet of the _Gilgamesh Epic_,[580] written in the script of the time
of Hammurapi, about 2000 B. C.
Since the gods created man,[581]
Death they ordained for man,
Life in their hands they hold.
Thou, O Gilgamesh, fill indeed thy belly,
Day and night be thou joyful,
Daily ordain gladness,
Day and night rage and make merry,
Let thy garments be bright,
Thy head purify, wash with water,
Desire thy children which thy hand possesses,
A wife enjoy in thy bosom,
Peaceably thy work (?) ..........
This is not only in sentiment strikingly like Eccles. 9:6-9, but in part
closely approaches its language.