ABSTRACT
We return to some of the verses in Proverbs 6 and 30 that, I argued in chapter two, reveal that the book was carefully organized to prompt attentive readers to make links between widely separated passages. Examining them from a different angle, we discover that they serve as a framework for the sensitive, dangerous theme of kingship and authority in Proverbs. Proverbs handles this theme in a dialogic fashion, facilitating a clash between contrasting views about those who wield power; in this respect the book is not a smoothly flowing stream disrupted by the occasional stone, but one in which the ripples from several splashes interact with each other. Moreover, although the framework encloses the discussion in statements that are generally critical of kings, one numerical saying, 30.29-31, may well be favourable to monarchy. Once again we may conclude that Proverbs is not a monologic text propounding a settled view of kings and those in authority.
