Write the introduction and explanation of the poem entitled "The

Write the introduction and explanation of the poem entitled “The Book of Proverbs”.

Ans.

An Introduction of The Book of Proverbs

It is a book of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament giving the credit to king Solomon, but it is very likely that it is a collected wisdom traditions from several centuries. The books has several sub-sections: chapter 1-9 include po ems about personified wisdom, and moral instructions of a father to his son. Chapters 10-29 consisting of individual sayings on virtues and vices with little thematic arrangement, resembling the ancient Egyptian wisdom instructions, such as The instruction of Amenemope. Chapters 30-31 are two appendices, ending with a poem about the virtuous wife.

The Relevance of the proverbs – The Proverbs touch all aspects of human life both temporal and external. These are age old wisdom put together in a balanced easy to memorize way. The language is simple, easy to understand and at times poetic. The time tested efficacy of this wisdom points towards the fact that irrespective of generations of human species, some universal elements abide and can be put to use as signposts that guide and protect from the exigencies of life.

EXPLANATIONS

1. The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, and before honour is humility.

Reference to the Context: These lines have been taken from the ‘A Book of Proverbs‘ adopted from Old Testament. Fear from God leads man to real wisdom and respect for others brings humility.

Explanation: This is said that God is the greatest wisdom and He keeps man on the right path. For this purpose, he advises man in various ways from time to time. So to fear from God and follow His teachings is the only way to make our life successful. All the great men have done so and have made their life useful and meaningful. The fear of God slowly leads us Godward and we get the whole wisdom of the universe. But at the same time, there is another virtue equally important. We must honour everybody like our won reflection. This will slowly develop the sense of humility in our personality which is also an attribute of God. Hence both, honour and humility, along with the fear of God, are equally important and significant for a great and successful life.

2. The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.

Reference to the Context: These lines have been taken from the ‘A Book of Proverbs’ adopted from old testament. A man who has developed the habit of hearing the rebuke of others patiently, is like a man living in the midst of the wise.

Explanation: This thought indicates towards the truth that miseries and difficulties are not always troublesome and unfortunate, rather they are an indirect inspiration for progress in life. These difficulties have been compared to the reproof. Just as our well wishers always warn and rebuke us whenever we do anything wrong, so is the case with the difficulties of life. The others, by rebuking tell us that we are going wrong and we must at once mend our ways. In the same way, misery also inspires us to face things courageously and pave our way in their midst. So in a way, they take us to the world where the wise men abide and we will succeed in attaining their greatness. This will enable us to enjoy their company and thus become great like them.

3. He that is greedy of gain, troubleth his own house, but he that hateth gifts shall live.

Reference to the Context: These Lines have been taken from the ‘A Book of Proverbs’ adopted from Old Testament. A man who is greedy to gain more and more becomes a source of trouble to his house but he who is eager to give gifts to others lives the real life.

Explanation: This line is very useful for the good of human life and teaches what ways we should adopt to make life easy and comfortable. It warms us against being greedy in nature. It is human nature that his desires are never satisfied. The more he gets, the more powerful his desires are for further gains. But this habit is very harmful. A man, who goes on desiring for one thing after the other, becomes a sources of great trouble for his family. Neither he himself is a at peace nor does the provide any peace to the members of his family. The other type of people are those who do not like gifts, they fell satisfied only whatever they get easily. The make their life really worth living. They bring peace and consolation to their family so self satisfaction and limitations of achievements is always better.

4. The heart of him that hath understand seeketh knowledge, but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.

Reference to the Context: This stanza has been taken from the ‘A Book of Proverb’s adopted from old Testament. The thoughts of a wicked man are disdained by God but the words spoken by a pure hearted man are always pleasing

Explanation: This stanza stresses on the importance of knowledge in making life great and happy. Indeed a really wise man is always in search of more and more knowledge. He has no hesitation in getting it from anywhere and in whatever way he can. This craze for knowledge makes a man really great and noble and increases the sphere of his thoughts and understanding but a fool does not understand the importance and value of knowledge. He is always confined within his narrow sphere of folly and feels himself happy in that state. For him, his world of foolishness is his greatest achievement, and he never strives to come out of it. So he can never make progress or make his life great and noble. We learn he lesson that in order to make life great, we should always strive to get more and more knowledge.

5. A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.

Reference to the Context: This stanza has been from The book of Proverbs, a part of the Old Testament. This book is believed the great sages and a great many of them have been attributed to the famous king Solomon, who is known to be the wisest man of humanity.

Explanation: In this stanza we are told that we should always speak sweetly and delicately, Every word that we speak should be well Judged and it should not hurt any other person in any way. It is so useful that the anger of our adversary is also silenced. But quite the contrary, if we are careless in our language and speak thoughtlessly, it will always prove dangerous, Instead of bringing about a reconciliation, it will flame up the anger even more. Therefore, wrong and angry words cannot help us in our life in any why. It is the sanest advice and so this proverb has become very popular in the civilized circles.

6. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Reference to the Context: These lines have been taken from the ‘The Book of Proverbs’. God looks at every thing in the world and notices every good and evil.

Explanation: God is Omniscient, he knows all sees all – that should the right mind-set of the faithful. Nothing is hidden from his eyes. One should not be guided by the false notion that the sin committed outside the ken of human witnesses will pass unnoticed. The true morality lies in carrying the affairs of life always keeping in mind that whatever one does God is the wit ness and will dispense justice, reward or punishment according as the fruit of action sowed by the door.