THE TEACHING OF AMENEMOPE AND PROVERBS XXII 17-XXIV 22: FURTHER REFLECTIONS ON A LONG-STANDING PROBLEM

Abstract

AbstractThis article seeks to counter the scepticism of R.N. Whybray about the dependence of Prov. xxii 17-xxiv 22 on the Teaching of Amenemope. It is generally held that the influence of Amenemope may be seen in a number of Hebrew verses, but not that this part of Proverbs follows the Egyptian work closely throughout; rather, the author treated Amenemope with great freedom and also drew on other sources. There is a plausible case for reading selōsîm in Prov. xxii 20, where neither silsôm nor salîsîm makes good sense, and for the hypothesis that there are thirty sayings in Prov. xxii 22-xxiii 11. Ruffle's questioning of the relationship between the two texts has not succeeded in refuting the case built on the similarities in a number of verses.