Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs are particular books. With this message we begin the life-study of Proverbs.
Proverbs in Hebrew is mishle, meaning "similitudes, proverbs, parables," to represent general truths.
Proverbs is a collection of the words of the wise. The main writers and collectors are Solomon, who wrote three thousand proverbs (1 Kings 4:32; cf. Eccl. 12:9), and Hezekiah, who added some proverbs of the forefathers in chapters twenty-five through twenty-nine.
The time of the writing of this book was about 1000 B.C. Whereas Solomon's portion was written about 1000 B.C., Hezekiah's portion was written about three hundred years later.
Proverbs probably was written in Jerusalem.
The theme of Proverbs is that this book consists of words of wisdom teaching people how to behave and how to build up their character in the human life. Humanly speaking, this is the great subject, and all religions and philosophies are concerned with it. The matters of behavior and the building up of character have been the subjects of teaching ever since humankind came into being.