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Overview
In this volume, Richard J. Clifford seeks to make the biblical wisdom literature
intelligible to modern readers. It is easy to quote the occasional proverb, say a few things
about "the problem of evil" in Job, or quote "vanity of vanities, " but far more rewarding to
read the whole book with an appreciative and informed eye.
Opening chapters
of The Wisdom Literature comment on the striking similarities between
ancient and modern "wisdom literature" and on the comparable literature from ancient
Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Canaan. Thereafter, a chapter is devoted to each biblical wisdom book
(Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Sirach, and Wisdom of Solomon), studying not only
its content but also its rhetoric -- how it engages the reader.