RT Article
T1 Beauty, Wisdom, and Handiwork in Proverbs 31:10–31
JF Harvard theological review
VO 113
IS 1
SP 45
OP 62
A1 Vayntrub, Jacqueline
LA English
PB Cambridge Univ. Press
YR 2020
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1728085861
AB The book of Proverbs concludes with an alphabetic acrostic that describes and praises its feminine subject (Prov 31:10-31). The poem’s praise closes with a generalized critique of beauty, its deceptiveness and short-lived nature (v. 30). What function does this critique of beauty serve in light of the praise of the woman and her deeds? How do the poem and, specifically, this critique of beauty function in the broader organization of the book of Proverbs? This study argues that the poem rejects innate beauty in favor of acquired wisdom, a message that can be found elsewhere in Proverbs. The poem rejects beauty through an appeal to a rhetorical device—the “totalizing description”—which is used elsewhere to argue for a subject’s beauty or perfection. Through the structure of the alphabetic acrostic, the poem carefully embeds its message of willed action and acquired wisdom; using a description of the woman’s successive deeds, the poem shows how each deed leads to the enduring success of the woman’s family, her community, and the subsequent generation.
K1 Bibel : Sprichwörter : 31,10-31
K1 Proverbs
K1 alphabetic acrostic
K1 Beauty
K1 Description
K1 Wisdom
DO 10.1017/S0017816019000348