In his introduction to the wisdom literature, Roland Murphy notes some of the numerological structures of Proverbs:
“First, 1:1 has three names [Solomon, David, Israel], which have the numerological value of 375, 14, and 541, for a total of 930 . . . . this hint in the title of the book is verified by the total number of lines in the book, 930.”
Then, “the title of 10:1 has [Solomon], equivalent to 375, and this is the number of single-line proverbs in this Solomonic collection (10:1-22:16). Third, the ‘Hezekian’ collection (chaps. 25-29) has 140 lines or sayings. In the title at 25:1, Hezekiah is the operative word. Depending on the spelling, it could yield the numerical equivalent of 130 (so MT spelling), 136, 140, or 146. The correction choice, in view of the entire book, is 140 . . . . Fourth, the term hkmym (title in 22:17, 24:23) or ‘wise’ has a numerical value of 118, and this is the number of lines in 22:17-24:32 and 30:7-33.”
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