{"product_id":"a-study-of-proverbs","title":"A Study of Proverbs by Chad Sychtysz","description":"\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTwenty study sections through all thirty-one chapters — the book everybody quotes and almost nobody teaches straight through.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProverbs is one of the hardest books in the Bible to teach, and the reason has nothing to do with difficulty. Most of it is plain enough on a first reading. The problem is shape. From chapter 10 onward the book is a collection rather than an argument — hundreds of two-line sayings set down one after another with no thread running between them. A class that reads straight through covers a great deal of ground and remembers almost none of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChad Sychtysz handles this by teaching the book the way it is actually built. The opening nine chapters are a father's sustained counsel to his son, so they are studied in sequence, passage by passage, as the connected argument they are. The great middle collection is gathered instead by subject — what Solomon says about family, about work and laziness, about honesty, about fools, about how we treat other people, about the tongue, about pride. The four shorter collections that close the book each get their own treatment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRunning underneath is the book's own claim: the fear of the Lord is where knowledge starts. Wisdom here is not cleverness and not information. She is personified as a woman shouting in the street to anyone who will listen — publicly, indiscriminately, with nothing to hide — set against the adulteress who works by seduction and stealth. The whole book turns on which of those two voices a man follows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat's Inside\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIntroduction to the Book of Proverbs\u003c\/strong\u003e — what a proverb is and how Hebrew parallelism works, where Proverbs sits in the canon and in wisdom literature, the mind-heart-mouth pattern the book keeps returning to, how the literary form shifts from section to section, and the personification of Wisdom against the \"strange woman\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSection I — A Father's Counsel to His Son (1:1–9:18)\u003c\/strong\u003e, studied in sequence\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrologue (1:1–7)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChoosing between Thieves and Wisdom (1:8–33)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Value of Pursuing Wisdom (2:1–22)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWisdom and Her Rewards (3:1–35)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Father's Instruction to His Son (4:1–27)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Adulteress's Seduction (5:1–23)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThings to Pursue or Avoid (6:1–19)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMore Things to Pursue or Avoid (6:20–7:27)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eContrasts between \"Wisdom\" and the \"Adulteress\" (8:1–9:18)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSection II — Contrast of the Wise and Fools (10:1–22:16)\u003c\/strong\u003e, gathered by topic\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col start=\"10\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProverbs about Family (Spouses, Parents, and \"Sons\")\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProverbs about Industriousness and Laziness\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProverbs about Honesty and Dishonesty\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProverbs about Wise Men and Fools\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProverbs about the Treatment of or Regard for Human Beings\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProverbs about Words and Speech\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProverbs about Pride and Humility\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003col start=\"17\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSection III\u003c\/strong\u003e — Words of a Teacher to His Pupil (22:17–24:34)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSection IV\u003c\/strong\u003e — Uncategorized Instructions and Similitudes (25:1–29:27)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSection V\u003c\/strong\u003e — The Proverbs of Agur (30:1–33)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSection VI\u003c\/strong\u003e — The Proverbs of King Lemuel (31:1–31), including the excellent wife\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eFormat \u0026amp; Features\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery one of the twenty sections closes with discussion questions, and they are written to be argued about rather than merely answered — what passes for wisdom today and why it sells so well while God's word sits unread; whether Christians lean too hard on the rewards of obedience or the consequences of disobedience, and whether both are needed. The questions are spaced for writing, so the book works on a Wednesday night, in a Sunday adult class, or at the kitchen table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe introduction runs eleven pages before the first study section and does real work: it explains why the literary form keeps changing on you, which is exactly the thing that derails most classes partway through. Sychtysz also recommends reading Proverbs straight through once before starting, so the class arrives with the whole shape in mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEndnotes carry the supporting detail without slowing the sections down, and a full source list closes the book — Barnes, Coffman, Delitzsch, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, the Pulpit Commentary, the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, the Holman Bible Dictionary, and the Teacher's Bible Commentary among them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eScripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003cthead\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eTitle\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eA Study of Proverbs\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/thead\u003e\n\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAuthor\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eChad Sychtysz\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSpiritbuilding Publishers\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePaperback workbook\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePages\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e149\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eTrim size\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e6 x 9 inches\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSections\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e20, in six parts, plus a full introduction\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eTranslation\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eNew American Standard Bible\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e978-1-964805-93-1\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCover design\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCaitlyn Clyne\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication year\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e2026\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWho It's For\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdult Bible class teachers who want a full quarter of practical Old Testament material and a way through the middle of Proverbs that a class can actually follow. Preachers mining the book for series material on speech, work, money, or family. Parents who keep telling their kids to read a chapter a day and have never worked through it themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChad Sychtysz\u003c\/strong\u003e has been a minister of the gospel since 1994, serving churches in Alaska and Washington state. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and has written numerous books and workbooks on the Bible, including studies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. He lives in Billings, Montana.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Spiritbuilding Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Workbook","offer_id":50232189354234,"sku":"OTS028","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"eBook (PDF) Individual Use","offer_id":50232189387002,"sku":"OTS028-PDFI","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"eBook (PDF) Class Use","offer_id":50232189419770,"sku":"OTS028-PDFC","price":100.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0287\/5683\/6484\/files\/Studyofproverbw.png?v=1791232863","url":"https:\/\/spiritbuilding.com\/products\/a-study-of-proverbs","provider":"Spiritbuilding Publishers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}