Part I. THE TITLE AND SUPERSCRIPTION.
The superscription of the Proverbs, which extends from verse 1 to verse 6, furnishes us with an epitome in short and concise language of the general scope and bearing of the book, and points out its specific utility, both to the inexperienced and to those already wise. Thus
The title of the book embodied in the text is, 'The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David, King of Israel,' but the shorter designation by which it was and is known among the Jews is Mishle ( מִשְׁלֵי), taken from the word with which the book begins. Analogously, in the Authorized Version it is styled 'The Proverbs,' and the heading in the LXX. is παοιμίαι σολομῶντος. The outside title in the Vulgate is more elaborately given as, 'Liber Proverbiorum, quem Hebraei Misle appellant' ('The Book of the Proverbs, which the Hebrews call Misle'). In the Talmud it is called the 'Book of Wisdom'; and Origen (Eusebius, 'Hist. Eccl.,' 6.25) designates it ΄ισλώθ, the Greek form of the Hebrew Meshaloth ( מְשָׁלוֹת). Among the ancient Greek Fathers, e.g. Clement, Hegesippus, Irenaeus, the book was known by a variety of titles, all more or less descriptive of its contents as a repository of wisdom.