An Interview with Paul Overland

1. Who are you, and how did you end up writing the AOTC on Proverbs?

I’m a pastor ordained in the Free Methodist Church.  For the past twenty-plus years it’s been my privilege to serve as a professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Ashland Theological Seminary, located an hour north of Columbus, Ohio.  When I’m not in class, my wife, Lorie, and I enjoy cycling the rural, rolling hills of northeast Ohio.

My doctoral specialization at Brandeis University began with studies in Coptic and Middle Egyptian (hieroglyphics).  Because of the rich trove of wisdom literature in the Egyptian culture, when I migrated from Coptic studies into Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), Proverbs proved to be that portion of the Bible where skills in Egyptian would yield greatest benefit.  The privilege of contributing the AOTC volume on Proverbs represents the culmination of study that for me began about 35 years ago.

2. You interact with poetry and other literature from a similar time as Proverbs - why is that, and how does such writing illuminate our understanding of God's Word?

That’s a very perceptive pair of questions.  An analogy may be helpful.  A good friend of mine is a published composer and professor of worship music.  While I may listen to a piece of music and find it deeply stirring, my musician friend quickly can point out the chord structure and rhythms responsible for the stirring effect that I only feel.  His alertness to musical structure enables him to grasp why the composition affects me as it does.  After listening to his explanation, the music impacts me even more deeply.

Proverbs (and all Hebrew wisdom literature, for that matter) was composed as poetry.  Just as awareness of chord structure can deepen our enjoyment of a musical composition, so alertness to poetic structure (or connectedness) will significantly deepen our ability to hear what God is saying to us through Proverbs.  More specifically, as we notice structure we are able to distinguish between sayings that may launch (or sum up) a major theme, in contrast to sayings that operate as subpoints.

2b. You refer to subpoints, as if the author of Proverbs left us with lectures.

Yes—in fact the first nine chapters of Proverbs have long been recognized as a series of poems or wisdom lectures.  And—now turning to the second part of your question (about ‘literature from a similar time as Proverbs’)—here is one of the ways we benefit from study of ancient Egyptian wisdom writings.  From Egyptian compositions we learn that, even before Proverbs was written, sages already were composing wisdom not merely as isolated sayings, like so many individual pearls in a bucket.  The were also arranging these literary gems into connected poems, theme-cohesive lectures.  They sequenced these ‘pearls’ into a carefully arranged tiara.

Scholars have long recognized theme-cohesive lectures within the first nine chapters of Proverbs.  Easily we recognize structural markers signaling the beginning and conclusion of discrete lectures (so also in Prov. 30 and 31).  Our familiarity with Egyptian wisdom compositions should challenge us to ask whether the intervening material (Prov. 10–29) may not also consist of theme-cohesive lectures.  In my opinion, the pattern of presenting wisdom in theme-cohesive lectures does not stop after Prov. 9, but continues through the rest of the book.  As a result our reading of Proverbs is transformed in two rather significant ways.

First, the message of a theme-cohesive lecture will impact us more forcefully than a handful of disconnected sayings (consider of the difference between the blinding illumination of an equatorial sun, in contrast to the gentle twinkling of a myriad of stars, disconnected in the night sky).

Second, individual sayings that make up a given lecture no longer can be treated as isolated orphans (recall Wolfgang Mieder’s oft-quoted assessment that “a proverb in a [disconnected] collection is dead”).  Instead, we now realize that each proverb must be read in the light of surrounding sayings. That fact is clear in this adjacent pair:  “Do not reply to a stupid fellow in a manner corresponding to his folly…” and “Reply to a stupid fellow in a manner corresponding to his folly…” (Prov. 26:4–5).  While individually each instruction cancels out the other, taken together this pair teaches that the wise person will exercise discernment, adjusting his response based on the character of each individual who approaches him.  A proverb in a composition is no longer merely a proverb in a collection, for the composition supplies the context necessary for its interpretation.

3. What do you think is the great need of/for wisdom in the church today?

There are three principal reasons why wisdom (especially found in Proverbs) is greatly needed in the church today.  First, in the teachings of wisdom we discover concentrated, no-nonsense insight for conducting public and private life with optimal success.  Here are a few examples:

• Do we seek counsel for healthy relationships? See Prov. 3:1–35.
• Do we wonder how to become ‘rich’? Consult 10:1–22.
• Do we want to recognize noble character or become a genuine friend?  Listen to 12:1–28. 
• Do we aspire to the loftiest heights of human flourishing?  Consider what the sage teaches in 20:5–21:4. 
• Or do we lack skill in organizational leadership?  Study Prov. 25–29.

Second, wisdom needed by those who shape the lives of impressionable youth.  By the sage’s attitude (deeply caring for youth), by curriculum (the various lecture topics of Proverbs), and by actual script (modeling conversations to engage youth; e.g., 19:20–24, 27–29; 20:15–23; 23:15 – 24:22), the author of Proverbs shows us how to invest profoundly in the next generation.

Third, I believe that wisdom offers the church a bridge for engaging the world.  While biblical wisdom is grounded in reverence for God, many specific counsels for success in the home, community, or the workplace are non-theological in nature.  Consequently they may provide a starting point, first counsel that followers of Christ may commend to friends seeking greater fulfillment in life.  In time, those friends may be receptive to the ultimately fulfilling life procured for them at great cost by their Creator and Rescuer.

4. What did you learn or rediscover abotu Proverbs in the process of writing this commentary?

Four points come to mind, that study of Proverbs has impressed on me.

1. I am impressed by the sage’s profound concern—and practical counsel—for winning over and mentoring the next generation.  Parents, grandparents, and any concerned with youth can benefit immensely from this thread running through Proverbs.
2. I am impressed by the timeless practical relevance of topics the sage chose to address.  In the first actual instruction, he takes up the matter of relationships—both with humans, and with God.  Who among us cannot benefit from this sort of counsel?  And repeatedly he offers counsel and caution concerning the ever-relevant trio of wealth-sex-and-power.
3. I am impressed by the incisive distinction the sage makes between the role of appetites and the role of morals.  When properly channeled, appetites can serve as a marvelous motivators.  However, never should appetites be elevated to the status of navigator (16:25 – 17:3).  This truth may comprise the single counsel most desperately needed by our western culture today, with its penchant for according to appetites the privilege of steering the course of one’s life.  The sage cautions that such navigation never ends well.
4. I am impressed by the way that lecture topics within Proverbs have been arranged to unfold a sequential curriculum for cultivating character. Initially the father and grandfather undertake the high-stakes contest to secure the youth as a pupil under Wisdom’s instruction (Prov. 1 –9).  Once the youth has enrolled, there follows basic training in wisdom, beginning with lessons in personal wealth and achieving satisfaction in life (chs. 10 – 13).  This advances to lessons in how to lead a group to corporate success and lasting security (chs. 14 –24).  As that cluster of lectures draws to a close, we get the sense that the youth is ready to launch a career as a budding sage.  The scene shifts in the next block of lectures, for the learner now bears actual responsibility as a wise person (or monarch) with duties and privileges in the royal court (chs. 25 – 29).  The curriculum (and book) fittingly closes by (a) recapping counsels of reverence and contentment, applicable to king and commoner alike (ch. 30), and by (b) recapping counsel concerning marriage—that deepest of relationships (ch. 31).

5. What's next for you, and how can IVP/Apollos readers be praying for you?

I would appreciate prayer as I hope to prepare condensed materials that would make it easier for pastors and leaders of small groups to access some of the riches of Proverbs.

Proverbs, the latest volume in the Apollos Old Testament Commentary, was one of IVP's July 2022 Releases, and is available now. If you are looking for slightly shorter resources or commentaries on the book of Proverbs, you'll find some below.