Proverbs – General
In the Proverbs there is much shrewdness, many pithy and prudent maxims, and many wise sayings. The same ideas are expressed in many ways, the wisdom of economy and silence, the dangers of vanity and idleness. Some are trivial, some are foolish, and many are wise. These proverbs are not generous, not altruistic. Sayings to the same effect are found among all nations.
Proverbs 1:26-28 - God will laugh at your misfortunes, mock you when you are afraid, and ignore you when you ask him for help. And if you seek him, you will not find him, contrary to Pr.8:17, Mt.7:7-8, and Lk.11:9-10.
Proverbs 2:16-19 - God warns us about the dangers of "strange women." Strange men are OK though.
Proverbs 3:5 - "Lean not unto thine own understanding." Don't try to understand things; just accept whatever the bible and your religious leaders tell you.
Proverbs 4:7 - Proverbs, unlike Paul, greatly values wisdom and understanding.
Proverbs 6:24-26 - Watch out for those evil, strange, and whorish women.
Proverbs 7:5-27 - A woman that seduces a man is evil, the man is just an innocent victim.
Proverbs 9:13-18 - We are warned again about "foolish women" who are "simple" and "knoweth nothing," who drag their guests into "the depths of hell."
Proverbs 12:22 - "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord." If so, then why did God "put a lying spirit in the mouths" of prophets? (1 Kg.22:23)
Proverbs 14:15 - "The simple believeth every word." I wonder if this would apply to the fundamentalists who believe every of the Bible. But Paul says that we should "believe all things." (1 Cor.13:7)
Proverbs 16:4 - God made bad people for the pleasure of punishing them, contrary to 1 Tim.2:4 and 2 Pet.1:9.
Proverbs 16:7 - If you are faithful to God, your enemies will be at peace with you. If so, then the author of 2 Tim.3:12 must have been mistaken.
Proverbs 17:22 - Is it a good thing to be happy as this verse says, or is happiness something to be avoided (Ec.7:3-4, Lk.6:25)?
Proverbs 22:14 - "Strange women" have "deep pits" for mouths into which fall those whom God hates.
Proverbs 22:15 - Beating your children will make them less foolish. Have you beaten your child today?
Proverbs 23:13-14 - Beat your children hard and often. Don't worry about hurting them. You may break a few bones and cause some brain damage, but it isn't going to kill them. And even if they do die, they'll be better off. They'll thank you in heaven for beating the hell out of them.
Proverbs 26:3 - Whip horses, bridle asses, and strike the backs of foolish people with rods.
Proverbs 26:4-5 - These two consecutive verses directly contradict one another. Verse 4 says not to answer a fool and verse 5 says to answer him.
Proverbs 30:5 "Every word of God is pure." Well then, the Bible must not be the word of God. See Ezek.23:20 and Mal.2:3 for just two examples of the "pure" word of God.
Proverbs 31:6-7 - "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more." These verses recommend drinking wine and strong drink, but elsewhere in the bible drinking is condemned.
Proverbs 31:10 - "Who can find a virtuous woman?" Virtuous men are much more common.
Ecclesiastes – General
Ecclesiastes is the most thoughtful book in the Bible. It was written by an unbeliever, a philosopher, an agnostic. Take out the interpolations, and it is in accordance with the thought of the nineteenth century. In this book are found the most philosophic and poetic passages in the Bible.
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 - Men and animals both die and their spirits don't survive death. "A man hath no pre-eminence above a beast ... All goeth unto one place ... Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" Who indeed?
Ecclesiastes 7:25 - Always strive "to know, and to search; and to seek out wisdom, and the reasonableness of things."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 - Dead people know nothing and receive no reward, contrary to many Bible passages.
Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 - Human life is subject to indifferent laws and random events, just like the lives of other animals.
Song of Solomon – General
After crossing the desert of death and crime, after reading the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles it is delightful to reach this grove of palms, called the "Song of Solomon." A drama of love, of human low, a poem without Jehovah, a poem born of the heart and true to the divine instincts of the soul. "I sleep, but my heart waketh."
