How to read Proverbs by Tremper Longman III is a short guide to navigating the book of Proverbs. Longman is a frequent lecturer on Proverbs and has written extensively on the OT.
This book is divided into three portions: Understanding Proverbs, Reading Proverbs in Context, and Following the Themes in Proverbs. Longman is straight-forward in his analysis of the book, as well as showing how Proverbs relates to other wisdom literature, such as Ecclesiastes and Job. The final three chapters take a thematic look through Proverbs on the subjects of money, sex, and speech.
Two chapters were particularly interesting. One is Longman's comparison of Proverbs to other ancient wisdom literature. The second is where Longman looks at Woman Wisdom and compares her to Jesus Christ. Longman's observations about the similarities and the cautions of interpreting metaphorical language are instructive.
The book was a good introduction to Proverbs and one that I would recommend to someone that knows little and wants to learn more. Bruce Waltke gave a series of lectures at Dallas Theological Seminary which were more helpful to me than Longman. Depends on what roads you have traveled on in your journey through Proverbs, I guess.
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