Awhile back I mentioned some connections between Psalms and Proverbs. One of them was that Psalm 1 and 2, in addition to being an introduction to the whole Psalter, also works as an introduction to Proverbs.
If you read Psalm 1 and Proverbs, it is obvious what I mean. The two ways of Psalm 1 are described repeatedly in Proverbs. While Psalm 1 doesn’t mention folly versus wisdom, Proverbs includes plenty of contrasts between the righteous and the wicked.
For example, consider Psalm 1:3
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
- Proverbs 3:18 – She [Lady Wisdom] is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.
- Proverbs 11:30 – The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.
- Proverbs 12:12 – Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers, but the root of the righteous bears fruit.
- Proverbs 13:12 – Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
- Proverbs 15:4 – A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
- Proverbs 27:18 – Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored.
Or Psalm 1:4
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
- Proverbs 2:22 – but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
- Proverbs 10:25 – When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever.
- Proverbs 11:29 – Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.
- Proverbs 20:26 – A wise king winnows the wicked and drives the wheel over them.
- Proverbs 21:7 – The violence of the wicked will sweep them away, because they refuse to do what is just.
A lot more comparisons could be made.
But what about Psalm 2 which seems aimed at rulers and kings? Granted it warns, “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.” But that wisdom concerns kings and rulers who should submit to God’s king. How does this apply to everyone the way Proverbs does?
As I’ve said before, in Proverbs all people are kings and queens of some area. They are the chieftains of their own character. Thus, the idealized person who Proverbs addresses is a prince to King Solomon:
The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel… Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.
Proverbs 1:1, 8
And in Psalm 2 there is also more going on than a confrontation between a single unique king and people who are identified as kings. We know this from the way Jesus quoted from Psalm 2 to the Christians in Thyatira:
The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.
Revelation 2:26-27
So even Psalm 2 agrees, despite being a prophecy of Jesus, that we are all kings. We must conquer, overcome, and rule. Proverbs is all about that.