The Wisdom of Proverbs: An Essential Guide

by Bob Beasley

Like hard candy, the book of Solomon’s Proverbs needs to be savored long after the first taste. "The Wisdom of An Essential Guide” provides that opportunity in a daily devotional format that is easy to read and full of spiritual guidance. This unique volume also includes biblical examples of those who followed, or ignored, the teachings of Proverbs, providing you with real-life application for each principle. Perfect for pastors or Bible students, "The Wisdom of An Essential Guide" is useful for any layperson interested in a complete study of Proverbs.

Genres: Christian, Faith, Devotional

591 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 22, 2013

Reviews

[Frode · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wisdom of Proverbs: An Essential Guide to Proverbs is by Bob Beasley. It is a commentary of sorts on the book of Proverbs in the Bible. The structure is pretty simple and repeated continuously throughout the book. After an introductory chapter in which he describes some of the ways the various proverbs are constructed, he begins his general comments. Mr. Beasley gives a two three paragraph introduction to each chapter. Then he works through the chapter in a verse by verse fashion. He will quote one verse or sometimes more if they flow together; he uses the NIV. After the verses he writes a few paragraphs; they constitute a devotional/commentary of sorts; then he gives some short examples from the Bible and finishes with a prayer of two or three sentences. The method works well and is easily used for personal study. Each sequence described above is no longer than a couple of pages, so stopping after a prayer is convenient.

The author has written other materials, some on Proverbs including one with his wife entitled Wisdom for Women based on Chapter 31 of Proverbs. He is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary in California; he was in property development for years and had a good-sized business until retirement. Some of his commentary reflects his experiences in the business world. The book is theologically sound in my estimation, and it is practical in some of its advice, but it is based on Proverbs, so that is what one would expect. It reads easily; it is not an ivory tower theological tome.

Personally I have been reading a chapter in Proverbs every day for over 30 years, so this was a welcome way to deviate a bit; it did take me about 45 days to read it, however. Sometimes I wondered why the author took the tack he did in his comments, but the comments always had some relevance to the Scripture being cited. Although I did not find any astonishing new insights, the author’s comments were thoughtful and sometimes caused me to think a little more deeply on a given proverb. I identified with him on a few reflections since they were quite similar to my own. I chuckled when he mentioned how he immediately thought of a pioneer family when reading 24:27. When I see that verse, I think of my grandparents homesteading on the Dakota prairie and living in a soddy and building the barn before they built their house. It’s probably a generational thing, but he ties it in nicely with getting one’s priorities straight.

It is a book for devotions and for reference. I believe it has a place in most people’s libraries as it is good for reference and also good for devotional reading. Mine is on a kindle, but I am considering purchasing the physical book even though I have already read it.

[Bonnie Fakhri · Rating 2 out of 5]

To long for its format

This book is written in, what seems to me to be, a daily devotional type format. There is a scripture (a verse or passage from Proverbs), a short exposition, a biblical example, and a 1-2 sentance prayer. The problem with this it that since the author takes Proverbs essentially verse by verse it takes more than a year to complete this book if you read one devotion/page per day. To me, that is much to look for a book of this format. There are many repeating themes and verses throughout proverbs, so by individually covering them all, the book became not only LONG but repetitive. I think the author would have been more successful in creating a book grouped by subject matter based on proverbs or if he wanted to go verse by verse he could just skip verses already covered (perhaps referencing the page he had covered that them on). In the end, the author himself seemed to lose interest. The 31st chapter is one of the most unique in the book and here would have been a great place to use his verse by verse format but instead he grouped all of the qualities of a godly woman verses into a 2-3 groups, providing no bibilcal examples and seemed like he couldn't wait to just be finished with the project. I do think the author seems to write for a male audience, especially those in the business field since many of his examples are related to his time in business.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive book

I enjoyed his perspective on Proverbs. So many insights that were inspiring and
a good challenge. I appreciated the examples of biblical people and the prayer at the end of each verse.

[kc · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this as a daily devotional. Includes explanations, examples and prayers.