All proverbs are inextricably related to the culture of their origin. The proverb has a form and function distinctive to that culture. Biblical proverbs thus reflect MENA (Middle East North African) culture and should be interpreted primarily in that context. For a reader from a different culture, this requires the use of appropriate “mental software.” This article proposes reading scenarios as the key components of this software. Four are reviewed: normative inconsistency, collectivistic personality, three-zone personality, and secrecy, deception, and lying.
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HofstedeGert, Jan HofstedeGert, & MinkovMichael. 2010. Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival. Revised and Expanded Third Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
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MalinaBruce J.2012. “The Idea of Man and Concepts of the ‘Body’ in the Ancient Near East.” Pp. 43–60 in Menschenbilder und Körperkonzepte im Alten Israel, in Ägypten und im Alten Orient, edited by BerlejungAngelika, DietrichJan, & QuackJoachim Friedrich. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
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1986. “Normative Dissonance and Christian Origins.” Semeia36: 35–59.
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1994. “Secrecy in the Mediterranean World: an Anthropological Perspective.” Biblical Theology Bulletin24: 151–57.
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1992. “Lying and Deceit in the Letters to the Seven Churches: Perspectives from Cultural Anthropology.” Biblical Theology Bulletin22: 126–35.
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ScottR.B.Y.1961. “Folk Proverbs of the Ancient Near East.” Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada15: 27–56. Reprinted as pp. 417–26 in Studies in Ancient Israelite Wisdom. Selected with a Prolegomenon by James L. Crenshaw. New York: KTAV Publishing House, 1976.
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