Note 15 — Chapter II · The Proverbs of the Jews

Perhaps almost all, in their present polished form. Thus Toy (Proverbs, p. xi.) declares that “none of the aphorisms are popular proverbs or folk-sayings. They are all reflective and academic in tone, and must be regarded as the productions of schools of moralists in a period of high moral culture.” This observation is generally true, and of great importance; but it is not to be understood as meaning that the Book, or even the several sections, sprang out of nothing. In and behind the finished product there may well be a great deal of earlier material.