“Meter And Memory”

Monday, December 24, 2012

I've been reading through Proverbs recently, and I've noticed a repeating pattern that I don't understand.  It seems like there will be a verse, then several verses later another verse that reads almost identically (for example, Proverbs 20:10 and 20:23, Proverbs 20:8 and Proverbs 20:26, Proverbs 21:9 and 21:19).  At first, it seems like these should be bookends that group together a related set of thoughts, but the intervening verses don't seem to be very related to each other.  Is there some significance to this pattern?

Sincerely,
Proverbially Puzzled

Dear Proverbially Puzzled,

Proverbs is full of repetitive verses just like the ones you have mentioned.  The first nine chapters of Proverbs are absolutely saturated with that sort of repetition.  The most likely reason for this is that it is designed as a teaching aid.  The Old Testament was often memorized by the Israelite people (the printing press wasn’t invented until 1439), and the Proverbs and Psalms are especially well designed for memory work.

For example, Psalm 119 starts each verse with one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the equivalent of having an A-to-Z poem.  The Psalms and Proverbs use assonance (words that make a rhythm), repetition, rhythm, and melody (many of the Psalms were meant to be accompanied by instruments) to help people memorize them.  The repetition you are seeing in Proverbs is most likely due to a God-designed structure to help ingrain these ideas into the mind of the reader.

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