How would we know if Solomon collected other wise sayings? 1 Kings 4:32 says he 'spoke 3,000 proverbs'. It would seem to me that he was the author of them, since that same verse states that the 1,005 songs were his songs. Also, we know that God gave Solomon his wisdom. That would seem to give Solomon more of a right to write inspired works than any normal wise guy.mattrose wrote:God blessed Solomon with a gift for wise sayings and the resources to collect many others.
I know that King Hezekiah oversaw the compilation of some of Solomon's proverbs a couple centuries after he spoke them (Proverbs 25:1). Those were added to the book of Proverbs at a later date. I don't know of a passage that says Solomon himself got his wisdom from another source than God.
I do see your overall point, though. The proverbs are wise sayings, and the point is that we should be looking at what they actually say than at who wrote them. But how would we know if they were inspired by God if they were written by a 'normal joe'?
[EDIT: I do suppose, though, that Agur (Proverbs 30) and King Lemuel's mom (Proverbs 31) were probably normal joes... ahh, maybe you're on to something here.]