Six Illustrations of the Unity in Diversity of the Holy Scriptures
(1) The system of typical persons, places, things, and events, all converging in the Person and offices of Christ.
(2) The steadily increasing light of prophecy, from the Seed (Gen. iii. 15) to the Sun (Mai. iv. 2).
(3) The gradual revelation of God Himself throughout the whole Old Testament, till Christ came, “God manifest in the flesh,” and then the unfolding of that revelation throughout the New.
(4) The striking unity of conception in the allusions to creation in Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the prophets.
(5) The startling contrasts between Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon, suggesting evident design in their inspiration and juxtaposition.
(6) The connection of the Book of Proverbs with the history of the Old Testament and the morality of the New.
All of these (and many others) would be interesting to work out thoroughly. I take one only as a specimen — the last named.
I. The Book of Proverbs seems to be an epitome of the lessons to be learnt from the whole of Scripture history; or the history as a volume of illustrations of the Proverbs. Taking a single book (chosen haphazard), the Second of Chronicles, we find the following parallels. (This list is by no means exhaustive. )
Proverbs.
Proverbs.
i. 10
compare
iv. 5-7-
x. 6-13 compare xxix. 9.
i. 12
iii. 16.
xi. 1-4”
xxi. 30.
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xxvii. 10.
xiv. 11”
xviii. 10.
vi. 30
XV. II.
xvi. 7-8”
xxix. 25.
be. 2
xx. 5.
xviii. 7”
xxix. 10.
x. 6
xxvii. 10.
xx. 35
xxii. 24, 25.
x. 7
XV. I.
xx. 37
xiii. 20.
Proverbs.
Proverbs
xxiii. 13 compare xi. 10.
xxix. 36 compare xvi. 1.
xxiv. 17, 18”
xxix. 12.
xxx. 9-1 1 “
xxiv. 22”
xvii. 13.
xxx. 26”
xxix. 2.
xxv. 9”
x. 22.
xxxii. 8”
xii. 25.
xxvi. 16”
j xxix. 23.
( xvi. 18.
xxxii. 31 “
xxxiv. 3”
xvii. 3.
viii. 17.
XXV. 21.
xxxvi. 5, 9, 11 II. The morality of the Proverbs is identical with that of the New Testament. The precepts of the former generally occur as statements in the latter, and vice versa; e. g.:
Prov
iii. 9 compare
I Cor. xvi. 2.
iii. 28
Matt. v. 42.
viii. 13
Rom. xii. 9.
x. 12
1 Pet. iv. 8.
xi. 12
it
Rom. xii. 16.
xii. 20
%t
Matt. v. 9.
xiv. 17, 29
James i. 19.
xviii. 12
James iv. 10.
xix. II
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Matt, xviii. 22.
XX. 21
xxi. 4
cc
Rom. xiv. 23.
xxiv. 29
tt
James ii. 1 (& e. g. Jude III. Every book in the New Testament has some parallel in Proverbs, some chapters (e. g. Rom. xii., James iv. ) having parallels with nearly every verse.
Matt. v. 8 compare Proverbs xxii. u.
Mark xii. 33 ’
* xxi. 3.
Luke xii. 24, 27 ’
’ vi. 6.
John xii. 26 ’
’ xxvii. 18.
Acts v. 1-8
xix. 5, 9.
Rom. xii. 16 ’
’ iii. 7.
1 Cor. xv. 33 ’
* xxii. 24, 25
2 Cor. ix. 6 *
xi. 24, 25.
Gal. vi. 7-9
’ xi. 18, xxii.
Eph. iv. 31 ’
1 iv. 24.
Phil. iii. 13, 14 ’
iv. 25.
Col. i. 9, II ’
’ xxiv. 5.
2 Thess. iii. II, 12 ’
1 xiv. 23.
xi. 28.
2 Tim. iii. 15 ’
* xxii. 6.
Tit. i. 13
’ xv. 32.
Philem. 20 ’
* xii. 20.
Heb. iv. 13 ’
‘XV. II.
James i. 5
’ iv. 7.
’ xxii. 21.
2 Pet. iii. 15, ) t
Gal. ii. 11 j
1 John iii. 22 ’
’ xv. 29.
’ xvii. 15.
’ x. 8, 10.
Jude 10
iv. 19.
Rev. iii. lg ’
’ iii. 11, 12.