Behind | Workbook: Instruction of Amenemope

Grab your Workbook Journal!

[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]

10. While the ideal behavior encouraged in these two texts is in many cases very similar, as in the example in the previous activity, the reasoning for ideal behavior is at times distinctive. Read the parallels below and explain the difference in Proverbs’ rationale for its instruction.

Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
Proverbs 23:9 (NASB)

Do not pour out your heart to everybody,
So that you diminish respect for (yourself).
Amenemope xxii, 11-12

11. Both texts encourage careful speech, but the Egyptian text is concerned with the way the speaker looks, while Proverbs is concerned with the way wisdom is valued or “despised.” Read the parallels below and explain the difference in Proverbs’ reason for its instruction.

Do not move the ancient boundary
Or go into the fields of the fatherless,
For their Redeemer is strong;
He will plead their case against you.
Proverbs 23:10-11 (NASB)

(vii 12) Do not remove the boundary stone on
the boundaries of the cultivated land.
Nor throw down the boundary of the widow. 
(viii 10) Lest a dread thing carry you off.
Amenemope vii, 12, 15; viii, 9-10