1A good name is more desirable than great riches,
and loving favor is better than silver and gold.
2The rich and the poor have this in common:
Yahweh is the maker of them all.
3A prudent man sees danger and hides himself;
but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.
4The result of humility and the fear of Yahweh
is wealth, honor, and life.
5Thorns and snares are in the path of the wicked;
whoever guards his soul stays from them.
6Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not depart from it.
7The rich rule over the poor.
The borrower is servant to the lender.
8He who sows wickedness reaps trouble,
and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
9He who has a generous eye will be blessed,
for he shares his food with the poor.
10Drive out the mocker, and strife will go out;
yes, quarrels and insults will stop.
11He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully
is the king’s friend.
12Yahweh’s eyes watch over knowledge,
but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.
13The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!
I will be killed in the streets!”
14The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit.
He who is under Yahweh’s wrath will fall into it.
15Folly is bound up in the heart of a child;
the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
16Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich,
both come to poverty.
17Turn your ear, and listen to the words of the wise.
Apply your heart to my teaching.
18For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you,
if all of them are ready on your lips.
19I teach you today, even you,
so that your trust may be in Yahweh.
20Haven’t I written to you thirty excellent things
of counsel and knowledge,
21To teach you truth, reliable words,
to give sound answers to the ones who sent you?
22Don’t exploit the poor because he is poor;
and don’t crush the needy in court;
23for Yahweh will plead their case,
and plunder the life of those who plunder them.
24Don’t befriend a hot-tempered man.
Don’t associate with one who harbors anger,
25lest you learn his ways
and ensnare your soul.
26Don’t you be one of those who strike hands,
of those who are collateral for debts.
27If you don’t have means to pay,
why should he take away your bed from under you?
28Don’t move the ancient boundary stone
which your fathers have set up.
29Do you see a man skilled in his work?
He will serve kings.
He won’t serve obscure men.
There is controversy today in the Christian community far more important than differences among believers in many decades regarding the nature of the Genesis account in Genesis 1, 2, & 3. Liberal scholars have generally believed the creation account was not truly representative of an actual event but embraced a Darwinist explanation of the creation of the world (what is often called macro-evolution), that contends that all of life on earth developed from very small forms of life that were created by an accident in the primordial fluids of ancient earth billions of years ago. Even so, the current debate extends much further than believing in long periods for the creation days and even accepting some form of evolution. The current debate is whether Adam and Eve and the events transpiring around them in the biblical account ever occurred and whether Genesis is only a myth rather than factual history.
Christians, through most of Christian history (and the Jewish people before Christianity), have embraced a literal and factual creation by God that is found in Genesis 1, as well as the more detailed creation of humans in Genesis 2. In current Christianity, several scholars, who are generally conservative in most areas of theology, are advocating that the Genesis One account is, in reality, a myth or fiction. Moreover, there is a rejection of an actual Adam and Eve, a temptation and fall, and many of the events in the book of Genesis and elsewhere in the Old Testament. Allegedly, God only inspired a mythical account that provided a story in which He could teach an inerrant truth about Himself being the ultimate Creator of the universe.
However, there are several reasons to reject this manner of interpreting Genesis. First, this alternate view is contrary to the understanding of various persons in the Old Testament, Jesus, the apostles, and the church for most of its history. Second, though the factual account of creation and the fall arguably contains some poetic features, the essence is a true and historical account that is consistent with the mainstream scientific understanding of the chronology of the creative events. Additionally, the biblical account of creation is not in agreement with Ancient Near East creation stories, upon which many current scholars rely in rejecting the factual, historical account found in Scripture, as well as the uniqueness of the Genesis account of creation. As the literary scholar C. S. Lewis once stated, "Myth comes from history and not history from myth."
I would encourage you to view the free YouTube video, Is Genesis History? Click https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UM82qxxskZE&feature=youtu.be in the browser of your phone, iPad, or Computer for this excellent discussion of the historicity of the book of Genesis.
The writers of the Bible believed in the historical doctrine of the creation of the world and the specific creation of Adam and Eve. The Bible contains about 300 verses on creation.
Gen 1:1-27; 2:1-23; 3:1, 19, 23; 5:1, 2; 6:6, 7; 7:4; 9:6
Exod 4:11, 32; 14:21; 20:11; 31:17
Job 4:7; 9:8, 9; 10:8; 26:7; 28:6; 31:15; 32:22; 33:4, 6, 7; 34:15; 38:4-6; 40:15
Ps 8:3-8; 19:1-4; 24:1; 33:6; 52:7; 86:9; 89:11, 12; 90:2, 3; 94:9; 95:5, 6; 96:5; 100:3; 102:25; 104:2-5, 19, 24, 25, 30; 115:8, 15; 119:73; 121:2; 125:3, 8; 135:7; 139:14, 15; 146:6; 148:1-5
Prov 8:23-29; 14:31; 16:4; 17:5; 20:1, 2, 12; 22:2; 26:10
Eccl 3:11; 7:14, 29; 11:5; 12:1, 7
Isa 17:7; 22:11; 27:11; 29:16; 37:16, 26; 40:21, 26, 28; 41:20; 42:5; 43:1, 7, 10, 17, 21; 44:2, 21, 24; 45:7, 8, 12, 18; 48:13; 49:5; 51:13, 16; 66:2, 22
Jer 1:5; 10:11-13, 16; 27:5; 29:9; 31:35; 32:17; 33:2; 51:15, 16
Matt 13:35; 19:4, 5, 6, 8; 24:21; 25:34
John 1:3, 10; 8:44; 9:32; 17:24
Rom 1:19, 20; 5:12, 14-19; 8:19-23, 39; Rom 13:1, 4
1 Cor 11:3, 8, 9, 12; 15:22, 38, 45-47, 49
Eph 1:4, 39
1 Tim 2:13, 14; 4:3, 4
Heb 1:2, 3, 10, 14; 3:4; 4:3, 4, 10, 13; 9:11, 26; 12:27
Rev 3:14; 4:8-11; 10:6; 13:8; 14:7; 17:8; 21:1, 5; 22:13
Knowing the Truth about Creation, p. 150, from Norm Geisler, The Importance of Creation (PowerPoint Presentation)