Solution: Many passages in the Proverbs lead to confusion if we interpret them as laws, rather than wisdom principles. Two examples will suffice:
(Prov. 16:7) When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.
While this is often the case, it isn’t always. Paul’s life was pleasing to God, but he was stoned (Acts 14:19) and tortured by his enemies (2 Cor. 11:23-28). Jesus was pleasing to God (Mt. 3:17), but he was tortured and killed!
(Prov. 22:6) Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
This also isn’t a promise. We often see loving Christian parents who lose their children from the faith. And yet, this is a general principle that should be observed. Surely not training our children will adversely affect them from pursuing Christ when they get older!
Conclusion
For these reasons, we should be sure to observe the genre of the Proverbs. Otherwise, we will run into major problems in our interpretation. In this case, it isn’t that the Proverbs are in error, but rather, our expectation of what they are saying is the issue. We are expecting universal moral commands, when in fact they are merely general wisdom principles, as the book itself claims in its introduction (Prov. 1:2).