Resumo

KAVUSA, Kivatsi Jonathan. An Eco-Theological interpretation of Proverbs 5:15-20 in the light of water crises experienced in present-day Africa. Old testam. essays [online]. 2017, vol.30, n.3, pp.707-724. ISSN 2312-3621.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2017/v30n3a10.

Proverbs 5:15-20 is not about ecological issues such as water management. However, the biblical author employed water-related metaphors as a way of speaking about faithfulness in marriage. The young man is instructed to drink water from his own cistern/well and to restrain himself from wasting this precious resource on the public areas (vv. 15-16). This article explores attitudes or assumptions towards water that might have informed the author's use of water-related metaphors in an attempt to promote fidelity in marriage. The water management metaphors in Prov 5:15-20 are relevant in contemporary Africa, where water crises have developed not necessarily because of a lack of resources, but often because of issues related to poor water management. The investigation is facilitated by a hermeneutics of suspicion and retrieval or trust. Two of the six eco-justice principles associated with the Earth Bible Project are applied, namely the principles of intrinsic worth and intercon-nectedness.

Palavras-chave : Proverbs 5; cisterns; wells; water metaphors; ecological hermeneutics; eco-justice.

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