The alternate title for this fragment is "Proverbs of the Remnant"; however, it seems rather to be a poem (or part of one) on a single subject. Perhaps it is a segment of a longer work containing sayings on other subjects, but this is all that has survived. Despite vigorous advocacy from certain quarters, there is no certainty that Egderus composed it, however much the burden of the Writing is consistent with what many take to be his philosophy of life.

According to one conjecture, the peculiar symbols incribed at the head of certain stanzas of this fragment — "‡", "‡‡", "‡‡‡", and so on — seem to be patterans, marking as it were the stepping stones on the path formed by the five separate "pages" (or perhaps pottery sherds) upon which this most ancient Writing was originally inscribed.