Day 25: Proverbs 1 - It's All About Wisdom

READING: Proverbs 1

BACKGROUND:

This first chapter of Proverbs lays out the purpose of the book: to help us attain wisdom. And Proverbs is written for all types of people. Surely each of us fits in here somewhere: the simple, the young, the wise, the discerning (vv. 4-6) – that covers just about everyone!

What is wisdom and why do we need it?

Wisdom is an understanding of reality that enables good choices. It is the discernment to know the right action for a certain time and place. It is insight given by God into how to live and how not to live. Because God is the maker of all things, of reality, because He is reality, He is the beginning of all wisdom and knowledge. Fearing Him, living in reverent awe of Him, is the starting place for becoming wise (Proverbs 1:7; Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 9:10).

As Myrna Alexander says, wisdom enables us to “live life with skill, like an accomplished craftsman who creates something of lasting value – in this case eternal. Our brief-as-grass hours are filled with decisions over the details of living. Proverbs gives explicit counsel about how life should be lived for our own good, as well as that of others. This book makes us aware that God will be glorified through even our smallest action. Thus, Proverbs lifts everyday life once and for all out of what man calls ordinary into the extraordinary of permanent significance.”

Proverbs contains many proverbs. (Duh!) Most are from Solomon, but some are from others like Agur and King Lemuel. What is a proverb? In the ancient Near East, proverbs were common. It is important to understand the purpose of proverbs. They’re not promises from God. A proverb simply asserts a general truth.

“A proverb is a brief but vivid statement of reality that causes the hearer to reflect upon a proper perspective of practical everyday human condition that might otherwise remain obscure and incomprehensible” (Bruce Waltke). The proverbs in this book reveal God’s perspective on the best way to live everyday life.

Proverbs, along with Job and Ecclesiastes, is one of the books of wisdom literature, and is poetry. Poetry touches the heart and creates a response in the hearer by making the abstract concrete. The poetry in Proverbs uses figurative language, as we see in this first chapter, where wisdom is personified as a woman calling our for all to hear. This poetry also uses parallelism, with balanced or contrasting thoughts paired. Look for these balanced statements throughout the book – it’s full of them!

This book opens as if written from a father to his son, with advice for everyday life. But before the father gives his advice, and because he understands that the advice will go unheeded if the son himself isn’t motivated to seek wisdom, the father seeks to whet the appetite, to create a desire for wisdom within his son (and within us!).

REFLECTION:

Who wouldn’t want to attain “wisdom and discipline,” “understand words of insight,” “lead a disciplined and prudent life,” “ do what is right and just and fair” (vv. 2-3)? I can’t imagine rejecting those things. Yet I know some do. But just in case we’re not interested in wisdom, the father “paints” two pictures in this passage: the first of someone who is acting without wisdom; the second of what happens when wisdom is rejected.

The first story warns us not to be enticed by those who do wrong and hurt others to gratify their greed, their own desires. Even birds know enough not to fly into a net in plain sight! Those who do wrong in order to get what they want are their own worst enemy. They end up losing themselves.

Let’s reflect a bit on the picture of wisdom in the last part of the chapter. Wisdom is a woman here, perhaps to contrast with the adulteress we will meet later on. What is wisdom saying? How is she saying it? What are the consequences of not responding to her rebuke, of rejecting her and ignoring her advice? Whose fault are those consequences?

God is the true source of wisdom. So often we substitute other things for Him. Eve wanted wisdom. It says in Genesis 3: 6, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.” Eve wanted wisdom, but she left the Source of wisdom. So sad. Yet so often I do the same thing; I listen to the lies instead of the One who is Wisdom.

APPLICATION:

Who are you listening to? Do you hear wisdom calling? When you hear her call do you listen to her rebuke, to her advice? As I’ve written these words I’ve thought about that for me. If I truly believe God is wisdom’s source, that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3), then I will want even my smallest actions and thoughts brought under His authority. I will long to obey so that I can reflect Him even in the unseen places.

Look up the definitions of “prudent,” “insight,” “discernment,” and “discretion,” in a good dictionary or in a Bible dictionary. Sometimes we use words without really understanding them.

PRAYER:

Dear Father God, You have made Heaven and earth and all that is.. You are the God of reality and have told us how to live in your Word. You are the source of wisdom. Help me to fear you, to trust you, to listen to you and obey you, so that I can begin to be wise.