Image: "Like a Temple", 2019, Winterthur Gardens, De
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:28–29 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD,
Proverbs 2:2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;
Proverbs 2:10–11 When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul, 11 Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,
Proverbs 3:3–4 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart,
4 And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
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The study of Proverbs is both fruitful and frustrating. By definition a proverb is a "pithy saying" that grabs your attention, forces a wry, smiling nod of assent and then somehow sinks into your memory without any real effort. From my earliest youth I can remember sayings like "a fool and his money are soon parted", "a penny saved is a penny earned," etc. A proverb is not generally intended to be a precise statement of absolute truth. It is an "attention getter" like a roadway sign... it points beyond itself to something that lies beyond. It not only invites meditation, it can sometimes be worthless without it. The question if forces on us is "in what sense is this true?" That is why, as we shall see as we read Proverbs, that sometimes one proverb will say exactly the opposite of another one. Hence our reading of Proverbs must include a willingness to ponder. That is what they are all about.
Our proverbs today are more in line with a sustained discourse than a collection of pithy sayings and so we can speak of a "topic." That topic, of course, is the desirability and necessity of "wisdom." Taking a fatherly tone Solomon is exhorting his "son" to seek and find wisdom because in it and through it a person is admitted into a life that is worth living. The exhortations consist in both positive and negative aspects. The positives point toward the "desirability" of true wisdom and the negatives are directed toward "false wisdom" which result in anything but a life worth living.
Right away we have insights into the nature of Biblical, and hence true, wisdom. Wisdom is not an academic exercise. It is not something that is grounded in the intellect or in how some folks define "rationality." That is not to say that wisdom is separate from the mind or that it is irrational, far from it. Rather Biblical wisdom is a "whole person" concept. A person lives by wisdom through having conditioned thoughts, impulses and emotions.
The force of the proverbs teach us that we should find the "temple" of wisdom in our individual lives in our "heart" not in the bare assent to certain teachings.
Right off the bat we see this when Solomon says that "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" and, in true Hebraic form, parallels this with the idea of "wisdom and instruction." (1:7). Further on he states the absence of wisdom is rooted in the "hatred of knowledge" and results from a decision not to "choose the fear of the LORD." (1:29) Then, nailing down the point, he says that if we apply our "heart to understanding" then in doing so we will "understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God because the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding." (2:1-6)
This gives us plenty to work with. Wisdom begins with a whole person confrontation with the living God. The entire concept of living a "life that is worth living" is completely hidden from any individual who desires to attain that goal and is not building from the prior inculcation of "the fear of the LORD" as its origin. The NT teaches us that in order for any person to "come to God" as the source of all wisdom and to learn from His mouth, we must first "believe that He is!" (Heb. 11:6) God is the fount of all knowledge because He is the ultimate reality. It is from Him and in Him that all things consist. He and He alone in His Trinitarian Reality can not only teach us but change us, in our whole being, such that it becomes possible for us to attain to any measure of true wisdom.
This confrontation with God that leads to this is a matter of the "heart," understood in Biblical terms. When a person's heart is changed such that all things are thence understood through the prior knowledge that the God of the Bible is truth (along with all other things like love, etc.) then that person can be said to have "come to God" in the sense that Proverbs 2 and Hebrews both intend. With that foundation a person has the groundwork of wisdom... they are wise to that extent... and then growth in wisdom is the further process of living out that truth in conformity with that truth.
In 3:1-5 Solomon really hammers this home. We are called to "keep my commands" from the heart. Mercy and truth are to be written on the "tablet of your heart," and our daily life is to be characterized by trusting in the LORD "with all your heart", leaning not on our own understanding but acknowledge Him in all of our "ways", the conduct of our daily walk.
Thus "wisdom" is Personified in God Himself and though personified as female, yet through "her" we will find "a tree of life" for us to take hold of and discover the happiness of "all who retain her."
Thus wisdom is the Biblical term for knowing what it means to live a life worth living. It means knowing how to live in the presence of God and the "temple" of this wisdom is firmly fixed in the heart.
What a beautiful concept. God truly is to be praised and His Wisdom is highly to be desired.
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