1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2 To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
3 to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4 to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6 to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Section Overview
These opening verses serve as a formal introduction to the book of Proverbs, declaring wisdom’s origin (1:1), its content (vv. 2–6), and the conditions for getting it (v. 7). The ancient world of Egypt and Mesopotamia left us dozens of wisdom texts that resemble biblical wisdom literature. Many of these texts provide introductions that communicate advice from a father to a son beginning to make his way in life and, in many cases, assuming his reign as king. It is likely that Proverbs borrowed this familiar structure. And yet, as we will see throughout this commentary, Proverbs is also careful to distinguish Israelite wisdom from all the other works passing themselves off as reliable guides for life. True wisdom, reliable wisdom, must begin with “the fear of the Lord [Yahweh]” (v. 7).
Outline
I. Sayings and Instructions (1:1–9:18)
A. Title and Introduction (1:1–7)
1. The Source (1:1)
2. The Content of the Teachings (1:2–6)
3. The Conditions for Getting Wisdom (1:7)
Response
Faith, Reason, and Desire
In the modern West we view intelligent people as those with education, wealth, and gifted skills of reasoning. Such people are free from the intrusions of emotion and religious commitments. Now, we must acknowledge that education and a quick wit can go a long way in this world. But that is an altogether different picture than biblical wisdom.
For one, as discussed in the Introduction, wisdom is grounded in human passions and emotions, those of fearing God and loving wisdom while hating evil, unrighteousness, and folly. Only when our hearts are properly set on our Creator and his world order will we have our thinking straight about how to behave. Anyone who has ever had a disagreement with a highly educated person realizes that the truth amounts to more than facts and rules of logic. And so it should not surprise us that faith in the OT and NT are grounded in both fear and love. As Gerhard von Rad has observed, wisdom “stands and falls on the right attitude” toward God.31
Wisdom also unites religion and education rather than opposing them. Religion is far more than a body of nonscientific beliefs and ritual worship practices, as popular media often caricatures it. Rather, religion is a whole way of life that the OT often labels as the “fear of the Lord.”
This phrase captures two important aspects. First, as we can see by its use throughout the OT, the “fear of the Lord” is shorthand for Israel’s whole story of faith, from Adam, Noah, and Abraham to Moses, David, and the future hope of a Messiah. And a story is necessary for ethics. As Alasdair MacIntyre famously said, “I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question, ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’”32
Second, fear, as with love, spells out the orientation of emotion and passion required for proper reasoning. That is, we reason with the proper use of our emotions, not apart from them.33 The Gospels freely describe Jesus as acting and speaking out of his emotions, for example, in sorrow (John 11:35), love (Mark 10:21), and anger (Mark 3:5; 10:14; John 2:13–17). It is thus a question not of whether but of how emotions influence us.
Wisdom as Central, Not Peripheral
This is also a good place to speak up for the wisdom literature. Unfortunately, wisdom is often overlooked as a second-class subject when compared to the theology of salvation or of holiness. It is like the “icing on the cake of the Bible,” as a friend often put it—not the cake! But when we consider for a moment the rebellion scene in the garden of Eden, as Adam, Eve, and the serpent engage in a battle for true wisdom, knowledge, and life, a different picture emerges:
The debate in the garden revolves around “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:9, 17). Notoriously difficult to define, this tree symbolizes a mixture of our moral, religious, and intellectual commitments. After the fall Genesis uses the same Hebrew word to describe Adam when he “knew” his wife and produced their two sons (Gen. 4:1). The Hebrew word “know” here is not simply a euphemism to protect innocent ears. Knowledge in the Hebrew mind was about far more than just accumulating facts but was a matter of participation, whether in life in the world or in union with another person. Biblical knowing is embodied (cf. comment on Prov. 3:5–8). Proverbs’ concern with “knowledge” here in the introduction (1:4, 7) encompasses the full range of knowledge pictured also in Genesis 2–4.
The serpent is also described as “crafty” (Hb. ʿormah; Gen. 3:1). This term clearly has negative connotations there, but it is used for “prudence” in Proverbs 1:4. At the very least we can see how human skills of thought and language can be used for both good (wisdom) and bad (rebellion).
Finally, the fruit for “making one wise” (sakal) in Genesis 3:6 is described using the word for “wise dealing” in Proverbs 1:3. As with “crafty” and “prudence,” we can see that the situation in Genesis tells us a lot about the intentions of Proverbs 1:2–6. Wisdom is about the whole human world of thinking, imagining, loving, feeling, and relating to God and others.
In this way we should see that wisdom is not the icing in the cake but the key ingredient for the whole recipe. It is the prerequisite for life without which we cannot make our way in God’s world.
But if this is true, then what is the relationship between wisdom and redemption? This question is discussed at various points in the commentary. We may summarize briefly for now to say that wisdom describes (1) God’s plan to redeem the world, (2) our ability to discern God’s work of redemption, and (3) the means by which we live out redeemed lives in a fallen world.Proverbs 1:1–7
Proverbs 1:8–33