2:1–4 After the opening address (“my son”), each of the three sections in the first half of this poem begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, aleph (vv. 1, 5, 9). The three sections in the second half begin with the middle letter of the alphabet, lamed (vv. 12, 16, 20). These patterns reveal symmetries within this chapter that cascade downward from the top to increasingly smaller levels.

The first four verses present the ifs or conditions the son must meet in order to get wisdom. Such conditions are conventional language deeply familiar to Israel in the stipulations of the covenants with Moses and David and the exhortations of the prophets (cf. Ex. 19:5–6; Deut. 30:15–20; Neh. 1:9; Ps. 132:12; Ezek. 18:21; Joel 2:12–13; Zech. 1:3): “if” you obey, “if” you keep my commandments, “if” you turn from your sins. The NT applies this same conditional language to the offer of the gospel (Mark 8:38; John 1:12; Rom. 1:16). Membership in God’s kingdom is by grace but requires our commitment and our ongoing participation; grace and human agency are not always opposed to one another, as is sometimes supposed. And so it is here, as God gives wisdom as a gift (Prov. 2:4–6) to be our means to participate in this world he has created. And yet, as with the covenants and the offer of the gospel, we must listen, keep, and do what God commands in order to reap wisdom’s rewards and increase in the knowledge of God. Indeed, these verses exhort us to view wisdom as a great good for which we call with deep longing, a most precious treasure we diligently seek.

2:5–8 This is the first of two then lists—what is offered to us if we accept the if conditions of wisdom (cf. vv. 9–11). The verses almost flow as a single sentence that holds “the fear of the Lord” and the knowledge of God together with the practical side of walking in wisdom, righteousness, and justice.

These ideas of knowing God and the fear of the Lord will strike our ears much differently than they did those of the ancient audience. For the “fear of the Lord” cf. comment on 1:7. As for knowing him, modern Christians tend to talk of knowing God sentimentally or as a matter of inner feeling and experience. But, as we will see in Proverbs 3:6–7, the knowledge of God and wise practical living in the here and the now are inseparable. This can be seen quite clearly throughout the OT (Judg. 2:10–11; 3:7; Ps. 90:11–12; Isa. 11:1–9; Jer. 22:13–17; Hos. 6:6). Thus true knowledge of the Lord emerges both as we imitate him and as we experience him; such knowledge can be measured by actions of discernment, justice, and righteousness, and such actions lead us to a deeper experience of who he is.

For Paul in the NT, the increase in the knowledge of Christ (Phil. 3:10) requires sharing in Christ’s sufferings, striving toward our “upward call,” avoiding earthly passions, rejoicing in everything, and practicing all that Paul has taught (Phil. 3:11–4:9). The imitation of Christ and our experience of him go hand in hand.

In Proverbs 3:6–8 knowing God is similarly imagined as experiencing him and imitating him in every dimension of human life. In this respect verses 6–8 closely resemble Moses’ prayer in Psalm 90. In fact, that psalm is an excellent commentary on these few short verses. Moses begins by rehearsing the mighty acts of the Lord on Israel’s behalf in light of God’s identity as creator and ruler of the world. In the prayer Israel appears as the benefactor of God’s grace, sustained by his saving power and created for life and good works. Moses then turns to marvel at the power and mercy of the Lord, praying for wisdom so that Israel may respond in ways of living that correspond with God’s character and his works in the past. “Teach us to number our days” (Ps. 90:12) is a prayer for wisdom in the smallest details of life in the light of the greatest truths known to humanity. In Proverbs 2:6–8 this comes in shortened form, prompting us to imagine the knowledge of God within a world in which he walks alongside us as we do his will.

2:9–11 This is the second then list in the chapter. If we seek to know the Lord and walk in wisdom, then God will lead us in paths of “righteousness and justice and equity, every good path” (v. 9). These three terms echo the prologue in Proverbs 1:3. The just actions are (1) a reflection of God’s character and works (2:9), (2) the delight of the wise person (v. 10), and (3) the assurance of God’s protection (v. 11).

In the central place of these three verses, verse 10 glories in the wise person’s delight for wisdom. As discussed in the Introduction, when we read the words “soul” and “heart” we should not think first and foremost of some immaterial entity. Rather, these are terms that speak to pleasure we experience in the deepest parts of our humanity—our “soul,” the living aspect of us, and our “heart,” the deep center of all thought, discernment, and emotion.37 We should imagine that what we think of as the “mind” is included within the vision of these two terms.

The final then statement reassures us of the protection that comes from seeking the knowledge of God and a wise way of living. This protection was already assured in verses 7–8 and is the main subject of the material in the second half of the poem (vv. 12–22).

2:12–15 The second half of the poem describes vividly the two major threats to the young man or woman emerging into adulthood: bad social relations (vv. 12–15) and sexual temptation (vv. 16–19). The chapter again echoes the exhortations in chapter 1:10–33; earlier the father commended listening to cosmic Wisdom, while here he commends avoiding the strange woman. The symmetry is clear.

Proverbs later warns, “The companion of fools will suffer harm” (13:20), which may well have influenced Paul’s saying, “Bad company ruins good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33). Everyone knows the immense power that social groups have in a child’s formation of worldview and behavior. Such is no less true for adults. This does not mean we should close ourselves off into social groups that are like us—the gospel story welcomes people of every tribe and nation and places a burden on the church to reach out to the marginalized of society. That which is in view here might be closer to the way in which we gather at water coolers or coffee machines, follow friends and trends on social media, and align ourselves with people who affirm our social, moral, and political leanings. We are naturally drawn to people who look and think like us. And yet the son is warned to be more discerning than this and to avoid frequenting the company of those who abuse power, people, or property.

2:16–19 The father next warns the son to avoid the “foreign woman” (ESV: “forbidden woman”). It is easy to read right past this reference and miss the deeper significance of the women in chapters 1–9. In total, the father warns against five distinct women in Hebrew: the zarah (“forbidden” or “wayward” woman; 2:16), the zonah (“prostitute”; 6:26), the nokriyya (“foreign” woman; ESV: “adulteress”; 2:16), the zarah nokriyya (“foreign” or “strange” woman; 7:5), and the ʾeshet raʿ (“evil” woman; 6:24). The translations for zarah and nokriyya are debated. Nancy Nam Hoon Tan argues convincingly that the meaning of zarah in the Hebrew Bible is usually fluid and determined by its context.38 And, since zarah appears in its first and last occurrence with a word that is otherwise translated “foreign” (nokriyya) (2:16; 7:5; cf. 5:20), it makes sense to translate both of these words as “foreign.”

What is the difference between these terms in English? It comes down to retaining the power of the metaphor in Hebrew. “Foreign” is more easily taken figuratively, that is, in the way it conjures up all nature of differentness. In other words, what is in view here is not first and foremost an immigrant woman but rather the full range of women who act differently from what should be the norm, from the adulteress and prostitute to the foreign women whose wealth and religion might lead the man astray, as happened in Solomon’s case (1 Kings 11:1–8). And Solomon does seem to lie in the background with the allusion here to his marriages to many foreign wives that led to his unfaithfulness to Yahweh (1 Kings 11:11; cf. Prov. 2:17), as well as the cosmic forsaking of life (vv. 18–19). And, like Solomon, Israel follows the same path in pursuing her idolatries as if they were foreign wives who break her marriage covenant with Yahweh (cf. Jer. 3:2–6; Ezek. 16:28, 32; Mal. 2:11, 14–16). As we progress through Proverbs 1–9, we will see these strange women coming to symbolize desire of every kind. We will also say more about the marriage covenant as a metaphor for Israel’s relationship with Yahweh in chapters 6–7.

2:20–22 These final verses act as a summary for the whole poem (2:1–22). We find an almost identical summary in the last two verses of Psalm 1. In fact, the two passages are much closer than one might imagine. Psalms and Proverbs both evince a pattern of continually pointing to the cosmic and eschatological consequences stored up for one’s practical daily decisions: blessings in eternity are determined by how one conforms—or does not conform—to the Lord’s order for creation in the present.

One should not overlook the specific object of the father’s promise to the son: to live on the land or else be expelled from it. Modern Christians far too easily, and against the grain of Scripture, live with the mentality of “This is not our home” and “We are just passing through.” Wisdom offers a full life in this world. We will take up this subject below.