A Word about Wisdom Personified

Today I want to share a word about Wisdom Personified as I comment on Proverbs 1:20-33:

Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

"How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you.

Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded, and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you, when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. 

Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.

Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster."

Wisdom Personified

As we consider this passage from Proverbs 1, we need to recognize that God used many different literary genres in the Bible. The fact that God could use literary devices to reveal His message to people should not be a surprise. After all, if humans can write poetry and prose, and if we can use metaphors, similes, parables, drama, and satire, why would we be surprised that God does also? God is far smarter and more sophisticated than we are and we are made in His image and His likeness. God is the Master Communicator and He knows how to speak with His people. In our passage for today, God used the technique of personification to teach about wisdom and folly.

We must be clear that although wisdom is personified in this passage, Proverbs 1 is not referring to the Greek god of wisdom Athena. In verse 29, King Solomon tells us that the foolish rejected “the fear of the LORD.” Wisdom here does not point to itself but to God Almighty. Wisdom is not a god in the Book of Proverbs, but it represents seeing things from God’s point of view.

So, what lessons can be learned from our focal passage for today? 

First, wisdom is available to all who would receive it. Wisdom is not some special gift or knowledge that is only available to a select few, no, it is available to all comers. In fact, we see wisdom depicted as standing in the busiest part of the city, crying out to all that will hear and receive the blessing of the fear of God. This vignette reminds me of a principle I was taught about the physical location of churches. 

It is common to see a sign at a crossroads, a busy intersection, or an exit from a highway which points the way towards a church which is hidden away in a neighborhood out of sight of the main roads. An expert in the field of church building design told me, “If you have to install a sign to point someone to your church, you should have built the church where you are placing the sign.”

Wisdom does not need a sign to point to it. Instead, God has taken the initiative, as He always does, to offer wisdom to all who would partake. Paul, in Romans Chapter 1 tells us that there is enough truth revealed to us in nature to cause us to seek God and His ways. This same truth is presented to us in our passage today.

Next, we see that it is foolish to reject wisdom. Those who do so are simple-minded and they reject knowledge. They are arrogant in their ignorance and they are proud of their rejection of the fear of the Lord. They have refused to hear wisdom and they have rejected it even when it was presented to them.

A Luddite is the term which is used to describe a person who willfully rejects the use of modern, labor-saving technology. The term originated with the bands of English textile workers who destroyed machinery in cotton and woolen mills that they believed was threatening their jobs. While they may have had a point, they were judged by society to be backwards, unsophisticated,  yokels and that is the connotation of the word as it is used today.

A Luddite blindly and viscerally rejects modern technology; in the same way, the foolish blindly and viscerally reject the fear of God and His Wisdom. What is the result of this obstinacy? In a word, disaster!

Disaster is the result of going one’s own way and ignoring the path of wisdom. Consider the terms used to describe what the foolish reap from their stubborn rejection of wisdom: calamity, panic, distress, anguish. To use a well-known phrase, "They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind.” In the midst of that storm, the foolish will seek the help of God, they will finally see wisdom, but it will be too late. The human consequences of sin are real, and they will be experienced. Humanly, once the dice are cast there is no taking them back. We will reap what we sow. 

The good news, however, is that there is hope in addition to our temporal reality. As this passage concludes, “For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them;  but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.” Or as James put it, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

When our children were still in high school, one of their friends had a part-time job at a pizza restaurant. We often saw him standing by the road waving a banner with the meal deal of the day, trying to attract new customers to the establishment. God presents wisdom in the same light; holding high a banner in the middle of main street, offering a blessing to all who would partake.

Are you willing to partake of the blessing of wisdom?

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt