Proverbs summary

 The Book of Proverbs offers many lessons, though some are not easy to discern. The proverbs are a compilation of folk sayings and wisdom sayings. Folk sayings sometimes seem to contradict themselves. 

 For example, the proverbs have much to say about a ‘fool’ and his ‘folly’.  

 Proverbs 12: 23: “One who is clever conceals knowledge, but the mind of a fool broadcasts folly.”

 Proverbs 14: 8: “It is the wisdom of the clever to understand where they go, but the folly of fools misleads.”

 But it is a bit confusing when back-to-back proverbs seem to give the opposite advice. For example:

Proverbs 26: 4 & 5:  “Do not answer fools according to their folly, lest you be a fool yourself. Answer fools according to their folly, lest they be wise in their own eyes.”

 Which is it? This is rather like our dueling proverbs: “Look before you leap” and “He who hesitates is lost.” Which is it? Actually, it is both. That is one of the difficulties with proverbs; often they are good advice but only for certain situations. One had better judge the distance of the fall before leaping off a cliff; on the other hand, if one hesitates too long and there is a grizzly bear close behind, better make your mind up quick. 

 Life is a paradox, and it takes more than a wise quip to find our way. I say this to caution against essentializing any single verse as if all the truth in the world were tied up in it. Some verses are more universal, that is, they tend to fit in all situations. One way to find these is to look for repeated reflections throughout the text. 

 In my mind, the foundational truth of the Book of Proverbs is this: 

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” 

(1:7, 1:29, 2: 5, 8: 13, 9:10, 10:27, 14:26, 27, 15:16, 33, 16: 6, 19: 23, 22: 4, 23: 17, 24: 21, 29: 25, 31: 30.) 

 Second to this theme, and following it closely, is the contrast between “wisdom” and “wickedness.” These are even personified as ‘Lady Wisdom’ and ‘the Loose Woman’. 

 Lady Wisdom is an interesting character. She is portrayed as ancient; linked to creation actually. 

 Proverbs 3: 19:  “The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew.” 

 Proverbs 8: 22:  “The LORD created me (wisdom) at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.”

 Wisdom is also called a “tree of life” (3: 18), one who will “walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice” (8: 20). Compare this personification with the most poetic of the Gospels, The Gospel according to John. 

 John 1: 1-5. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” 

 “In the beginning was the Logos….” From the Greek text, Logos is translated into English as ‘Word’. Logos refers to a First Century Greek philosophical concept of ‘the wisdom behind the universe’. There is also a Hebrew equivalent idea seen most clearly in the creation account where God spoke and it was so. Thus, the overall biblical concept refers to ‘divine speech’ or ‘divine reason’. 

 There are many other ways to explain Jesus, e.g., the Messiah, the Savior, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. They all carry some truth but the truth of Jesus Christ is not exhausted by one term. 

 Let us remember that Jesus as the Word, the wisdom of the universe, is a characterization built on Proverbs’ notion of ‘Lady Wisdom’ as well as on King Solomon, the Son of David, who is regarded as the wisest person in history. The Bible is linked together in many ways. The more we read and study, the more we catch a glimpse of God’s overall plan of salvation, and God’s love for us. Thank God that he cares so much.