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.
We must consider some introductory points first of all in this study before proceed- ing to the details of the text. As pointed out in the above introduction, the purpose of the book is stated in its opening verses as being 'to know wisdom and instruction'. Kidner says, 'The samples of behaviour which it holds up to view are all assessed by one crite- rion, which could be summed up in the question, 'Is this wisdom or folly?''. In another place he speaks of divine wisdom being applied to the grass roots of life, in a union of piety and practicality. The relevance of this for today is surely clearly to be seen. It is perhaps significant that Proverbs is a book not much read and studied now as it was in earlier ages, and that ours is an age not pre-eminently characterised by wisdom in the common ways of life. Today in Christian life we have substituted for divine wisdom the impulses and leadings of what purports to be the Holy Spirit, forgetting that the Spirit's ideal and mature way of leading is from within, not from without, i.e., wisdom emerging in the heart, not making impact on the mind from without. This is seen in errors, for ex- ample, of guidance, when sanctified common sense is despised and consequent lack of judgment prevails, and obedience to impulse becomes the order of the day. If the wis- dom distilled in the pages of Proverbs were imbibed and hearts soaked in it, this would produce soundness of judgment and integrity of behaviour. It is here that we see the link with New Testament teaching, for the Spirit of God is the spirit of wisdom, and when He comes to us, He comes to make us wise. Paul underlines this in Ephesians 5:17, 'Be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is'. The word 'unwise' translates the Greek 'moron'. Do not be mindless, says the Apostle, use your head. This is what Proverbs is about.