11 My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights.13 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,
and the one who gets understanding,
14 for the gain from her is better than gain from silver
and her profit better than gold.
15 She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honour.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called blessed.
19 The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
by understanding he established the heavens;
20 by his knowledge the deeps broke open,
and the clouds drop down the dew.
The link between 1:1, 12 and 13-18 is the thought that wisdom often comes through chastening and is won in the hard school of human experience. This is a theme which is recurrent in Scripture, and 11 and 12 are taken up and expounded in Hebrews 12:5-11. There, the chastening of the Lord brings forth the peaceable fruit of right- eousness in those that are exercised thereby, and this 'fruit' is described in this passage (13-18). The word 'chastening' in the Greek of Hebrews 12 literally means 'education'. Chastening, we are meant to understand, is the 'school' in which we are to learn wis- dom (cf also Job 5:1 7ff), and this is why we are told not to despise the chastening of the Lord. The implication is that if we are really in earnest in our seeking after wisdom and after moral stability that produces peace and serenity, we must be prepared for a long haul in terms of discipline, and we may not and must not shirk it. We must not, on the one hand, despise it, in the sense of taking it lightly, or remaining blind to its meaning and purpose, failing to see the hand of God in it, or perhaps rejecting it in bitter resent- ment (the beneficent effects of chastening are not automatic but depend on a right atti- tude being maintained to it); nor, on the other hand, must we be weary or faint under it, in the sense of going to pieces when the pressure is upon us, but rather strive to see what it is for in the blessed intention and purpose of God. How wholesome and practical this teaching is. To sit down with such a passage when we are under pressure, and let it speak to us and remind us that God's hand is in it, and that He is going to impart that little bit more wisdom through our suffering it, and that that wisdom is going to be so precious that all the things we could desire are not to be compared with it - surely this is both encouragement and comfort for us!