Wisdom Stored up

Metropolitan UMC, Indian Head, MD

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Proverbs 1:20-33
New International Version
Wisdom’s Rebuke

20 Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,
    she raises her voice in the public square;
21 on top of the wall[a] she cries out,
    at the city gate she makes her speech:

22  “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
    How long will mockers delight in mockery
    and fools hate knowledge?
23 Repent at my rebuke!
    Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
    I will make known to you my teachings.
24 But since you refuse to listen when I call
    and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand,
25 since you disregard all my advice
    and do not accept my rebuke,
26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;
    I will mock when calamity overtakes you—
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
    when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
    when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

28  “Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
    they will look for me but will not find me,
29 since they hated knowledge
    and did not choose to fear the Lord.
30 Since they would not accept my advice
    and spurned my rebuke,
31 they will eat the fruit of their ways
    and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
    and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety
    and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

Background

Wisdom is often personified in Proverbs, being regarded in a much more concrete manner of thinking than modern man tends to do. In fact, the general tendency of the ancient Hebrew to see things in a concrete manner is very vividly illustrated by this entire passage. The ancient Hebrew thought with his eye, visualizing ideas and concepts in terms of his daily experiences. Thus, God’s care for him was seen in terms of the overflowing banquet table (Ps. 23:5), the protection of God was to him as real as a strong rock and fortress (Ps. 31:2), and he saw the end of the ungodly as inevitable, for he actually saw them as standing in slippery, dangerous places (Ps. 73:18). So it was only natural that the wise man would see wisdom as a person, one who was going up and down the streets of the city and unashamedly pleading her cause, offering men a choice against the easy, broad road of folly. [1]

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Point 1 

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Point 2 

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Point 3

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Summary

[1] George Kufeldt, “The Book of Proverbs,” in Job-Song of Solomon, vol. 2, The Wesleyan Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), 478.