Posted by Jeff Short on January 12, 2017 · Leave a Comment
If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
– Proverbs 9:12
Verse 12 concludes the section on the two responses to wisdom’s call. It is an individual and personal application of what has gone before. The verse emphasizes the individual benefit or detriment of either receiving wisdom or scorning wisdom. The point is not that your choice has no effect on others, but rather the primary effect is to your own life and soul. Wisdom can be neither received nor scorned by proxy. You must encounter wisdom and seek and receive or else scorn and suffer the consequences of folly. While your choice will affect others (Proverbs 10:1), your own soul is in the balance (Luke 9:25).
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Posted by Jeff Short on January 11, 2017 · Leave a Comment
For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.
– Proverbs 9:11
The issues of wisdom and folly are often cast in terms of life and death in Proverbs. This is an example of general truism in wisdom literature. Wisdom tends to longer life and folly, or wickedness, tends to shorter life (Proverbs 3:2, 16; 10:27). It is not absolutism so that every wise person lives to be 100 years old and a wise person is never cut off in youth to middle age. Life and death in relation to wisdom and folly also has a spiritual dynamic pointing to more than mortal life on earth (Proverbs 11:7; 14:32). In the immediate context here,
days and
years being lengthened is the reward of departing from folly and turning in to wisdom. Wisdom provides what is needed for a long, productive, and flourishing life.
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Posted by Jeff Short on January 10, 2017 · Leave a Comment
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
– Proverbs 9:10
The
beginning, or commencement, of wisdom is the reverent fear of God. This is thematic in Proverbs (Proverbs 1:7) and is taught elsewhere as well (Psalm 111:10). Wisdom is to hate evil and through the fear of the Lord we depart from it (Proverbs 8:13; 16:6). Holy fear leads to satisfaction and contentment (Proverbs 19:23). It brings us to safety and blessing (Proverbs 29:25; 28:14).
The holy is interpreted variously by commentators and scholars. The Hebrew word is in the plural and is a term applied to God, angels, and saints. From the context, it seems sensible to understand it as referring to God here so that you have both the fear and the knowledge of God to be wisdom and understanding.
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Posted by Jeff Short on January 9, 2017 · Leave a Comment
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
– Proverbs 9:9
One of the marks of attaining wisdom is being teachable (Proverbs 1:5). It is an attitude that contrasts with the scorner previously mentioned. Growing wiser and increasing learning show that wisdom is never attained to the full, but it a lifelong pursuit for the serious. Being teachable means receiving correction (Proverbs 3:11; 17:10), wise counsel (Proverbs 13:10), and direct commandments (Proverbs 10:8). For all this, the wise grow wiser.
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Posted by Jeff Short on January 8, 2017 · Leave a Comment
Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
– Proverbs 9:8
Since scorners only respond to wisdom with mockery and abuse, wisdom passes by such. Scoffers and scorners put wisdom far from them because they will not receive reproof. Reproof is a correction and a necessary part of wise instruction. We are born into the world without wisdom and must attain it. However, if we will not abide our foolish notions beings corrected, we will never attain it. Wisdom passes the scorner because wisdom is not scattered like seeds on the pavement, but rather is stored up for the righteous who will heed the wise rebuke (Proverbs 2:7; 13:18). That the wise will receive rebuke and love the corrector shows that human never hold wisdom infallibly. We may always grow wiser and that is a mark of being wise (Proverbs 9:9).
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Posted by Jeff Short on January 7, 2017 · Leave a Comment
He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
– Proverbs 9:7
Verses 7-12 give the two responses to wisdom’s invitation—the scorner’s response and the wise man’s response. Verses 7 & 8 speak of the scorner and verses 9-11 speak of the wise man. Verse 12 summarizes both. The scorner, or scoffer, is one of the foolish characters in Proverbs. The word means to mock or make mouths at. It captures the foolish character as a problem of attitude and not ability. They take “delight in their scorning” (Proverbs 1:22). Scorners despise correction (Proverbs 13:1) and thus do not find wisdom (Proverbs 14:6). Reproving and rebuking such only gains trouble and abuse for the effort. Scorners despise the corrector as much as the correction (Proverbs 15:12).
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Posted by Jeff Short on January 6, 2017 · Leave a Comment
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
– Proverbs 9:6
Any true call to wisdom necessarily means a departing from that that is not wisdom. The foolish, or the simple ones, are not fit companions and coming to wisdom means leaving their company. This is consistent in the call to wisdom throughout Proverbs (Proverbs 4:14-15; 13:20). Turning to understanding, i.e. discernment, is a turning into the way, which is a road put here for course of life. It is not momentary or isolated. It is a change of life.
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Posted by Jeff Short on January 5, 2017 · Leave a Comment
Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.
– Proverbs 9:5
There is reward for turning in to wisdom’s house. Her feast is enjoyable and satisfying. The baked bread and mingled wine are no light snack. This is the sort of feast that nourishes and brings rejoicing. So wisdom’s call is not vain nor her promises empty. The wise father has instructed the son that wisdom gives health to life (Proverbs 3:8; 4:22).
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Posted by Jeff Short on January 4, 2017 · Leave a Comment
Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,
– Proverbs 9:4
The word for
simple means silly or gullible. It describes one uninitiated in the ways of the world, and so easily led (Proverbs 14:15).
Wanteth understanding means lacking intelligence. These are the early stages toward becoming a fool and scorner if wisdom is not received by them. Wisdom calls for those who need wisdom to
turn in to her. This means to turn aside from the way you are on and to go to wisdom and her way. The rest of the call continues in the next two verses.
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Proverbs 9:12
Posted by Jeff Short on January 12, 2017 · Leave a Comment
If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
Verse 12 concludes the section on the two responses to wisdom’s call. It is an individual and personal application of what has gone before. The verse emphasizes the individual benefit or detriment of either receiving wisdom or scorning wisdom. The point is not that your choice has no effect on others, but rather the primary effect is to your own life and soul. Wisdom can be neither received nor scorned by proxy. You must encounter wisdom and seek and receive or else scorn and suffer the consequences of folly. While your choice will affect others (Proverbs 10:1), your own soul is in the balance (Luke 9:25).– Proverbs 9:12
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