Proverbs 9:1-12--The Way of Wisdom

Proverbs 9:1-12
English Standard Version

The Way of Wisdom
9 Wisdom has built her house;
    she has hewn her seven pillars.
2 She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine;
    she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her young women to call
    from the highest places in the town,
4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
    To him who lacks sense she says,
5 “Come, eat of my bread
    and drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave your simple ways, and live,
    and walk in the way of insight.”

​7 Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse,
    and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.
8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;
    reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
    teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
    and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied,
    and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself;
    if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

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Solomon will now spend some time talking about the way of Wisdom.  We've talked quite about the ways of foolishness that Solomon wanted his son and God's people to avoid, but what is the "positive" message here in what they should be doing instead?  Wisdom's "house" (when someone builds their life upon wisdom) has a sure and steady foundation and is supported by seven pillars (seven is an number that implies totality and even makes some reference to God Himself as Creator as He made the heavens and the earth in six days, and on the seventh day He rested, for all of His work was complete.  He made the seventh day holy (special) to be a day to remember His completed work of creation and later His completed work of Redemption for the nation of Israel when He took them out of slavery and made them a people and a nation.  Now it is a holy day for us to remember His finished work of salvation and to look forward to the consummation of His coming kingdom).  Wisdom lives in peace and safety because all of the wild beasts have been slaughtered by her.  Her work is also completed, and she has mixed the wind and set the dinner table (think of the imagery that's there of how the Lord Jesus Himself is waiting to invite us to dinner and He will serve us the rest of the meal that wasn't finished at the Last Supper because everything He set out to do us has been completed).

I'll make reference to God instead of Wisdom now--He has sent out His people, His servants, as His ambassadors (that's us) to the foolish people that are citizens of the kingdom of darkness inviting them to be wise and become citizens of the kingdom of His marvelous light.  He offers rest for the weary and wayward souls.  The invitation is one to repent and leave your old identity and old way of life behind and become new (through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit), hopefully to never return to those old ways again.  However, we often fail and continue to do foolish and sinful things even after God has saved us--the difference is that we know better, and we don't have to sin.  God gives grace to those who humbly come to Him and repentance and ask Him to clean them up once again so that they can go back out and be worthy ambassadors for Him and can be good reflectors of His glory.

While it is our job to be living witnesses (or sometimes even dying witnesses) to the truth of God's Word and the gospel, it is not specifically for us to take responsibility to change people's hearts and actions.  That is above our pay grade and is the work of the Holy Spirit.  Be God's messenger to faithful share His message no matter what it is.  If you care called to make people aware of their sin nature and the reality of sin in their lives as a people and the need for them to repent individually and as a community, expect there to be opposition.  You will be attacked for speaking the truth.  However, don't waste your time and resources arguing with someone whose goal is to destroy you and has no interest in listening to God's Word, believing and repenting.  The Holy Spirit will make it clear to you when it is the right time for you to move on.  In such situations, they usually want to make it out like these are only your words and their argument is with you, but these are God's words that we speak as His ambassadors, and their argument will be with Him.  Let the King do the fighting, we are simply His messengers calling people to repentance before He shows up with power and authority to be the Judge of the Living and the Dead.  The wise man will repent, but the foolish man will continue to live in darkness.  Much like in the time of Noah, the foolish people that were invited into the Ark continued to live their lives of sin outside imagining that either God wasn't real or that His judgment would never come, then it came on them suddenly and they were unable to get inside the Ark once it came.  Ther will be a day when they will be stuck with the decision that they have made, and they will no longer be able to contend with you because you will be safe inside the Ark of Christ.  

The wise man should still want to hear the gospel and still needs to hear it.  It is not just a message for the unsaved man, but a message that saved people love to hear and need to hear as we remember what has been done for us in the past, what the Lord continues to do for us in the present, and what He will do for us in the future.  Those who have the Wisdom of God (that is Christ) are those who fear the LORD, and we know they fear the LORD because they obey the LORD.  Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."  That is not to say that we earn our own salvation by merit.  No!  But, if our lives have been transformed by the gospel as we claim they have been, just as the sinner cannot help but sin, the saint should not be able to help but do righteousness as the Holy Spirit works in and through them.  A bad tree cannot help but bear bad fruit--it bears fruit consistent with its identity.  Likewise, a good tree cannot help but produce good fruit that is consistent with its identity.  By the fruits (or works) that people display, we know the root that is in their hearts (though it is still God's job to change the nature of that heart and offer final judgment as He sees and knows everything.  He just gives us enough information to be wise and discerning about who says they are one thing, but in reality, they are something else).

Those who obey and fear the LORD will experience the blessings of His covenant--long life and years that are abundant not just in number, but in fullness of the blessings that God has for us.  That is not necessarily a promise that will be fulfilled 100% in the here and now, as we will have eternal and abundant life in the coming kingdom, but that eternal and abundant life starts right now.  We will still have trials and difficulties, pain and sorrow, sickness and disease, and will most likely, all of us who read this will have a day when our soul is separated from our physical bodies in what we call "death" (though the Bible calls it "sleep" as our new bodies that the Lord has in store for us will be reunited with our souls when He comes again for His people).  That does not negate all the good things that the Lord has in store for us whether we die a physical death and await His return or we are still alive when He comes back for us.

Solomon ends this proverb with an exhortation to choose the path of wisdom and not the path of the scoffer.  Those who choose Wisdom (that is Christ) will receive rewards (though we should probably not be making that decision simply for what is best for us since selfishness is a trait of the flesh and not the Spirit), but those who scoff and mock the Wisdom of God will receive the just consequences of that rejection, and they will have no one to blame but themselves.