The Way of Wisdom
9:1 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.
The Way of Folly
13 The woman Folly is loud;
she is seductive and knows nothing.
14 She sits at the door of her house;
she takes a seat on the highest places of the town,
15 calling to those who pass by,
who are going straight on their way,
16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
And to him who lacks sense she says,
17 “Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18 But he does not know that the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol. (ESV)
The first verses in this chapter remind us that wisdom is not all that hard to get. God has given us His Word for the very purpose of gaining wisdom and walking in His righteousness. And as Christians, we should not be keeping this a secret but instead telling everyone we come into contact with. The problem is not that people don’t know; the problem is that the ways of foolishness are more appealing to the sinful nature. As the closing verses in this chapter show, There is a definite battle between Wisdom and Folly, between the ways of god and the ways of darkness. If we claim to be Christians, we need to have the mindset that this is spiritual warfare and that we need to be doing everything we can to further the kingdom of God.
8 Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you.
This passage is showing how foollish and wise people react to correction. A foolish man will not like it and hate you because of it. But the wise man will thank you and will benifit thanks to you. If we want to be wise, we need to listen to our friends as they correct us according to God’s word. If we do, we can do the right thing next time around. And as Christians we know when to rebuke, but we also need to learn when to listen to correction when we are wrong.
9 Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.
As Christians, we are constantly growing through sanctification. But for us to mature, a lot of times it means that we need other people to show us what we are doing wrong. But when we are corrected, our sinful tendency is to get bitter about it. We need to be instead delighted when people rebuke us, thanking them because they are helping us to grow in wisdom.
10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
We all need to fear the Lord, because we are all going to be judged one day, and we need to constantly check our hearts to see if we are truly right with God. And see what we gain from that? The beginning of wisdom, knowledge, and of the Holy One is understanding! Wow, I know I would love to gain wisdom, and by that, is fearing God himself. This is an encouragement for me to check myself and think, “Am I truly right with God?” From Girls Workshop, I remember this question…..Are you married to God, or are you just dating him? Mmmmmmmmm
1 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars.
Wisdom is hard-working and disciplined, building her own house. Those of us who seek godly wisdom must also be disciplined. We do this by carving out time in our schedule DAILY to study God’s Word.
14 She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,
A characteristic of Folly, on the other-hand, is laziness. This verse shows her sitting at the door of her house instead of working like Wisdom does. A mark of the foolish is laziness. If we do not discipline ourselves and make Bible study a priority we too will be foolish.
18 But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.
This is a great warnning for us not to become to slack and relaxed in our lives. When we think everything is so easy and life is just all fun and no work or discipline; then we start walking the path of the woman of foolishness that leads to death and suffering. Durring the summer let’s not walk to the house of the woman of stupididy, but instead seek the woman of wisdom, and enjoy all the great benefits from knowing her and having her as a friend. God wants us to have a great life; and to have that great life we need to follow His ways, which is a wise choice, because our God is great and mighty to save us from our sin.
10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11 For through me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
If this isn’t motivation enough to seek for Godly wisdom then I don’t know what is. We are called to be wise stewards of the life the Lord has given us here…let us be different from high schoolers today who pursue worthless things and lack wisdom and live a life set apart for the glory of God! Remember all He has done for you and the promises He has yet to fulfill…
10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Wow! This verse is so amazing! It is saying that we need to fear God.. and by that we will become more wise. I totally agree with Brooke.. I soooo want to gain wisdom and in that is fearing God. And we need to keep checking our hearts.. do a little open heart surgery.. to see if we are right with God… and thenn…
12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
mmmmmmm
I thought there were some awesome comments today! We should make sure to not be lazy like the woman of folly, but be active in our spiritual lives, and take criticism well so that we can grow.
9 Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.
Be open to learning what God has to teach you and commit your time to him.
6 Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.
The thing that I love about Proverbs is that it is so straight forward. There aren’t any parables so far (not that parables aren’t amazing; I love Jesus’ parables) but I like it in front of me plain and concise. Of course Jesus always explained his parables so I wasn’t having such a hard time with those hahaha. Well anyways the whole idea of wisdom that we have gathered so far is that it gives us life, and makes us more wise, duh. It really pays to have wisdom, because then we aren’t fools who despise the Lord, but rather fear him. we should walk in the ways of understanding.
wow this is a new intenseness website! it’s awesome! well I came on to make a comment on how much i like verses 10-12.
10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11 For through me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.”
it says that we won’t even gain wisdom without understanding who God is or having that fear that really says how powerful and awesome the Lord is. I thought about this today during finals when i was having trouble with a problem…and yesterday. I was worried about a final and i prayed about it seeking God’s wisdom and knowledge and i got the results for this final and i got an A!! Praise HIm for all His good works. :)
In this chapter it is clear we have a choice to listen to wisdom or folly. We hear wisdom calling from God’s Word every day here on SOTD yet it is sad how few of us come here to listen. Let’s keep spreading the word so more of our friends are on here!
And if you haven’t read my blog on the Compass site yet just click on my name to check it out!
What an amazing chapter! How important it is that we truely seek after wisdom. It is crucial that we do not just read these verses and become calloused to what the Bible says about wisdom but that we come with joy and reference every time we read how we must seek after wisdom and take it to heart!
10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding
Do you want wisdom? Wisdom comes from knowing God, The true relationship with God through His son Jesus Christ. To know Christ is to seek after him understanding comes from the actions we are taking.
8 Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you.
This is a good thing to know. Some have not correctly applied the message of rebuking to our lives and try and rebuke non Christians… or the “mockers” in this case. We are to only rebuke other Christians or the “wise men” that know the truth and have repented and put their faith in Jesus Christ. Christians are to accept rebuking and apply it to their Christian lives.
So next time you go and “rebuke” someone… don’t do it to a non-christian because they are in sin and dont follow God’s commands.
17 “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!”
This is so true in the sense that things that are sinful are nice and pleasant with no thought about them being wrong, but woe to the person who does these things!!!
18 But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.
So as good as these things may be, look what happens to those who participate! The people who do these things are dead and in the grave!!! Lets stay out of sin!!
10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
The fear of the Lord is sooo important in our Christian walk. If we truly know Him we will fear him, and vise versa. With this comes wisdom and understanding! By praying and reading his word we can grow in our relationship with Him and truly understand who He is.
12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.
This pretty much says it all. We need to wisdom so we dont lack judgement. We need to be able to determine what is right and wrong so our path is straight. With wisdom comes rewards, We will be able to realize what is right any wrong. If we know what is wrong, we will know where that road leads, to hell.
17 “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!”
18 But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.
This verse is great because it basically applies to all sin
MMMMMM!!!!! Derek that is legit!
It is soo true on how people view sin in the world today. They say, “well it brings me pleasure.” or my favorite “it makes me feel alive” haha seriously….ive heard it…
Anyway, these people dont even recognize that they are dead! They have given into soo much sin, that they do not even realize the truth!
I love the book of Proverbs!!!! So many things to learn and encourage from here!
God Bless!
13 The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge.
I think this verse stood out to me the most because it talks about discipline. And how without it, we wont have knowledge and we cant learn. If people go undisciplined then they will just keep sinning. Just kind of a reminder to me that whenever we are disciplined we should kind of rejoice because that is just increasing our wisdom.
This is a great chapter. What great motivation to seek Godly wisdom. I like the verses where Wisdom and Folly are being compared. They are so different. Wisdom leads to life, while Folly leads to death. Reading the word and disciplining ourselves are so important to gain wisdom.
12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.
This was a cool chapter. This verse really stuck out to me. It just basically if you are wise you will be rewarded through your wisdom. But if are not wise and are a mocker u alone will suffer. So ya i am looking forward to the rest of proverbs
17.) “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!”
18.) But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.
Derek that was a great comment on these two verses, the sins of this world are tempting… “but woe to the person who does these things.”-Derek Brower
12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.”
It talks a lot about mockers in this chapter. I have seen mockers in my life, and I have experienced myself of being a mocker. People at my school mock the Word all the time and just ignore it. People just don’t care about it and they are mocking it. At my campus lunch at school, when we told them we were going to evangelize, they didn’t even take it seriously. That was really sad, even at a Christian School that hardly anyone would take evangelizing seriously. People are mocking the Word all the time. So the wise people are lucky, and they will be rewarded. The people in our school who are evangelizing and take it seriously will be rewarded.
Nice use of the word woe Derek I liked it. Well any ways verse 10 got me thinking…….and thinking…….. and thinking…. and what I have noticed is that many of these past chapters have said somthing along the lines of fearing the Lord being a supper important part to wisdom. Also when you look at other verses like 17 and 18 they really go together with the fearing of the Lord and staying out of sin. So anywho just like Solomon keeps saying FEAR THE LORD! that is muy importante.
10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
This is a good verse because without fear of the Lord how can we excpect to grow in the word. Fear is what makes us strive for that eternal reward. This verse says that once we start to fear the Lord, that is when we start to gain wisdom. Then once we gain knowledge, we can then start to undertand.
9 Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.
I like this verse because it shows that no one can ever be too wise and stop gaining wisdom. A wise man will always listen to wisdom from others.
10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
I love this verse because it says that we will gain wisdom as we fear the Lord. It emphasizes how important it really is to fear the Lord. It also says that without knowledge of the Holy One, we can’t understand. But once we obtain knowledge, it will be easier for us to understand.