A Choice to Make

Passage

Proverbs 9:1–6 “Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city, “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of insight.””

Proverbs 9:7–9 “Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.”

Proverbs 9:10–12 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.”

Proverbs 9:13–18 “Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way, “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.”

Introduction

Proverbs 1-9 are an introduction to wisdom - and in particular are about the comparison between Wisdom and Folly - described as two different women - and imply two different paths to take - two different ways of life

And so the Proverbs that follow in Chapter 10 onwards are built on this understanding of two ways of life and the encouragement to follow the way of Wisdom, to walk in it … but all of these proverbs don’t really make that much sense if we don’t have this understanding of two ways of life in the back of our minds

A Choice between Wisdom and Folly

Like two Little Miss characters

Different preparation

One has worked hard: How Wisdom works - built her house, set up seven pillars (perfection) - perfect wisdom / it can also be a substantial house. She’s worked to prepare meat and mixed wine, and has set her table. Meat is a good food - not cheap - rich food. Mixing wine doesn’t mean watering it down but adding honey and spices. She has got servants and actively sends them out to find people.

The other has not worked hard at all: How Folly works - just know she has a house, no mention of her building it, nor how complete it is. She hasn’t prepared meat and wine but she instead she has stolen it. Also Folly, calls out to this who pass by, ‘who go straight on their way’ - people on the straight and narrow path - but she is trying to tempt people to leave the straight path, to derail them

Both call out - same words: “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says...

Both invitations are addressed to those not yet shaped by wisdom or folly (‘the simple’), and to those who lack sense or understanding (‘lacking heart’) Lindsay Wilson, Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. David G. Firth, vol. 17, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2017), 140.

But different invitation

Wisdom: “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of insight.””

Folly: “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.”

Different kinds of nourishment - food and drink that have been prepared - invitation to leave simple ways and walk in the way of insight

food and drink that have been stolen - invitation to something done in secret - that results in death (for the wages of sin is death)

‘Stolen water can refer to adultery … water is referred to sexuality in chapter 5 … and then food eaten in secret can then refer to the deeds that are then done in secret, hidden from other eyes … and so the act of adultery, which is often done in secret - is a temptation that folly uses - the temptation is that it is sweet and delicious - but in fact it leads to death

Proverbs 5:15–17 “Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.”

What does this mean for us?

Invitation / Encouragement to go down the path of Wisdom rather than Folly - and this is the invitation for the whole of life

The path of wisdom is harder work … looking again at Wisdom … taken time to build a house, to make meat, to infuse the wine, to build up a household of servants

It’s not long since Christmas … the preparation for the meal can take a long time … because it’s worth it

The path of folly is easier … look again at Folly … no time taken, instead it’s a lack of preparation … or if it is seductive … then it’s a trap … it’s pulling someone away from the straight path … enticed with something that is sweet and delicious but actually leads to death

What this looks like for you ...

We live in a culture that is fast paced, where lots of things are temporary, and easily replaceable

I spoke to a car salesman the other week and he said that in his opinion cars are now only made to last 10 years

If you take out insurance on a device for your home or maybe your phone … if you use the insurance they’re often working out whether it is cost-effective to repair the item or just simply to replace it with a new one

We’re at a stage where things are produced at such a phenomenal rate that it is often easier to replace something than to fix it … which means that the value of the item in the first place is actually much lower … it is temporary, it’s replaceable

Now that is inanimate objects, but what happens when we start to transfer that over to things that are more important …

We live in a culture that expects everything immediately … think of food for example … there’s loads of options if you want fast food … and depending where you are in town, they’re all grouped together … but when you have fast food quite a few times in a week, you begin to long for something better

But eating healthily often takes longer … because you have to prepare something rather than get it quickly

It’s the same even for salads … the salad that you make at home from the fresh ingredients is normally better for you than the one in a packet in the lunch meal section

But the challenge is in our culture that we feel really pushed for time … there’s lots of things calling on our time

And then maybe even more importantly than food, we have people … relationships … now relationships take time … they take time to nurture … they take investment

And that is probably quite at odds with our contemporary culture

If we treat relationships in the same way that we treat devices and food at times, then people become expendable, replaceable … but the problem with that is that you don’t get the depth of relationship that comes with time … with a device, when it gets replaced, you get the same quality and functionality straight away … but with relationships when you start again, you have to start at the very beginning

The wisdom that is pictured in this passage relates to ethical choices … it’s talking about wisdom for the whole of life …

So, the wise choice, might not be the quickest choice … it might not be the one that is the most ‘efficient’ … it might not be the cheapest option … the most ‘cost-effective’ on face value

It might be quicker to get rid of that employee at work and find another one rather than invest in them … but is that the wise decision? (There will be other factors as well of course, but it’s worth thinking about)

The quick solution when parenting when we’re in a hurry is to snap, it is to not answer the underlying questions, to not take time

Wisdom and Correction

Proverbs 9:7–9 “Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.”

The wise will receive correction and they will act differently as a result of it - they want to grow in wisdom

The mocker - the one who does not receive wisdom but shouts back instead

Reminder of those who receive the gospel in the NT - if they are people of peace you stay, but if they are not then you dust off your sandals and you go on your way

There is wisdom in knowing who to work with

Conclusion

Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Proverbs 9:10–12 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.”

Bookending this section of the book of Proverbs

What, then, do chapters 1–9 offer to the reader of the book of Proverbs? Fundamentally, they claim that the key to interpreting observations about daily life (found extensively in the rest of the book) is to make certain foundational commitments and choices. Life as God intended it must be grounded in respecting him as God (the fear of the Lord, 1:7; 9:10), and the path of wisdom must be followed and the way of folly decisively rejected. Once we respond to wisdom’s gracious invitation, we must allow our character to be shaped by her and her values. Only then will we be ready to be God’s person in God’s world, living under God’s rule in the many and complex situations of daily life. And only then will we be able to gain the benefit God intends us to have from reading the rest of the book of Proverbs. Lindsay Wilson, Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. David G. Firth, vol. 17, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2017), 141.