Proverbs: The Invitation of Wisdom and Folly []

Stand for the reading of the word of God []

The ninth chapter of Proverbs is a conclusion of the first eight chapters, and summary, by contrasting invitations of the woman wisdom [v.1-6] and lady folly [v.13-18]. The two vignettes are highly symmetrical. The general invitation of both is quoted, almost identical, yet their endings contrast…as one leads to life and the other to death. In addition, both have prepared a meal, both call from a high point to attract attention, and both their invitations are open invitations, anyone welcome. Both wisdom and folly are pictured as having homes, wisdom has built her house while folly simply sits there, both invite men to enter in.

Sandwiched in between these two invitations is verse 7-12 which seem to be out of place in the context but they are not. These verses are simply to remind the reader the difference between listening to wisdom or listening to folly, which is found in one’s actions and response to reproof.

Chapter nine is the climax to the introduction of Proverbs [ch. 1-8] and an introduction to the sayings we typically think of as the Proverbs [ch. 10-31] short wise says. Chapter nine sums up the first eight chapter and sets the reader up for the rest of the book. It all comes down to this invitation…which will you choose? Will you choose the way of the wise or the way of the fool? The choice is yours and yours alone

As we saw last week wisdom is personified as a person, we said that person is Jesus…but the true is that of folly as well, folly is personified as well, either as idols or Satan. So the book of Proverbs as a whole invites us to follow Jesus or follow idols or Satan…which path will you take. The way of wisdom leads to life the way of folly leads to death. Sounds like an easy choice yet so many follow folly to the grave.

This not only has eternal significance, but practical every day significance as well. If you want to live a wise life and have eternal life accept the invitation of Jesus. If you are walking in wisdom, i.e. in Jesus it will show out in your everyday life, that’s the implications of verse 7-12. If you’ve accepted Jesus’ invitation it is revealed as you walk toward Him, walk with Him, and trust in Him. On the other hand, if you’re walking in foolishness, it shows that you’re walking with idols and trusting them. [an idol is anything you put before God, yourself, children, money, job, etc.]

This is revealed in the mundane details of your life according to Proverbs. For example, if you are lazy, quarrelsome, cannot accept correction, run amok, it is because you are acting like an idolater. But if you work hard, can be trusted with secrets, correct your children, then you’re acting like a follower of Jesus. It’s really straight forward.

The bottom line is this: if you do not have a relationship with Jesus, you will not be wise because you can’t be. If you are not walking in wisdom right now it shows you have a problem with Jesus in your life and you need to repent. So let’s look at these two invitations.

Wisdom’s Invitation []

Wisdom has built her house, and it is a temple because it’s at the highest point of the city [v.3]. Solomon’s temple had pillars, and we’ve seen wisdom as a personification of Solomon’s wisdom, which is wisdom of God. Solomon got His wisdom from God to rule. This literary device of painting a picture of wisdom dwelling in a temple points us to Jesus who is Emmanuel [God dwelling with us]. Jesus came and dwelt among us. Wisdom built creation []; wisdom built the tabernacle []; and wisdom built the temple []. Here wisdom prepares a marriage feast with meat and wine. As in , this meal is free.

And as in , this meal gives life. Through her maids, wisdom invites everyone in the public places to come to the party, especially those who lack a heart and need a new one. The phrase “lacks sense” or “simple” literally means “lacks a heart”…the picture is giving a new heart. Do you see parallels to salvation? The invitation of salvation found through faith in Jesus, the sending out of His followers to invite people to come to Jesus, the giving of new life to those who accept Jesus invitation. it’s beautiful.

Wisdom calls to us to come to her to her home, to come eat and drink of her. This is very similar to the parables of Jesus in and , where the kingdom of God is compared to a wedding feast. All are ultimately invited to the feast. The servants are sent out to invite all. This meal gives life, and those who refuse it will die.

Wisdom is not just offering food and drink. Like Jesus, wisdom is offering herself as food and drink that brings life. Accepting this invitation entails repentance. Turning away from our simple ways [sinful ways], receiving life, and walking in the way of understanding. The invitation is this “Repent of your foolish ways, come unto me and I will give you life eternal and will make you wise for everyday life.” Doesn’t that sound like Jesus invitation to us?

You must first recognize that you are a fool, i.e. recognize your sinfulness and inability to safe yourself, come to Jesus and trust in Him for life and He will give you a new one, and Jesus will then progressively throughout your life, as you follow Him and trust Him, make you wise in everyday things.

Accept the invitation of wisdom [Jesus] to become wise for life.

Folly’s invitation []

The woman of folly here in verses 13-18 stands in bold contrast to Lady Wisdom of verse 1-6. Both women have prepared a feast and are inviting people to it. That is where the similarities end. This woman of folly is counterfeit copy of wisdom who perverts everything wisdom does. Folly’s house is a temple as well [v.14, high places] this is how we know her to personify idols. Turning away from wisdom is characterized as unfaithfulness to God. One is unfaithful to God when one goes after idols…that’s the picture here.

A few things describe this lady folly that contrasts wisdom.

One, she is “boisterous” or “clamorous”. The word is used to describe the harlot from the earlier chapters of Proverbs. It describes that which is loud, turbulent, full of unrest and commotion.

Second, she is naive or simple. It describes one who is simple-minded, gullible, silly, and open to any, and all influences. The woman of folly is no better off than those she is soliciting. Notice, both wisdom and folly call to the simple, but wisdom promises to take the simple forward into understanding [v.6], while folly leaves them mired in foolishness.

Third, it says she knows nothing. This phrase is actually very difficult to translate. Literally, the Hebrew reads, “and she knows not what” a somewhat vague and unclear statement. Many older translations have taken the word “what” and made it “nothing” or “anything” signifying complete ignorance. I’m not sure complete ignorance should be the idea, but ignorance is the picture.

Fourth, she is lazy [v.14-15] compare the demeanor and tactics of the two woman. Folly, like wisdom, has a prominent place ‘high place’ in the city. She intends to stake claim on public life and discourse. Folly wants to win over everyone like wisdom. The difference is folly is lazy, notice the difference. Folly sits at the door and calls out to those who pass by…what does wisdom do? She has built her house, she slaughtered meat, mixed wine, cries out to the simple, takes the simple to understanding, notice how active wisdom is, where as folly is simply not doing anything accept gathering servants for herself. She’s not about to serve but be served. She sits on her seat [v.14] seat is translated “throne”, she seeks to establish a tyrannical rule of foolishness over the lives of the unsuspecting and simple.

Folly is loud, seductive, ignorant, and lazy and that is exactly what she’ll produce from her followers. Folly raises her voice in verse 15 to those on the path to life. The first several chapters of Proverbs has been wisdom calling to people, but here folly raises her voice to woo, whistle, and allure unsuspecting travelers. Those who are simply carrying out life’s responsibilities and pursing life’s joy. Yet there are still some that seek her out that go looking for wickedness and not the way of God.

She appeals [v.16] to the simple and those lacking in understanding. We should note this doesn’t mean people who are not intellectual. Man has always wanted the shell of sophistication without the substance i.e. the world has its own vain philosophies and inverted wisdom that is not from God. There is a desire to satisfy or pacify this hunger for knowledge, but at the same time reject the wisdom that comes from the creator God.

Where the wisdom of God is rejected, folly makes her appeal and it goes unexamined because it appeals to the pride and independence of man. The fool can maintain an illusion of spirituality because folly is often dressed in the guise of wisdom. People love to talk about spirituality today, but it’s a fools topic when it’s not based in the word of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Verse 17 is the verbal enticement of folly. Notice her enticement includes not only the promise of sensual pleasure, but also an admission of the illicit nature in which it will be obtained. The water of folly tastes sweet because it is stolen. Part of the pleasure of this sin is the risk of being caught, there produces this intense appeal surrounded by danger, but it’s also more damaging. There is an enticement surrounded with sin, but it’s always temporary…it’s actually very harmful. The temporary satisfaction will fade and leave a life damaged.

[in the Proverbs water is used as a euphemism for the marital sexual relationship] But in this enticement the water is stolen, the bread is eaten in secret is used metaphorically as a secret immoral sexual behavior, like adultery. There is something about this type of immoral behavior that is done in the secret, in the dark, where no one sees…but as tells us, nothing is hidden from God.

What folly offers is half-truths, yes this affair will bring temporary pleasure, but what she does not reveal is the death that awaits in verse 18. That’s what foolishness is. Foolishness is not seeing the connection between your actions and their consequences. Like a cow walking into a slaughterhouse, you don’t know that you’re about to become filet mignon. Folly’s guests don’t realize their accepting an invitation to their own funeral. they foolishly go to their own grave. There may be a destructive and public shame now in this life a, loss of family, loss of money; but all of that is simply a foretaste of what’s to come…hell for those who follow the way of foolishness.

So what of verses 7-12? How do these verses fit in sandwiched between the life giving invitation of wisdom and the fatal invitation of folly? The answer is these verses are giving examples of wisdom’s teachings so that you know how to read the rest of the Proverbs. These verses are straight forward but must be read in this context. After all these verses contrast the two invitations: that of wisdom and that of folly. Here’s what these verses are telling us...

How you act reveals which invitation you accepted []

How you act in your daily life reveals which path you are walking, the path toward wisdom or the path toward wickedness. Belief always determines behavior; but behavior reveals what you believe. It’s a worship issue…who do you worship?

Verse 7-8: here’s a wise teaching. Do not correct a mocker [scoffer] because you will just get hurt in the process, and the mocker will hate you. i.e. correcting a mocker is a waste of time because they will not listen to you. A fool doesn’t listen. It’ll have no effect on him. All you will receive are verbal attacks from him in return. You will be humiliated. There are some who will never listen to wise counsel and will never humbly submit to authority.

On the other hand, you should correct a wise person. They’ll love you for it, and will become wiser [8-9]. A wise person listens and is humble enough to know they need correction. According to these verses, wisdom is the discernment to know whom to correct and whom not to correct. You do this by discerning the outcome. If a person is walking with Christ you should be able to correct them if needed, if a person is not walking with Christ odds are your correcting will only make them mad.

Since Jesus is the wisdom of God, that means being formed into Christlikeness is not just growing in a reduction of sinfulness, although that is a part…a Christian is not sinless but they should sin less. It also means we are growing in discernment. Being like Jesus means having the ability to see the situation you are in and recognizing when to correct people and when not to correct people. It means to be able to discern wise advice from foolish advice. It means knowing when not to play the coward and to speak up and say something in the right situation. In love not in confrontation. If your correcting someone just to show you’re right…that’s not the right way. You correct in love because you want your brother or sister in Christ to grow in Christ…it’s done for their good not yours.

There’s also the implication in these verses that if you are the kind of person who cannot accept correction, you’re a mocker. If you get angry every time someone confronts you, you’re a mocker. But if you humbly accept correction because you know you have not arrived yet, then you’re wise, and you’ll love the person who had the courage to confront you.

Heres what you need to ask yourself. How do you respond to confrontation? Do you automatically get angry? OR do yo listen and try to see the truth in it? Do you have any relationships where someone has the freedom to ask you the tough questions? You want to be wise? Wisdom is the ability to hear and respond correctly to criticism so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes. Now don’t take this and run with it saying, “the Pastor said I’d be wise if I told every body what’s wrong with them” If you’re going to run around and point out every bodies faults you better be ready for a little backlash…just saying…discretion is involved.

The point of is that if you cannot accept a rebuke, it is not just because that is your personality type; it reveals idolatry in your life [perhaps worship of self]. This is true of all kinds of practical areas that Proverbs touches on. If you are a stingy person it reveals your idolatry for money. If you cannot discipline your children it reveals you may have made your children an idol in your life. If your job comes before God, family, and everything else in your life it reveals you may have misplaced it’s position in your life.

The starting point for practical day by day wisdom is a covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot be wise without a relationship with Him. There is no secular and sacred divide in live. A covenant relationship with the Lord will lead you to be generous with what you have, to clean your room upon your mother’s demand, to enjoy being with your family more than being at work, etc. If you cannot do these things, it’s not a character flaw, it reveals a spiritual problem.

Jesus invites all into a relationship with Him, turn to Him and He will give you life. Trust in Him and He will lead you to live a life of wisdom…but you are responsible to make your own decision…which way will you turn? How you are living reveals which invitation you’ve accepted.

This morning, if you have never before, repent of your sin and turn to Jesus for forgiveness and life eternal and begin to walk with Him as he produces wisdom in you.

If you are a believer but have been living in foolishness…repent and ask for forgiveness and seek Christ and His word to produce in you a life that is wise.