Proverbs: What Is Wisdom Overview

Intro:

How is the reading challenge going?

If you haven’t started or missed some days, jump back in. Feeling bad about missing and forgoing the challenge would be like missing breakfast and deciding not to eat lunch and dinner.

Who here has all the wisdom and knowledge that they need to face any and every task with perfect understanding, discipline, insight, and discretion? Who here needs wisdom and light for their path?

Who Is it who always learns the hard way? The simple and the gullible. Who is it who knows the right way but because of lack of discipline and lack of awareness of God’s wrath and mercy, chooses the wicked path? It’s the fool. And it isn’t the stupid who go to hell; it’s the fool and the stubborn.

Background to Proverbs

Solomon’s request for wisdom: 1 Kings 3

God gives wisdom, but also riches and honor (the things that Solomon didn’t ask for). This is how wisdom works. Riches and honor usually follow after diligent wisdom and obedience to that wisdom.

Solomon’s wisdom displayed in the case of the two mothers — 1 Kings 3

What Is The Purpose of Proverbs?

“The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:1–7).

Difference between knowledge and wisdom:

Knowing that a tomato is a fruit is knowledge, but knowing not to put it in the fruit salad is wisdom.

The Bible is both the textbook for the kindergartener and the expert. This is the wisdom of the Bible. Proverbs is like this.

Wisdom: You are meant to stop and compare and meditate on what you should do. You are given an insight, not always an answer. “sayings and riddles”

Wisdom brings the fruit of righteousness, justice, and equity.

Instruction: Discipline that impinges our actions.

Discretion for youth: You are meant to learn before you make the error. Not learning the hard way. Wisdom looks to the past so that it can change the future by acting rightly in the present. Parents, are you aware of what this father is doing for his child in this letter?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Humbling ourselves from our ways and submitting to God’s is the first step of wisdom.

The fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil. Proverbs. 8:13.

What Is A Proverb?

“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”” (Proverbs 4:7–9).

Proverbs are typically short aphorisms or sayings that are packed with both mystery and insight. If a picture paints a thousand words, then a prover paints a thousand pictures.

They are meant to be meditated upon. They shape our person. They aren’t merely nice quotes that can be taken or left behind.

Solomon’s wisdom leads him to speak of trees, songs, birds, and fish. Look at where wisdom comes from and what it pays attention to. Proverbs help us to look at the world and see what God is teaching

The language is sticky and filled with images. They come to your mind when you need it. What are some strong images from proverbs that you can think of? (The ant, the sluggard who cannot raise his spoon to his mouth, the lustful man who has an arrow in his liver)

Pr. 11:22 – Proverbs 11:22 (ESV): Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout

is a beautiful woman without discretion.

Pr. 26:11 – Proverbs 26:11 (ESV): Like a dog that returns to his vomit

is a fool who repeats his folly.

Pr. 6:10

Common Structure: Parallelism (comparing two things with wisdom tucked in between them)

Proverbs 10:4 (ESV): A slack hand causes poverty,

but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Jesus

Prov. 8 — Jesus is wisdom personified.

Wisdom is a person, like love is a person

Attributes and acts of wisdom that match up with the son. The Lord and wisdom established the world ch.8

Hebrew word Mashal Is the same for proverb and reigning as king. There is a connection between reigning and wisdom.

Who else speaks in riddles and mysteries and wisdom? Jesus.

Jesus tells stories and uses vivid images.

Proverbs aims at our blind spots and sins. Think of David and Nathan or Jesus and the Pharisees. We are to submit ourselves to the evaluation and critique of the proverbs

Compare to John 1:1; Colossians 1

You don’t go to hell for being stupid, but you do go for being a stubborn fool.

Confession of Sin:

Romans 1:20–25 (ESV):  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen

Assurance of Pardon:

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 (ESV): For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.