Proverbs Chapters 8-9 John Karmelich

1. I call this lesson, "The who, what, where's and why's of wisdom". I was going to call it "In Conclusion", but it's not the end of the book and all those "w's" in the title are catchier. ☺

a) In this lesson, we wrap up a nine-chapter section on the discussion of wisdom. That word wisdom, as it is used in the bible, is the application of God's will for our lives.

b) In other words, it's not good enough to know right from wrong, it is about applying it.

c) Many of the verses in this chapter get into the "who" question: That is, it is describing "who" this wisdom is coming from. Obviously, there is more to the answer than saying, "Wisdom comes from God", or else we would just have a statement to that fact.

d) Many of the verses get into "why" wisdom is important to our lives.

e) Many of the verses get into the "what" issue. In other words, we have examples of what is wisdom and how it benefits our lives.

f) Finally, there are verses on the "where" issue: This is where wisdom can be found.

2. Beginning in the next chapter, we are going to have proverbs as we think of them. That is, short little two line sayings and riddles.

a) Chapters 1 through 9 are more of a poetic narrative that discusses the topic of wisdom.

b) Since these are the last two chapters, it wraps up this topic. That's why I was thinking of calling this lesson: "In Conclusion". There is a style to these chapters, in that it wraps up some of the key points made in earlier chapters, as well as adding new points.

c) What is to be learned in this lesson is why wisdom is so important, what to apply about wisdom, why it's so important to know the source of wisdom and where it is located.

3. Let me put all of this another way: Part of living the Christian life is to be "God-like". That does not mean we have God's power or insight. What it means is we are to like the things God likes, love the things God loves and hate the things God hates. That is what "godliness" is all about. We're going to get into some of those characteristics in these two chapters.

a) If God is in charge, then we are to obey Him. We are to obey His commandments. The do's and don'ts of living the Christian life are all through the bible. We do get a little of that in these two chapters. The "how" question of living a life pleasing to God is blended in with all the "w" questions, i.e., why, what, where and who".

b) Confused? Good. ☺ We're now ready to begin.

4. Chapter 8, Verse 1: Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? ² On the heights along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; ³ beside the gates leading into the city, at the entrances, she cries aloud:

a) One of the first issues we get to is the "where" question: Where does one get wisdom?

i) Verse 1 says, "Wisdom raise(s) her voice".

ii) Verse 2 says that wisdom is "where the paths meet".

iii) Verse 3 says that wisdom is "besides the gate leading to the city, she cries aloud".

iv) What do all of these places have in common? They are all "noticeable" locations. Verse 1 says, "Raise her voice". Verse 2 is where the paths meet. When we think of intersections, we think of places with more traffic. Verse 3 is the entrance to a city. That is another place with a lot of traffic.

b) The point is not that one finds wisdom only at busy places. The point is one does not have to travel to special locations to find wisdom. For example, one does not have to go to some special mountain and to mediate alone for a year. The wisdom of God can be found anywhere. That answers the "where" question of where is wisdom.

i) Let me put it this way: Does one have to travel to a "special high mountain" to know that stealing and murder is wrong? Does one have to live like a monk to know right from wrong? Of course not. That is the idea being poetically stated in these verses. The idea is wisdom can be found all around us.

c) Remember that wisdom is the application of knowledge. These places mentioned are where people meet. Part of the idea is we apply wisdom where we interact with people.

d) The other implication is "God is everywhere". We are accountable to God everywhere that we go and in all actions of our lives.

e) These verses do not mean that God's laws are posted at all of these places. It means we can apply God's wisdom at any time and any place. There is also the sense that God is always there guiding us wherever we go. That is also the "where" answer to wisdom.

5. Verse 4: "To you, O men, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. ⁵ You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding.

a) In Verses 4 and 5, we get into the "who" question: Who is wisdom for? Notice in Verse 4 it says, "To all mankind". The idea is wisdom is not only for the "saved", but for everyone. The "saved" may apply it more often, but wisdom is not an exclusive club. ☺

b) In earlier lessons, I defined the word "simple". It refers to a person who is gullible and will go along with anything at anytime. It refers to a person who lacks the discernment to know right from wrong. The Hebrew word literally means "an open door" in that such a person is open to anything. To such people, Verse 5 says, "gain prudence". That means, the bible is advising us to not go along with anything at anytime. It is advising the naive to think about the decisions one makes in life.

c) The other "who" is the foolish. We think of fools as those who are slow to learn. The biblical idea of a fool is different. It is one who doesn't care whether or not they are accountable to God. Psalm 14:1 sums it up well when it says, "The fool has said in his heart there is no God." (NKJV)

i) A subtle point is God is trying to reach out to the fool to change his or her ways.

d) Let me address the "veterans" reading these verses: If all of this seems basic to you, remember that we are starting to wrap up this nine-chapter introduction about wisdom. This chapter is giving an "in conclusion" type of speech summarizing the key points. If there is an application to veteran Christians, it is one of encouragement. The underlying idea is to keep on seeking God and keep on trying to please God in all that we do.

6. Verse 6: Listen, for I have worthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. ⁷ My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. ⁸ All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse.

a) We are now continuing the "who" section. These verses focus on who is giving us wisdom. The answer is that it is God-based.

b) Notice the text does not say, "Wisdom comes from Me, that is God. That should be good enough for you and I don't have to expand on that fact!"

i) The point of these verses is that we can trust the source of wisdom, which is God.

ii) Let me put it another way: There are people who seek God as if they are choosing food at a cafeteria. They say, "Yes please" to God's grace and blessings and usually say "No thank you" to obedience and change of lifestyle. ☺

c) These verses are God saying in effect, "Look, I know what is best for You. I didn't just write these laws to make you feel bad. I, God am trying to help you live a happy and fulfilled live. That requires full obedience. That requires loving the things I love and hating the things I hate."

d) Does this mean we have to obey all the Old Testament Laws? For the Christian, the New Testament is our guide on how to interpret the Old Testament. No, we don't do animal sacrifices, as Jesus paid the price for our sins. At the same time, those animal sacrifices remind us just how much God hates sin. That aspect doesn't change in the New Testament.

e) The main point here is that all of God's wisdom is applicable to our lives. One cannot pick and choose which parts of the bible one wants to obey.

7. Verse 9: To the discerning all of them are right; they are faultless to those who have knowledge.

a) The topic of the moment is still the "who" question.

i) In the previous verses, the "who" aspect is dispersing the wisdom (God).

ii) In these verses, we are on the topic of who should be receiving this wisdom.

b) The "who is receiving" is stated in Verse 9 as "the discerning".

i) Let me give a simple illustration. If somebody wants us to lie for them, our brains should think, "Wait a minute. This is a violation of one of God's commandments. Even though I like this person and I want this person to like me, I can't go along with that plan." We have to be brave enough and bold enough to say no and stand by our principals. That is the basic idea of discernment.

c) The next phrase says "all of them". The idea is the entire bible is God inspired. Time to veer off topic for a moment: Who decided which books belong in the bible? How do we know what we have (the bible) is complete and God inspired. First of all, the bible says so. Proverbs itself goes out of its way to say that the laws of God are "right" for all people.

i) "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2nd Timothy 3:16-17, NIV.)

ii) Another validation of the bible has to do with prophecy. Most books of the bible contain some future predictions. The fulfillment of those predictions shows that whoever wrote those predictions, knew the future in advance.

iii) Another way of validation is its historical accuracy. There is a tremendous amount of archeological evidence for the bible stories. The other way is manuscripts. We have manuscripts dating back almost 2,000 years and the accuracy compared to the modern versions are almost identical.

d) As to the last part of the verse, it is God saying in effect, "I am always right."

i) It is easy to think, "Well, the bible may be right here and here, but in this one place, I'm pretty sure I know better. It is only a matter of time until we are proven wrong. A point of this verse is all of God's wisdom is correct for our lives.

8. Verse 10: Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, ¹¹ for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

a) In these two verses, we switch from "who" to "what". The question is now what we do we choose as our primary reason for living? Is it God or something else?

b) These verses say in effect that wisdom is more important than money. It is not saying we are to take a vow of poverty or ignore supporting the family. It means that studying God's word and applying it to our lives should be a priority over making money.

c) Let me give some examples: If someone tells us to steal something for the sake of the great wealth we should have, it is wrong. We need to apply God's wisdom of not stealing over the desire to illegally acquire such things.

i) Another example is the workaholic. I've personally seen many young people give up a social life, give up friends and ignore God all for the sake of "getting ahead". In the end, it doesn't work.

ii) Again, the bible is not anti-career or anti-making money. The idea is about putting God first in every aspect of our lives.

9. Verse 12: "I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion.

a) Let's quickly define these terms again as they apply to the bible.

i) Wisdom �the application of God's knowledge;

ii) Prudence � the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason (Webster's dictionary)

iii) Knowledge- This is the "information" itself as written in bible.

iv) Discretion - ability to make responsible decisions (Webster's)

v) The main idea here is that all of these terms go "hand in hand" with each other.

10. Verse 13: To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. ¹⁴ Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have understanding and power.

a) Of all the verses I struggled with in this lesson, it is Verse 13. The text says that part of "Fearing the Lord" is to hate evil. Let's talk about that hatred for a moment.

i) The idea of "fearing the Lord" is to realize we are accountable to God. The idea of "fear" is to fear His judgment on our lives. To please God, we are to love the things He loves and hate the things He hates.

ii) It is said, "The sign of a mature Christian is to know how much we love the sinner and how much we hate the sin." The struggle with that verse is if we have sympathy for the sinner, we must forgive the sin (when they ask for forgiveness). The hard part is having an emotional hatred for the sin and then having to forgive that sin, especially when that sin is against us!

iii) Let's face it; if we really hated a sin, we are less likely to commit that sin. Our problem (speaking collectively to all of mankind) is we do commit sins because we don't really hate it hard enough! If we really hate what God hates (i.e., sins), we would never sin in the first place.

iv) Paul once said, "Be angry, and do not sin" (Ephesians 4:26, quoting Psalm 4:4). Our anger needs to be directed at sin. In order to avoid sin, we need to have a "healthy anger" at the fact we understand it is wrong.

v) Getting back to Leviticus, it is mostly about how to deal with sin. It required animal sacrifices. Leviticus has extensive details on how to alleviate sin. My point here is Leviticus, like these verses in Proverbs teach us how much God hates sin.

b) The rest of Verse 13 goes on to give us examples of how we sin: It starts with "pride and arrogance". The idea is at any given moment, people want to do their will over God's will. At that point, the "mouth follows" what we are thinking in our heart. That is why the rest of verse 13 says, "evil behavior and perverse speech". The idea is sinful actions follow the sinful desires of one's heart.

c) Verse 14 is the antidote to sinful behavior. God is saying in effect, "I have the answers you need and the power you need to act in a way that is pleasing to Me". It is a colorful way of saying for us to choose God's way of living and be obedient to His laws.

11. Verse 15: By me kings reign and rulers make laws that are just; ¹⁶ by me princes govern, and all nobles who rule on earth.

a) We are back to the "who" issue. The text says that by wisdom, kings rule, rules make laws, princes govern (that word "princes" means anyone who helps a king rule) and nobles (judges) make good decisions.

b) This verse implies that all who rule do their best to have sound judgments. God's "instinctive laws" of right and wrong prevail in making decisions over others.

c) I was thinking about this verse in terms of "crooked judges and evil kings". Does this verse imply that all kings and judges rule by God's wisdom? No. A better way of looking at this verse is to say in effect, "If these people want to rule in a way that pleases God, they better follow God's wisdom."

d) There is another idea taught in the bible that government is a God-ordained concept. In other words, God desires that some people be in charge to rule over others and some are appointed as judges as to how to best interpret laws. Paul teaches that all leaders are "God appointed" (Romans 13:1) in that God ordains the concept of government.

e) I see a hint of prophecy in these verses as well. There is a concept that the saved in Christ will rule during the millennium (Ref.: Revelation 20:6). Jesus also taught His disciples that they would judge the "12 tribes of Israel". (Ref.: Matthew 19:28). Somehow, someway, those who saved are involved in eternal judgment. I see this verse as a prediction that those who obey God get the privilege of judging "one day" with wisdom.

12. Verse 17: I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

a) The most important thing about this verse is to read it context. The subject is wisdom. This verse can be expanded to read, "I (God) love those who love Me (My wisdom), and those who seek Me (My wisdom) find Me."

b) This does not mean that if we have God's wisdom, we can be perfect all the time. We can have the discernment to make the right decisions. God gives us all we need to make those decisions.

c) One can ask, "If I have God's wisdom, why do I make bad decisions even after I have prayed about it?" The answer is sometimes God allows us to learn from those mistakes. Sometimes God is silent as to teach us to walk by faith. The point is the bible gives us the general principals to live by so we can make good decisions.

13. Verse 18: With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. ¹⁹ My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver. ²⁰ I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, ²¹ bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full.

a) In these verses, we are on the "why" issue: Why should we choose wisdom? The answer in this text is that it brings us "riches, honor, enduring wealth (as opposed to temporary wealth) and prosperity.

b) As I've stated in previous lessons, God's wisdom is not a guarantee of financial prosperity in one's lifetime. Christians through the centuries have lived under oppressive governments and lived hard, poor lives in many situations. In such blessed societies as the United States, one can be more financially blessed and have the discernment on how to spend one's earnings properly for prosperity.

c) My main point is that God is talking about eternal blessings. One of the blessings for obedience to God is to be resurrected into heaven.

i) With that said, I don't think the focus is so much on the next life as it is on this life. We can be blessed in this life for obedience to God no matter what the situation is all around us.

14. Verse 22: "The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old;

a) From Verse 22 to Verse 31, we are going to get "wisdom speaking in the first person". These verses read as if wisdom is doing the talking. This "person" wisdom is also describing God as a separate entity.

b) These verses get back to the "who" question. They ask in effect, "Who is giving us this wisdom" in a poetic way.

i) The essential idea of these verses is that "Wisdom is as old as God Himself". Not that God has a defining moment of birth. The point is the wisdom of God has been around as long as God has Himself.

c) Commentators debate about whether or not these verses hint of either God the Son or God the Holy Spirit. Neither the word "spirit" nor "son" are used in these verses. At the same time, the word wisdom is not used either. You can make a case that wisdom does refer to a separate entity from God the Father. The Holy Spirit is spoken of as "wisdom" in Isaiah 11:2. Obviously, God the Father and God the Son have a bit of wisdom too! ☺

i) The idea is to grasp the concept of wisdom as being part of God, but still a separate "thing", just like one's personality is part of us, but still separate.

d) Meanwhile, back at Verse 22: ☺ The verse says, "The LORD brought me forth".

i) Reading this in context, the word "me" would refer to wisdom. Again, the word "wisdom" is not in these ten verses. Only pronouns are used. Still, if one reads these verses in context of the surrounding verses, they refer to God's wisdom.

ii) This sentence in the verse implies that God "gave birth" to wisdom. I doubt that a maternity ward was used. ☺ The point is God Himself is bigger than just the concept of wisdom. God has wisdom and used His wisdom prior to creation as we know it. That will become more apparent over the next several verses.

e) The rest of the verse reads, "The first of his works, before his deeds of old".

i) The idea is God's wisdom existed before the universe was created.

ii) The implication is God did not say one day, "You know, I'm bored, let me throw some of this "creation stuff" against the wall and see what happens! ☺

iii) The idea is God "thought out carefully" how the world was to be created. The application is we can trust God as the world was carefully made for our living.

f) Most high school kids have heard how carefully "balanced" the earth is.

i) For example, if the earth's average temperature was a few degrees warmer or colder, we could not survive. If the sun were a little closer or father, we could not survive. Even the orbit pattern of the moon is "balanced" for our survival.

ii) The point of all of this "balance" is people don't stop to consider the implication: This implies there is a God that balanced it perfectly in the first place! The idea as it ties to Proverbs is that God used wisdom in the creation of the world!

15. Verse 23: I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began.

a) Verse 23 continues the thought from the previous verse. It emphasizes the fact that wisdom was around prior to the creation of the universe as we know it.

b) The underlying point is we can trust God. He is saying to us in effect, "Look, you people live in an atmosphere created by Me. It is a delicately balanced for your survival. If you can trust Me with the wisdom to create the universe, you should also trust that Me with the instructional wisdom I give you to lead a fulfilled life!"

16. Verse 24: When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; ²⁵ before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, ²⁶ before he made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world.

a) These verses continue the poetic way of saying, "Before the earth was created, wisdom existed." The main point of these verses is God used wisdom in creating the world.

b) Why is this so important to know?

i) It refutes the idea that the world existed by random chance.

ii) It reminds us that there "is" a God who created everything, and therefore we can trust His wisdom in our lives.

iii) These verses answer the question, "How can I trust God's wisdom?" The answer is wisdom existed in the first place, prior to creation.

iv) To put it another way, if God used wisdom in His decisions on how to create the world, we should be also use that same source of wisdom as we go through our lives. The idea is wisdom (the idea of how to apply God's laws to our lives) should be a part of our lives.

17. Verse 27: I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, ²⁸ when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, ²⁹ when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.

a) These verses continue to give an account of creation from the perspective of "wisdom".

b) Those who study astrology or geology are endlessly fascinated by all the physical details about our world. One can enjoy and marvel at God's creation. With these verses in mind, we can realize that God had wisdom in this creation. Again, the idea is that the world was not created "haphazardly", but wisely for its survival and our survival.

c) I should define "heavens" here: The term "heavens" does not refer to where we live in the next life. The word "heaven" as it used in the bible refers to three places: The "first heaven" is the sky and atmosphere above the earth. The "second heaven" is the stars. The "third heaven" is what we think of heaven. Paul said he was once caught up to the "third heaven". (2nd Corinthians 12:2). The word "heavens" as it is used in this passage refers to the first and second heavens.

d)