Chapter 1
Verse 1 starts like this: "The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:..."
2023 - Then the purpose of the book is given: To impart wisdom and instruction to those who "need" it. If young, these proverbs are a head start. If old, these are to add to existing wisdom. In either case, the idea is to raise the "wisdom quotient" of all who read these words. That seems an appropriate ambition for the wisest man who ever lived.
First Lesson: First there is an appeal for the listener to pay attention. This verse:
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. [Pro 1:7 ESV] In the previous verses, Solomon has told us how important it is to obtain wisdom, to spend time gaining instruction. This verse gives us the first square, the starting place for learning wisdom. Fear of this type - reverential deference and complete humility is the foundation stone upon which wisdom is built. Those who do not fear God - or don't believe in Him at all - can be smart, but they cannot be wise. Calculus is not wisdom. Geophysics and astronomy are not about wisdom. These are about knowledge, about describing what we can see and observe and extrapolating backwards to understand how these things got here, and forward to understand where things will be next year. Knowledge is about rocks and stars and calculations. Wisdom deals with things like righteousness, justice, and equity - things which cannot be weighed or measured. There are no equations for "justice".
Note this verse:
10 Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?" [2Ch 1:10 ESV]
Wisdom and knowledge are different things, but surely they are intimately related. Knowledge is about "factual" things. About events, about numbers, about the moon revolving around the earth. These are knowledge. Wisdom is how you determine which woman is really the baby's mother. Proverbs is about wisdom.
The first "wise saying" the very first one, is about the things criminals do. They lie in wait for people that they have no grudge against. They steal and they all have one purse. They urge each other on.
Then we hear a prediction about their fate. They set an ambush for their own lives. They are the cause of their own premature deaths. Don't be like them!
2021- This is about criminal gangs. Men banded together to overwhelm and rob travelers, neighbors, whomever they can overwhelm. What they all have in common is greed for unjust gain. This thread of injustice is always there with these people, through vs. 19. The indictment is against people who's greed leads them to justify their own injustice as the means to an end. They are outside convention, outside orthodoxy, outside the law, and the attraction of profiting by injustice seems to them a shortcut. These are people who are bad because they are thrilled with doing things wrong. These are not thieves of convenience, of need, of starvation... these are "professional" thieves who have chosen this as a way of life because they LIKE being thieves. These people exist. They have always existed. And they incorporate violence into their injustice. "Wait for blood", "ambush the innocent", "swallow them alive". All these indicate violence toward law-abiding people. No regard for their victims at all.
Second Lesson: Wisdom speaks, from various public forums, she speaks, and urges all to listen to her, to gain wisdom and knowledge, to stop being scoffers and fools that ignore wisdom. This verse:
22 "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? [Pro 1:22 ESV]
It is easier to ignore wisdom and embrace simplicity, scoffing, and foolishness. It is hard to be a wise person. In aggregate, men take the easy way. Wisdom will require effort.
Calamity comes to those who refuse wisdom. And when they finally cry out, wisdom will ignore them. It will be too late. This is saying that once your foolishness has gotten you into dire straits, it will be too late to learn. These verses to end chapter 1:
32 For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; 33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster." [Pro 1:32-33 ESV]
Ignorance gets you killed, makes you worry, robs you of peace. Wisdom brings ease, and peace of mind.
2021 - I always thought this was God talking, saying that if you turned from Him, bad things would happen, and because you'd not listened to Him, He wouldn't listen to you. That's not who's talking. Wisdom personified is talking. The point is that we need to seek wisdom and knowledge. We don't need to just go skip skip skipping through life and not worry about the bigger picture, the deeper things, the insights. If we do seek these things, life will be better. But if we decide we don't have time for study, for serious observation, for comparing and contrasting behaviors - we are just complacent - then things will happen TO us, rather than our living in security, and being able to weather the storms that come.
2022 - I see a good comparison between these verses in Proverbs 1 and Romans 1. At some point, when you've disdained right thinking for too long, when you have abandoned seeking true wisdom and begun making up your own - and calling yourself wise for doing so, you get this: 28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. [Pro 1:28 ESV]. No recovery possible. Very similar to these verses: 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. [Rom 1:24-25 ESV]. Both say that things can only go so far, God's outstretched hand and offer of wisdom can only be shunned for so long, and then he will turn his back and leave us to the ends to which reliance on human intelligence alone have lead to all through history. Babylon, Rome, Greece...Germany, perhaps even England. And now, isn't the US standing at this crossroad, between human intelligence and God's word? Reliance on human wisdom, insight, and intelligence has historically failed every time. But Israel is still there.
Hmm...that is an interesting idea. Shapiro's book comes to mind. The spread of Judeo-Christian values has always led to blessings on nations. In the OT this was exemplified in the ebbs and revivals of Israel, but we see it also in modern times. National success is proportional to commitment to God's laws. That has always been the way.
This would be an involved FB post...but possible.