Week 26 Proverbs
Proverbs is one of the bible’s Books of Wisdom.
I checked a word book to see. The word Wisdom is used roughly 220-times in the bible and about 47 of those times are in Proverbs. So Proverbs monopolizes about 21% of the uses.
The word Wise is used 180 times in the bible and Proverbs accounts for 33%.
One of the things that jumps out is that Solomon also contrasts Wisdom with Foolishness – wise people vs. foolish ones.
This year I decided to track the difference between wise & foolish people. I started with a lined sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 paper and wrote Foolish on the left and Wise on the right. It was a longer exercise than I thought. By the end I had almost two single-spaced columns describing wise people and almost three columns on foolish people.
Solomon said that people with wisdom are: Competent Cool-headed Discerning Disciplined Even-tempered Fair-to-the-poor Generous Hopeful-about-the-future Honest Humble Just Loyal Not-happy-at-someone’s-misfortune Patient Prudent Pure-hearted Reliable Righteous Self-controlled Sensible Teachable Trustworthy Understanding & Upright.
Wise people: Control-their-anger Don’t-envy-sinners Fear-the-Lord Follow-the-Lord Listen-to-instruction Rescue-the-innocent & Use-wise-speech.
Wise people have: Discretion Good-sense Honour Integrity & Knowledge.
Solomon begins his book by saying this: let those who are wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. And let those who understand receive guidance by exploring the depth of meaning in these proverbs, parables, wise sayings, and riddles.
So wise-listening comes first. And then more wisdom understanding and depth-exploration follow.
Note: quote from Proverbs 1:5-6 (NLT)