Week 22 Proverbs 9
Chapter 9 features two women: Wisdom & Folly. They’re similar in some ways. But by the end of the chapter they’re clearly pretty different.
Wisdom calls out from the heights overlooking the city.
Folly sits in her doorway on the heights overlooking the city (and) calls out to men going by.
Wisdom’s message: “Come home with me,” she urges the simple.
Folly’s message: “Come home with me,” she urges the simple.
Wisdom’s offer: to those without good judgment, she says “Come eat my food…”
Folly’s offer: to those without good judgment, she says “Stolen water is refreshing…”
So…two outcome-based choices:
If I go to Wisdom’s house then Wisdom will multiply (my) days and add years to (my) life.
But the men who go to Folly’s house don’t realize that her former guests are now in the grave.
Both women are making similar offers to the same audience. And people who want some ideas about what to do with their hungers are listening.
Folly’s advice sounds something like this: do what you feel like doing. Who wants to be restrained?
Wisdom sounds more like: you’ll need to reconsider the benefits of doing what you feel like doing.
Mixed in with all the other urban noise are two feminine voices. One says one thing. One says another.
Two invitations. Which sounds better to me? Which one actually is? That’s the decision I get to make.
Note: quotes from Proverbs 3 14 4 16 5 17 11 18 (NLT)