Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Pr 9:1-2 and following. Indeed, the Word that was “in the beginning with God,” which “was God,” came down to speak to men and bring them the revelation of the Father (subject of the Gospel of John). So it’s with Wisdom. She did not stay “next to” Jehovah. She built her house among men (John 1:14), and invites them to do so: “Come, eat… drink…” (John 6:47-59). She satiates first; then she instructs. Jesus fills the heart before filling the mind and memory. For if love for Him does not precede the knowledge of “His commandments,” we will not be able to keep them. Moreover, the instruction of wisdom must begin with its beginning, which is the fear of Jehovah (verse 10): It’s the feeling of the authority of the one who dispenses the teaching. One stands with respect before God by measuring the importance of each of his words. We should not read the Bible any other way.
In the world another voice seeks to turn men away: that of folly – and of sin! It takes on the appearance of Wisdom (compare verses 4 and 16) and offers us “to enjoy for a time the joys of sin” (Hb 11:24-26). But let’s take a closer look at the faces of his guests: they are dead. At his sinister feast are seated the dead (Pr 2:10-22). In chapter 1, v. 20 of Proverbs, “Wisdom cries out, it makes its voice sound in the squares; it shouts at the entrance of noisy places, at the openings of doors; she speaks her words in the city.” It is addressed to men in their natural state: to the simple who are meaningless, to the mockers who deny the word of God, to the fools who hate the knowledge of Wisdom and instruction. But there will come a time when Wisdom will abandon all hope of bringing back the mockers and will consider blessed the faithful who refuse to have relations with them!
In chap. 8:1-11, Wisdom stands “at the top of the heights, on the way, at the crossroads, … next to the gates, at the entrance of the city, where you pass to enter.” It is in a word in the midst of the noise and tumult of the world that she calls “men and sons of men”. Here, as in chapter 1, she screams. His voice is high enough to be heard. All that she proposes, all the words of her mouth, bring to men justice, light, righteousness, knowledge (v. 8-9) and instruction (v. 10).
At the beginning of chapter 9, v. 1-6, we have another aspect of Wisdom. “She built her house.” There is a place where she lives and which belongs to her, but it is there that she invites those who are devoid of meaning and intelligence to come and take shelter, because she offers them refuge. “She has carved out her seven columns,” the columns that adorn her home, a fullness of firmly established strength and power, and which make it an asylum that cannot be shaken. But she doesn’t just offer a safe haven to everyone she calls in her home. She sacrificed her animals, mixed her wine, set her table. Doesn’t this recall the great supper, the supper of grace in Luke 14? In this last chapter, the master sends his slaves; here Wisdom invites to supper by his servants. As with the great supper, it is not addressed to the wise, the opulent, the intelligent of this world, but to those who are meaningless, who follow the path of madness. She said to them: Come! She screams. As in chapters 1 and 8, she seeks the world where it is; here she invites the men to enter her house, to sit at her table, to take their share of the excellent food she has prepared for them. It says “my bread” (v. 5) in contrast to the bread of madness (v. 17). She invites to the joy (her mixed wine) that gives an accomplished greeting, a table where “already everything is ready”.
He who receives this call becomes, by this very fact, a son of wisdom, a sage. But the mockery to which Wisdom addressed itself in ChapterItre 1:22 is over. They did not want to receive the instruction; their fate is now fixed; they have no part with the wise. You have to be wise to grow in science and to love even reprehension. The wise man does not consider himself to be something; he is humble, knowing where he was drawn from, and desires to grow in science through the instruction of Wisdom. But how does one become wise? The beginning, the very principle of wisdom, is the fear of Jehovah (v. 10). It consists in giving God the place that belongs to Him; but one does not enter into His holy presence without immediately hating evil (8:13) and without wanting the good that God wills. This presupposes a known relationship between man and God: he hates what God hates; he loves what God loves. It is not that the sage, once entered the house of Wisdom and sat at his feast, attained perfection. He cannot reach her in this world. If he is wise and righteous he needs to be continually taken up, taught, taught – for “God does not take his eyes off the righteous” (Job 36:7) – to grow in wisdom and science. Intelligence comes to him through the knowledge of the Saint, of the One who is personally Wisdom himself, but he will have attained this full knowledge only when, seeing him as He is, he is like Him.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
The invitation of wisdom:
- Spiritual foods prepared in abundance for believers
Isa 25:6 The Lord of hosts prepares for all peoples on this mountain a feast of succulent food, a feast of old wines, Succulent dishes, full of marrow, old wines, clarified. Mt 22:4 He sent more servants, saying: Say to the guests: Behold, I have prepared my feast; my oxen and fat beasts are killed, everything is ready, come to the wedding. Mk 14:22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread; and after giving thanks, he broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “Take, this is my body. Luke 14:16 And Jesus answered him: A man gave a great supper, and he invited many people.
- Promised Wisdom
Pr 2:6 For the Lord gives wisdom; From his mouth come knowledge and intelligence; Ec 2:26 For he gives to the man who is pleasing to him wisdom, science, and joy; but he gives the sinner the care to collect and amass, in order to give to him who is pleasing to God. This is again a vanity and the pursuit of the wind. Luke 21:15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom that all your adversaries cannot resist or contradict. John 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all simply and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
- Right path
Isaiah 26:7 The way to righteousness is righteousness; You who are just, you flatten the path of the just. Jer 42:3 and may Jehovah your God show us the way we must follow, and what we have to do! Mt 7:14 But narrow is the door, tightened the path that leads to life, and there are few who find them. Lk 1:79 To enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct our steps in the path of peace.
- Misunderstanding, examples of those who are slow to believe
Ps 32:9 Do not be like a horse or mule without intelligence; They are bridled with a brake and a bit, which are adorned, so that they do not approach you. Ps 49:21 The man who is honored, and who has no intelligence, is like the beasts that are slaughtered. Isaiah 27:11 When the twigs dry, they are broken; Women come to burn them. They were a people without intelligence: So he who did it had no mercy on him, the One who formed him did not give him grace. Mt 13:19 When a man listens to the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and takes away what has been sown in his heart: this man is the one who received the seed along the way.
From all of the above, we note that incontrast to Wisdom, we have the “crazy woman.” How many times does it not come back in these first chapters (2:16-19; 5:3-6, 20; 6:24-26, 27-35; 7:5; finally here 9:13-18)! The crazy woman is the corrupt flesh that attracts fools, men without reflection, without knowledge, without fear of God. Everything is missing from this woman: She is crazy, foolish, ignorant and cannot teach anyone. It surrounds with noise (v. 13) those who go astray. It is, in fact, in the continual noise of the world that men are dizzy and are unable to hear the voice of Wisdom, however highly its cry sounds. While Wisdom stands (8:2), all to its mission, madness sits down (v. 14). She seeks her comfort and simulates rest in the eyes of those she calls. They get caught up in this lie. She stands “at the entrance of her house”, hiding from everyone that this house is empty, shaky, without columns and contains nothing that can nourish or give real joy. She is “on a throne, in the high places of the city”, she speaks to the ambition of men, promises them the domination that responds to “the pride of life”, and gives them proof that it is she (not Wisdom) who has attained this domination. His thought is to divert from the “right path” (v. 15), while Wisdom does precisely the opposite. “Who is simple,” said the mad woman, “let him withdraw here” (v. 16). She speaks the same words as Wisdom in v. 4, in order to deceive those who are meaningless, for she does not open the door to them and has no meal prepared for them. In Wisdom everything is grace, truth, light; in the crazy woman, everything is lies, mystery and darkness. She advises crazy people to secretly appropriate what does not belong to them. She says, “The stolen waters are sweet, and the bread eaten in secret is pleasant” (v. 17). Bad faith will always be the basis for the search for the things of the world. This is what men call skill. Madness says: They are sweet when stolen; they are pleasant when you can appropriate them without anyone knowing anything about them. All these things, madness whispers in their ears; it does not shout at them; for how could she produce her bad advice in public? On the contrary, Wisdom cries out; she wants to be heard (1:20; 8:4; 9:3). How would grace and truth, addressed to all, be afraid to raise their voices? See John the Baptist, bearing witness to the One who comes after him (John 1:15). See the Lord bearing witness to His own mission (John 7:28; 12:44)! Alas! the mad woman speaks to the man according to the heart of the man, dark heart that leads him to eternal darkness! What a contrast between the depths of sheol, where madness precipitates its victims, and the life, the favor of the Lord, the delights, which Wisdom finds in the sons of men by bringing them to God (8:31, 35)! Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to your questions and possible comments, before sharing with you tomorrow ” Contrast between the march of the just and that of the wicked (Pr 10).
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.