Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Jehovah;
Wisdom has been calling out in the streets. This verse gives the reason for her later silence: the people who cry out under disaster were never ignorant, and their refusal was a deliberate choice.
The knowledge in view is not general learning. The writers draw a sharp line between not knowing and refusing to know.
God's compassion never fails toward the ignorant, as long as the ignorance is not deliberate. His hatred is just as strong toward those who hate knowledge in the things of God, and that is of course the only knowledge in view here. And what could be plainer or sadder than to not choose the fear of the LORD? It proves that the heart is hostile to Him.
Wisdom's earlier appeal named three kinds of careless people, and those who hate knowledge come last.
There is a climax in these classes of careless, godless souls. The simple are the many weak ones who have no moral discernment and no aim in life. Evil meets them on every side and at every turn, and their easy indifference makes them a prey. The scorners show a more active corruption. They reject every appeal to conscience and every mention of divine things with rude jokes and insolent sneers. It is a moral disease that keeps growing, and it was never so widespread as in these last days. The fools who hate knowledge may be more godless still, and may become open atheists, as Scripture shows.
The book opened by naming the fear of the LORD as the starting point of knowledge. Refusing it is refusing the one thing that makes real knowledge possible.
Verse 7 contains the keynote to the entire book. The word "fear" means a godly fear, reverence. This fear of the Lord is mentioned fourteen times in Proverbs. This childlike reverence is sadly lacking among the young of our day. It is the beginning of knowledge, and there is no true knowledge apart from the fear of the Lord. It means to acknowledge the Lord, to adore and worship Him. It means to bow in faith to what He has revealed and to put it above everything else.
One writer pictures what holds everything else in place.
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" — not of wisdom, but of knowledge. That is a weighty sentence. All true knowledge, all moral knowledge, begins by putting God in His own place. Nothing is right or true without that. Leave Him out, and every position and relationship becomes false… Each stone has its own place in the arch, but if the keystone is missing, none of them can keep theirs.
Verse 28 says they will seek and not find. This verse explains it: the cry is driven by terror, not by a changed mind.
The judgment will be so dreadful and arresting that people will then turn to call on the Lord (v. 28), but however hard they search, they will not find Him. If their change were honest repentance, God would answer. Calling out only from fear of judgment is not repentance. People often want deliverance without admitting any guilt, and verse 29 points to this: "Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD."
Another writer points to what was missing when wisdom first called.
Wisdom cries out; she lifts her voice in the street, in the crowd of men. She speaks to the simple and to the scorner, to the guilty but misled and to the open, insulting enemy. She calls them to turn at her reproof… But it is in vain. So when the day of desolation and judgment comes and they call, there is no answer. They may fear the judgment, but there was no love and no submission to the truth. They will eat the fruit of their own ways. The ease, prosperity and carelessness they have lived in will be their ruin.
The chapter is not only a warning. One writer sets God's mercy beside the pride that refuses Him.
How foolish is the pride of man, set on hardening himself against the faithful appeals of his Creator! On the other hand, what a mercy it is that God works in the hearts of some! He moves them to bow to His Word and to receive the salvation He freely offers to all mankind.
- Call — Wisdom cries out in the streets to the simple, the scorner and the enemy alike. The refusal in this verse follows a public appeal that no one could miss.
- Choice — The wording is deliberate. They did not simply miss the fear of the LORD. They did not choose it, and that refusal proves the heart is hostile to God.
- Keystone — The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. Leave God out, and every other relationship goes false, like an arch missing its keystone.
- Cry — This verse explains the unanswered cry of verse 28. Fear of judgment without any admission of guilt is not repentance.
- Mercy — God still works in some hearts. He moves them to bow to His Word and to receive the salvation He freely offers to all.
they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof
Wisdom has been calling out in this chapter, and verse 30 gives the reason judgment falls. These people were not ignorant. They pushed the counsel away and laughed at the reproof. So what becomes of a person who has nothing left but his own advice?
The "my" here belongs to Wisdom, who has been speaking since verse 20. One writer shows how that voice grows too large for a figure of speech.
It is a mark of this book, and it fits its contents exactly, that we meet "wisdom" as a person from the first chapter. She rises (as is well known) to the Person of Christ in Proverbs 8:22-31. Even in this first introduction the cry does not fail. It goes on to take the solemnity of a divine warning of certain judgment. So it is hard to separate it from the voice of God Himself, as in verse 24 if not in 23, and in those that follow.
Verse 29 comes first: they hated knowledge. Verse 30 is what follows. One writer links this to people who call on God only when judgment is at the door.
People often want deliverance, but they never admit their guilt. Verse 29 hints at this: "Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord." Those who form their character this way will never reverse their attitude and judge themselves for their sinful folly. They totally refused all God's counsel and despised His every rebuke (v. 30).
Nobody drifts into this. It is a choice, and the choice shows what is in the heart.
Divine compassion is unfailing for the ignorant where it is not wilful. His abhorrence of those who hate knowledge in the things of God is just as severe. And what can be more sadly plain than that they "did not choose the fear of the Lord"? It proves the enmity of the heart.
Solomon's readers had the word of God. Later readers have far more, and the same words describe them more exactly.
Christ has shed better and perfect light, and the final revelation of God is fullness of grace and truth through Him. But what is the outcome of slighting it and Him? It is more clearly true now than in Solomon's time that they "would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof." When God came into the world in Christ's Person, they turned Him out of it. They hated Him without a cause. His grace only made Him more contemptible in their eyes. His counsel irritated. His reproof was a laughingstock. What will the end be?
One writer finds the same refusal in the leaders who heard John the Baptist preach.
When John the Baptist preached to Israel, the divine counsel through him was "repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins," but "the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him" (Luke 7:30). Had they accepted the counsel of God, it would have meant blessing for them, as it did for those who were baptized, for repentance and confession of sin is the way into divine blessing.
Verse 31 gives the sentence. It is not so much an outside punishment as the harvest of the choice in verse 30.
They cannot escape the consequences. "They shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own fancies." The very fact of their attitude and actions comes back on their own heads to slay them.
Israel's history shows the same pattern. One writer names the saddest thing that can happen to a person.
Israel fell away, sad to say, as the Lord now reminds them: "My people did not listen to Me; and Israel would have none of Me." It was not merely failure: it was revolt. The recompense had to follow: "So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts, and they walked in their own counsels." Nothing sadder can happen to men than this.
One writer describes the man who does the opposite of verse 30.
It remains true, that he who hears reproof gets sense; and he who gets sense loves his own soul. The other word that goes with this is of great value — "he who keeps understanding shall find good," and good better than silver or gold. It is well to get, and better still to keep, what is so excellent.
- Whose voice. This is not human advice. Wisdom's cry grows into a divine warning, hard to separate from God's own voice.
- Whose choice. God's compassion never fails the ignorant. But this is not ignorance. Refusing His counsel is deliberate, and it proves the enmity of the heart.
- Whose Person. Reject the counsel and you reject the One who gives it. When God came in Christ, His counsel irritated them and His reproof made them laugh.
- Whose harvest. The punishment is the choice, grown ripe. People eat the fruit of their own way, and God leaves them to walk in their own counsels.
- Whose gain. The door stands open the other way. Whoever hears reproof gains sense, and whoever keeps understanding finds good better than silver or gold.
therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their way, and be filled with their own devices.
This verse is where a long warning turns into a verdict. God invents no new punishment. People are simply handed what they chose, in full measure. Can anyone want their own way and escape it?
The word "therefore" points back to a settled disposition, not a single slip. One writer traces it to a refusal that runs so deep that even the terror of judgment cannot break it.
The judgment will be so dreadful and arresting that people will then turn to call on the Lord (v. 28). But however hard they search, they will not find Him. If their change were honest repentance, God would answer. Calling out only from fear of judgment is not repentance. People often want deliverance, but with no acknowledgement of guilt… Those who form their character this way will never turn around and judge themselves for their sinful folly. They completely refused all God's counsel and despised His every rebuke (v. 30).
Eating fruit is a farming picture: a crop answers to a seed. William Kelly warns that no one mocks God and gets away with it, and that delay is not escape.
The Lord is not mocked without consequence. "Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices." Sowing to the flesh must be reaping destruction. He does not execute judgment as yet; but it will come surely and soon.
God brings in no outside weapon. Their own attitude is the instrument.
They must suffer the consequences. Their own attitude and actions come back on their own heads to kill them. Their own foolish complacency destroys them.
To be "filled" sounds like a reward until you ask what fills them. One writer puts this filling in the same class as the filling of the lost.
A person may hunger after the world and not be filled; the world is fading, not filling. A person may be filled and not satisfied. A sinner may take his fill of sin, but that is far from satisfaction: "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways" (Prov. 14:14). This is the same kind of filling the damned in hell have. They will be full of the fury of the Lord. But the one who hungers after righteousness will be filled and satisfied.
This is not only a future sentence. Another writer sees the same eating going on now, wherever people push God out — and the fruit can taste good.
Whenever and wherever people abandon the truth of God, degradation of every kind follows. Only the truth of God can restrain evil… People eat the fruit of their own ways. Sometimes it is pleasant to the taste of a corrupted nature, but divine and eternal judgment lies at the end. The very lusts that rule and torment the slaves of sin are, in a sense, the pledge and token of God's wrath.
One writer aims these words at people today. The Saviour they shut out still waits at their door, and the outcome of keeping it shut has not changed.
He is knocking, and He will keep knocking until the day of grace runs out. How sad for those who reject such grace and keep their door locked and barred against the waiting Saviour. Grace rejected must end in judgment carried out. They reject Christ, and Christ will cast them out. Then they will prove the dreadful seriousness of those words that cannot be taken back.
- Refusal. The verse begins with "therefore" because the story began earlier. They hated knowledge and refused counsel. Crying out later from fear of judgment is not repentance.
- Sowing. What follows is a harvest, not a random blow. Sowing to the flesh reaps destruction. God's patience in delaying judgment is not permission.
- Self-made. God needs no outside weapon. Their own way comes back on their own heads, and their own complacency does the destroying.
- Filled. They get what they wanted, in full measure, and it never satisfies. The world is fading, not filling. Only those who hunger after righteousness are filled and satisfied.
- Now. The eating has already begun wherever people push God out. The fruit is pleasant to a corrupted taste. The appetite that torments them is the token of what waits at the end. Grace refused ends in judgment carried out — which is why the door is still worth opening.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of the foolish shall cause them to perish.
Wisdom has been calling through this whole chapter. Verse 32 gives the reason that call matters: two roads — drifting away and settling down in comfort — end in the same ruin.
First, a word on wording. The ESV says "the complacency of fools destroys them." Older translations say "the prosperity of fools," and the writers below use that older wording. Both senses fit: ease of mind and ease of circumstance. The verse names two kinds of people and gives both the same end. One writer shows how little effort that ruin takes:
The Lord is not mocked without consequence. "Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their way and be filled with their own devices." Sowing to the flesh must mean reaping destruction. He does not carry out judgment yet. But it will come, certainly and soon: tribulation and anguish for man, indignation and wrath from Him who judges. It is easy to turn away from grace and truth, from righteousness, at any time. But the backsliding of the simple will slay them, and the prosperity of the foolish will lure them to ruin.
The word does not mean unintelligent. One writer explains what these people are choosing:
Here simplicity means ignorance. Sadly, the ungodly prefer it to the wisdom of true faith in the Lord Jesus. They think their scorn can dismiss the truth, as if their foolish words carried authority. Because they hate knowledge, they delight in scorning.
They choose this ignorance, so they answer for it. Elsewhere in Proverbs the same writer presses the point:
"The simple" here are people who do not know, and their punishment comes from that ignorance. For it is our fault if we neglect the Word of God, which would enlighten us. Ignorance is no excuse when God has given us His Word, and we have ignored it.
Nothing from outside punishes these people. What kills them is their own choice:
They cannot escape the consequences. "They shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own fancies." The very fact of their attitude and actions comes back on their own heads to slay them. Their own foolish complacency destroys them (v. 32).
Uzziah was a king of Judah whose success went to his head. One writer traces the whole collapse to this proverb:
He was marvellously helped until he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. "Strength of the Lord" was the meaning of his name. It would have been a happy thing for him if he had realised that only in His strength is anyone really strong… Uzziah prospered. His prosperity lifted up his foolish heart with pride. In him his great ancestor's proverb came true: "The prosperity of fools shall destroy them."
Comfort does more than feel good. It dulls the ear toward God, and one writer counts the cost:
Prosperity often deafens the ear against God… Soft pleasures harden the heart. Prosperity has its honey, and also its sting… The spreading of a full table may be the spreading of a snare. Many have been sunk to hell with golden weights… The world's golden sands are quicksands. What if we have less food — we have less snare; if less dignity, less danger. As we lack the rich provisions of the world, so we lack the temptations.
Verse 32 is not the last word. The next verse turns the picture around, and one writer carries its promise through to Christ:
"Hear, that your soul may live." So said the prophet Isaiah. It is blessedly true under the gospel… Or, as it is written here, "Whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster." Is that not a good shelter in a world of evil and danger? Christ is that shelter now to everyone who believes on Him — not only rest from evil but rest from the fear of it, by grace.
- Ease kills. Two roads lead to the same end: drifting away, and settling down in comfort. Neither takes any effort. It is easy to turn away at any time.
- Ease chosen. The "simple" are not stupid. They prefer ignorance to wisdom, and ignorance is no excuse when God has given His Word.
- Ease harvested. The punishment grows out of the choice. They eat the fruit of their own way, and their own complacency destroys them.
- Ease illustrated. Uzziah prospered until he was strong, and then pride lifted up his heart and ruined him.
- Ease given. Real safety comes as a gift: whoever listens dwells secure, free even from the fear of evil. Christ is that shelter now, by grace.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be at rest from fear of evil.
Proverbs 1 ends with wisdom calling out in the street. After a long warning to those who ignore her, the chapter closes with a promise instead of a threat: who is the "me" we are to listen to, what safety does He promise, and how does anyone learn to hear Him?
Proverbs pictures wisdom as someone speaking out loud. One writer names who that speaker is, and what follows a refusal.
Wisdom now speaks, and wisdom in this first section of Proverbs is a person, a divine person. The eighth chapter gives us a wonderful vision of that Person, the Son of God, who is the Wisdom. First stands the call of Wisdom. The call may be answered or rejected... But if the call is refused the consequences will be disastrous. The appeal of wisdom closes with a precious promise.
The same writer finds a preacher's outline in the passage:
This appeal of wisdom gives an excellent theme for preaching the gospel to those who are not saved. It has the call, the promise, the refusal, and the disaster that comes from refusing to listen to Him who speaks.
The verse asks only one thing: a hearing ear. One writer links that hearing to life itself.
"Hear, that your soul may live." So said the prophet Isaiah, and it is blessedly true under the gospel. "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." So declared He who is the Truth, as He is the Way and the Life. Or, as it is written here, "Whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster." Is it not a good shelter in a world of evil and danger? Christ is that now to everyone who believes on Him — not only rest from evil but from the fear of it by grace.
Where the ESV says "dread of disaster," older translations read "fear of evil." One writer explains what that evil means.
Then the opposite is said to be true of those who simply listen to wisdom, that is, to the Lord Jesus. He dwells safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil — evil in this case meaning harmful effects.
Hearing a voice this quiet needs closeness. One writer pictures that closeness as a shelter between God's shoulders, and takes it to the person who is suffering.
This is the place of comfort for the sufferer. "Nowhere to lay the head," yet there was the comfort of the Lord's embrace... The end of Proverbs 1 gives the sign of the ear that listens to the heavenly voice. To listen in this way, the ear must be close to the lips of the speaker. It must dwell, so to speak, between His shoulders. Then in that nearness, that intimacy of communion, that place of love, the soul not only rests safely, but is quiet from the fear of evil. What a portion!
The same point is put the other way round: the calm shows up when trouble arrives, and it was built beforehand.
Confidence in the Lord flows out of communion. Those who have trusted Him most, and walked with Him most, know Him best. And those who are so practically near Him, and so taken up with His word, that they drink in His thoughts, watch His ways, and enter into the secrets of His heart, are able to trust Him in times of adversity.
The promise stands against the ruin described just before it. One writer traces where refusing wisdom ends.
The Lord is not mocked without consequence. "Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and have their fill of their own devices." Sowing to the flesh must mean reaping destruction. He does not carry out judgment yet, but it will come, certainly and soon... It is easy to turn away from grace and truth, from righteousness, at any time. But the backsliding of the simple will kill them, and the prosperity of fools will lure them to destruction.
Even so, going the wrong way does not end the story.
None of us can do his own will and expect to escape the consequences. But it is a blessing to know that there is forgiveness with Him, so that He may be feared. Though the cut fingers may not heal at once, the heart can still be comforted by God's grace, and the valuable lesson learned that His way is better than ours. "Whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster" (Prov. 1:33).
- The Speaker. Wisdom here is a divine Person. Chapter 8 shows Him as the Son of God, so the call is Christ's own call and the passage preaches as gospel.
- The Condition. He asks one thing: listening. Isaiah's "hear, that your soul may live" and Christ's "whoever hears my word... has eternal life" say the same thing.
- The Nearness. To hear that voice, the ear must be near the lips of the Speaker — close enough to dwell between His shoulders. That is the place of comfort for anyone who suffers.
- The Double Gift. Safety first, then quiet — rest from evil and rest from the fear of it, a shelter in a world of danger.
- The Alternative. Those who refuse eat the fruit of their own way. Yet forgiveness is with Him even for them, and the lesson stands: His way is better than ours.