Get wisdom, get intelligence forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
A father is speaking here. He passes on to his own sons the words his father once spoke to him, so the call to get wisdom comes as a family inheritance, not as a law. That raises three questions. What kind of authority is speaking? Why must wisdom be got rather than just obeyed? And what does it take not to lose it?
How the teaching is given matters as much as what it says.
The form chosen is that of a father, not of a legislator. So it is not even a catechism of the "ten words," but a parent's teaching, and it calls for attention so that there may be understanding or discernment... The teacher himself can speak of the loving care given to his own early days, when he was "a son to his father, tender and only beloved in the sight of his mother." This calls the affections back, to awaken the new duties.
The verb is "get." Wisdom is something you go after and gain. One writer explains why you could never say that of the law.
It is not law, but wisdom and wisdom's commandments, good doctrine, understanding. There is responsibility, commandment, and counsel. It is divine wisdom about our path, followed in obedience, but not law... It was taught so that the heart would hold on to it. It was there to be discovered and gained, and you could never say that of law. In the law there was nothing to discover. They were then neither to forget it nor to turn from it (v. 5).
You can gain wisdom and then lose it. The verse guards against that, and one writer names what causes the loss.
So the exhortation is, "Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth." What God seeks is obedience, obedience of the heart... Self-will is certainly the great and constant hindrance. The enemy would stir it up, and shut God out by the things outside and the passions within. All the deeper is the need of instruction.
The father asks his son to hold on to his words. One writer hears the same note in the way Jesus spoke.
The language here is strikingly close to the language of Christ in the New Testament. The Sermon on the Mount is simply the sayings of wisdom that are to be kept. So the Lord says, "If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you," says Christ. "Whoever does not love me does not keep my words."... There was a Person and source of grace, One in whom these words were filled out in subjection. When He spoke, His words were the exact expression of what He was.
If wisdom must be got, where do we get it? One writer points us away from our own resources.
Christ in glory is the Head of His Body, the Church — and all wisdom is in the Head, so that though we have no wisdom in ourselves, we have full wisdom in Christ. One has truly said, "Christ is made wisdom to us, that is intelligence. He alone could lead men through the perplexities of this world of moral confusion, where there is no way." So the most important thing of all is to give up our own "heads" and look to Christ as "the Head" to guide us.
Years later Solomon gave his answer to God at Gibeon. One writer traces that answer back to his father's counsel.
David's earnest counsel will account, at least in part, for Solomon's answer to Jehovah at Gibeon. How remarkably He met his desire. Solomon pleaded that Israel was "so great": how could he carry the responsibility of guiding such a nation?... "God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore." Wisdom to match the need!
- Source — a father's instruction, not a legislator's code. Affection carries the authority, and it reaches the heart first.
- Getting — wisdom is there to be discovered and gained. You could never say that of law: in law there was nothing to discover.
- Guarding — "do not forget" names the real enemy of what you have gained: self-will, stirred up by things outside and passions within.
- Growing — the sayings to be kept sound like the way Christ spoke; His words were the exact expression of what He was.
- Given — Solomon asked, and God gave wisdom to match the need. We look to Christ, who holds all wisdom for us.
Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee; love her, and she shall preserve thee.
This verse gives two commands — do not forsake, and love — and answers each with a promise of keeping. A father is passing on to his son what his own father taught him, which raises two questions: what is this "wisdom," and how can it keep the person who keeps it?
This is not law handed down by an official. One writer points to the form the teaching takes:
The form chosen is that of a father, not of a lawmaker. So it is not even a lesson book on the Ten Commandments. It is a parent teaching his child, calling for attention so that the child will understand... The man God uses here can speak of the loving care given to him in his own early days, when, as he says, he was "a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother." So he stirs the affections first, to awaken the new duties.
If the son must hold onto wisdom, what is he holding? The same writer rules out the obvious answers:
It is not language or literature or science. It is the kind of education whose foundation is the fear of the Lord.
Another writer puts it in four practical habits:
Diligence in attention to the Word, avoiding evil, self-judgment, and single-eyed purpose of heart.
You can study a subject, but you cannot love one the way you love a person. One writer lines up the commands of this passage with the promises that answer them:
Note the different commands about wisdom: do not forget it; do not forsake her; love her; exalt her. Then the promises: she will preserve you; she will keep you; she will promote you; she gives honour; an ornament of grace for the head and a crown of glory. If we take wisdom and make it the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, what blessed food for the soul we will enjoy!
Later in the same book, wisdom speaks for herself. One writer says that settles what she is:
Wisdom speaks, not as an abstract quality, but as a Person capable of loving and being loved. "I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me diligently find Me."
The promise assumes danger. One writer says what kind of world the reader walks through, and what exalting wisdom leads to:
They were not to forsake wisdom, which has power to preserve: "love her, and she will guard you"... Those who are of God pass through a world of evil. They need wisdom from above to keep them. This world is a wilderness with no path, except the one grace provides for faith. There will be suffering for Christ's sake as well as for righteousness. But "Prize her highly [her, not yourself], and she will exalt you."
How does holding onto something protect you? One writer applies the verse to Mephibosheth. He was lame in both feet, and King David gave him a seat at the royal table for life. Safety, this writer says, came from enjoying that place:
To find fault with the Lord results in leaving Him; to be satisfied with the Lord keeps us in the safe place... Why was Mephibosheth in the safe place? Why did he stay there? "For he ate always at the king's table." To enjoy the Lord's fellowship according to the favour given to us is in itself a protective power. "Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you" (Prov. 4:6). If we cling to the truth, the truth itself will be our protection from all evil ways.
The son who received this counsel later became king. He asked God for the very thing his father had urged him to get. One writer shows how the answer matched the need:
Solomon pleaded that Israel was "so great": how could he carry the responsibility of guiding such a nation? Now compare 1 Kings 4:20 and 29. "Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea." "God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore." Wisdom according to the need!
- Father, not lawgiver. The words come as a father's teaching. He stirs love first, and duty grows out of it.
- Not learning, but fear. Wisdom here is not language, literature or science. It rests on the fear of the Lord, and it shows up as attention to the Word, avoiding evil, self-judgment and a single-eyed heart.
- A Person, not a quality. Commentators read wisdom as Christ and His Word. In Proverbs 8 wisdom speaks as someone who loves in return. That is why a son can be asked to love her.
- Hold on and be held. The world is a wilderness with no path except the one grace provides. Whoever refuses to let wisdom go is the one wisdom keeps.
- Nearness is the guard. Mephibosheth stayed at the king's table, and that nearness kept him safe. The wisdom God gives is always sized to the need.
The beginning of wisdom [is], Get wisdom; and with all thy getting get intelligence.
Solomon passes on the charge his own father gave him, and it sounds circular: the first thing wisdom asks is that you go and get wisdom. So why does this one pursuit come before everything else, and what does it cost?
Older translations read "wisdom is the principal thing" here. One writer ties the call to the kind of world the reader has to cross:
The beginning of wisdom, as we are told so strongly, is to "get wisdom, and with all your getting get understanding." Those who are of God pass through a world of evil. They need wisdom from above to keep them. It is a wilderness with no way through, except the one grace provides for faith.
Wisdom is not one fine interest among many. One writer sets this path beside the walk of Christ, who never stumbled:
He walked in the daylight of God's will — in the day, and did not stumble. So here, the one who follows wisdom will not stumble. That is why "wisdom is the principal thing." It is really "life," the path of life. The power that will set the world right has not come yet — it will. Our path now is wisdom: the good mind of God, followed in the middle of evil.
The verse asks for two things: wisdom and insight (older translations say understanding). Neither one is just information. One writer defines wisdom by what a person does with what he knows:
And what is wisdom? It is putting knowledge to the right use. Without that, knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Another writer sorts the same two words the other way round:
Wisdom is no doubt the proper perception of knowledge, while understanding is the proper application of knowledge.
So commentators differ on which word carries which sense. They agree that knowledge on its own is not the goal.
The cost is real, but you do not pay it in money. On a later call to buy truth and not sell it, one writer names the price:
It is true that no money can buy the truth. What buys it is the heart's desire, and waiting on Him who gives freely and does not find fault. But many things tempt us to sell it for the attractions of the flesh and of the world, and He alone can keep us from them.
The search is hard work, but the supply comes from God:
If she is sought as something priceless, searched out like hidden treasure, and openly named as what you are after, the result follows. You take hold of the fear of Jehovah and arrive at the knowledge of God... "For Jehovah gives wisdom." It is not just that I grow wiser by man's understanding. Jehovah gives true wisdom. It is what He has said, His word, which gives true knowledge and understanding, and he who seeks it will get it.
The one who has no wisdom of his own is not left short:
All wisdom is in the Head, so that though we have no wisdom in ourselves, we have full wisdom in Christ. One has truly said, "Christ is made wisdom to us, that is intelligence. He alone could lead men through the perplexities of this world of moral confusion, where there is no way."
God matched His supply to the size of Solomon's task. One writer applies that to every reader who feels out of his depth:
A great lesson is here. The greater the responsibility and need, the greater the divine provision to meet it. Let us take courage! Solomon's God is ours. We can trust Him to stand by us with all the fullness of His wisdom and grace, in any place He is pleased to set us, however hard it may be.
Giving wisdom the first place is not a loss. The verses that follow promise honour, and one writer notes where that honour comes from:
Verse 8 shows the result of giving wisdom her proper place: we receive honour even in our present life. The world may despise us. Even so, those who are wise will honour us.
- Priority. Wisdom comes first because it is the path of life. The world is a wilderness with no way through, except the one grace provides.
- Price. No money buys it. The price is the heart's desire and waiting on God. The danger is selling it for the attractions of the world.
- Provider. Search for it like hidden treasure, yet God gives it: "Jehovah gives wisdom" — through His word.
- Person. We have no wisdom in ourselves and full wisdom in Christ, who alone leads through the confusion.
- Promotion. The supply grows with the need. Giving wisdom its proper place brings honour — not from the world, but from the wise.