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?
Where wisdom begins
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.
Why it outranks everything else
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.
Wisdom and knowledge
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 price and the giver
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.
Wisdom in a Person
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."
Wisdom according to the need
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.
What it repays
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.
Summary
- 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.