What does the Book of Proverbs teach us?
Answered from the commentary of Arno Clemens Gaebelein, Arend Remmers, Leslie M. Grant and 13 others
The book of Proverbs teaches that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7), and of wisdom too (Proverbs 9:10); this is the keynote of the whole book. This fear is not slavish dread but reverent trustfulness joined to hatred of evil. It means acknowledging the Lord, worshipping Him, bowing to His revelation and putting it above everything else. It puts God in His own place, and without that nothing is right or true, so that until God has His rightful place in a man's heart he cannot view anything wisely. Knowledge may be great, but without the fear of the Lord a man has no true wisdom and builds on sand. From that root the book gives the wisdom of God for the daily path of human life in this world of confusion and evil. It shows what to seek and what to avoid. It teaches that under God's government a man reaps what he sows, whatever higher blessings grace bestows. Grace does not set that aside, so a true Christian may do something through lack of discretion that he regrets all his days. The way of wisdom is to trust in the Lord with all the heart, not to lean on one's own understanding, and to acknowledge Him in all one's ways (Proverbs 3:5-6). The man who trusts his own heart is called a fool. The fool leaves God out of his life, is right in his own eyes and despises instruction. The wise man hearkens to counsel, loves reproof and grows wiser still.
The book then works this out in detail, as a father's tender appeal to his son rather than a lawgiver's code. It calls for honour of father and mother and for keeping their words as a lamp and a light. It urges the young to say no when sinners entice them to violence and greed. It warns again and again against the strange woman, whose house is the way to death, and against adultery above all, because marriage is a divine tie. It bids a man rejoice in the wife of his youth. It teaches guarding the mouth, since "in the multitude of words sin is not lacking" and "whoso keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles". It sets diligence against sloth, sending the sluggard to learn from the ant. It commends generosity and kindness to the poor, and warns that oppressing them reproaches their Maker. It teaches that a child trained in the right way will not depart from it. Over all this stands Wisdom personified in Proverbs 8, who cries aloud to men and spreads her table for the simple. Nearly all these authors see her as Christ Himself, the eternal Son, set up from everlasting and the Father's delight, whose delights were with the sons of men. One view, reported in order to be answered, holds that Wisdom there is only a quality and not Christ. These authors also hold that the book stands on earthly ground under Jehovah's government: it gives no gospel call or known redemption, and Christianity, which supplies higher motives, goes beyond it. Yet it remains a book for the Christian to profit by and to study diligently. Solomon himself stands as a warning that even the greatest wisdom does not keep a man; only cleaving to the Lord does.
Verses: Proverbs 1:1, Proverbs 1:2, Proverbs 1:3, Proverbs 1:4, Proverbs 1:5, Proverbs 1:6, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 2:1, Proverbs 2:2, Proverbs 2:3, Proverbs 2:4, Proverbs 2:5, Proverbs 2:6, Proverbs 3:5, Proverbs 3:6, Proverbs 3:7, Proverbs 3:8, Proverbs 3:9, Proverbs 3:10, Proverbs 3:11, Proverbs 3:12, Proverbs 3:13, Proverbs 3:14, Proverbs 3:15, Proverbs 3:16, Proverbs 3:17, Proverbs 3:18, Proverbs 4:7, Proverbs 4:23, Proverbs 4:20, Proverbs 4:21, Proverbs 4:22, Proverbs 6:6, Proverbs 6:7, Proverbs 6:8, Proverbs 6:9, Proverbs 6:10, Proverbs 6:11, Proverbs 6:16, Proverbs 6:17, Proverbs 6:18, Proverbs 6:19, Proverbs 8:10, Proverbs 8:11, Proverbs 8:13, Proverbs 10:4, Proverbs 10:12, Proverbs 10:19, Proverbs 11:2, Proverbs 11:14, Proverbs 11:24, Proverbs 11:25, Proverbs 12:15, Proverbs 12:22, Proverbs 13:20, Proverbs 13:24, Proverbs 14:12, Proverbs 15:1, Proverbs 15:22, Proverbs 16:3, Proverbs 16:9, Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 16:32, Proverbs 17:17, Proverbs 17:22, Proverbs 18:10, Proverbs 18:21, Proverbs 18:24, Proverbs 19:17, Proverbs 19:21, Proverbs 20:1, Proverbs 22:1, Proverbs 22:6, Proverbs 22:7, Proverbs 25:21, Proverbs 25:22, Proverbs 27:1, Proverbs 27:17, Proverbs 28:13, Proverbs 29:25, Proverbs 30:5, Proverbs 31:10, Proverbs 31:11, Proverbs 31:12, Proverbs 31:13, Proverbs 31:14, Proverbs 31:15, Proverbs 31:16, Proverbs 31:17, Proverbs 31:18, Proverbs 31:19, Proverbs 31:20, Proverbs 31:21, Proverbs 31:22, Proverbs 31:23, Proverbs 31:24, Proverbs 31:25, Proverbs 31:26, Proverbs 31:27, Proverbs 31:28, Proverbs 31:29, Proverbs 31:30, Proverbs 31:31, Proverbs 31:8, Proverbs 31:9
The above is AI generated summary based on the writers below.
What the commentators say
The passages the answer is drawn from, the most direct first, with the words that bear on the question marked.
The book of Proverbs shows what the god-fearing man in this world shall seek and what he shall avoid. The book also teaches that man irrespective of his spiritual blessings under the government of God will reap what he has sowed. It contains the advice of divine wisdom for daily life of a god-fearing man in all his difficulties, trials, dangers and joys of his way over this earth.
The Book of Proverbs gives us the application of that wisdom which created the heavens and the earth to the details of life in this world of confusion and evil. This thought brings out the immensity of grace unfolded here. God deigns to apply His wisdom to the circumstances of our practical life, and to shew us, with His own intelligence, the consequences of all the ways in which man may walk. For it is often in the way of knowledge, not of precept, that the statements made in the Book of Proverbs are presented. It is a great blessing to be provided for in the labyrinth of this world, in which a false step may lead to such bitter consequences, with a book that sets forth the path of prudence and of life; and that in connection with a wisdom which comes from God.
It is well to remember that the Book of Proverbs treats of this world, and of God's government, according to which man reaps that which he has sown. This is always true, whatever may be the sovereign grace that bestows on us things beyond and infinitely above this world.
Solomon was filled with wisdom from above, but which had its exercise in this world, and its application to it; that is to say, which applied to it God's way of viewing all things, discerning the truth of all that, day by day, is developed in it. We have here the ways of God, the divine path of human conduct, the discernment of that which the heart of man produces, and of its consequences; and also — for one who is subject to the word — the means of avoiding the path of his own will and of his own foolish heart (which is unable to understand the bearing of a multitude of actions that it suggests to him), and this, not by bringing him back to moral perfection — for that is not the object of the Proverbs; but to that wisdom and prudence which enable him to avoid many errors, and to maintain a serious walk before God, and an habitual submission to His mind. The precepts of this book establish practical happiness in this world by maintaining earthly relationships in their integrity according to God. Now it is not human prudence and sagacity that are enjoined. The fear of the Lord,* which is the beginning of wisdom, is the subject here.
In this book God has furnished, through the wisest of men, principles and precepts for the guidance and security of the believer in passing through the temptations to which he is exposed in an evil world. The admonitions speak in terms of affectionate warning 'as to sons:' Heb. 12:5. Under symbolic terms, such as 'the evil man' and 'the strange woman,' the great forms of evil in the world, violent self-will, and corrupting folly, are laid bare in their course and end. Wisdom is shown as the alone guard against one or the other. Wisdom is presented, not as a faculty residing in man, but as an object to be diligently sought after and acquired. It is often personified, and is spoken of as lifting up her voice. In Prov. 8, under the idea of wisdom, we have doubtless Christ presented as the resource that was with God from 'the beginning of His way,' so that God could independently of man establish and bring into effect His thoughts of grace for men.
In detail the book refers to the world, showing what things are to be sought and what to be avoided, and evinces that in the government of God a man reaps according to what he sows, irrespective of the spiritual blessings of God in grace beyond and above this world. It maintains integrity in the earthly relationships of this life, which cannot be violated with impunity. The instruction rises altogether above mere human prudence and sagacity, for "the fear of the Lord is the beginning [or 'principal part,' margin] of knowledge." We have in it the wisdom of God for the daily path of human life.
Proverbs is also poetic, written by King Solomon in his younger years, a book of wise instruction in reference to every department of personal life and conduct. Its great, outstanding truth is simply this: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Its warnings against subtle evils are accompanied by instruction as to the means of avoiding these evils.
The fear of the Lord is the key word of this book. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (chap. 1:7) and of wisdom (chap. 9:10; 15:33). The fear of the Lord is to hate evil (chap. 8:13; 16:6) and it is a fountain of life (chap. 14:27; 19:23). Besides compare the following references: Proverbs 1:29; 2:5; 3:7; 10:27; 14:2+26; 15:16; 22:4; 23:17; 24:21; 31:30.
Verse 7 contains the keynote to the entire book. (See 9:10; Eccles. 12:13; Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10.) The word "fear" means a godly fear, reverence. This fear of the Lord is mentioned fourteen times in Proverbs. This childlike reverence, so sadly lacking among the young of our day, is the beginning of knowledge; there is no true knowledge apart from the fear of the Lord. It means to acknowledge the Lord, adore and worship Him, bow in faith to His revelation and put it above everything else. The foolish despise wisdom and instruction, they follow the philosophies of this world. To acknowledge the Lord to reverence and fear Him is thus written over the portal of the house of wisdom.
A. ― In the passage it is "Wisdom" who speaks crying in the streets to the simple, the scorner, and the fool, to turn at her reproof, and to love not their own ways; and that Wisdom's spirit would be given them, and Wisdom's words made known to them. (The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, v. 7.) When they would therefore be reaping the fruits of the folly they had sown, under the retributive government of God in this world, in their fear and calamity they would call upon Wisdom to guide them, but they would not be heard ― it would then be too late to learn Wisdom's ways. Wisdom would then laugh at them as it were (it is a figure of speech), for what they were suffering; having set at nought Wisdom's counsels and reproof, when she cried to them to learn her ways.
The Book of Proverbs refers to the government of God here below, on the principle that, "Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7). This is true of saint or sinner. Grace saves the vilest, but the government of God is over all. It is on the principle that if a man squanders his money, or his time, or his health, he will reap the fruit of his ways in the loss of these things, etc. The grace of God in salvation never sets aside these principles of His dealings with men; nor does this marvellous grace alter the fact that every man reaps the fruits of his ways under God's government. A true Christian may do something for want of discretion, and want of hearkening to Wisdom's words, which he may have to repent of all his days.
In the PROVERBS it is otherwise; they present to us the wisdom of that authority which restrains man's will, corruption, and violence, the satisfying of self which is man's danger; then the counsels of God, in that the Wisdom of God (Christ), the Object of God's good pleasure, finds its delight in the sons of men, and that before the world was (chap. 8). All here is either Jehovah or God who has made Himself known and acts by means of an authority confided to man, to parents, etc. Then God supplies us in this Book with that which teaches a man to avoid the snares laid in this poor world, without being obliged himself to learn all its iniquity.
The express aim of Proverbs, for example, is to furnish, from the one better fitted for the purpose than any man who ever lived, the light of wisdom in moral intelligence for the earthly path of man under Jehovah's eye. Being from "the king of Israel," it is also for the people he governed; and therefore with a slight exception (only six times it seems, easily accounted for) in known relationship with Jehovah, whose name pervades from first to last. See Proverbs 2:5, 17; Proverbs 3:4; Proverbs 25:2; Proverbs 30:5, 9. But being divinely inspired, it is a book for him that reads or hears to profit by at any time, for the Christian in particular as having by grace the mind of Christ. All Scripture is for our good and blessing, though most of it is not addressed to us, nor is it about us.
Verses
- Proverbs 1:1–71Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel 2to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding; 3to receive the instruction of wisdom, righteousness and judgment, and equity; 4to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 5He that is wise will hear, and will increase learning; and the intelligent will gain wise counsels 6to understand a proverb and an allegory, the words of the wise and their enigmas. 7The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- Proverbs 9:10The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the Holy is intelligence.