“Proverbs divides humanity into two classes: the wise and righteous over against fools and the wicked. These wisdom and ethical terms are correlative, for though they do not mean the same thing they have the same referent. … a wise heart produces righteous behavior, and a foolish heart produces wicked behavior. On the other hand, righteousness is not merely behavior but a way of being. In any case, there is no third category, no in-between.” — Bruce Waltke
Wisdom, Lights, Action (Proverbs 6:20-25)
“As PT Forsyth says, “It is an item of faith that we are children of God; there is plenty of experience in us against it.” The faith that surmounts this evidence and is able to warm itself at the fire of God’s love, instead of having to steal love and self-acceptance from other sources, is actually the root of holiness.”
— Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life
A Way that Leads to Life (Proverbs 7:1-20)
“Pleasure looks for treasures, it promises kingdoms, it assures lasting loves, it pledges undreamed of intimacies, instruction without a guardian and conversation without hindrance. Pleasure promises a life bereft of anxiety, a sleep devoid of disturbance and wants that cannot be satiated. We read: Entangling him with many words and alluring him with the snares of her lips, she led him even to her home. He was beguiled and followed her.… Everything there was confused and contrary to the order of nature.”
— Ambrose of Milan, 4th c.
A Father's Command (Proverbs 4:1-9)
“I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom. But, I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. Why should I gain from his reward? I can not give an answer. But, this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom.”
- Stuart Townsend, How Deep The Father’s Love for Us
The Call of Wisdom (Proverbs 1:20-33)
“You call upon whatever you love: you call upon whatever you draw to yourself, whatever you wish to come to you. Therefore if you call upon God for this reason, in order that money may come to you, that an inheritance may come to you, that worldly rank may come to you, then you are calling upon those things that you desire may come to you; but you are making God the helper of your desires, not the listener to your needs.”
— Augustine of Hippo
The Enticement of Unjust Gain (Proverbs 1:8-19)
“True wisdom is not a set of principles but a supernatural person. And we receive this wisdom not simply through acts of the will but through the transformation of our heart and desires by worshiping him.”
—Tim Keller, God’s Wisdom for Navagating Life
What is Wisdom (Proverbs 1:1-7)
“But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. ... “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out. And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
— Job 28:12–13, 23-28
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