IN concluding the section that has been hitherto claiming our attention, a final contrast between Wisdom and Folly is set forth. The figure of the previous chapter is still adhered to. Wisdom is likened to a prudent woman inviting the wayfarer to enter her home, where true knowledge is imparted to all who seek it in sincerity. Folly takes her stand in a similar way, urging all to turn in to her, offering “the pleasures of sin for a season” to those who yield to her entreaties.
1 Wisdom hath builded her house;
She hath hewn out her seven pillars:
2 She hath killed her beasts;
She hath mingled her wine;
She hath also furnished her table.
Abundant provision has been made for the instruction and blessing of all who will heed. Such a temple of Wisdom is the word of God as a whole, and this book of Proverbs in particular. Here is to be found all that man requires for his guidance through the mazes of his life on earth. A well-furnished table, at which millions have been feasted, but inexhaustible still, is that which is spread before all who desire spiritual sustenance and cheer.
Nor does Wisdom wait for men to seek her out.
3 She hath sent forth her maidens:
She crieth upon the highest places of the city,
4 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:
To him that wanteth understanding she saith,
5 Come, eat of my bread,
And drink of the wine which I have mingled.
6 Forsake the foolish, and live;
And go in the way of understanding.
In the present dispensation of grace God is by His ambassadors beseeching men to be reconciled to Himself; not waiting till they begin to pray, but actually deigning to pray them to turn from their sin to His beloved Son. So, here, the handmaids of Wisdom are found in the places of public concourse, entreating the simple and those who lack true character to turn in and partake of the bread that strengthens, the wine that cheers. Happy the man who obeys the gracious invitation and forsakes the way of the foolish, thus laying hold on that which is really life.
Only the truly exercised will heed, however. The scorner will be pleaded with in vain. Empty, pompous, and self-satisfied, he pursues his own way until the judgment, long derided, falls at last, and he is crushed beneath it.
7 He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame:
And he that rebuketh a lawless man getteth himself a blot.
8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee:
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser:
Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
So it ever is. The more shallow and empty a man is, the less willing is he to listen to godly counsel; whereas, the truly wise are glad to learn from any who can correct and instruct. The less a man knows, as a rule, the more he thinks he knows. The more he really does know, the more he realizes his ignorance and his limitations. Hence the value of counsel and help from those who seek to walk with God, and to be exercised by His word. Reproof will only be wasted on the scorner. He will take delight in holding up to ridicule all who, actuated by the purest of motives, endeavor to turn him from his folly.
These three verses would seem to be parenthetical, explaining the reason why the invitation of Wisdom’s maidens meets with such opposite responses.
Their cry is evidently continued in the three verses that follow:
10 The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom:
And the knowledge of the Holy is understanding.
11 For by Me thy days shall be multiplied,
And the years of thy life shall be increased.
12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself:
But if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
However the scorner may prate of advanced knowledge because of his freedom from godly restraint, true wisdom is only to be found in the fear of the Lord, and true understanding in the knowledge of holy things. (The word is in the plural.) This alone makes for what is really life. Apart from the knowledge of God, it is but a mere existence at the best, with eternal darkness beyond it.
Nor are men putting God in their debt when they attend to the call of Wisdom; as though it were condescension on their part so to do. If they be wise, it is for their own advantage—not His. He is seeking their happiness and blessing. True it is that, such is the love of His heart, He finds joy in the gladness of His children; but, nevertheless, it is for his own good that man should heed the call of Wisdom.
Neither will God be the loser if the scorner persists in his senseless and foolhardy course. He alone shall bear it. Both in this life and the next, his folly shall be made manifest to himself and others.
The unhappy contrast to the portion we have been considering is set forth in the remaining verses of the chapter. Folly, too, has her temple, and, alas, many are her devotees!
13 A foolish woman is clamorous;
She is simple, and knoweth nothing.
14 For she sitteth at the entrance of her house,
On a seat in the highplaces of the city,
15 To call passengers who go right on their ways:
16 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:
And as for him that wanteth understanding she said] to him,
17 Stolen waters are sweet,
And bread of secrecies is pleasant.
18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there,
And her guests are in the depths of sheol.
Alas, so ready are men to give heed to Folly, that she needs none to go about entreating them to enter her house. She is represented as sitting at the entrance, enticing those who go right on their way to turn in to her abode of sin and shame. Many are the guests who enter; few indeed the number that return: for her house is but an entryway to the pit. “The dead are there, and her guests are in the depths of hell.” Illicit pleasures charm for a time, and ensnare the simple. The end is the wormwood and the gall, when the anguished soul, bowed in bitterness that shall never be alleviated forever, is forced at last to confess how dreadful has been the mistake of turning from the call of Wisdom to seek the deceitful allurements of Folly.
One who tried them to the full wrote, ere he died—
“My days are in the yellow leaf;
The flower, the fruit of life is gone.
The worm, the canker, and the grief,
Are mine alone.”
-BYRON.