This paragraph records three voices that the person made for the marketplace, not the ivory tower; we
Proverbs play with temptation, because temptation always leads to a trap (Prov. 1:17). Birds don't take bait when they can plainly see the trap, and people ought to be smarter than birds.2 sinister stereo speakers emitting sounds so loud that the vehicle was shaking. Zeno never spent the night in a motel room with tissue paper walls separating him from the room next door where a TV set was being ignored by a guest who was obviously deaf.
Third, when you disobey God by harming others, you only harm yourself (vv. 18–19). You're free to take what you want from life, but eventually you'll have to pay for it, and the price you pay is higher than the value you gain. You end up sacrificing the permanent for the immediate, and that's a bad investment.
"Listen more and talk less." Bah, humbug! There are times when about the only way you can protect your sanity and your hearing is to open your mouth and say something, even if it's only a primal scream.
But the greatest tragedy of life isn't that people invade our privacy, get on our nerves, and help destroy our delicate hearing apparatus. The greatest tragedy is that there's so much noise that people can't hear the things they really need to hear. God is trying to get through to them with the voice of wisdom, but all they hear are the confused communications clutter, foolish voices that lead them further away from the truth. Even without our modern electronic noisemakers, a similar situation existed in ancient Israel when Solomon wrote Proverbs, because there's really nothing new under the sun. God was speaking to people in Solomon's day, but they weren't listening.
The voice of temptation (vv. 11–14). Anybody who makes it easy for us to disobey God certainly isn't a friend. The offer they made sounded exciting, but it only led to disaster. How tragic that a group of people would actually find enjoyment in doing evil, and how foolish of them to think their loot would satisfy their desires. They rejected the eternal treasures of wisdom (3:14–16; 16:16) for the cheap trinkets of this world, and they lost their souls in the bargain.
The voice of salvation (vv. 20–33). How does Wisdom speak? In a loud ringing voice that everybody can hear! Through both creation (Rom. 10:18; Ps. 19:1–4) and conscience (Rom. 2:14–16), "what may be known of God is manifest in them [the lost world], for God has shown it to them" (Rom. 1:19 nkjv). The church's task is to proclaim the gospel message so everybody can hear, believe, and be saved. Like Wisdom, we must herald the Word in an uncompromising way.
If you'll refer to the suggested outline of Proverbs, you'll see that the first nine chapters present two women—Wisdom and Folly personified—as they seek to win the attention and obedience of people in the city streets and squares. In this chapter, I want to focus on Wisdom's calls, and then in the next chapter we'll listen to Folly and learn what she has to offer.
Where does Wisdom speak? In the crowded streets and public places where busy people gather to take care of the business of life. The message of God's truth is made for the marketplace, not the ivory tower; we must share it "at the head of the noisy streets" (Prov. 1:21 niv). Wisdom even went to the city gate where the leaders were transacting official business. No matter where people are, they need to hear Wisdom's call.
1. Wisdom's Call to Salvation (1:8–33) This paragraph records three voices that the person reading Proverbs needs to identify.
The voice of instruction (vv. 8–10, 15–19). This is the voice of a godly father, urging his son to listen to Wisdom and obey what he hears. Note that both the father and the mother have been involved in teaching the boy,l and they both warn him not to abandon what he's been told. These parents have obeyed the instructions of Moses (Deut. 6:6–9) and have faithfully taught their family the Word of God. But what will their children do with all this teaching?
To whom does Wisdom speak? To three classes of sinners: the simple ones, the scorners (scoffers, mockers, niv), and the fools3 (v. 22). The simple are naive people who believe anything (14:15) but examine nothing. They're gullible and easily led astray. Scorners think they know everything (21:24) and laugh at the things that are really important. While the simple one has a blank look on his face, the scorner wears a sneer. Fools are people who are ignorant of truth because they're dull and stubborn. Their problem isn't a low IQ or poor education; their problem is a lack of spiritual desire to seek and find God's wisdom. Fools enjoy their foolishness but don't know how foolish they are! The outlook of fools is purely materialistic and humanistic. They hate knowledge and have no interest in things eternal. I'll have more to say about each of these in a later chapter.
The parents' desire is that the children obey what they have learned, so that God's truth will become a lovely ornament to beautify their lives, like a crown on a king or a necklace on a queen. Paul told Christian servants to "adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things" (Titus 2:10), which simply means to make the Bible beautiful to others by living a godly life. Peter exhorted Christian wives to win their lost husbands by focusing on the imperishable beauty of Christian character rather than the artificial beauty of man-made glamour (1 Peter 3:3–4).
What does wisdom say to them? First, she brings an indictment against them (1:22) and asks how long they plan to remain in their dangerous spiritual condition. Wisdom has spoken to them time and time again, but they have refused to listen, and this will make their judgment even more severe. Then Wisdom issues an
In Proverbs 1:15–19, the father tells his son how to avoid yielding to temptation. First, he says, check carefully the path you're on and don't walk with the wrong crowd. (This sounds very much like Ps. 1:1 and 2 Cor. 6:14–18.) If you're walking with the wrong crowd, you'll end up doing the wrong things. Second, don't