Proverbs 8 THE VOICE OF WISDOM In this chapter of proverbs, wisdom is written as a woman in contrast to the adulteress in the previous chapter. The fact that wisdom is spoken of in feminine terms does not diminish the importance of the message but rather makes it more personal. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the One who is perfect in wisdom, so wisdom here can be applied to Him who was here, “holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners.” Wisdom guides in the first thirteen verses; wisdom makes us succeed, verses 14-21; wisdom was present at creation, 22-31. Those who listen to wisdom are approved, verses 32-35, and those who hate wisdom love death verse 36.
Wisdom is basic and fundamental to successful living because it is the foundation on which everything is built, and it is available to every person. The origin of wisdom is in God, verse 22, and is from everlasting, because it is in God. Wisdom was before all things. The teaching of wisdom gives prudence and understanding, verse 5. It contains excellent things, verse 6, which includes truth, and hatred of wickedness verse 7. Wisdom teaches righteousness, verse 8, and knowledge, verse 12. It gives direction, verse 12, and produces the fear of the Lord, verse 13.
The value of wisdom is that it yields riches and honor, verse 18, which is greater than gold, verse 19. It blessed the wise, verses 32-35, and condemns the foolish who love death, verse 36. Love for God and love for sin cannot coexist because the characteristics of God are absolutely pure, holy, just, righteous and wise. “The Lord possessed me” wisdom says, and “I was the Lord’s.” It is everlasting because God is eternal in His being. His limitless wisdom “set a compass,” a circle on the horizon that is unending
The tribute to wisdom can be applied to the Lord Jesus Christ because it is “unto all” and calls out to all with a loud voice that can be heard by everyone. She calls from high places where everyone can see her, and on the paths of life where everyone has access to her. Wisdom is always available to everyone when they make decisions in everyday life. No matter where people are in the world, wisdom can be found by anyone. All of humanity is the concern of wisdom. The exhortations of wisdom are there for the simple people to teach them how to act and conduct themselves. She offers herself to fools who need understanding so they can avoid the consequences of foolishness and sin that will surely come upon them.
Wisdom exhorts people to claim those things that are right, fair and honorable in society. The standards of ethics, morals and right living and conduct come from wisdom. Wisdom always tells the truth and deliberately rejects deception, lies, slander and evil suggestive words and language. Wisdom does not mix honorable and right words with unclean speech. Truth and deception don’t mix. Wisdom is not complicated. You either receive wisdom if you are willing to learn, or you will remain ignorant of what is right and what pleases the Lord.
A person can receive wisdom if they choose to. The words of wisdom are of the highest possible value to learn and live by. The teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ when He was here, and the whole word of God, are of greater value than any precious stones like rubies or any precious metals like gold and silver. When a person has wisdom, they have the best that a human being can have. They have the Lord Jesus Christ.
The next group of verses from 12 through 21 states the high status of wisdom in the practice of living. The benefits of the practice of wisdom, is to be able to make sensible decisions, have good judgment because you will be able to see the “big picture,” and it produces the positive effects of discretion when we act in the fear of the Lord. There will be given by wisdom the discernment to hate all forms of evil that are present in our world. Pride, arrogance and corrupt speech are all used along with other bad attitudes for making excuses for sin, making false accusations and blaspheming God and other people.
Responsible people will be glad for wisdom to give good counsel, advice and instruction for decision making that will affect my life and the lives of others. Those in authority need our prayer to the Lord to give them the needed wisdom to guide those they rule over in ways that will bring peace and tranquility to those they lead. Right decisions are not “off-the-cuff” statements, but are given by wisdom to those who know their limitations and responsibilities. Wisdom loves those who value her and seek her at the beginning of each day. They know each day will bring new events and new challenges that call for wise decisions. The rewards of wise choices are beyond the value we place on the most precious physical things of great financial worth. Honor and respect because of a godly life lived before God and people is of far greater worth than money. Spiritual blessings come from the Lord.
Wisdom guides us in this life and enables us to do what is right, and helps us choose which is the right path before us so we can go forward in faith and confidence in God. Having wisdom is not an accident but it is a choice we make. Material things are not what determines the success in life we crave. In Christ we have all we want and need, but what to do with it is what makes the difference between success and failure. The wise person uses what they have to honor God and bring glory to Him.
The next number of verses from 22 to 31 are a hymn that describes wisdom in creation. There was perfect and complete wisdom in the Lord before He created anything because wisdom is part of His divine nature. It is in the nature of God to have all wisdom, all knowledge and all understanding. In grace He allows us to have wisdom when we seek for it. There was never a time when there wasn’t wisdom in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even when He was here, “found in fashion as a man,” He had all wisdom that was needed for every need and every situation. All divine Persons of the Godhead are all-wise, because our God is the “All-wise God.” When the Lord was here, people said, “Never man spake like this Man.” “We have never seen it on this wise before.”
Before the oceans were formed, wisdom was there to design them and set the parameters of them. Wisdom planned and produced all that is in them. Before food was released from the fullness of the earth through plants, the wisdom of the Lord arranged how everything would happen and the resulting benefits to us. The stars above the circle of the earth defy our imagination as to their expanse and our ability to describe, but wisdom was there to put everything in its place and functioning properly in the universe. Clouds and rain, evaporation and the cycle of water from earth to clouds and clouds to earth are one of the millions of marvels produced by divine wisdom.
Wisdom in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, brought joy to the Godhead aa the wonders of God unfolded in preplanned places, doing preplanned things for preplanned purposes. Then in divine wisdom, and to fulfill His divine will, God made mankind so He could share all He had done with those who would choose to love Him and live in harmony with Him. “How Great Thou Art!”
There is blessing from wisdom that guides us, instructs us and gives fulfillment in life to those who guard wisdom and its teaching. By maintaining fellowship with the Lord, obeying the wisdom God gives, and not rejecting it in any way, there will be happiness, satisfaction in life and labor, and faithfulness to God in this life when our minds and hearts are fed by divine wisdom from the word of God in the scriptures. Wisdom in control in the life of any person who loves the Lord, makes life worth living, and bring the favor of the Lord to us even when days are difficult as we live in the darkening days of the end of this age. Those who reject wisdom, wrong themselves, cripple themselves for life and living. They condemn themselves to eternal doom, because they “love death,” – the wages of sin.