Day 20: Proverbs

There is so much going on in the book of Proverbs that it is impossible to even begin trying to distill it all into one thing. The book is so full of pithy and profound sayings that it can quickly become overwhelming. That said, I did find several threads that seemed to run throughout the book.

Wisdom

Throughout the entire book, time and time again there are proverbs that refer to wisdom. Wisdom is praised over wealth, over possessions, over land, over nearly everything else. Wisdom is the ultimate gift of God. It is what true followers of God are meant to seek, to go after with all of our heart.

The question that must be answered, then, is "What is wisdom?" That's a question with a thousand answers - wisdom is defined as knowledge, sanity, good sense, judgment, and a plethora of other things. The challenge is to determine which of these fits what Proverbs says we should seek. I won't pretend to have all the answers, but I will say that it seems to me that the kind of wisdom Proverbs talks about includes all of the above.

Discipline

Aside from wisdom, the topic of discipline seems to be the most mentioned theme in Proverbs. Multiple times the writer says something like "a wise man enjoys discipline but a fool spurns it." It seems as if the writer of Proverbs wants us to be sure to embrace constructive criticism. It's not our first reaction to accept it when people criticize us...but wisdom would tell us that we should be more open to rebuke and correction.

That's all for today - I could write more, but my Dad's in town for a visit, so I think I'll sign off for now. More tomorrow on Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon.