Where and to Whom Wisdom Calls

After the seducing and misleading strange woman has spoken (Pro 7:6-23), now the “wisdom” lifts up Her voice (Pro 8:1; cf. Pro 1:20-22). The Wisdom is again presented here as a Divine Person. The Wisdom is Christ. The same is true of “understanding”. That too is a personification of Christ. Pro 8:1-21 point to the Lord Jesus. In His life He called to men as the Wisdom, and as the Understanding He made His voice heard to them. Now that He is in heaven, He does so through His servants.

The questioning form in which Pro 8:1 appears emphasizes the fact that no one has a valid excuse for ignoring the call of Wisdom or Understanding. The answer to the question cannot but be affirmative. No one can evade Her call, for it penetrates everyone. She does not speak mysteriously, in the dark, like the adulteress in Proverbs 7, but “calls” loudly and “lifts up her voice”. “Call” and “lift up her voice” both have the meaning of raising the voice. We see the Hebrew parallelism again in this verse, where the second line confirms the first line with different words.

The places where She stands are chosen with care. They are places where She can be seen by all, “on top of heights”, and where many people from all directions are present, “beside the way” and “where the paths meet” (Pro 8:2). She also makes Her voice heard beside the gates, at the opening to the city” (Pro 8:3). These are the places of trade and justice, where usually, therefore, many people are. Everyone who goes into or out of the city hears Her. She is also “at the entrances of the doors”, in which case we can think of the temple doors or the doors of the houses. She is wherever people are.

She calls to the “men” and Her voice sounds “to the sons of men” (Pro 8:4). Everyone is addressed. Wisdom does not address Herself only to a chosen few intellectuals or religious initiates as if She would only want to speak ‘on level’. No, She is available to everyone and excludes no one. It is as with the missionary task to proclaim the gospel worldwide and thereby reach every person without exception (cf. Mk 16:15).

All people know what is good and what is evil. However, they do not do good but evil. That is what Wisdom holds out to all people. No one who has to answer before the judgment seat of Christ will be able to say: ‘I did not know.’

In the midst of all people, Wisdom addresses Herself with a special word to the “naive ones” and the “fools” (Pro 8:5). They need Her most and are most prone to ignore Her. In Her grace, She says to the naive, the fools, to understand “prudence” to know what life is all about. She wants them to repent of their naivety and allow Her to enter their life. Then they will live and not perish.

The same is true for the fools. The fools are already much further away from Wisdom than the naive. Yet Wisdom includes them too in Her call. It is not yet too late to “understand wisdom” and to see their folly and come to their senses. When they come to their senses, they will see and understand that they are walking into judgment and repent.

What Wisdom Is Calling

Wisdom calls all people to listen to Her (Pro 8:6). She is there for everyone. No special intelligence is needed to understand what She says, but a willing heart. The content of Her words is of the utmost purity and extremely valuable. What She says are “noble things”. They are exalted things, things of excellent quality and of a precious, lofty character. When She opens Her lips, She lets hear “right things” that is, what is sincere and true.

Preceded by an affirming “for”, She says, “My mouth will utter truth” (Pro 8:7). She speaks the truth, that is, God’s truth, about all things. When the harlot suggests to the youth what her bedroom looks like and smells like (Pro 7:16-17), she is not lying to him, but speaking truth about it. However, it is not God’s truth. In the light of God’s truth, people can know how things are, whether they are good or bad, and how they are related.

Opposite the truth that Wisdom speaks, then, is not untruth or falsehood, but “wickedness”. “Wickedness” means living without God, disregarding Him. Therefore, to the lips of Wisdom, speaking wickedness is also “an abomination”.

It is of utmost importance to listen to the truth from the lips of Wisdom. “All the utterances” of Her mouth, are uttered “in righteousness” (Pro 8:8). You can trust each of Her words absolutely. They are words that do justice to every person and cause and lead people on the right path. There is nothing of the opposite in Her words. There is absolutely “nothing crooked or perverted in them”, nothing contrary to the truth of Scripture or contrary to sound teaching.

He who has the right mind understands that Her words are “straightforward” (Pro 8:9). Those who are already walking on the path of wisdom are even better able to understand Her. Straightforwardness is needed to understand wisdom, and not intelligence, scholarship or cleverness. The accuracy of Her words is understood by all who long to find knowledge.

The Value of Wisdom

When a person accepts the instruction (or teaching) of Wisdom, it makes him richer than he can ever become of silver (Pro 8:10; cf. Psa 119:72). Accepting instruction leads to “knowledge”. The possession of knowledge is preferable to “choicest gold”. “Wisdom” far exceeds the value of “jewels” (Pro 8:11). Whatever earthly wealth anyone might desire, it does not compare to Wisdom and what She gives. Because of Wisdom’s value to life, She is more to be desired than anything else.

Her dwelling place, where Wisdom is at home, is with “prudence” (Pro 8:12). This means that She is astute, that She possesses keen and clear insight both into people and into things and events. The right knowledge to act She finds through “discretion” or thoughtfulness. Discretion is the ability to make good plans and thoughtful decisions. She does not let Herself be tempted to act hastily and therefore wrongly. She has the knowledge to know what to do because She is thoughtful.

We see these traits – prudence and discretion – perfectly in the Lord Jesus. He always knew what to do at what time. For example, to avoid needless offense, He paid the temple tax even though He was free from it as King and He also declared His disciples as His subjects free from it (Mt 17:27). As for man, He knew what was in him and did not let Himself be deceived by outward appearances (Jn 2:23-24). Here we see some of the many treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Him (Col 2:3).

Prudence and discretion (Pro 8:12) only function when governed by “the fear of the LORD” (Pro 8:13). At the same time, the fear of the LORD leads to hating “evil”. Evil is seen in the seduction of the adulterous woman in the previous chapter. More generally, it refers to hating pride, arrogance, an evil way and wrong words.

“Pride and arrogance” are in man, in the sinful flesh. If we let these sins run their course and do not judge them when they want to assert themselves, they take us down “the evil way”. On that evil way are people with a “perverted mouth”, a mouth that God hates. Worldly people have a very different view of the things we should hate. They speak of ‘a different way of life’, of making ‘a different choice’, and force us to tolerate their way of life and certainly not call it evil and sinful.

Wisdom is expressed in counsel and wisdom, understanding and power (Pro 8:14). They are present with Wisdom. Understanding is not just present in Her as an attribute, but She is Understanding, it is Her Being. What is present with Her is what characterizes Her. Hers is “counsel” and “wisdom”. Hers is also “power” to do whatever She deems necessary according to Her counsel and wisdom. We see here again that the Wisdom is Christ. One of His Names is “Counselor” (Isa 9:5). The Spirit Who guides Him is “the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD” (Isa 11:2).

Wisdom is also the source of all earthly power and authority. By Her, kings reign (Pro 8:15), not because She permits it, but because She determines it (Rom 13:1-6). She establishes kings (Dan 2:21). A king usually has the sense to reign well or bad. To reign well can only be done by the Wisdom. Those who do not seek the Wisdom will reign badly, as we see with the kings of Israel and some kings of Judah.

Wisdom allows rulers – possibly provincial, lower authorities – to decree justice. These rulers prescribe things and put them in writing; they are things that serve justice, the law of God. Without Wisdom, they cannot prescribe anything that is consistent with the law of God; by Wisdom they can.

As do kings, also princes rule by Wisdom (Pro 8:16). This also applies to the “nobles”, the distinguished men, if they lead in a beneficent manner. Similarly, all those who exercise their functions as judges anywhere on earth can only do so properly, that is, righteously in accordance with the law of God, by Wisdom. By themselves they cannot do this. How wise and just must Wisdom be if the most powerful people on earth cannot govern justly and beneficently without Her.

A person will appreciate Wisdom only if he has love for Her (Pro 8:17). Then there is connection with Her. What matters is the mind of the heart toward Wisdom. Where there is love for Wisdom, that love is reciprocated by Her with love in return. Love for Wisdom is evidenced by “diligently seeking” Her. This is what Solomon did (1Kgs 3:9). The promise for those who do so is that they will find Her, encounter Her, possess Her (Jam 1:5).

Wisdom holds out a rich reward for those who seek Her, for She points out that “riches and honor” are with Her (Pro 8:18). Thus She does make it very attractive to earnestly seek Her. She adds that also “enduring wealth and righteousness” are with Her. It should be clear that this is not about earthly possessions, for they can be lost to a person just like that (Pro 23:5). It is about treasures in heaven that no one can take away (Mt 6:19-20).

Enduring possession, by definition, can only be eternal possession and not temporal possession and is therefore ultimately enjoyed in the life after this life and not in the life here and now. Likewise, righteousness is something that cannot be translated into terms of gold or silver. Gold can be obtained or inherited, wisdom cannot. Wisdom can only be found by those who seek Her. Righteousness too is a quality that is not connected to earth, but to God. It is a characteristic of God in His dealings with people. In the way He deals with people, He is always consistent with His own righteous Being.

Those who have found Wisdom will enjoy Her “fruit” (Pro 8:19). Her fruit is what She brings forth, everything that proceeds from Her. We can think of all the blessings given to us by grace, such as redemption, reconciliation, forgiveness, justification, sonship, eternal life. We can also think of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23), which He gives to everyone who is connected to Wisdom. That fruit belongs to Her, but She gives it to all who find Her. That fruit “is better than gold, even pure gold”. Clearly it is not earthly prosperity, but spiritual fruit.

The same is true of Her “yield”. Yield is a concept of the market, of commerce, a concept to be applied spiritually here. What Wisdom produces in fruit and yield does not concern material wealth, for Her fruit and yield are better than what gold and silver produce in their purest form (cf. Job 28:15). The product of wisdom, what comes from wisdom, is better than what can be obtained with gold and silver.

Wisdom walks (Pro 8:20). Her purpose is for us to follow Her as children do their parents, soldiers their general, students their teacher and sheep their shepherd. She leads Her followers “in the way of righteousness”. Those who follow Her walk on the same way. She precedes them “in the midst of the paths of justice” and thereby avoids deviation to the right or to the left. The follower of Wisdom is neither formal nor licentious. He remains far removed from both extremes. He follows neither a dry, dead system nor a whipped, noncommittal principles.

What is endowed is the portion of all who love Wisdom (Pro 8:21). It is an endowed right, however, because it is attached to the Lord Jesus Who acquired this right. The endowment is He Himself. Of those who have Him as their endowment, He also fills the “treasuries” of their heart (Lk 6:45). What He places of Himself in their heart is not subject to depreciation.

Wisdom Is an Eternal Person

In the previous verses, we heard Wisdom calling. Her call has come to every person without exception. In Pro 8:22-31, Wisdom tells Who She is. We find in these verses a wonderful description of the Lord Jesus, because it is about Him. He, the eternal Son, is Wisdom in Person. If we were to ask how long God has been wise, the answer is simple that Wisdom has existed as long as God has existed, meaning eternally. Indeed, there is no conceivable moment when God was not wise to then become so at some point. This conclusively answers the question of how long the Lord Jesus exists.

This is evident from the first thing Wisdom says about Herself. She was with God, the LORD, even before any of the works of God were visible (Pro 8:22). Before the foundation of the world, Wisdom was with God as a distinct Person. The evangelist John confirms this. He writes, “In [the] beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God” (Jn 1:1). “The Word” is also the Lord Jesus.

It is noteworthy that Wisdom begins by speaking of the LORD, the God of covenant with His people. With Him She is intimately connected. How closely, She says next. The LORD possessed Her “at the beginning of His way”. A wrong and misleading translation says that the LORD “created” Her instead of “possessed”. But Christ, the Son, as the Wisdom, says that the LORD possessed Him “at the beginning of His way, before His works of old” (cf. Mic 5:1).

When God began His way with the world, when He brought about His works, He did so through the Son, Who was with Him “of old”, that is, from eternity. Christ is the beginning of the creation of God, which means that He is at the beginning of all the works of God’s creation, that He began creation and completed it (Gen 1:1-31; Gen 2:1; Jn 1:3; Col 1:16-17; Heb 1:2). From Him all creation came forth. He was with God as the Wisdom of all the works of God. All the works of God were brought about by His wisdom. Thus, the Wisdom Herself was not created, but was with God from eternity.

Wisdom has been established or consecrated from eternity (Pro 8:23). Establishing or consecrating has to do with destiny to a particular purpose. In the Old Testament, kings and priests were established or consecrated to be what they were destined to be. Similarly, the Wisdom, Christ, was predestined by God to a particular work. We see something similar with regard to the atoning work of Christ, to which “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world” as the Lamb (1Pet 1:20). The work at issue here is the work of creation. Wisdom was there “from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth”.

That Wisdom was “brought forth” or “born” – it is said twice: in Pro 8:24 and in Pro 8:25 – means that Christ began to act as Creator at some point. What is present in God becomes visible. It is similar to what happens at the birth of a child. A child being born is already present in the womb, but becomes visible at birth. Wisdom proves Her pre-existence by beginning to act when there is nothing yet, when there “were no depths” and “no springs abounding with water” (Pro 8:24). The same goes for “the mountains” and “the hills” (Pro 8:25) which also owe their existence to Him Who was there (Psa 90:2).

The emphasis throughout this section is on the eternal (pre)existence of Christ. It is very important to hold to that. Everything there is is created by Him. It has a beginning, whereas He Himself does not. There is no such thing as ‘eternal matter’. Only the triune God is eternal. The Son was there “while He had not yet made the earth and the fields” (Pro 8:26). After the waters and heights of both previous verses, this seems to refer to the more habitable parts of the earth. By “the dusts of the world” are meant the constituents that make up the earth, including the treasures of the soil. All things have a beginning and that beginning is through Him.

The Word was in the beginning, meaning He was there with all that has a beginning and that He Himself has no beginning. He is the beginning of all things (Jn 1:1). God is the great Architect, Who built everything through Wisdom. He created all things through the Son (1Cor 8:6). Everything became through the Word. This section from Proverbs 8 is explained in the first verses of John 1.

The Son is also involved in the preparation of the heavens (Pro 8:27). He was not a spectator, but the Executor (Heb 1:10). He gave the heavens their shape, brilliance and covering of sun, moon and stars. The heavens are drawn by Him as an overarching span over the flood of water, as one draws a circle with a compass (cf. Js 40:22; Job 26:9-10). In that span, He has made the clouds strong so that they can hold the water to pour out that water over the earth in His time and where He wants (Pro 8:28; Job 26:8; Job 36:27-29; Job 37:11). Also “the springs of the deep” are fixed and can spring up because of the power He grants them.

The place of the sea was not determined by evolution, but was appointed to him by the Son (Pro 8:29). In doing so, He has also commanded that the sea keep to the boundary set by Him and will not transgress it (Jer 5:22; Job 38:10-11). He has marked the foundations of the earth in such a way that the earth stands unshakable (Psa 104:5).

All the acts of creation just described by Wisdom attest to the Divine wisdom behind them. This proves the pre-existence of Wisdom before creation. God planned out His work and performed it with Wisdom, that is through His Son.

In Pro 8:30 it is no longer about creation, but about the relationship between the LORD, Yahweh, and Wisdom. Wisdom was eternally “with Him”. She is loved by God because Wisdom is the Person of Christ. He is the Word Who was with God in the beginning (Jn 1:1). In the New Testament, we see this same relationship of love reflected in the love between the Father and the Son. The relationship between the Father and the Son is one of eternal love (Jn 17:5; 24b).

While there is no time in eternity, yet it is expressed in such a way that the Father enjoyed His Son “daily”. Thus He allows us to share in the feelings of His heart for His Son. It is at the same time an example for us to occupy ourselves with the Son every day, to see Him and rejoice in Him. Surely there can be no other object of love and joy for us than Him to Whom the heart of God goes out, can there?

He is from all eternity God’s “master workman” and His “delight”. These expressions indicate how much God loved Him and how much He rejoiced in Him. There was never a time when this was different. God eternally looked upon Him with the greatest and deepest love and joy. The cause of this is the perfect unity in nature, attributes and desires that exists between Them. There was and is perfect harmony in thoughts and feelings. All that God is, He saw and sees in His Son.

This did not change when the Son became the Creator, for His work of creation is the fulfillment of God’s purpose. When He created the heavens and the earth, He was engaged in a game, as it were, which He played with great joy. It is reminiscent of the satisfaction He had when He saw everything after creation and then observed that “it was very good” (Gen 1:31).

As a result of what the Son created, a new area is created in which the Son Himself finds His joy (Pro 8:31). He Who was always the delight of God’s heart, rejoicing before Him, or: playing before Him also played in the world of God’s earthly kingdom. Then it seems as if He discovers in it something that fills Him with joy, and that is “the sons of men”. He calls them “My delight”.

He delights in all His works of creation, but in man He finds a special delight. His delight in man is shown in the clearest way by the fact that He became Man. The angels rejoiced when He created the world (Job 38:6-7). But when the Son becomes Man, they see the good pleasure of God in men and without any envy praise Him for it with the words, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Lk 2:14).

God has His pleasure in men. That is why Christ became Man. God has no pleasure in sinful men. He is pleased with that one Man, His Son Jesus Christ, Who came as the expression of God’s pleasure in all men, for He came to save men from eternal judgment. Every person who confesses his sins and believes in Christ and His redemptive work on the cross is going to share in God’s pleasure. God is pleased with every person who is united to His Son through faith in His work.

World history is not an accident in which the Son of God spontaneously entered one time. At the beginning of all God’s ways is Wisdom, the personification of the Lord Jesus. This is the deep purpose of the world and its history. In Hebrews 1, this is stated in a nutshell (Heb 1:2-3). Christ is the center of God’s ways.

Knowing His Person not only answers the questions of our heart, but leads us into the world of the Father and the Son. Of this we get an impression here through the speaking of Wisdom from that eternity. We are not merely spectators in this majestic and sovereign action of Wisdom, but we in His grace are involved in this eternal plan of God. We have entered the house of Wisdom, as we see in Proverbs 9.

It is this Wisdom Who has guided every action of God with this earth, be it creation or salvation history. All things are through Him and for Him. This glory as Mediator stands before us here in the joy that God has in Him. And He is not a Mediator of angels, but His joy is with the sons of men (Heb 2:16).

The Blessing of Listening to Wisdom

After the description of the Person of Wisdom and Her work, the logical conclusion, introduced by “now therefore”, must be that the sons listen to Her (Pro 8:32). To this end, She calls the sons who have Her nature, who are wise. All who “keep” Her ways, She praises “blessed”, for they show that they are not only hearers, but also doers.

She calls to heed instruction, for in this way a person can become wise (Pro 8:33). As an additional exhortation, there is still the call not to reject instruction. Not to listen means to reject. Whoever does so shows that he is a fool. He will not escape eternal punishment.

He who listens to the Wisdom is “blessed” (Pro 8:34). He who listens will make every effort not to miss a word that Wisdom utters. He watches “daily” at the “gates” of Wisdom, to catch and store every word She speaks. We can think of the “gates” and “doorposts” as the entrance to the city and temple of God (cf. Lk 21:38). To watch and wait means to focus on something with full attention. It speaks of waiting with great concentration for what the Wisdom, the Word of God, is going to say.

This patient waiting for Wisdom, watchful and close to Her dwelling, is rewarded with finding life (Pro 8:35). Wisdom and life are intimately connected. The goal of wisdom is to live true life, which is living in fellowship with God. “Favor” means being accepted by God. It is the awareness of the benevolence of or recognition by God.

What a fool is one who sins against Wisdom (Pro 8:36). To sin means to miss the mark, here it is to miss the Wisdom, which is Christ. Christ is the center of all God’s plans. We see that in the Scriptures. Whoever sins against Him, misses Him, misses everything that is important to God. That lack is fatal. Whoever accepts this lack because he does not want the Wisdom is harming himself immensely. It proves hatred against Wisdom and love for what will be his death. Sinners die because they choose against Christ (cf. Hos 13:9).