That’s not to say there’s no form in Proverbs. It starts out pointedly with Solomon explaining the purpose and intent of the book – to gain wisdom, instruction, knowledge and prudence so as to discern what is right and just and fair. This introduction spans 9 whole chapters, as Solomon explains, emphasises and repeats the benefits of living wisely, the (huge) dangers of living foolishly, and the importance of listening. Indeed, wisdom is personified as yelling out in the streets, shouting warnings and truths to those who would only listen, while folly (wisdom’s enemy) is described as a prostitute, enticing young men into her lair. There is a real and clear choice to make – listen to wisdom, or be enticed into sin.

The realness of wisdom

Yet the beauty of this book is that instead of simply giving generic ‘spiritual’ advice, Proverbs fleshes out (sometimes painstakingly) what it means to live wisely. In other words, listen to wisdom’s call, and when you do, this is how it will look like. From chapter 10 onwards, Proverbs lists hundreds of wise sayings, covering a huge range of topics. Children and parents, richness and poorness, the hardworking and the lazy, the greedy and the generous, wives and husbands, kings and peasants, justice and injustice, patience and brashness, friendships and enmities, respect and scorn, envy and contentment – these are all represented in Proverbs, often in many ways! Yet notice how they’re laid out (I’m picking a totally random passage):

When a king's face brightens, it means life;
his favour is like a rain cloud in spring.

How much better to get wisdom than gold,
to choose understanding rather than silver!

The highway of the upright avoids evil;
he who guards his way guards his life.

Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 16:15-18

A proverb about the king’s favour, then one about the value of wisdom, followed by the wise avoiding evil ways, and finally the dangers of pride. All great proverbs on their own, but why are they in this order? In fact, why isn’t there any clear order in Proverbs? How much easier would it have been to group the proverbs topically - e.g. money, family, laziness, etc?

It could well be that the compilers of the proverbs just decided to list them this way. Or it could be that the randomness of the proverbs, well, reflects the randomness of life. Life isn’t very ordered. The problems and issues we face in life don’t come grouped – money, then family, etc. They arrive all at once, and for the most of it, they’re pretty random. Life throws all kinds of curve balls, to test our faith in and love for God, and I think the nature of Proverbs reflects this.

Far from being a merely book of thoughts from a wise man meditating atop a hill, removed from all civilisation, Proverbs is grippingly real and relevant (Solomon probably got a lot of his inspiration just observing ordinary people in the streets doing day-to-day things). And the best thing is, God has made this wisdom available to all, provided you listen.

The absoluteness of wisdom

Yet unlike the wisdom literature elsewhere (not in the bible, that is), Proverbs is specific about the nature of wisdom. Wisdom isn’t something that, given enough reflection and thought, everyone can decide for themselves.  Wisdom isn’t listening to your heart and doing whatever you feel is right for you. In other words, wisdom isn’t relative. It’s real, and it’s specific, and it is possible to get it wrong.

That really should go without saying, but in our world today, being wise is doing whatever your heart (which apparently never lies) tells you to do. Proverbs slices that notion in half and yells loudly – that’s not wisdom! In this world there is a right and wrong way to live, because everything was created not by meaningless forces but by a purposeful and loving Maker. Life is not a game where we make up our own rules; in this created world there is a natural order with actions and consequences and good and bad. Wisdom tells us the right way to live, which is the best way to live.

The beginning of wisdom

So you’re ready to listen - good, where do we start? Proverbs tells us:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Prov 1:7

True wisdom begins with our relationship with God. It would take many more posts to discuss all that it means to fear God, but it probably boils down to a combination of real fear (because you know how big God is and how small you are!), respect, adoration, obedience and love. Which God completely deserves. The point of the matter is that you can’t be truly wise if you don’t love God (see Psalm 14:1), and if you want to grow in wisdom, grow in your relationship with God. Love Him more and love yourself less. Fear Him more and fear others less. Not only is God the source of all wisdom, He should be our motivation for wanting to live wisely too.

So let’s respond to wisdom’s call by reading Proverbs (a couple every day would do us good!), appreciating its randomness, relevance and absoluteness, and above all learning to fear God.