Scripture Daily

Context No. 234 of 4322 · Proverbs

Context · Reflection

Proverbs 1:1-16: in context

1The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel: 2to know wisdom and instruction; to discern the words of understanding; 3to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; 4to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young man— 5that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel; 6to understand a proverb and parables, the words and riddles of the wise. 7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. 8My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching; 9for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck. 10My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent. 11If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lie in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. 12Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit. 13We’ll find all valuable wealth. We’ll fill our houses with plunder. 14You shall cast your lot among us. We’ll all have one purse”— 15my son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path, 16for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood.

This is the very opening of Proverbs, where the book pauses to say what it is for before it hands you a single proverb. It is written, it says, to give wisdom and instruction, to hand prudence to the simple and knowledge to the young, and even the wise are told to listen and add to their learning. Then it states its one governing condition: the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. Reverence is where understanding starts, not where it eventually arrives.

What stands out is where the teaching goes first. After telling a son to hold on to his father's instruction and his mother's teaching, the book's opening lesson is not a lofty principle. It is about the pull of a group. My son, it says, if sinners entice you, do not go along with them. And it quotes their pitch, which is not really about the crime. Come with us, they say, throw in your lot among us, we will all share one purse. The offer is belonging. The plunder and the ambush are almost secondary to the promise of being one of them, of having a common purse and a place inside the circle.

The answer Proverbs gives is blunt: do not even walk on the road with them, keep your foot off their path. The book that will spend chapters unfolding wisdom begins by warning against the simplest thing, the wish to be included. Whose one purse am I tempted to throw my lot into, more for the belonging than for anything they are actually doing?

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