Proverbs 9:1-18: a reflection

1Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars. 2She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table. 3She has sent out her maidens. She cries from the highest places of the city: 4“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, 5“Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed! 6Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding.” 7One who corrects a mocker invites insult. One who reproves a wicked man invites abuse. 8Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise person, and he will love you. 9Instruct a wise person, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous person, and he will increase in learning. 10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 11For by me your days will be multiplied. The years of your life will be increased. 12If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you mock, you alone will bear it. 13The foolish woman is loud, undisciplined, and knows nothing. 14She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, 15to call to those who pass by, who go straight on their ways, 16“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, 17“Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is pleasant.” 18But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Proverbs paints a vivid picture of two women, each with a house, each calling out to passersby with an invitation. Wisdom has built her house, prepared a feast, and calls: Come, eat of my bread and drink of my wine; leave your simple ways and live. And Folly, loud and seductive, calls to the same passersby with a competing invitation, offering stolen water and secret bread, pleasures that seem sweet. But her house, the passage warns, is the way to death; her guests are in the depths of Sheol. Two invitations, two houses, two very different ends.

Notice the choice the passage sets before us: which invitation to heed. Both Wisdom and Folly call out, often to the same people, offering competing feasts. Wisdom offers a feast that leads to life, though it requires leaving our simple, foolish ways. Folly offers stolen, secret pleasures that seem sweet but lead to death. The two voices compete for our ear, and the choice of which to heed leads to life or to death. And at the center stands the key: the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

That choice is set before us daily. Two voices call: Wisdom, inviting us to the feast of life through the fear of the Lord and the leaving of our foolish ways; and Folly, inviting us to pleasures that seem sweet but lead to ruin. Both promise satisfaction; only one delivers life. Which voice will you heed? Do not be drawn by Folly's stolen, secret pleasures, which seem sweet but end in death. Answer Wisdom's invitation: leave your simple ways, come to her feast, and live. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; heed the voice that leads to life.

Lord, Proverbs sets before me two invitations: Wisdom, calling me to a feast of life if I will leave my foolish ways, and Folly, offering stolen, secret pleasures that seem sweet but lead to death. Help me heed the right voice. Both call to me daily, often for the same choices; both promise satisfaction, but only one leads to life. Keep me from being drawn by Folly's pleasures, which seem sweet but end in ruin. Draw me instead to Wisdom's feast, to leave my simple ways and live. Plant in me the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, and help me discern and heed the voice that leads to life, not the one that leads to death. Give me wisdom to choose rightly.