In the last devotional, we looked at the prologue (Proverbs 1:1-7). We saw that wisdom is a gift that comes only from God, and that it is closely related to righteousness (all that God desires from us). Today, we will be beginning where we left off: Proverbs 1:7. In the second-half of that verse, Solomon introduces his readers to the two ways: the way of wisdom and the way of folly. The rest of chapter one is on this theme, starting with a plea not to follow the way of folly (verses 8-19) and ending with another plea to instead follow wisdom (verses 20-33).
The two ways taught in Proverbs actually comes from Deuteronomy. For instance, in Deuteronomy 11:18-19, we see the teaching program of Deuteronomy 6:6-9 repeated: to teach both ourselves and our children to love God by obeying His commands from the heart. Chapter 11 then continues by telling Israel of the blessings for obedience (way of life), and the curse for disobedience (way of death). Moses teaches the two ways in verses 26-28,26
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.
In Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Moses then connects the two ways to the command to love God (and thus also to wisdom, as in 6:2), making that love command the pivot between the way of wisdom and the way of folly.
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Notice that the way of wisdom in Proverbs parallels Moses’ way of life/good, meaning to obey the command to love God with all one’s being. The way of folly in Proverbs also parallels Moses’ way of death/evil, referring to turning one’s heart away from God to serve false gods (i.e., anything that can take the place of God in our lives). In this, Deuteronomy provides the backdrop to Proverbs’ two ways. Seeing this parallel, in his commentary, Daniel Treier made an insightful comment: “the two ways stem from there being only one true God. All of life, for everyone, is subject to the lordship of [Yahweh], the Creator. This holds in principle for body and soul, now and not yet, church and world.”[1]
Thanks be to God that there are only blessings in Christ! Christ took this curse upon Himself. Nonetheless, these curses abide on all who reject Him.
These two ways are central to understanding the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 1:7 serves as its central thesis statement: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (remember that the three goals of Proverbs—knowledge, wisdom, and discipline—are all under the heading of wisdom, so talking about “knowledge” is also talking about this wisdom). The first part, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,” shows the way of life and goodness, while the second part, “fools despise wisdom and instruction,” shows the way of death and evil. It thus makes sense that just after this central verse Solomon then pleas against following the evil way (verses 8-19) and for the good way (verses 20-33).
Beginning Solomon’s plea to avoid the way of folly, it is fitting that his first words are “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching.” “Hear” is a command that refers not only to listening with one’s ears, but also doing with one’s heart. What are they to hear? Children are to hear the instruction and teaching of both parents. Mothers are not left out in Proverbs, but are included with the appeals for children to obey their fathers. Given that God is central to all of this teaching from parents, we can say that parents are being used in both Deuteronomy and Proverbs as proxies or representatives of God in their children’s lives. Because of this, to obey one’s parents in this context refers to obeying the particular commands and desires of God. Hence, when Proverbs teaches obedience to parents, it does not mean obeying them in what is evil, but insofar as they teach the commands and instruction of God. Remember that the central goal of Proverbs is the fear of the Lord that leads to His wisdom. Parents are tools used by God to foster this goal in their children.
With that in mind, the opposite of obeying these parents is to be enticed to sin—drawing oneself away from God and after some lesser thing: a false god. Solomon gives the example of being enticed to murder others for personal gain. He said, “my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives” (verses 15-18). Those who walk the way of folly are (1) marked by feet quick to pursue evil, (2) will never truly obtain what they desire, and (3) are manufacturing their own deaths. Thus, the fruit of going the way of folly is living a life pursuing one’s own destruction and misery, never having tasted the goodness of a right relationship with God. Teaching our children to avoid the way of folly and directing them to the way of wisdom is to seek to save them from death and bring them to life. Those are the stakes. Yet, all of this applies just as much to adults as it does to children. Proverbs is valuable for making all wise in the Lord. The point is that this wisdom is to be taught at the beginning of life, for all of life.
In the plea for the way of wisdom, there is a sense in which wisdom personifies Christ. Verse 23 says, “If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.” This is like Christ’s first coming and Israel’s rejection of His teaching (Jesus spoke of the two ways, such as with the sheep and the goats, life and death, and the way of the kingdom and of the world). The point is that God made wisdom available to Israel (and from Israel to the rest of the world). We now have, for instance, the revelation of God (the Bible), and we have a connection to the One God through the New Covenant in Christ. Those rejecting the way of wisdom thus reject the truth of God’s revelation, preventing them from having a covenantal relationship with God.
All who reject the way of wisdom are first spoken of as “simple” (lacking knowledge and wisdom), but then, through continual rejection of God’s wisdom, as “fools” who “hate knowledge.” Proverbs 1:22 says, “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?” There is much that could be said about this topic, but it will suffice to say that there are certain levels of rejecting the way of wisdom (some even add a third level, the scoffer or reviler, whose heart is hardened as flint against the wisdom of God). All begin as “simple,” but they do not remain there. Those are ways that Proverbs characterizes people who are not on the way of wisdom. Yet, any of these can turn to the way of wisdom. Verses 24-33 read as both the judgement of Israel for rejecting Christ in 70AD (when Israel was destroyed by the Romans), and as Jesus’ second coming. Matthew 11 has many of the same themes found in these verses: all have the good news preached to them (verse 5), yet Israel did not respond to Jesus’ preaching with repentance (verses 16-19), resulting in their coming judgement (verses 20-24). Now, however, the call to wisdom is the call to Jesus (verses 25-30).
In the next devotional, we will be looking at the value of wisdom in Proverbs 2.
[1] Daniel J. Treier, Proverbs & Ecclesiastes, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2011), 61, ProQuest Ebook Central.