The Purpose of Proverbs (Prov. 1:1-7)
“An Apple a Day…”
Among other hobbies, I enjoy subjecting my loved ones to proverbial malaphors. “We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.” “Get all your ducks on the same page.” “Too many cooks killed the cat.” Et cetera.
Saner minds spend time studying actual proverbs, since they are designed to help us pursue a good life. These cultural sayings can become especially useful at the start of a new year. “The early bird catches the worm” suggests I consider better sleep habits. Other proverbs may prompt me to improve my diet and exercise routines. “Strike while the iron is hot”… or at least while I still regret all the sugar I ate last month.
The Power (and Danger) of Proverbs
A proverb is a pithy saying that provides quick, memorable access to an alleged truth.[1] Like parables, proverbs present us with powerful images that can act as a sort of intellectual or ethical IV line, quickly and efficiently delivering meaning to the heart.
Perhaps more than we realize, we have all been shaped by the “simple sayings” that echo around us — for good, or for ill. For example, there are cultural proverbs which may lead us to believe that words will never hurt us (they will), or that God only helps those who help themselves (He doesn’t), or that no news is good news (except when it’s not).
A poor proverb takes me away from reality. So also a good proverb misapplied, which may be even more dangerous — if only for the fact that, since we know it is relevant in some situations, we are slow to realize when it is irrelevant to our own.
Do I Need the Book of Proverbs?
To ensure we are on good ground, we should turn to the inerrant, God-breathed Book of Proverbs. God never lies (Titus 1:2), and we can trust all that He tells us. Yet even here we are not safe if we misread the title as “Promises.”
It can be beyond painful to read verses like Proverbs 12:21 or 22:6 against your own experience and ask, “What went wrong?” These and other examples may lead us to conclude that the Book of Proverbs, far from being useful, is only applicable to a few people under the most ideal conditions. For the rest of us, Solomon’s treasury seems to have suffered the death of a thousand qualifications.
And yet, we cannot afford to ignore these 31 chapters of the Bible. God has given them to us, and He told us the reason why upfront:
To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance… (Proverbs 1:2–5)
The Purpose of Proverbs
Proverbs should not be read as promises like Genesis 12:2 or John 11:25–26. Yet neither should they be discounted as mere statistical probabilities or, still worse, pious advice. As the Didache, an early manual on Christian living, put it, “There are two ways — one a way of life, and one a way of death — and a vast difference between the two ways.”[2]
God gave the Proverbs to His people so that they might know and follow the way of life. In other words, God gave us Proverbs so that we might be conformed to the image of Christ, who is Himself the Way (John 14:6; Romans 8:29).[3]
Proverbs exists in the canon so that God’s people might live in the joy of God’s presence. We could easily inscribe 1 Thessalonians 4:3 at the front of Solomon’s book: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification… .” Each of us is called by God to strive for “the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). And God has graciously given us the means to do this: His Spirit speaking in His Word, including the words of Proverbs.
Where to Begin
One memorable feature of Proverbs is the repeated exhortation to “get” wisdom, knowledge, and insight (e.g. 4:5, 7; 6:20–24; 7:4; 8:5; 16:16; 19:20; 23:23). We are called to “seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures” (2:4).
But where do we begin? Proverbs 1:7 gives us the answer: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge… .”
The fear of God — what Derek Kidner calls “submission to His authority and majesty” — is the disposition that we need to acquire true, life-giving knowledge. Others can explain this fear at greater depth, but in short, it is a heart-attitude that is overawed by the majesty of God, trembles at the power of God, dreads to depart from God, and rejoices in the goodness of God.[4] Godly fear (sometimes called “filial” or “son-ly” fear) is a close companion to saving faith. It is taking God seriously, and taking serious delight in Him.
Without this fear, the Proverbs are ultimately pointless to us, “dark sayings” that may provide some temporary guidance, but no lasting enjoyment of God or God’s world.[5] On the other hand, we who do fear the Lord should make every effort to study the Proverbs with confidence. These are gifts from a kind Father who wants us to enjoy His friendship.
“Get Wisdom”
There are no shortcuts to wisdom. Yet if we begin and persist in Godly fear, the result will not only be better habits, but better knowledge of God, what Jesus called “eternal life” (John 17:3).[6] Let’s chase after that knowledge this year. Gather up every bit of God’s wisdom as you can, prayerfully, fearfully, faithfully — for “then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.”
[1] Norman Habel, “The Symbolism of Wisdom in Proverbs 1–9,” Interpretation, vol. 26, no. 2, April 1972, pp. 132–4. Cf. Fee and Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981), 187-204. I am indebted to Dr. Craig Troxel for directing me to this and other sources cited in this article.
[2] Didache 1:1. Early Christians were occasionally called “those belonging to the Way” (Acts 9:2; cf. 24:14). This does not mean, as some mistakenly believe, that Jesus came simply to instill a rule of life, habits, and practices. Our hope is founded on the facts of Jesus’ identity and mission. For some helpful thoughts on this discussion, see Kevin DeYoung’s “Is This the Way? A Review of Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer.”
[3] Commentator Michael V. Fox calls wisdom “a configuration of soul” and “moral character,” and rightly regards the fostering of such character the greatest goal of education (Proverbs 1–9, The Anchor Bible, p. 348). “It is also the greatest challenge,” Fox writes, “for moral character comes down to desiring the right things, and how can we teach desire?” Put this way, we can think of the Book of Proverbs as one way in which God is teaching His sons to desire rightly.
[4] cf. Alan Ross, Proverbs, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p, 907. For two complimentary (and in some ways contrasting) views of the fear of the Lord, see “6 Questions about the Fear of God” by Michael Reeves and “What Does Proverbs 1:7 Mean?” by Ryan Patrick O’Dowd, both of which come from longer works worth reflection. Another good expression comes from Calvin’s First Catechism: “True piety consists in a sincere feeling which loves God as Father as much as it fears and reverences Him as Lord, embraces His righteousness, and dreads offending Him worse than death.”
[5] In the words of Kidner, “…you have to be godly to be wise; and this is not because godliness pays, but because the only wisdom by which you can handle everyday things in conformity with their nature is the wisdom by which the LORD Himself made and ordered them.”
[6] T. David Gordon puts it well: “…because wisdom is gained slowly and gradually, we cannot wait until we face a particular choice and then begin to develop wisdom. We must constantly, throughout our lives, be reflective, contemplative, and thoughtful. We must constantly speak with (even better: listen to) those who are older and/or more experienced or learned than us and be taught by them. We never know beforehand which of their observations, or our own, will equip us in the future to answer some specific question correctly.”
