Proverbs 2:12-22: Defense Against the Wicked
The getting of wisdom is the difference between men and boys, for boys will stumble about in folly, but men will pursue the path of the wise. No one who knows the Lord can remain a fool for long, however, for it is the fool who says in his heart that there is no God (Ps. 14:1a). Because they reject the knowledge of God, the foolish fall deeper into sin, for “They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good” (Ps. 14:1b). But the wise are made wise precisely because, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Prov. 9:10). Simply knowing the Lord Jesus Christ is one of the ways in which God begins to impart wisdom to His children.
Proverbs 2 outlines the differences between the wise and the foolish in a rather compelling way, explaining that the wise walk in the righteousness of the Lord, while the wicked walk in the foolishness of their own devices. Since it is the wicked who devise destructive plans and scheme to destroy the righteous, it is fair for the righteous to ask, “What defense do we have against them?” There is, of course, no reason to fear the fool, but there is reason to wonder about how we are to fight against their corrupt and abominable practices. Most importantly, we ought to ask, “How do we keep from returning to our old foolish ways?”
In Proverbs 2:3-5, we are promised, “if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” This understanding of “fear of the Lord” and finding “the knowledge of God” are not only prerequisites for genuine wisdom but become the very means by which God equips us against the wicked ways and traps of the foolish.
In verses 7-8, we are assured once more that God, “stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.” To have your paths guarded by God would have been delightful news to the Jews originally receiving these promises because there were dangers all around them. In fact, throughout much of history, and still in many parts of the world today, foolish and wicked thieves hide along the highways and byways, waiting to strike upon the righteous. But God assures us throughout His Word that He will protect us from the foolish and their schemes. Ironically, He will even turn their own scheming against them. As Isaiah once cried out, “Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us” (Is. 8:10).
In verse 11, we find that another way in which God guards us against falling into foolishness or wickedness is by transforming our indiscretion to discretion, and our folly to wisdom, “discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you.” We are no different than the foolish and the wicked apart from Christ. Praise the Lord for His sovereign grace and sending of the Holy Spirit upon us, then, for we are incapable of pursuing the wise path of righteousness, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn. 14:6).
We can think of the second half of Proverbs 2, containing verses 12-22, as being a description of the Christian who has been filled with the Holy Spirit and is being daily taught wisdom. This wisdom acts as a shield to our thoughts and tongues, “delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil,men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways” (vs. 12-15).
While the crooked paths of the foolish appear to be ever widening and broadening, the path of the righteous remains both straight and narrow (Is. 26:7; Prov. 3:6; Matt. 7:13-14). While it may appear easier, at first glance, to simply give into sinful impulses and say or do whatever our foolish hearts desire, we find that this path can only end in destruction. Eternal judgment and darkness awaits the foolish and wicked; eternal life and everlasting light awaits the wise and righteous.
But lest we imagine that foolishness only appears in our thoughts and speech, the writer of Proverbs asserts that foolishness is also present in the one who commits sexual sin. Only the wise can escape and defeat such sin:
So you will be delivered from the forbiddenwoman, from the adulteresswith her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed; none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life (Prov. 2:16-19).
Throughout the book of Proverbs, lady wisdom and lady folly are contrasted with one another. The personification of folly as a prostitute is striking, for it presents an individual that is so wicked, her own house is like the house of the dead. If one goes into her, he will not return. She is an adulteress whose smooth words cannot hide the fact she has broken covenant with God. All who are tempted by her, and who sin with her, will die. Let the reader understand, then, that perhaps no other sin reveals folly more quickly than that of sexual depravity.
The wise, however, are continually led by God. He shields the wise from the follies and sins of this world and, taking our hands, guides us down His own wise and righteous path. Proverbs 2:20-22 closes with a string of incredible promises: “So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it, but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.”
God assures us that the wise will be rewarded for their righteousness. God will cause us, as His people, to inherit the earth and inhabit it eternally. The foolish and wicked, however, will be judged and destroyed. Thus, God will vindicate the wisdom of His righteousness.
