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Wednesday 07/09/25
Thru the Bible: Proverbs
NOTE: About 40 min. into the audio, the sound gets pretty bad. Our good recorder stopped working and I had to use audio from a phone on Facebook LIVE, so it is not so good. Our apologies!
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For the LORD gives Wisdom!
Proverb 2:1-22,
As we start off tonight, know that I am reading from the NKJV largely because I prefer the flow and tone of it. We established long ago that it is a reliable translation or we would not reference it. Furthermore, when studying wisdom literature which was poetic in the original language, I think a translation which conveys similar attributes is appropriate.
We only get three words into the chapter before we land on something, you people who are sensitive to run-on sentences may have difficulty following.
That word is “if”
“(1) My son, if…”
It isn’t that the word if has some special meaning, but only that it begins a particularly long conditional statement which you “could’ get lost in. The conditions take all of the first 4 verses to cover.
They all center around the very things which make the “good heart” in Jesus’ ‘Parable of the heart soils’, ‘the Good Heart’ which include receiving, treasuring or valuing, inclining your ear & applying your heart to the keeping of them. In addition, this conditional statement includes the further conditions of praying for insight and understanding.
“(1) My son, if you
receive my words, and
treasure my commands within you, (2) So that…
you incline your ear to wisdom, and
apply your heart to understanding;
(3) Yes, if you
cry out for discernment, and
lift up your voice for understanding, (4)
If you seek her as silver, and
search for her as for hidden treasures;
(5) THEN you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.”
That is quite a promise!
I mean seriously… to truly understand ‘fearing the Lord’ and to discover the knowledge of God, is of incalculable value. There literally is NO way to sum up its worth or capture it in words!
Before we lose the weight and meaning of this, diving into some of the meaning behind the words, the NEXT words have tremendous import.
Solomon next says,
“(6) For the LORD gives…”
This statement is connected to knowledge, understanding and wisdom.
No wonder James in his FIRST example in his letter was so confident that the one who asks God for wisdom, believing, WILL receive it!
“For the LORD gives”
But let’s look at some of those conditions of the first 4 verses!
The first was “receive” and it is in connection with “my” “words”.
The “my” is specifically referring to Solomon. By extension it is referring to anyone who gives godly advice, but ultimately it has God as its reference, since He alone is its source and initial Giver as we will read later.
As to the precise meaning of the word “receive”, it is picked up from the context.
In this case it is very much like the way it is used in Proverbs chapter 10 verse 8 where it is used figuratively of accepting God’s words as true and obeying them. Above this specific contextual meaning is its overall meaning which includes the notion of “grasping” or “seizing”.
So this condition of “receiving” God’s words is to see value in them so as to grab ahold of them upon hearing them. Mulling them over in your mind and not letting them go, with the intention of obeying what they say.
The next word is “treasure” which is in reference to God’s “commands”.
One of the mechanisms of parallelism is intensification. This is where a term in a subsequent line further qualifies and intensifies the meaning of a word which appeared in a line before.
In this case, the word “receive” in the first line is intensified by the word “treasure” in the second line. This process occurs for “words” in the first line with “commands” in the second line.
Now I know you all did not sign up for Hebrew grammar in poetry, but this is important. However, I will say that I think if we just read the passage, some of that is kinda picked up in route without knowing the specifics of the grammatical rules.
As far back as I can recall, when reading passages like this one I have always looked to the most intense word in the series and assumed that as the only needed definition. I would have seen the “words” as “commands” and the type of “receiving” as “treasuring”.
I think it is important to mention here that treasuring also includes the idea of storing up. Meaning that we not only search for what we immediately need, but in the journey we will find treasures to store up for later use.
Now, parallelism here actually makes some of this easier in that much of the meaning of the words are found in the subsequent words. For example the meaning of “receive” includes the ideas of treasuring, inclining, & applying so that these other words are less important to look up (even though I did).
The objects of these heart actions are words, commands, wisdom and understanding where “words” would substitute for knowledge. So we have the four primary sources of instruction to live by – knowledge, understanding, wisdom and God’s commands!
The second set of conditions are:
“(3) Yes, if you
cry out for discernment, and
lift up your voice for understanding, (4)
If you seek her as silver, and
search for her as for hidden treasures;”
“Cry out”
“Lift up your voice”
“Seek” & “search”
Now you already know the intensifying pattern so I will not drag you through it, and I think the progressive meaning is clear enough.
We are to “Cry out” for or summon “discernment” which is another word for understanding. It means to comprehend. We are to “Lift up our voice” or shout out for it. But we also take a more proactive stance by not just summoning it to our side, but we are to go out looking for it!
“Seeking” as “silver” and “searching” as for “hidden treasures” are interesting word choices. It means your searching is deductive in that it means to investigate and “searching” actually includes the idea of digging, which is why it says, “as for hidden treasure”.
I am reminded of approaching all of this in my youth quite literally. I would get up on a Saturday morning with my Bibles and my Strong’s concordance and start digging for the treasures of wisdom!
God’s promise as we previously noted is matchless in all creation. If we will approach our searching and desiring God’s knowledge LIKE THIS He says –
“(5) THEN you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.”
So applying all of this to this promise by digging into its meaning we find God is saying,
“THEN you will grasp and be sensitive to what it means to fear the Lord and we will discover the discernment, insight and notions of God in such a way as to walk in obedience to them. It has a “cause and effect” flow to the statement.”
This is very much like what we will find in Proverbs 3:6 where we are told that in response to the CAUSE of “acknowledging God in all our ways” we will get the EFFECT of “God directing our paths”.
Now we can read the actual contents of this wonderful Proverb which is almost the proverbial ‘yin’ to the ‘yang’ of all that was said above.
If you seek it – God has it and will share it!
“(6) For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
(7) He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
(8) He guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His saints.”
Notice far from being a passive observer of all this, He is actively involved even to the point of Himself, storing up for us what we will need in our searching.
It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 2:9-12; 16 and in fact may be where Paul got his words he wrote to the saints there.
1 Corinthians 2:9-12; 16,
“(9) But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says,
What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed]. [Isa. 64:4; 65:17.]
(10) Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny].
(11) For what person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a man’s thoughts except the man’s own spirit within him?
Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
(12) Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God.”
“(16) For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart. [Isa. 40:13.]”
Sounds like a pretty tight fit with all we have read doesn’t it!
Then, back in Proverbs 2:9-22 we are promised,
“(9) Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path.
(10) When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, (11) discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you, (12) to deliver you from:
the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things, (13)
from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness; (14)
Who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked; (15) Whose ways are crooked, and who are devious in their paths; (16)
to deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words, (17) who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.
(18) For her house leads down to death, and her paths to the dead; (19) None who go to her return, nor do they regain the paths of life—
(20) So you may walk in the way of goodness, and keep to the paths of righteousness.
(21) For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
(22) But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.”
Blessings!
Tri
