20WISDOM CALLS ALOUD in the street,
she raises her voice in the public squares;
21at the head of the noisy streets she cries out,
in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:
22“How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
23If you had responded to my rebuke,
I would have poured out my heart to you
and made my thoughts known to you.
24But since you rejected me when I called
and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
25since you ignored all my advice
and would not accept my rebuke,
26I in turn will laugh at your disaster;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you—
27when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
28“Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me.
29Since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the LORD,
30since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,
31they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
32For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
HERE WE HAVE our first encounter with the personified voice of Wisdom. She appears as an orator, speaking to the crowds passing by in the public squares, a role that appears again in chapters 8 and 9. These speeches form a frame or inclusio around the instructional literature of Proverbs 1–9, marking a major unit but also stressing what is important. Because writers tend to place matters of greatest significance at the beginnings and endings of works, we notice that Wisdom’s offers to give instruction come to all. Those with ears to hear will receive it. The speeches are also unusual. There is no other instance of Wisdom speaking in public settings apart from the apocryphal book of Sirach.1
Biblical scholarship has tried to establish the historical origins of this personification but has not reached a consensus.2 While some see similarities to the Egyptian principle of universal order (maʾat), others find resemblance in goddess figures.3 Whatever resemblances we can find to other ancient Near Eastern figures (noting that there are significant differences as well), we must remember that the speeches of Wisdom are literary creations, spoken as instruction by the parental teacher of Proverbs 1–9. We would expect that so important and multidimensional an entity as wisdom would require the use of figurative language to do it justice.
Personification is a literary device used throughout Scripture, often used to describe the Lord’s attributes. His throne is founded on justice and judgment (Ps. 97:2), and the heralds that go before him are kindness and truth (89:14); kindness meets truth, and justice and peace kiss (85:10).4 Yet nowhere else but here in Proverbs do we find an attribute or an abstract entity personified as a speaking character. While this figure speaks authoritatively and calls attention to herself, Wisdom also directs her listeners to “fear the LORD” (Prov. 1:29). This main character of the instructions is a mysterious figure, appearing as both teacher and intermediary, so we will watch her words carefully.
As we examine the speech of personified Wisdom, we learn that the main emphasis of the entire first chapter is the fate of those who reject wisdom. Therefore, one can read this chapter as an extended illustration of 1:7: “Fools despise wisdom and discipline.” Wisdom’s speech also continues the first lesson of discernment and listening that began with the parent’s instruction in 1:8. The young man is to learn how to discern who is worthy of his trust and who is not.
When we compare these speeches of the parental teachers, the gang, and Wisdom, a number of similarities and differences appear. (1) The literary context presents this speech of Wisdom as quoted speech, spoken by the parents to the son in the same way that the parents quoted the enticement of the violent men. Both examples of quoted speech illustrate the deadly direction of a life that rejects Yahweh and his wisdom (1:18–19, 25–28). The parents offer Wisdom’s speech as another word of warning.
(2) There are a number of similarities between the instruction of the parents and Wisdom’s speech. Both urge the young man to listen (1:8, 33). This call to listen and obey (Heb. šmʿ frequently carries both senses) frames this subsection and offers another indication that the speeches are to be read in light of each other. Both promise rewards: The parents liken their teaching to a garland and necklace (1:9), while Wisdom offers safety and security (1:33). The gang also promises rewards (1:13–14), but the parents and Wisdom join their voices to show that those rewards are false and short-lived. Both speak of a “way” that ends in disaster (1:19, 31), and both use negative motive clauses that begin with “for” (ki in 1:16, 32). In this way the disaster of the bird in the net and the danger of waywardness and complacency are linked hook and eye.
(3) Finally, the key words of the prologue (“wisdom,” “simple,” “fools”) are in Wisdom’s speech but not in the words of the gang. To summarize, the similarities show Wisdom’s speech to be an extension of the prologue and the parent’s teaching. The parents quote Wisdom’s words as a counter to the speech of the gang; her words are presented as testimony that the teaching of the parents is true.
The first image that the listening son receives of Wisdom is startling: a woman, raising her voice to speak in the town square! Certainly the picture sets Wisdom apart in a set of roles distinct from those expected of women at the time. Unlike other persuasive women such as Abigail (1 Sam. 25:23–35) or the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Sam. 14:1–21), Wisdom does not appeal and does not take a subservient role. She speaks with strong authority, setting herself over and against her audience. Like Deborah the prophetess (Judg. 4:4–5:31), she leads and challenges. Yet no woman ever spoke to crowds in the city the way Wisdom does, and this calls readers to attention.
Both elements of this picture, her voice and the public setting, are repeated four times. If the streets are noisy, she must be heard above them, and so we imagine a voice that is loud and insistent. Does anyone stop to listen? One often sees street preachers with a bullhorn in cities, but they rarely draw a crowd. So Wisdom cries out to anyone who will listen but then turns to address those who will not. As we look closely at this speech, we should remember that Wisdom’s negative message in this chapter is matched with the positive messages of chapters 8 and 9.5 However, because her speech comes right after the words of the gang, we should not be surprised that her negative message comes first. Her words of coming disaster answer the words of violence spoken by the gang.
Wisdom’s speech can be divided into three sections following the use of the key word “call” (Heb. qrʾ, 1:21, 24, 28).
“Wisdom calls aloud in the street” (1:20–23)
“You rejected me when I called” (1:24–27)
“Then they will call to me but I will not answer” (1:28–33)
Each section addresses a different audience, and each makes use of a different verbal tense. Whereas Wisdom calls to all in a present tense, she addresses the simple and fools, who rejected her calls in the past. She then turns away from them to say that they will call on her in the future to no avail.
Wisdom’s Call to All (1:20–23)
THE FIRST OF Wisdom’s addresses calls out to anyone who will hear. Her question, “How long?” pleads and threatens judgment at the same time, just as it did for Jeremiah (Jer. 4:14, 21; 12:4; 31:22; 47:5).6 It is this rejected prophet who comes closest to the picture we have here of someone warning and calling for repentance in a public setting (Jer. 7:1–29).7 Wisdom’s first address also uses terms from the prologue (Prov. 1:4, 7); the “simple” (1:4) can learn if they leave their simple ways behind (the Heb. root for “entice” in 1:10 is ptʾ, “simple”), but if they love those ways and hate knowledge, they become fools who hate wisdom and discipline (1:7). Mockers do not merely choose to ignore, their rejection is active; they scoff and ridicule (cf. Ps. 1:1).
Whether one reads the Hebrew of 1:23 in the past tense as the NIV does or in the present conditional sense as does the NRSV,8 the point is still clear. Wisdom’s rebuke is correction, an offer of instruction that is personal and direct. If listeners respond (lit., “turn”), she promises to share her thoughts using phrases and terms that are used elsewhere of the Lord (lit., “my spirit [ruaḥ] and my words [dabar]”).9 To reject this instruction is to reject Wisdom herself, who calls and stretches out her hand. Yet her teaching is so out of step with the bustle of business as usual that her words go unheard.
Wisdom’s Call Rejected (1:24–27)
A SECOND ADDRESS begins in 1:24 with a second use of the word “call.” Wisdom says she has called and called, just as she is doing now, but she has been speaking to deaf ears. The results of this rejection, introduced in 1:26, are “disaster” and “calamity,” and this brings laughter to Wisdom. Just as the gang’s evil was repaid with evil in the parent’s earlier instruction, so it will be for those who ignored Wisdom’s rebuke. As they mocked, so will she. She will laugh the way Yahweh laughs over the defeat of his enemies (Ps. 2:4; 37:13; 59:8). The next verse (Prov. 1:27) pictures a storm of ruin overtaking these detractors. The source of the calamity is not named; Wisdom does not bring it about, she only rejoices at its coming.
Wisdom’s Refusal to Answer a Call (1:28–33)
WISDOM’S THIRD ADDRESS begins in 1:28 with an echo of her own calls (qrʾ, 1:20, 24). Just as she called and was refused, now she will not answer when they call. They can look for her, but she will not be found (Yahweh says the same about himself in Mic. 3:4). Perhaps this is why Wisdom no longer addresses them directly but uses third-person pronouns and verbs. Instead, her words seem to be directed to the larger public (including the learning son, and the reader who identifies with the son).
If we imagine a crowd gathered to hear Wisdom, the first speech makes her typical offer of correction to those who haven’t been listening, the second singles out the fools who have rejected her, and the third turns from them to address the larger crowd. Jesus often did the same when, after controversy with the Pharisees or his disciples, he spoke to the larger crowd, hoping someone who had been listening in would turn to hear more (Mark 7:14–23; 8:31–37).
The charges of 1:22–23 are revisited in 1:29–30, but so is the equation of 1:7, this time in the negative. If “fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,” Wisdom’s unresponsive audience has shown that it wants nothing to do with either. Their rejection of Wisdom is now revealed for what it really is, a rejection of the Lord. Wisdom stresses that this rejection has not been done out of ignorance but out of choice.
Just as the picture of a bird and a net was used earlier (1:17) to create an ancient version of “what goes around comes around,” so Wisdom says that their ways and their schemes will become the bitter fruit with which they will be gorged (1:31). The connection between verses 30 and 31 is especially significant. If the fools will not accept Wisdom’s “advice” (from ʿṣh, 1:25, 30), then their own “schemes” (also from ʿṣh, 1:31) will be their reward.
The image of bitter fruit is followed by the plain talk of 1:32–33: The ways of the fools will prove fatal. Wisdom’s speech is not followed by any teaching from the parental instructor. Instead, she gets the last word, but that word still repeats what the parents said earlier: death—for the simple and fools (1:22, 32). The Hebrew word used for “complacency” can be used for peace (17:1) and security (Ps. 122:7), but here it is ironic; the security is false, contrasted with the peace and safety she promises (cf. Dan. 8:25; 11:21, 24). Wisdom adds a positive word to end her speech and in doing so calls out once again to be heard. She echoes the parents as she urges her listeners to attend to her own teaching (cf. Prov. 1:8 and 33).
We have seen that a number of terms are repeated in a way that connects the verses in which they appear. This use of repetition suggests that Wisdom’s speech can also be diagrammed in a chiastic pattern, in which the second half revisits the topics of the first in reverse order.10 The beginning and ending correspond as contrasts. As Wisdom calls out to all in 1:21, only those who listen to her in 1:33 will find safety (Heb. “the one”). The center and most important part of the structure is Wisdom’s chilling promise to those who did not listen to her; she will laugh, mock, and refuse to answer them when their trouble comes (1:26–28).11
The chiastic or mirror structure can also be diagrammed to highlight the change from second to third person in the address to the simple and fools:
A 1:20–21—Wisdom calls out to all
B 1:22–23b—Appeal to simple and fools—“you”
C 1:24–27—Wisdom rejects those who reject her—“you”
B′ 1:28–32—Fate of simple and fools—“they”
A′ 1:33—Final call to listen and promise of safety to those who hear
The change to third person “they” in 1:28 signals that Wisdom’s words of rejection are final. She no longer addresses the simple, scoffers, and fools directly but turns to explain her reaction to anyone who will listen, especially the young learner and the reader. The final call also promises safety to those who will listen; it offers a confirmation to those who have already chosen to walk along Wisdom’s path. Like the prologue, it encourages the reader to continue reading the book and to walk in the ways of wisdom.
Bridging Contexts
PERSONIFIED WISDOM. In moving from ancient days to our own, we need to look closely at this figure of personified Wisdom and learn what she has to tell us about God and human nature, since both remain the same over time. The first task, therefore, is to come to a better understanding of the character of Wisdom and the roles she takes. Note that here for the first time, Wisdom is written in Hebrew plural (hokmot), not singular. The change has intrigued some interpreters, who take it as a sign of fullness or majesty (like the plural ʾ elohim), but we note here that it distinguishes this speaking voice of personified Wisdom from the voiceless and faceless wisdom that was mentioned earlier (the same plural form is used in 9:1 but not in 8:1–36).12
Earlier we noted that Wisdom enacts three roles in her speech: She offers the counsel of a wisdom teacher, she calls for repentance like a prophet, and she identifies herself with the words and actions of the Lord.13 (1) As a wisdom teacher, she offers advice (ʿeṣab) and rebuke (tokaḥat).14 She calls the simple away from their simple ways (1:22, 25, 30) by offering preventative counsel and correction.
(2) Like a prophet she calls them to pay attention and to repent (Heb. šwb; “turn” is translated “responded” in 1:23)15 and warns of coming disaster. She understands their rejection of her as a rejection of God (1:29–30; see also 1 Sam. 8:7–8).
(3) However, we should notice that she identifies herself with the Lord in words and ways that wisdom teachers and prophets do not. For example, she does not use the prophetic formula “This is what the LORD says,” but seems to speak for herself. Whereas the prophets quoted Yahweh as saying, “I called and you did not answer” (Jer. 7:13), and “I held out my hands” (Isa. 65:2), Wisdom says these things about herself. Her listeners are to show their fear of the Lord by turning to her for correction and counsel (Prov. 1:29–30). If they do, she promises to pour out her heart and thoughts in words that resemble the words of Yahweh in Joel 2:28.16 In sum, Wisdom identifies herself with Yahweh by using words and describing actions that normally come from God alone. Yet the identification is not complete, because she calls her hearers “to fear the LORD,” not her. Although, like Yahweh, she threatens to be unreachable when the day of trouble comes, she does not say that she will bring the trouble; she only knows that it will come.
It is important to keep all three roles in mind when trying to understand this portrait of Wisdom in the book of Proverbs. Wisdom teaches, corrects, and seeks to bring her listeners into relationship with God. In this personification, wisdom as a gift to humanity and wisdom as a characteristic of Yahweh are brought together in poetic (and therefore somewhat ambiguous) language. The portrait is developed more fully in Proverbs 3, 8, and 9, but for now we note that Wisdom is to be understood as a personification, not another form of deity, and that her calls are made to offer guidance, not to receive obedience or worship. Some claim that prayers and praises offered to Sophia (the Greek word for wisdom) are not offered to a goddess but to the Lord, who is wisdom, yet this passage gives us good reasons to question the practice.17
Like the wisdom teacher and the prophet, the persona of Wisdom is a means by which the thoughts and desires of Yahweh are communicated to a wayward humanity. By keeping the three roles together, the emphasis can remain on the act of communication and the role of a servant and messenger. Just as it would be a mistake to worship a wisdom teacher, a prophet, or any of God’s messengers (see the example of Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14:8–18), so it would be wrong to speak of Wisdom’s identification with Yahweh as a feminine manifestation of deity. While it is true that a literary personification is not the same kind of figure as a historical prophet, it is important to remember that Yahweh has also given Wisdom the task to teach, to guide, to correct, and to warn in much the same way as human figures do.
The character of God. We thus learn something about the character of God, the giver of this gift of wisdom. Warnings, even threats of destruction, are signs of grace when they are given to keep those whom God loves from destruction. The picture of Wisdom calling out to those who walk beyond the sound of her voice bears a striking resemblance to Paul’s chilling picture of humanity in Romans 1:18–32. The repeated phrase, “God gave them over” (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28), points to the same truth: Those who want no part of God will get their wish. Yet Wisdom’s desire to reach out to willful humanity also reminds us of Paul’s words about the gospel: “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith” (Rom. 1:5).
Even as we come to discover God’s grace in this portrait of Wisdom, we also come to understand ourselves as people who need that grace. While we may not find ourselves in the portrait of the mocker and the fool who spurn Wisdom’s call, we may be more like the simple than we care to admit. Remembering that the simple are those who are open to a fault, susceptible to influences both good and bad, we can see in ourselves the tendency to wander away after false promises and deceptive desires (such as the enticements described in Prov. 1:8–19). We can also appreciate how slow we are to listen, especially to a word of correction. The mocker and fool represent those who take that unwillingness to listen to its fateful end. We do not need to follow their way to appreciate our own stubbornness. In Matthew 11:19, Jesus tells those who refused to listen to John or to him that “wisdom is proved right by her actions.”
Teaching style. Finally, it is important to remember that the warnings of Wisdom are part and parcel of the parental teaching that continues throughout chapters 1–9. The parents are teaching through the voice of personified Wisdom in the same way they quote other voices, such as the gang (1:8–18) and the future words of the young man himself (5:12–13). For this reason, parents today can learn much by attending to the teaching style of these ancient parents and their use of quotation and description. In the voice of Wisdom, they have given their teaching a voice that calls, corrects, and warns. It not only brings their teaching to life, it plugs that teaching into something greater than themselves.
Wisdom speaks with the authority of God, but it does so by pointing to the calamity that comes to those who ignore her, saying, “This too is part of God’s world.” Prophets like Moses and Jeremiah make similar warnings about taking the wrong path, but unlike their appeal to a revealed message from God, Wisdom appeals to the experience of fools. They will need her help at some future time when they do not know how to get out of the trouble they have created for themselves. Wisdom uses the trouble that comes to fools as the proof that she (and the parents she speaks for) are right.
Contemporary Significance
WE HAVE SEEN that the three sections of chapter 1 work together to create a warning that also makes an invitation to Wisdom’s teaching. Wisdom calls and reaches out to every reader with an offer to instruct and correct, while her warnings point to the general human tendency to walk away and stray from her path. In making contemporary application, three aspects of Wisdom’s calls are important: They tell us the truth about human nature, they tell us of God’s love and care for wayward humans, and they tell us that the time to respond to this truth and love has its limits.
The truth about human nature. Wisdom’s warning and correction tell us the truth about human nature. In a word, we can easily be led astray. As the old hymn puts it, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” While the book of Proverbs is addressed to those standing at a crossroads ready to choose a path in life, most readers today hear Wisdom’s words as people who have chosen the Christian way. We want to follow the way of Jesus. As we follow him on that way, we also learn that we are at a new crossroads every day, and every day must choose to follow Jesus again. And every day, the other path that leads away from him beckons. As we grow, we are sometimes amazed at the ways it exerts its influence over us. We may not abandon his way completely like those addressed by Wisdom, but if we are honest, we recognize that we also wander.
We may wonder why this book of wisdom begins with such a negative picture. Without it, the instruction in wisdom could be misunderstood as having little that makes it different from the shelves of self-help literature we find in our bookstores today. Without it, we might get the mistaken notion that the goal of wisdom teaching is to prepare Christians for a successful and happy life. Not so. Tony Campolo tells college students and their parents that they do not need to worry about paying attention to self-fulfillment; that comes as natural as breathing. Rather, they need a sense of mission.
I mean, you ask an American mother, “What do you want your child to be when he grows up?” You get one standard answer: “I just want my children to be—[Audience says, “Happy.”] . . . Happy—it’s the American creed. You don’t know the whole Declaration of Independence, but you do know this line, that all of us are entitled to life, liberty, and—? [Audience says, “Happiness.”] No wonder we’re messed up! . . . You should stay in school and you should get an education, but the purpose of an education is not to get a good job and make a lot of money. The purpose of a job, the purpose of an education is this: An education is to train you to serve other people in the name of Jesus Christ!18
Campolo’s words also apply to education in wisdom. Wisdom does offer success and happiness as rewards and by-products of the life lived under her guidance, but Wisdom’s teaching will never set us on a course of irresponsible self-fulfillment. Her warnings prevent us from thinking too highly of ourselves and too little of God.
God’s love and care for wayward humans. The warnings are also a sign of God’s love and care for us. When I was a boy, I had a Superman suit that actually had printed on the part of the shirt that was tucked in, “This suit does not give you the power to fly. Only Superman can fly.” I did not believe the warning that was written to keep me from hurting myself. I kept looking for higher things to jump from in the hope that some miraculous wind would carry me off to the clouds. When my Dad caught me jumping from the fender of his new car, he gave me a warning I did believe—good thing he got to me before I headed for the roof!
Likewise, parents today warn their children about choosing friends and activities wisely because they want to keep them from harm. So, as we saw in an earlier section, few today would find themselves tempted by invitations to join violent gangs, but temptations to unjust gain (and perhaps even the violence that is justified by it; see 1:8–19) are never that far away from us. Wisdom’s warnings not only expose the violent way for what it is, they also warn us against the harm that will come to us if we choose to live without correction and instruction. Her speech seems to answer the invitation of the violent men, but more important, it speaks to all who wish to live apart from Wisdom’s teaching. The dangers of greed and violence are always present; they only vary in degrees of intensity and expression. If violence only returns to the hand that produces it, Wisdom pleads and threatens so that we might not harm others, but also that we might suffer no harm ourselves. Her warnings are a communication of God’s love.
Therefore, Wisdom’s speech sums up all that has gone before and offers a second lesson in listening and discernment. Like the parental wisdom teachers, she urges us to learn how to listen with discernment and to use that discernment to decide who is worthy of our trust. If we are to ignore the temptations of gain and their false promises, we are also to recognize her words as true (she will have much more to say about this in 8:6–14). In her correction, she will tell us the truth about ourselves as well as the truth about the way to walk in this world.
Wisdom teaches her listeners to discern truth from false promises by paying attention to long-term outcomes. Look at the results over time, she seems to say, and you will know whose words are sound. She will laugh last and best when trouble comes, when those who reject her “eat the fruit of their ways.” Yet like a prophet, she also ends her speech with an invitation to turn and find safety and security. Parents often speak of the difficulty they have in helping their sons and daughters think about long-term consequences. The pleasures and rewards of “now” are immediate, strong, and hard to resist. It may be that parents can earn a hearing by following Wisdom’s example, pointing out how some do live to regret their choices. They can also invite their children to a life that is free from fear, lived in the love and care of the Lord.
Limitation in the time to respond. Finally, Wisdom’s words help us to recognize that in God’s way of doing things, the time for second chances is long but limited. Wisdom’s urgency should move us to more, not less, concern to call others from going their own way. Our efforts in evangelism can use Wisdom’s roles as teacher and corrector to reach out to others with practical hope. We can offer warnings as well as teaching in life skills so that lives can change for the better. Although the saying has become commonplace, it is worth repeating: God loves us just the way we are, but also loves us too much to let us stay the way we are.
Wisdom’s offer of counsel and correction give us new insight into the love of the Lord that we can share with others, and this insight has its implications for preaching. Some like sermons that “make it practical” with specific guidance in what to do in concrete situations. Others find this overly simplistic and want to hear sermons that offer theological principles that listeners can apply on their own. Of course there should be plenty of both in preaching, but Wisdom’s street sermon reminds me that at least some of my sermons should give practical instruction and talk with listeners about consequences and outcomes, both negative and positive.19
Although Wisdom’s speech makes clear that there comes a time when it is too late to change one’s mind, her invitation at the end of her speech reminds us that the times in which we are casting pearls before swine are few. Knowing that time is limited, Christians ought to be known as the people who give second chances and more. One church joined with the city of Chicago to start some alternative schools geared to give dropouts a chance to pick up their education where they left it off. The school is strict, but the students know they are valued.20 Wisdom offers second chances and more. She also offers a course in prevention, teaching a way that prepares for the future. Instead of reading her words as unrestrained condemnation, we can receive them as the strong invitation of one who hopes that the tragedy of some will become a lesson for many.