Wisdom in the Fear of God: Proverbs

Fear is one of those emotions that has the power to control. This is why people don't rob banks with brooms in hand while wearing princess outfits. NO. They use guns (or the threat of a gun) and wear Joker masks (or sometimes masks of former U.S. Presidents). SCARY STUFF! Why? They know that creating fear will help them QUICKLY control people so that they can QUICKLY get the money and QUICKLY peel out in their Cadillac Eldorado getaway car.

Now when we think of fear, we almost always think negative thoughts...abusive homes, terrorism, or being abducted by aliens. And this taints our reading of Scripture when God tells us to "fear" Him and that the "fear of God" is the beginning of wisdom. We automatically think to ourselves, "Only an angry God who gets kicks out of bullying people and punching holes in walls would ask us to fear Him." And so we picture God as violent and abusive.

But we must not forget that fear can also be used to good ends. Take for instance the 'almighty' spanking (or in today's culture, the 'tortuous' timeout that lasts an entire minute!). We utilize these parenting 'tools' to encourage our kids not to throw a tantrum in the checkout line at Target (or in the Lego aisle or really any aisle with toys or sugar products). Fear in this context is a good thing! Why? In the context of parenting, "Fear is the beginning of obedience." And the loving parents' desire is to use fear tactics to help their kids function properly in this world (and embrace God's design for life). After all, kids do not have the ability to respond to abstract, moral pep talks about the problem of evil (and rebellious kids) in the world.

So hopefully you can see that 'fear' can be used to control people and this isn't always a bad thing. In fact, the book of Proverbs sets out to show that the 'fear of God' STARTS us on the path to true wisdom. And true wisdom will GENERALLY lead to positive outcomes. That's a good thing! So let's see how the author of Proverbs makes his point...

THE FEAR OF GOD AND ITS CONTEXT
Proverbs 1-9 lays the foundation for the rest of the book. And right out of the gate we learn that "The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge but the fools despise wisdom and instruction" (1:7). So how are we to understand this verse (and in particular "the fear of God")? The next verse (Proverbs 1:8) gives us a hint. The "fear of God" is to be understood in the context of a loving relationship between a father and a son. And so instantly, the author draws our thoughts away from "fear" in the context of abuse, terrorism, and aliens and insists that the context for "the fear of God" is LOVE!

But many people throughout history have insisted that the context for the 'fear of God' is REVERENCE. Therefore, they insist that FEAR is better understood to be REVERENCE or RESPECT. While it is true that reverence can be related to fear, the two words create two very different word pictures. REVERENCE creates the picture of a person (like Michael Jordan or Billy Graham) who you look up to and admire. On the other hand, FEAR creates the picture of a person who has the power to reward or punish you. And it seems clear to me that the author of Proverbs sees the 'fear of God' in the context of God's authority to reward or punish. This is clear in Proverb 24:21-22 when it says, "Fear God and the king, my son, and do not join with the rebellious, for those two will send sudden destruction upon them, and who knows what calamities they can bring?" Does this sound more like reverent respect or literal fear?

This is why the fear of God is the BEGINNING of wisdom (or knowledge). Fear can control us. And God wants our fear of Him to lead us to obedience in His wisdom! But notice that the verse does not say that fear EQUALS wisdom. NO. Fear is merely the PATH TO wisdom. Also, notice that fear is only the BEGINNING of wisdom. God does not want all of our decisions to be driven by FEAR for our entire lives. However, just like a child's obedience begins with FEAR (at a young age) so too does our wisdom begin with FEAR. But the hope is that one day we are driven to follow God out of love, conviction and purpose (and not just out of FEAR). In this regard, fear is not the END of wisdom.

WHAT IS TRUE WISDOM?
But what is true wisdom? Believe it or not, true wisdom is a WOMAN (1:20)! You heard me right! In Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a faithful, virtuous woman (3:13-18; 5:15-23; 8:1-21; 9:1-11). On the other hand, folly (the opposite of wisdom) is personified as an unfaithful, adulterous woman (2:16-22; 5:1-14; 6:20-7:27; 9:13-18)! The author (who is an advocate for wisdom) tries to persuade the reader to embrace Lady Wisdom and avoid being captivated and allured by Lady Folly (5:15-20). And so the author sees true wisdom as a virtuous woman to whom we need to commit ourselves.

But why is wisdom personified as a woman in the first place? It all begins with Proverbs 1:8 which says, "Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching [lit. torah]." This verse communicates that wisdom comes from the torah (see also 3:1; 4:2; 6:20; 6:23; 7:2; 13:14). The word torah is used to refer to God's law (or teaching) in the Old Testament. Also, the first five books of the Bible are referred to as the torah (and so it shouldn't be surprising that the author links wisdom to the creation of the world in 3:19-20 & 8:22-31). And so in Proverbs 1:8, the author is linking divine wisdom to the torah and communicating that true wisdom comes from God's divine law (or teaching).

So how does this relate to wisdom being personified as a woman? Well, some believe that wisdom is personified as a woman because both the words torah and wisdom are feminine nouns. And by personifying wisdom as a woman, the author is using another means to link Lady Wisdom with the feminine torah. Clearly the author wants us to know that the torah is the source of wisdom!

THE CONTEXT FOR WISDOM LITERATURE
So how might the book of Proverbs have challenged God's people in the Old Testament? Well, as we've read up to this point, Israel was constantly being allured into disobedience by Lady Folly. And so the book of Proverbs would have found constant relevance to the temptations the Israelites were facing each day. But if the book of Proverbs was primarily written to be applied to the Israelite's experience of the exile then the book would have helped to give perspective to their current circumstances. They would understand that because they didn't fear God and follow His torah, He had no choice but to put them into an extended timeout under the oppression of foreign nations. He simply loved them too much to allow them to live under the seductive spell of Lady Folly!

THE BOTTOM LINE
And how might Proverbs relate to you and me today? It reminds us that divine wisdom comes from the torah (God's teaching). In the torah we find God's design for life spelled out. This is why God wants us to fear and follow Him...He wants us to truly live because He loves us! And so we need to embrace Lady Wisdom and avoid being allured by Lady Folly. If we do this, only then will we experience the goodness and benefits of true wisdom!