DISCOURSE 10. SOLOMON HERE DEALS WITH THE QUESTION OF THE NAIVE, THE SCORNERS AND THE FOOLISH (PRO 1:22). THE APPEAL OF WOMAN WISDOM IS CONTRASTED WITH THE ALLURE OF WOMAN FOLLY, AND IN BETWEEN THESE APPEALS IS A WARNING AGAINST SCORNERS (PRO 9:1-18). In the opening reference to Woman Wisdom (Pro 1:... [ Continue Reading ]
PREPARATION OF THE GREAT FEAST (PROVERBS 9:1 A). ‘Wisdom has built her house, She has shaped (hewn out) her seven pillars, She has killed her beasts, She has mingled her wine, She has also furnished her table, She has sent forth her maidens.' Wisdom has, of course, been around from the beginni... [ Continue Reading ]
THE APPEAL OF WOMAN WISDOM TO THE NAIVE (PROVERBS 9:1). After making full and generous preparations Wisdom calls on the naive to respond to and partake of her feast. ‘The naive' might be better translated as ‘the seduceable', those still open to wisdom, but also open to scorning and to folly. They a... [ Continue Reading ]
APPEAL TO THE NAIVE AND THOSE LACKING IN UNDERSTANDING (PROVERBS 9:3). The emphasis now moves to Wisdom's call to the naive, and to ‘those who are void of understanding', that is, those who have not yet responded to Wisdom.. She cries on the highest places of the city, “Whoever is naive, let him... [ Continue Reading ]
PARTAKING OF THE GREAT FEAST (PROVERBS 9:5). “Come, eat you of my bread, And drink of the wine which I have mingled. Leave off, you naive ones, and live, And walk in the way of understanding.” All are called to come and eat of her food (her bread included the slaughtered beasts - Proverbs 9:2),... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE SCORNER, WHO DOES NOT LIKE REPROOF, AND THE WISE MAN WHO HEEDS IT, (A WARNING TO THE NAIVE), CENTRED ROUND THE FEAR OF YHWH (PROVERBS 9:7). The prologue initially began with a warning concerning ‘the naive, -- scorners -- and the foolish' (Proverbs 1:22). Here in this final... [ Continue Reading ]
THE APPEAL OF WOMAN FOLLY TO THE NAIVE (PROVERBS 9:13). There is no suggestion that Woman Folly's house is opulent or well-provisioned. And indeed she herself is described as ‘turbulent' and ‘knowing nothing'. She may make a show of being like wisdom (she is on a seat in the high places of the city)... [ Continue Reading ]