Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Reading through the 31 chapters of Proverbs each month can give us an understanding of how to serve God.

Proverbs 8:1-36

Personification – The attribution of personal form or character to inanimate objects or abstract ideas as endowed with personal attributes. (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary)

The English Standard Version has the following note in chapter 8, “In this majestic poem, wisdom is the supreme teacher who teaches on her own authority. The personification is most probably a poetic device to express most vividly the authority of wisdom.”

The caution of the author in this statement is evident. He knows he has departed from the great mass of conservative commentators beginning in the 4^th century. But his comments are correct and welcomed.

It seems this author (ESV) has failed to see the grand exaltation of wisdom in personification began in 7:4, found throughout chapter 8, and continued in chapter 9:1-6.

In 7:4, the relationship with wisdom is described as “my sister” and “your intimate friend.” The ESV notes about this description, “One should think of wisdom and understanding as one’s close relative.” Rather a more correct understanding would be “my sister” understood in the same sense it is used in Song of Solomon 4:9, 10, 12; 5:1. This committed relationship, as a husband to his wife, is the enduring protection wisdom furnishes against adultery.

⁹You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
¹⁰How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much better is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!
¹²A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
a spring locked, a fountain sealed.

¹I came to my garden, my sister, my bride,
I gathered my myrrh with my spice,
I ate my honeycomb with my honey,
I drank my wine with my milk.

In chapter 8 we find a personification of wisdom which identifies and exalts its great and enduring value, (8:10-11; 18:21). Chapter 8:21-31describes wisdom as an eternal attribute of God, (Vs 23).

All creation demonstrates this eternal wisdom.

²² "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
²³Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
²⁴When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
²⁵Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth,
²⁶before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
²⁸when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
²⁹when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
³⁰then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
³¹ rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.

This brings a three-fold conclusion: A. All creation has a reasonable explanation. B. Wisdom is directed to the wellbeing of creation. C. Wisdom is a communicable attribute.

It is here we can consider God’s eternal decree as it is revealed in His Word. This decree, as it is so beautifully stated in Romans chapters 8-10, is a pregnant commentary on Proverbs 8. As you read Proverbs 8, consider joyfully Romans 8:18.

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.