Some Thoughts From Proverbs 1

Proverbs 1:7 

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
    fools despise wisdom and instruction.

I think I have said this before that I see this verse as the key verse in the whole of Proverbs. This can be only if we understand what the “fear of the Lord” is.

This is, by most, recognized to be a Holy Reverence of God. It is this and it is much more. We have done a disservice to the word "fear" if we do not recognize the acknowledg­ment of God's wrath in the term. We can believe this is not a servile fear and still respect the fact that God's wrath is a fearful thing.

 The "fear of God" as it is used in this verse includes a knowledge of the Lord or the Covenant God of Israel.  And this can never be said without knowing that calling God "The Lord" is often only by those with the faith of the Covenant.

The second part of this verse can be either antithetic or synthetic. It can either be the opposite of the first or explain and complete the first. I take it to be synthetic. It shows what is not “the fear of the Lord" and therefore all that is not wise. That is the fool.