Where does wisdom come from?

I'm not a biblical scholar, but I play one on TV.

Proverbs 8 is a great example of how many people misinterpret the Bible. The chapter is usually subtitled something like "The blessings of wisdom" or the like. In it, wisdom is personified, or given human characteristics, a common literary tool in the poetic passages of the Bible (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs; plus many specific passages within lots of other books).

Now any normal person knows that you say stuff in poems that you would never say in real life. Remember the first time you were in love, and you thought about writing that special someone a poem? You promised the moon, eternal love, and carrying books home from school forever. You exaggerated for effect (hyperbole). You gave your love a voice, and turned the nebulous, mysterious, unexplainable love from an "it" into something much more tangible.

The proverb writer here does that with wisdom. But there are some people that just don't get it.

For instance, there are those who point to this chapter as promoting the female deity, whether it be God's feminine side or a separate person (wife? sister?). All the personification here is feminine in nature. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think God is male or female. He's in touch with his divine side, and since we were made in his image, that divine side has feminine and masculine qualities in abundance.

Or there are those that say this somehow refers to Jesus as the preincarnate (before he was born) personification of wisdom. The help in creating the world, the design of the earth--it makes those who don't see Jesus as God justify their placing him as the chief of all created beings, based on misinterpretations of John 1.1 and Colossians 1.16. In this view Jesus was created first, then helped God the Father create the rest of the world.

Finally there is the Sophia-worship group. In Greek, wisdom is "sophia." And while these proverbs were orginally written in Hebrew, for much of history they have been read in Greek in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible popular from before Jesus was born throughout much of the Roman Empire times). Sophia worshipers--similar to the first mistake--see "Sophia" as a real person, equal to God. Some feminists have latched onto this belief and formed a religious structure around Sophia-worship.

But to me the truth seems very obvious. The writer of the proverb wants us to see that we should be in love with wisdom. We should be passionate about pleasing her, knowing her. We should want to spend our time with her.

At the core, wisdom comes from fear of the LORD and a passionate pursuit of wisdom.

Feet problems

I have a thing about feet.

I don't know what it is, but feet have always been the ickiest part of the body for me. Maybe it stems from sticking my foot under a lawnmower when I was 16 and losing a toe, or maybe it's something psychological hidden within me--who knows. But I don't like feet.

Like Adrian Monk there are days where I work to overcome this icky feeling. I have grown to the point of being able to give my wife a foot massage. Sometimes. Of course there's then the alcohol rub, bleach bath and disinfectant use afterwords, but I'm progressing...

A couple of weekends ago I needed to take San's van to the shop for a new tire. She had taken my truck and gone shopping, and I didn't really want to wait, so I walked the mile or so from the tire place back to our house. It was a nice Saturday morning stroll.

Until I got to our neighbors' house. The kids were playing on the sidwalk, I was watching them, and totally forgot about the little raised bump in the sidewalk. I kicked it straight on, and stubbed my toe. I nearly fell down. Don't you love that feeling of "How can I regain my balance and not look like an idiot?"

The only real problem is that I was wearing flip-flops (no mom, no one calls them "thongs" anymore, that means something else now). As I kept walking up the driveway, I felt a little liquid on my foot, looked down and...well, let's just say it suddenly hurt more. I came inside, cleaned it up, bandaged it, made sure it didn't need stitches (it was more of a filet than a gash), then limped around for a couple of days.

So today I read Proverbs 3. There's lots of stuff in there about wisdom, including this:

"My son, do not lose sight of these--keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck. Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble." Pr 3.21-23

It is easy to get distracted from wisdom and slice open a toe. (Maybe wisdom is to stop wearing flip-flops...really mom, Google "thong" and see if any flip-flops come up.) We need to keep our focus on the wisdom of God, and not be distracted by the alternative voices begging for our attention. Jesus said to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." Sometimes, he says, "what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God" (Lk 16.15b).

A hot commodity

"Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction and understanding." Pr 23.23

Truth and wisdom, instruction and understanding--these are the commodities worth investing in! Today's market fluctuations and economic uncertainties don't affect what is wise, what is worth knowing and doing. These "stocks" do not decrease in value--there are no downturns in the wisdom market.

A man once found a treasure in a field...

Getting in a hurry

I am notorious for getting in a hurry to get certain things done. But there is something to be said for doing it right:

"Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way." Pr 19.2

The young are full of passion, ready to change the world. But passion alone can't do it. Knowledge is required. The knowledge on where to go is of primary value--it comes before the passion to go. Passion is vital, but subservient to knowledge.

Another of today's proverbs is about not getting in a hurry to be mad:

"Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense." 19.11

I hope I have good sense. It's not a personality trait, although I'm sure some people are naturally less likely to get angry than others. Good sense is learned behavior. It has to be practiced. Maybe that's why those people that drive you crazy are still in your life--God's growing your good sense muscles...

"Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed." 19.17

We are just stewards of our stuff, God is the Owner. However God looks at our generosity to those in need as lending to him money. Amazing. We get "double credit" by giving to the poor--once from the experience with them and once from God. And God pays us back.