Proverbs 8:1 - Meaning and Application

God’s will, as revealed for our salvation, is shown here as easy to know and understand. That means no one has to excuse ignorance or wrong belief. It is also shown as worthy of welcome, so no one can excuse carelessness or unbelief.

The things God reveals are easy to know, because they belong to us and to our children (Deuteronomy 29:29). We do not need to climb up to heaven or go down into the deep to find them (Deuteronomy 30:11). In part, creation already makes God known (Psalm 19:1), conscience also speaks, and the moral order built into us points to right and wrong. But God has made these things clearest through Moses and the prophets, so let people hear them.

Wisdom’s commands can be known because they are proclaimed openly. Proverbs says, “Does not Wisdom cry out?” She does cry aloud and does not hold back (Proverbs 8:1; Isaiah 58:1). She lifts up her voice like someone who is serious and wants to be heard. Jesus also stood and cried out to the people (John 7:37), and the Levites read the blessings and curses aloud (Deuteronomy 27:14). Even people’s own hearts sometimes speak loudly through the voice of conscience.

These truths are also proclaimed from high places (Proverbs 8:2). Wisdom stands on the heights, where many can hear. God gave the law from Mount Sinai, and Christ explained it in his sermon on the mount. If we ignore God’s revelation, we are turning away from the One who speaks from heaven, and that is the highest place of all (Hebrews 12:25). Secret speech belongs to falsehood and sin, but wisdom speaks openly and has nothing to hide.

Wisdom is also announced in public places where crowds gather. Jesus taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always came together (John 18:20). Every passerby, whatever his rank or condition, may learn what is good and what the Lord requires, if he is willing to listen. Wisdom’s voice is meant for all people, and “he who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

God’s truth is also set where it is needed most, at the crossroads of life. It is published in the places of the paths, where travelers need direction. There, when people are uncertain, they may hear the word behind them saying, “This is the way” (Isaiah 30:21). The foolish person does not know how to go to the city (Ecclesiastes 10:15), so Wisdom stands ready to guide him. She stands at the gates, at the city entrance, ready to help him find the right path (1 Samuel 9:18).

Wisdom even follows people home and calls to them at their doors, speaking peace to the house. If a son of peace is there, that peace will remain. God’s ministers are meant to witness both in public and from house to house. A person’s own conscience also follows him with warnings wherever he goes, because he carries head and heart with him.

These words are directed to human beings, not angels, not devils, and not animals. Angels do not need this instruction, devils are beyond it, and animals cannot receive it. But people do need it, because they are taught more than the beasts and made wiser than the birds. So Wisdom says, “To you, O men, I call” (Proverbs 8:4). This word is for all people, not only Jews, not only nobles, not only scholars, but even the least and lowest among men.

The things revealed are also worthy to be known. They are of great value. Proverbs calls them “excellent things” and even “princely things” (Proverbs 8:6). They are fit for the least among us, yet they also give joy to the greatest. They are divine and heavenly, and compared with them, all other learning is like a child’s game. Anything that concerns the eternal God, the immortal soul, and everlasting life must be excellent indeed.

They are also perfectly fair and right. Proverbs says they are “right things” and all in righteousness, with nothing crooked or twisted in them (Proverbs 8:6, 8). Everything God reveals agrees with the light of nature and completes it. There is nothing harsh, degrading, or unreasonable in God’s commands. All his precepts concerning all things are right.

These truths are also completely trustworthy. Wisdom says, “My mouth shall speak truth” (Proverbs 8:7). She speaks the whole truth and nothing but the truth, because her teaching is a witness to the world. Every word of God is true. There are no false tricks in it, and God does not mislead us even when he tells us what is for our good. Christ is a faithful witness and is truth itself. Lying is wickedness and an abomination to his lips. So lying should be hateful to us too, and far from our speech, just as it is far from God’s speech.

These words are deeply pleasing to those who receive them rightly. That means people who understand themselves well, are not blinded by the world or the flesh, are not ruled by prejudice, and are taught by God. It also includes those whose understanding he has opened, who honestly seek knowledge, work for it, and have already found some of it in their search. To such people, all these things are plain and not hard to understand. If Scripture seems sealed shut, the problem lies with those who are unwilling to learn.

If the good news is hidden, it is hidden from those who are lost. But to those who turn away from evil, that is real understanding, and to those who have the good sense that comes from obeying God, all these things are plain. The way of religion is like a wide road, and even simple travelers, though they are called fools, will not miss it (Isaiah 35:8). So people do a great wrong to ordinary men and women when they refuse them access to Scripture, claiming they cannot understand it. Scripture is clear for plain people.

These sayings are all right, and not hard to submit to. Those who can tell the difference between good and evil gladly agree that Wisdom’s commands are right. So they govern themselves by them without complaining or arguing.

From all this, the writer concludes that true knowledge of these things, the kind that changes us into their likeness, is to be valued above all the wealth of this world (Proverbs 8:10, Proverbs 8:11). “Receive my instruction, and not silver.” Instruction must do more than reach our ears, it must be welcomed. We must let it make its mark on us, and we must submit to it.

This means we should choose religion over riches. If we have the knowledge and fear of God in our hearts, we are truly more blessed and better supplied for every part of life than if we had great amounts of silver and gold. Wisdom itself is better than rubies, and it must be counted that way. It brings a better reward, gives a better portion, and, when shown in our lives, makes a better ornament than the finest jewels.

Anything we might wish for from this world’s wealth would, if we had it, still be unworthy to compare with the benefits that come with serious godliness. We should also be dead to the wealth of this world, so that we can devote ourselves more closely and earnestly to the work of religion. We must receive instruction as the main thing, and then be content whether we receive silver or not. We must not treat silver as our true portion or reward, like the rich man in his lifetime who received his good things.