Proverbs 3:13 - Meaning and Application

Solomon had already urged us to seek wisdom eagerly (Proverbs 2:1 and following), and he had promised that sincere, steady efforts would succeed. But a practical question still remains: What do we gain when we find it? Hope of profit is what drives people to work hard, so he now shows how great wisdom’s reward is. He begins with this sure truth: happy is the person who finds wisdom, that true wisdom that means knowing and loving God, and fully living in line with his truth, his care, and his commands.

To find wisdom in a way that brings happiness, we must truly make it our own. The happy person, after finding it, gets both a personal share in it and real possession of it. He draws out understanding, as the phrase can mean. He receives it from God through prayer, because he does not have it in himself. He also takes pains to get it, like someone drawing ore from a mine. If it does not come easily, we must work harder to draw it out. He keeps growing in it too, using what he already has and turning five talents into ten. And he uses it for good, sharing from his storehouse like wine poured from a vessel, giving others what is useful for their instruction, both new and old.

We must also trade for wisdom. The text speaks of the “merchandise of wisdom,” which means wisdom must be our main work, not a side task, like a merchant who gives most of his time and thought to his trade. It also means we must be willing to risk everything for it, as one puts capital into a business. Wisdom is like the pearl of great price, which, once found, should lead us gladly to sell all to gain it (Matthew 13:45-46). We are told to buy the truth (Proverbs 23:23), and no price is named, because we must be ready to pay any price rather than miss it.

We must also lay hold of wisdom as we would grab a good bargain before it slips away. That means we should seize every chance to grow in it, and catch even its smallest instructions. It is not enough to touch wisdom once. We must keep our hold on it, hold it fast, and never let it go. We must continue in wisdom’s ways to the end. Some read the word as “sustain it,” meaning we should cling to it with all our strength. We should also do what we can to support religion where we live when it begins to weaken.

The happiness of those who find wisdom is greater than the riches of this world, even if a person had the greatest wealth possible. It is a better and more profitable trade to seek wisdom, Christ, grace, and spiritual blessings than silver, gold, and rubies. Suppose a person had all worldly wealth in abundance, even everything he could desire, though no one has ever had that. Still, that wealth could not buy heavenly wisdom. It would be despised if offered as payment, because wisdom cannot be bought for gold (Job 28:15). It also could not make up for the loss of wisdom, or pay the price for a soul ruined by its own foolishness. And it would not make a person nearly as happy, even in this world, as those who have true wisdom, though they own none of those riches. Heavenly wisdom brings and secures what silver, gold, and rubies never can.

This happiness is also real, because wisdom includes everything people think makes life good, and equals it. Wisdom is pictured as a bright and generous queen, offering gifts to all who submit to her rule. Is long life a blessing? Yes, and one of the greatest, because life includes all other goods, so she offers it in her right hand. Religion gives us the best way of lengthening life, and it gives us God’s promise of life. Even if our days on earth are no longer than our neighbor’s, it will secure everlasting life in a better world. Are riches and honor blessings? They are, and she gives them with her left hand. She is ready to receive those who submit to her with both arms, and to give to them with both hands. They will have the wealth of this world as far as Infinite Wisdom sees fit, while the true riches, by which people are rich toward God, are safe with them. No honor from birth or promotion can compare with the honor that comes with religion. It makes the righteous more excellent than his neighbor, gives them standing with God, wins respect from serious people, and will one day make those now hidden in obscurity shine like the sun.

Is pleasure what people want most? True godliness has the greatest real pleasure in it. Wisdom’s ways are ways of pleasantness. The paths she leads us in are full of delight and satisfaction. No enjoyment of the senses can match the joy that gracious souls find in fellowship with God and in doing good. We must walk the only right road to our destination, whether it feels pleasant or not. Yet the road of religion is not only right, it is also pleasant. It is smooth, clean, and scattered with roses. All her paths are peace. There is peace not only at the end, but along the way. There is peace in religion as a whole, and in every path within it, in every duty and every act. One duty does not spoil what another sweetens, as worldly comforts often do. Every part of wisdom is peace, not only sweet, but safe. The saints enter peace even before heaven, and they enjoy a present rest.

Wisdom is also the happiness of paradise (Proverbs 3:18). She is a tree of life. True grace is to the soul what the tree of life would have been to our first parents, from which they were shut out because they ate from the forbidden tree. It is a seed of immortality and a well of living water, springing up to eternal life. It is a promise of the New Jerusalem, where the tree of life stands in the center (Revelation 22:2; Revelation 2:7). Those who feed on this heavenly wisdom will not only be healed of every deadly sickness, but will also find a defense against age and death. They shall eat and live forever.

It is also a sharing in the happiness of God himself, because wisdom is his eternal glory and blessedness (Proverbs 3:19-20).

This should make us cherish the wisdom and understanding God gives. By wisdom, the Lord founded the earth, so it is firmly set and cannot be moved. It will never fail to serve the purpose for which God made it, because it is fitted for that purpose in every way.

By understanding, he also established the heavens and ordered all their motions in the best possible way. The heavenly bodies are vast, yet there is no defect in them. They are many, yet there is no confusion. Their movement is swift, yet they do not wear out. The depths of the sea are opened up, and the waters below the sky come forth. The clouds also send down the dew, the waters from above the sky. All of this is done by God’s wisdom and knowledge.

So happy is the person who finds wisdom, because that person will be fully supplied for every good word and every good work. Christ is that Wisdom, the one through whom the worlds were made and still continue. Happy, then, are those to whom God makes Christ their wisdom. In him, they have what is needed to fulfill all the promises already given, including long life, riches, and honor. All the wealth of heaven, earth, and sea belongs to him.