# 422 The Proverbs – ‘A manual for living’ (MSG). Proverbs 8:22-36 (# 1). Wisdom’s identity.

Personification is a common poetic device used at times in the Scriptures, such as in Isaiah 55:12 as follows:

You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.

Here in Proverbs 8, we have also seen this used, with the personification of Wisdom, depicted as a woman calling out to the simple to turn from their foolish ways and walk in her ways instead – the ways of wisdom (defined as living in the fear of the Lord). Then in our last post, we considered the wonderful benefits of following the way of wisdom in contrast to living a life of folly. Today, we look at her identity and her origin, and so what follows is an incredible portion of Scripture for us to consider. Read it now, thoughtfully, and then we will endeavour to understand it, in the light of the big picture of the Bible.

²² “The Lord brought me [Wisdom] forth as the first of his works,
    before his deeds of old;
²³ I was formed long ages ago,
    at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
²⁴ When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
    when there were no springs overflowing with water;
²⁵ before the mountains were settled in place,
    before the hills, I was given birth,
²⁶ before he made the world or its fields
    or any of the dust of the earth.
²⁷ I was there when he set the heavens in place,
    when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
²⁸ when he established the clouds above
    and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
²⁹ when he gave the sea its boundary
    so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
³⁰     Then I was constantly at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
    rejoicing always in his presence,
³¹ rejoicing in his whole world
    and delighting in mankind.

I find this a most enjoyable portion of Scripture to read. Here we are invited back to the very “beginning” and as Nielson says, “we mustn’t miss the overflowing joy and delight of this passage. Note how ‘delight’ and ‘rejoicing’ weave a pattern of joy in the goodness of God’s creation [vv. 30-31]. The delight lands on the same audience that Wisdom addresses: the children of man (v 4b; v 31b). Wisdom’s call in Proverbs is not an abstract call to virtue; it is the Lord’s call to the human beings he created in his image, for his glory – and his joy!” (# 55)

When you read the first chapters of Genesis, you sense this joy and delight also, when after each wonderful creative act of the Creator God, there is a repetition of the phrase: And God saw that it was good (1:10, 12, 17, 21, 25) until we read, God saw all that he had made and it was very good (1:31). Just imagine for a moment, if you can, concerning this unique occasion, if you were there, I think it would have bought a big smile to your face, and so why not God’s! Or maybe you would have burst into song before the Lord, and it would have caused you to clap [your] hands in appreciation of God’s marvelous creation.

And Wisdom here tells us that she was there when it all happened! Not only that, but in fact she says:

²² “The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,
    before his deeds of old;
²³ I was formed long ages ago,
    at the very beginning, when the world came to be.

She was brought forth … formed first, before it all started, and so when God began his wonderful creative activities:

Then I was constantly at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
    rejoicing always in his presence,
³¹ rejoicing in his whole world
    and delighting in mankind.

Goldsworthy comments:

“This section (vv. 22-31) provides the background to the authority of wisdom who calls to be heard (vv. 1-21) … The centre section (vv. 24-29) emphasizes the priority of wisdom over the rest of creation: she was there before anything else existed, and she was there when all things were being made.

The main point of this section is that God is the source of wisdom, and creation is the expression of God’s wisdom. The world order established by God at the beginning is the manifestation of his wisdom… the first demonstration of the wisdom of God.” (# 53)

Keller continues:

“Biblical wisdom then, takes us back to the very foundations of the earth. The only wisdom that works in daily life is that same wisdom that created and will redeem the world… God created us simply for the joy and love of it [v.31]. He loves us not instrumentally – for what he can get out of us – but for us. So, it is the height of wisdom to love God for himself alone, and to value human beings not simply for what we can get from them but as beings who reflect the image of our Maker (Genesis 1:26).” (# 51)

She concludes:

  ³² “Now then, my children, listen to me;
    blessed are those who keep my ways.
³³ Listen to my instruction and be wise;
    do not disregard it.
³⁴ Blessed are those who listen to me,
    watching daily at my doors,
    waiting at my doorway.
³⁵ For those who find me find life
    and receive favor from the Lord.
³⁶ But those who fail to find me harm themselves;
    all who hate me love death.”

How are you doing? Are you listening yet?