Proverbs 1
2024-05-14 20:14![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
asher553Wisdom is an individual pursuit, but it depends on other people. It is a communal enterprise, and it is both acquired and exercised by selecting one's company carefully. This includes teachers, companions, business associates, and your intimate partner. Keep good company - this is the great theme that runs through the Book of Proverbs from beginning to end.
The first chapter of Proverbs opens by invoking the name of "Solomon the son of David, king of Israel" as the author or compiler of the work. This is the only time the name Israel appears in Proverbs.
After declaring the purpose of the book, the first verse of instruction reads: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline." Wisdom begins with the awareness that man was created in the image of G-d.
Now the text turns to a warning against associating with thieves and criminals. Does this seem like a strange place to start? But look at how many young people from "good" family backgrounds become involved in crime, violence, and destruction. And very often they do it for a sense of purpose, solidarity, and camaraderie.
In the final section of Chapter 1 [v. 20 - 33], Wisdom is personified, as she is throughout much of Proverbs. Here, she "cries aloud outside; she utters her voice in the streets; she cries in the chief place of concourse, at the entrance of the city gates". Wisdom is not aloof and secretive; rather, she is to be found in the open and amongst humanity. [256]
The first chapter of Proverbs opens by invoking the name of "Solomon the son of David, king of Israel" as the author or compiler of the work. This is the only time the name Israel appears in Proverbs.
After declaring the purpose of the book, the first verse of instruction reads: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline." Wisdom begins with the awareness that man was created in the image of G-d.
Now the text turns to a warning against associating with thieves and criminals. Does this seem like a strange place to start? But look at how many young people from "good" family backgrounds become involved in crime, violence, and destruction. And very often they do it for a sense of purpose, solidarity, and camaraderie.
In the final section of Chapter 1 [v. 20 - 33], Wisdom is personified, as she is throughout much of Proverbs. Here, she "cries aloud outside; she utters her voice in the streets; she cries in the chief place of concourse, at the entrance of the city gates". Wisdom is not aloof and secretive; rather, she is to be found in the open and amongst humanity. [256]
