Wisdom and Foolishness Personified

Solomon, creating an interest to young men, made wisdom a beautiful woman to be longed after.

Wisdom’s Call

Proverbs 9:1‑6

1          Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars.
2          She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table.
3          She has sent out her maids, and she calls from the highest point of the city.
4          "Let all who are simple come in here!" she says to those who lack judgment.
5          "Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed.
6          Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.

Why, do you think, Solomon describes wisdom in this manner?

New Testament Applications of the Same Principle

Have your roots go down deep in the love of God  Eph. 3:14-21
Long for the milk of the Word  I Peter 2:1-5
Hunger and thirst after righteousness Matt. 5:6
Put on the Armor of God in an environment of prayer  Eph. 6:10-20

II Th 1:11‑12
11        To this end also we pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power;
12        in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(NAS)

Foolishness Personified

In contrast to a beautiful woman of wisdom, foolishness is shown to be a loud and brazen Hussy.

Proverbs 9:13‑18
13        The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge.
14        She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,
15        calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way.
16        "Let all who are simple come in here!" she says to those who lack judgment.
17        "Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!"
18        But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.

(Compare these verses to Proverbs. 9:1-6 which is the call of wisdom.)

Put this in a modern setting.  Where is foolishness sitting and what is she saying?

What makes her attractive?

Proverbs 17:12
12        Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.

Conclusion:  people don't have a clue!

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