The Invitations of Wisdom and Folly

The Summary Proverbs 9: In Proverbs 9, Solomon contrasts Lady Wisdom with the evil Woman Folly, who lures the foolish to their ruin. Wisdom and Folly make their final appeals and both appeal to the simpletons, those who need to live by wisdom but who are most easily influenced by folly. Wisdom offers life without pleasure but Folly offers pleasure with no mention of death. There is more to life than trying to get used to it, or just trying to push it in the right direction. God has something to say about life. He has given us his word, the Bible. The Bible is a book that has much to say about life and about how we should live it. Proverbs 9 breaks life down to its simplest truths and gives us some of the facts of life.

The invitation of Wisdom

Wisdom has prepared a house and is held up by seven pillars. This speaks of spaciousness and stability. The "seven pillars" is part of the imagery of the house but may have cosmic references. The phrase has given rise to expressions like "the seven pillars of wisdom" or "the house that wisdom builds." Since seven is a sacred or ominous concept, the point is that wisdom produces a perfect world.

Wisdom has prepared a sumptuous banquet in this house and sends out her maids to call people to come and eat. The figures of meat and wine represent the good teaching of wisdom that will be palatable and profitable.

Wisdom spreads her table for those who enter her house. She strengthens them, she satisfies them, and she sustains them. She gives them all they need for now and for the future. The same is true for the person who chooses the way of God over the way of the world. God spreads his feast for us as we pass through this life and he promises us that we have a home with him to live forever.

The house of wisdom is away from the path of normal human activity. She seeks them where they live and invites them to come to her place for a better life. What is "wisdom"? Wisdom is not intelligence! It is the best use of knowledge. A life of wisdom is a life that lives out the truths of the Word of God. 

The mockers are those who will not live by wise and moral teachings and are not content to let others do so without their cynical mocking. Anyone who tries to rebuke and correct a mocker is asking for trouble; insult, abuse, and hatred are second nature to this cynical heckler. The wicked man or the fool is "un-teachable". He will not listen to reason. He will not listen to the Lord. Trying to show him his waywardness only creates an enemy!

The wise person will love the one trying to correct him. This is the profitable response to corrective teaching. The theme of the fear of the Lord is brought here because this is the foundation of all wisdom and all righteousness. In the final analysis, those who fear the Lord, add to their learning, and receive discipline will look forward to a long and productive life. Wisdom brings its own reward. It is sufficiently satisfying and worth pursuing. Conversely, if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.

The invitation of Folly

The rival "woman Folly" presses her appeal for the naive to come and eat from her provisions. Her character is described as loud, undisciplined, and without knowledge. "Loud" suggests riotous and portrays her as foolish and simplistic. To these troubling qualities is added ignorance, which means moral ignorance.

Folly also has a house. She is the counterpart of the personification of wisdom. But her house is built where the fools are already living. This implies that men may enter the house of folly with little or no change in their lives. To get to wisdom, they have to put forth effort, to get to folly, they can continue as they are, where they are. Folly promises the fool a good time, this is the enticement to evil. This is why more people live lives of sin than some live lives of righteousness! They do what comes naturally and they gravitate toward evil.

Folly's position is prominent in the city streets. She often imitates wisdom, so that only the cautious and discerning can make the right choice. Her invitation, likewise, is to the passersby or the unwary.

Folly's invitation impersonates wisdom's. Folly’s competing voice is louder and more appealing to those who lack judgment. Folly also invites people to eat. Stolen water is now offered to passersby. The "water" is only sweeter because it is stolen, much as food that is unjustly gained seems more delicious.

The ultimate destination of Folly

The contrast with Wisdom's banquet continues, but now the consequence for Folly's guests is startling. The naive who enter her banquet hall do not know that the dead are there. Those ensnared by folly are as good as in hell, for that house is a gateway to hell. Many eat on earth what they digest in hell. The point is that the life of folly is a lifestyle of undisciplined, immoral, riotous living and runs counter to God's plan of life and inevitably leads to death.

The narrow and the wide gate

Jesus warns people to avoid this broad way and follow the straight and narrow path of righteous, wise living.

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it (Matthew 7:13 &14).

The general picture here is clear enough. There are two gates, two roads, two crowds, two destinations. The "narrow" gate is clearly restrictive and does not permit entrance to what Jesus prohibits. The "wide" gate seems far more inviting. The broad road is spacious and accommodates the crowd and their baggage; the other road is "narrow" and restricting, because it is the way of persecution and opposition.

But the two roads are not the final cause or purpose in themselves. They are not the goals desired for their own sake. The narrow road leads to life, i.e., to the consummated kingdom; but the broad road leads to eternal death.

Whose invitation will you accept?

The pathway of the foolish is grounded in human understanding. It is the choice that requires no choice! It is merely man doing that which he does by nature. The path of wisdom is the one grounded in heavenly understanding. A person chooses wisdom because he has come to understand some important truths. He has come to an understanding of the person, position, and power of God.

Do you go your own way and do your own things? Or do you think about what God wants from your life? Those are the two extremes! Life consists of only two choices. When the calls of life are issued, the ultimate choice lies with the individual. In the end, your eternal destiny will rest upon the choice you make concerning Jesus Christ.

Selie Visa