“The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of instruction” (Prov 1:1,2).
The proverbs are a collection of short sayings containing wisdom for living a righteous life and were popular in their capability of being easily memorized and passed from generation to generation. According to 1 Kings 4:32, Solomon was responsible for 3000 proverbs in his lifetime although other authors are given mention in the collection of “sayings of the wise” in this book. The purpose of the proverbs is to provide wisdom and instruction for “wise living” for the people of God. And the foundation for such living is explicitly stated as being the fear of the LORD: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (1:7). Wisdom in the proverbs is not tied to intelligence or vast knowledge, but to the fear of the LORD, an emphasis which repeatedly takes place throughout the book. In short, the wise are those who know God and obey his commands. Early in life, Solomon prayed for godly wisdom, and he was granted the request. Later in life, however, he ignored the wisdom given him and turned his heart away from God, never to repent at least as recorded within the scriptures. Indeed he even ended up worshiping the god Molech which involved the sacrifice of children in fire. Simply knowing and teaching principles from the Word of God is not adequate to insure spiritual life. There are multiple examples in the OT of individuals who turned from God’s point of view as the only sure standard by which to live, and thereby suffered the consequences. And God has not changed: “For I am the LORD, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). So it is that Jesus warns how in the last days, the love (GK agape) of many will grow cold “but he who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:12,13). It’s a solemn responsibility of every believer to approach all of life from God’s point of view as found in many of the proverbs and to persevere to the end, always considering God’s wisdom are far more precious than silver and gold.
