Prov 1:8-11
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
I have been examining some grand themes of the Book of Proverbs. So far we have:
The overall ‘subject’ of the book is Wisdom.
The ‘subject’ doing the doing is a father.
The ‘object’ of his law, commands, instruction… is his son.
An observation of this wisdom is that wise men will learn from the merest whisper, and fools won’t learn even if they are beaten.
That the common sense that the Book of Proverbs puts forward is obscured by sin.
And these are all very important themes, that will come up again and again. But this post brings forth another grand theme of the Book, namely: Wisdom keeps good company, Folly… not so much.
Prov 5:18-20
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe;
let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
This company largely consists of two groups, indeed three are particularly prominent. The first, as we saw above, is the company of a group of evil men, calling on our young man to come and do evil with them.
The second is not a ‘group’ at all, but a choice between women. One the one hand, the wife of the youth… often represented by Wisdom. Or perhaps I should say Wisdom, often represented by the wife of the youth.
And on the other hand, folly… in the guise of an adulterous woman. A woman whose husband is away on a trip, and who leads young men down the path of death.
Prov 11:14
Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
Then there is the third group, the counsellors. These are a strange group because, overall, they are seen as purely positive. When the Book of Proverbs speaks of a multitude of counsellors, we see it as positive. As if, while both good and bad advice might be given, the sheer volume of advice is good.
Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.
If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!
If you get lost, check out my ‘Table of Contents’ which I try to keep up to date.
Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von