Of Wise Ones and Dolts - Reflections on Proverbs 1:20-33, Proper 19, Year B

by John Holbert on Monday, September 9, 2024

Proper 19. September 15, 2024. Proverbs 1:20-33. “Of Wise Ones and Dolts”

          After looking at some overtly proverbial lines from Prov. 22 last week, we turn now to the beginning of the book, to its first chapter. The primary text for today is the famous portrayal of wisdom as a woman, who spends her time in the streets, attempting to impart her knowledge to any who would listen. Unfortunately, much of her pleading falls on the clogged ears of those the book terms dolts or dupes. Indeed, the book of Proverbs, this first chapter claims, is a struggle between the wise and the fools, the knowledgeable and the empty-headed. To read Proverbs is to begin to discover the road to genuine wisdom, and thus to a life of true completeness and joy.

          Crucial lines are found at Prov.1:4-7, a kind of summary of what all should seek in life.

          “To give shrewdness to the simple,
                to a young lad knowledge and cunning.
          Let the wise hear and gain learning
                and the discerning acquire skill (or “designs”)
          to understand proverbs and adages,
                the words of the wise and their riddles.
          The awe of YHWH is the beginning of knowledge;
                wisdom and reproof dolts despise.”

Note particularly vs.7: true knowledge is grounded always in the “fear of YHWH.” There can be no genuine wisdom or knowledge or learning skill apart from an awe of God, a conviction that all wisdom begins with true worship. This conviction lifts the admonishments of the Proverbs beyond practical advice and the attainment of human skill. Anyone who imagines that they can attain knowledge and wisdom apart from YHWH is only a dolt, a simpleton, a dupe, ripe for arrogance and false superiority.

          It is those latter whom Woman Wisdom calls to in Prov.1:20. It seems obvious that wisdom is depicted as a woman for two apparent reasons: first, the noun “wisdom” is grammatically feminine (chokmah, though the usage here is in the feminine plural chokmoth). This may be a plural of intensification, rather like Behemoth, the Beast (feminine plural of the noun for cow) in Job 40:15. It must also be said that in the Bible it is often the case that female figures are used as symbols of nations. However, in Proverbs 8:22-31, the figure of Woman Wisdom becomes nothing less than a co-creator with YHWH, decidedly more than a simple abstraction.

          Here in Proverbs 1 she urgently raises her voice “in the streets,” "in the squares,” “at bustling crossroads,” and “at the town’s gates” in order to capture dupes and dolts in their arrogant stupidity lest they continue in their hatred of knowledge and their road to ruin. Woman Wisdom is adamant and unrelenting in her desire to entice those she sees as lost into her saving net of knowledge and wisdom. And why is she so desperate for their future?

          “For the waywordness of dupes will kill them,
                and the smugness of fools will destroy them.
          But whoever heeds me will dwell secure,
                and tranquil from the fear of harm” (Prov.1:32-33)

The wisdom and knowledge offered by Woman Wisdom are not merely facts, not only information. It is nothing less than the means to a secure and tranquil life, a life steeped in genuine wisdom and solid convictions of the means to a full life. Without these characteristic means of living, dupes will remain open to trickery, fools will never find truth, and dolts will stay as they are, subject to the chicaneries of the passing mob.

          I cannot help but think of the current political scene in US America in 2024. One presidential candidate has founded his campaign for election to another term on lies about the previous election, which he plainly lost, and on deep appeals to hatred and fury, feeding his half-truths and lies to a large segment of the population who are at best dupes, ever-ready to believe the palaver that he utters. How badly we need a Woman Wisdom who can eagerly cry out for truth and true knowledge, the only source of a secure and tranquil life. “For the awe (worship, fear) of YHWH is the beginning of knowledge,” she cries, and would that that cry be heard widely and broadly in our land now.