Proverbs 20–21: Wisdom & the Lord

Read the Bible in 2011 ◊ Week 35: Thursday

“There is no wisdom and no understanding
And no counsel against the LORD.
The horse is prepared for the day of battle,
But victory belongs to the LORD.”
Proverbs 21:30–31

Thursday’s Bible reading of Proverbs 20–21 is in the third section of Proverbs: “The first book of Solomon.”¹

Reading Proverbs is a breath of fresh air for me. The words cut cleanly through the fog and haze of what passes as wisdom in the world. A. F. Walls has this quote on Proverbs 21:30–31:

“‘Two companions proverbs….Nothing avails against, nothing without, God’ (E. H. Plumptre).’”²

No other wisdom avails against Him. I thought again of this verse:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10

Andrew Boling comments on the Hebrew word translated as fear:

“When God is the object of fear, the emphasis is again upon awe or reverence. This attitude of reverence is the basis for real wisdom (Job 28:28; Ps 110:10; Prov 9:10; 15:33). Indeed, the phrase sets the theme for the book of Proverbs. It is used in 1:7; recurs in 9:10 and twelve other verses. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil (8:13), is a fountain of life (14:27), it tendeth to life (19:23), and prolongeth days (10:27)….The fear of the Lord turns men away from evil (Prov 16:6).”²

Without beginning with the fear of the Lord we cannot know true wisdom, and in His wisdom we can trust.

UPDATE: I’ve switched the footnote references to the right order, and I’ve corrected the section from the second to the third. My apologies for the inaccuracies.
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¹A. F. Walls, “Proverbs,” The New Bible Commentary: Revised, D. Guthrie, J. A. Motyer, eds., A. M. Stibbs, D. J. Wiseman, contributing eds., p. 550.
²Andrew Boling, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., Bruce K. Waltke, eds., 1980, vol. I, p. 401.