2:1-8
These words are so wonderful to read. I just want to keep reading them. They are so full of beauty and of a beautiful way to be.
Here is the way of the follower along the narrow path. The path following our Lord.
The way is to accept God’s words and remember His commands. To Listen to wisdom and seek, no long, even ache to understand it. To ask, beg, and earnestly seek insight.
Consider the understanding of wisdom as a precious treasure hidden away. Then, when you have listened to wisdom, considered the understanding of it as something to strive for and treasure, then you will understand the fear of God and understand He is your Lord and creator. And then you will find God’s knowledge.
You will understand then that God gives wisdom, knowledge and understanding. As His faithful follower you will have victory, the victory of the blameless. He will be your shield. He will guard your way and protect you.
Wisdom then is more than the acquiring and understanding of knowledge. Or even understanding of God. It is the way you live, as a follower of God. It is what protects you and keeps you in His victory.
 

1:20-33
These verses are so beautifully written and a delight to read. But they are also beautiful for the power of their message.
Wisdom calls in the streets and public places. A person has a choice: listen to and obey wisdom or ignore wisdom and listen to the voice of folly.
Those who reject wisdom will find that wisdom will be there as a mocking contrast to their choices when life’s disasters happen.
If we embrace wisdom and the knowledge that comes with that, we find boundless wisdom given to us. But if we choose to ignore wisdom and embrace foolishness then life will be more difficult and harder to cope with.
Foolishness, however, is more than ignoring wisdom. It is also complacency. That sense I am okay and safe and I don’t need to change or worry. I will just keep doing what I am doing and it will be okay.
It won’t.
The wise live in safety. Their path may involve steeping outside their comfort zone but safety will be the result.
Be careful to follow the way of wisdom. It is easy to spot obvious foolishness in the form of rash behaviour and unwise decisions, but harder to spot foolishness in the form of complacency. Yet complacency is what so often ‘trips us up’.
So when wisdom calls to you, follow. For wisdom is the way to life and the way of God.
 

1:8-19
After the purpose and theme of proverbs has been announced, the text moves on to encourage the reader to embrace wisdom. The reader is encouraged to pay close attention to what his/her parents teach him/her and to keep that teaching with him/her. If people who are intent on doing the wrong thing tempt the reader, the reader is told to not go along with these people. After all, these people will not meet a good end. In doing what is wrong they are laying the foundations of their own destruction.
There are two things being discussed here:
The first is to encourage the reader to take notice of what his/her parents teach. As a child grows out of childhood into adulthood what has been taught to him/her in childhood is challenged. The writer encourages that budding adult to not reject the wisdom and teaching of his/her parents.
It is important to note that parents do not always teach wisdom or right ways of being so it is important to not blindly tell young people you encounter that they must obey their parents no matter what. These verses do not ask the reader to do this. They only ask the reader to heed the wisdom of their parents. Wisdom, nothing else.
The other thing being discussed is the warning to make your own choices in life and not blindly follow what others are doing. In other words, when your friends encourage you to do something you feel is wrong, don’t do it. The decisions of the unwise lead to their destruction. Don’t join them.
 

1:1-7 prologue: purpose and theme.
The book of proverbs is one of the ‘wisdom’ books, which also includes Job and Ecclesiastes. In one sense proverbs is very familiar. There are many proverbs that have entered into everyday language. But there are many passages that are rarely mentioned. For this reason this study is a good opportunity to acquaint or reacquaint ourselves with Proverbs. I am looking forward to the unfolding of this book over the coming months.
Reading the beginning verses, we read in verse 1 that Solomon wrote this book. Biblical scholars consider there have been many authors, with Solomon being the major contributor. In 1 Kings 4:32 Solomon is attributed with having spoken three thousand proverbs! Only some of those proverbs have been included in the book of proverbs.
The wisdom literature records the work of the wise men whose role was to instruct on practical and philosophical matters alongside the priests and prophets who instructed on religious and spiritual matters.
Proverbs is considered to be a positive and optimistic book, whereas Job and Ecclesiastes in contrast are more pessimistic in outlook.
Reading the book, you will notice the proverbs vary from short sayings to longer parables. All these are considered proverbs. They were designed to be learnt so were written in a poetic form with repetition of words and sounds to aid memorisation.
The aim of proverbs was to attain wisdom and discipline, to understand words of insight, learn a disciplined and prudent life, and learn justice, fairness and the art of learning (v2-6).
The theme of the book is recorded in verse 7:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and discipline”.
These words are as true today as they were in the tenth century before Christ.