"Integrity and wisdom are essential to success in this business," said the
boss to the new employee. He said, "Integrity means that when you
promise a customer something, you keep that promise, even if we loose
money." "And what is wisdom," asked the employee? "That," replied the
boss, "Consists in not making such foolish promises." Even the voice of
worldly wisdom must sometimes be silent. There is a time to speak and a
time to refrain from speaking. In our text we see the wisdom of God varies
from shouting from the housetops to being stone silent depending on the
response of the listeners. We see the voice of wisdom as a shouting voice,
then as a shunned voice, and finally as a silent voice.
I. THE SHOUTING VOICE.
Verse 20 says, "Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in
the public square." The call here means to vibrate the voice in loud clear
ringing tones. Wisdom is pictured as a public voice available to every ear
that will listen. She is in the streets and markets where the people are not
in some secluded ivory tower where the voice is available to just a few
hermits and introverted scholars.. There is nothing secret or private about
wisdom. It does not fear the light as does sin and folly. Like Jesus, it goes
in search of the lost and ignorant. The common people heard Jesus gladly,
for he came to them and sent his disciples into their villages to reach them
where they were. This is God's method. He makes the truth that people
need to know available to all the people, and not just to the great and
mighty. The voice of wisdom is shouting for all to hear. Whatever is wise
is the voice of God.
Notice that wisdom is personified. It is pictured as a person and not a
mere abstract idea. Personhood is of the very essence of God, and so
whatever represents God is personified. It is interesting that wisdom is
pictured as a woman rather than a man. Women would like to believe that
the reason Solomon was so wise was because he had so many wives to
consult. It is true that in Judaism there is no thought of women being
unwise. The Jewish scholar Plaut wrote, "Unlike many other cultures,
Judaism never considered women mentally inferior." Christians inherited
the concept of the equality of women, and so it is no surprise that wisdom
should be pictured as feminine.
Verse 21 just adds to the emphasis of her availability. The Amplified
Version has it, "She cries at the head of the noisy intersections-the chief
gathering places, at the entrance of the city she speaks." Even at this point
where the competition is greatest, and where the voices of the world seek
to drown out anything else, there is the voice of wisdom shouting to be
heard amidst all the racket. Anyone who truly wants to know what is wise,
and what is the godly path and pattern for life, can find out. This was true
in Solomon's day, and in our day as well. The truth is available to all who
will listen. The problem has never been that God has not spoken. The
problem has always been that men choose to be deaf and refuse to listen to
the shouting voice of wisdom.
All of history and every daily paper shouts out the truth with
contemporary evidence to prove it that the wages of sin is death, but the
vast majority ignore the voice and continue on the path to destruction.
That is why we hear the voice of wisdom shouting in verse 22, "How long
will you simple ones love your simple ways?" Ignorance is bliss is the
attitude of the simple. They enjoy not knowing wisdom, for it calls for
commitment, and this leads to sacrifice and inconvenience. The simple
want to follow the path of least resistance in which they only have to
decide what is for their best interest. They choose to be indifferent and
thoughtless about others.
There have been periods when even believers thought that being
ignorant and uninvolved was an important part of piety. It was this way
for the early Baptists of America. Many of the old preachers were not only
indifferent to education, but they fought every attempt to improve the
training of young ministers. Men can be just as proud of their ignorance
as they are of their brilliance. Solomon is not likely to referring to the
believer here, however, but to the sinner who refuses to believe. Arnot
wrote, "The simple are those who are characterized more by the absence
of any good rather than positive evil." The world is full of people who do
not live outright wicked lives, but who likewise do not live lives of positive
witness of the glory of God. They are content to be neutral in the great
battle between good and evil. The Bible makes it clear that there is no
neutrality, for one who does not love wisdom is a fool, even if he does not
oppose wisdom.
The scoffer is more actively evil, for he does not just ignore wisdom,
but has an attitude of contempt for it. The scoffer exalts his own ego by
tearing down and ridiculing whatever he does not understand. He assumes
that he is the measure of all things, and if something does not appeal to
him it is just nonsense. He glories and delights in his supposed superiority.
We always feel superior to that which we scoff at. This brings out the
worst in human pride. We laugh at what we do not understand and feel
superior, but we are being fools in doing so. A Christian needs to be very
careful about what he scoffs at, for he may very well be copying the ways
of the fool. If you do not understand something, be silent until you do.
We live in an age of rapid increase in knowledge, and there is so much
that none of us fully understand, and so it is a constant danger to be proud
and scoff at that which we do not grasp. Scoffers of godly wisdom increase
in proportion to the ignorance of spiritual values. It is no wonder that the Bible
indicates an increase of scoffers in the last days. How long, cries
wisdom to the scoffer, will you delight in scoffing? The answer is, of
course, until they close their foolish mouth and open their ears to hear the
voice of wisdom.
Wisdom moves on then to the fools who hate knowledge. The word
fool, says Maclaren, is short hand for mental stupidity, moral obstinacy,
and dogged godlessness. It is the fool who says in his heart there is no
God, and mainly because he does not want there to be a God. Note the
progressive nature of these three. The simple ignore knowledge, the
scoffer ridicules it, but the fool hates it. The truth is his greatest foe. We
have here a picture of that which is just the opposite of what a believer
ought to be. The believer is to love wisdom and truth, and they are to
delight in understanding and knowledge. They are to hate ignorance and
folly. Wisdom cries out to the fools asking how long they will remain in
that state.
In verse 23 we see the essence of the Gospel. It is a call to repentance
with a promise of salvation from folly. It is a parallel with the Gospel,
which is a call to forsake sin and become saved, but here is it a call to
forsake stupidity and become wise. The Old Testament, like the New
Testament, assumes that men can listen to the voice of wisdom and choose
to turn from folly. The voice of wisdom is sincere, and offers great
promises to those who will respond. The sinner must give heed to the voice
of wisdom and respond, and that is all he can do, but God will accomplish
the rest. God will pour out His heart to them and make His thoughts
known. Here we see the free will of man and the sovereignty of God
working together to bring the sinner out of darkness into light. God takes
the lead in proclaiming the good news that salvation or wisdom is possible,
and where it meets with an obedient response, God fulfills the promise. So
close is the parallel that if you put Christ in the place of wisdom you have
the New Testament Gospel in the Old Testament. We see next that the Old
Testament Gospel can also be rejected.
II. THE SHUNNED VOICE.
I use the shunned because it means to deliberately avoid, and that is
what we see in verse 24. It is not the case that they did not hear, but that
they refused to listen. Wisdom calls but it does not compel or coerce. If a
man chooses to remain a fool, God will not make him wise in spite of
himself. Wisdom has shouted and stretched out her hand to help, but man
can refuse to regard her offer. Arnot wrote, "God will not put forth a
hand to lift a man to heaven in his sleep, or drag him in against his will."
Verse 25 shows them to have ignored the offer of wisdom. They hear
only what they want to, and they do not want to hear God. Verse 26
pictures wisdom as laughing at the fools when they reap the consequences
of rejecting her offer. It sounds strange that she would laugh, but if we
think deeper we can grasp the experience pictured here. When a person
does something very stupid, and they get injured in the process, it brings
forth laughter. Let a foolish student throw an eraser when the teacher is
not looking, and it glances off the wall and hits him in the eye, and all the
class will burst out laughing, even if the consequences are a damaged eye
and expulsion from school. Acts of utter stupidity shock the observer and
produce laughter. It is funny to see evil plans backfire and trap the
planner instead of the victim. Wisdom is displaying a recognized
humorous emotion, which is laughter at the utter stupidity of rejecting
God's offer of light while they sit in darkness.
III. THE SILENT VOICE.
In verse 28 we see the limitations even of God for acceptance, for those
who constantly reject His wisdom will not be heard. When His wisdom
was shouting they ignored her, and now when they shout in desperate need
of her, she is silent. Let this stand as a biblical witness against the
effectiveness of foxhole religion. He who rejects God when all is well has
very little guarantee of being heard when trouble strikes. That is, of
course if the rejection has been many times over, and the heart is
hardened.
When one does not turn to God except when in trouble it proves that if
sin did not bring evil consequences they would never call on Him. God is
aware of any exceptions and the different motives of men, but as a pattern
we must say that the Bible offers little hope to those who wait until
judgment before they cry for mercy. Even prayer may be powerless after
persistent rejection, for there is a point of no return.
Notice that they even seek diligently, and not half hearted. They now
have a desperate need for God, but it is now nowhere to be found. The day
of grace is gone and the night of judgment has arrived. This is proof
positive that they could have called on God before this. Here is proof that
they were aware of the voice of wisdom and could have listened, but they
refused. Man does have the capacity to receive God's call and respond if
they will. If they were unable they would not be guilty, but because they
were able, silence is now there only reply.
Verse 29 makes clear their guilt. Plout writes, "Judaism has
consistently supported the doctrine of man's ultimate freedom of will."
Verses 31 and 32 show that God does not have to punish them for by just
leaving them alone they receive the consequences of their folly, and that is
judgment enough. In verse 33 the voice of wisdom closes on a note of
optimism after portraying the end of those who listen not. Those who
listen are assured of salvation and security just as the New Testament
offers to those who hear Christ. The voice of wisdom is the voice of Christ.
