We've been talking about Proverbs and interpreting Proverbs and the purpose of the book of Proverbs. And so three main things that we've been discussing are that Proverbs is practical, ethical, and theological. So practical advice on how to live in this world, but not just that, it's also ethical teaching, teaching us how to live a life that is obedient to God, and then theological, what it means to be a worshiper of God and to know the true God. And so we talked last week about how the theology of Proverbs is to fear the Lord, to fear Yahweh. And this is the beginning of wisdom. So we will not be wise if we don't have the fear of the Lord, if we're not in a relationship with the Lord. And we saw how Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job, they all teach the same thing, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But Ecclesiastes emphasizes that you can fear God, have a life that is full of vanity. You can pursue many other things in this world, but if you don't fear the Lord, then none of it matters. And then Job emphasizes suffering, that you can fear the Lord and yet your life can be full of suffering. And in all these cases, we see that it's better to fear the Lord, and that's what we saw last time in Proverbs 2. Proverbs also, not Proverbs chapter 2. And so that's how we come to Proverbs, and we interpret these Proverbs. A lot of them tell us that blessings come through a wise life, But Proverbs also says, even if, even if you don't get riches, it is better to live in integrity. It's better to fear the Lord, even if you face injustice and suffering. So Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, they all teach the same lesson. And so that's how we interpret the Proverbs that we read. So today we're going to keep going with the fear of the Lord. And I think next week will be the last part about, we'll see how Proverbs is in the New Testament, I think. But today we want to finish up how Proverbs tells us to, or motivates us to fear the Lord. And so we're gonna see this in the first nine chapters, which is the introduction, the first part of the book. How does the writer of Proverbs try to get us to fear the Lord? So we're gonna look at kind of the big picture of the first nine chapters. So here's one way you can summarize the first nine chapters. The fear of the Lord is about choosing the right woman. The fear of the Lord is about choosing the right woman. Now, we're not talking about finding the right wife, although that is related to being a wise man. You will find the right wife. But what we see in these nine chapters is a metaphor of two women. One woman represents wisdom, another woman represents folly. So many people call these lady wisdom and lady folly. So you can think of these as their names. One lady is named wisdom, one lady is named folly or foolishness. And we see in Proverbs that Proverbs is set up as a father teaching his son, so you can see that in verse eight of chapter one. Hear, my son, your father's instruction. And then you see it in chapter two, verse one. My son, receive my words, treasure up my commandments. Chapter three, verse one. My son, do not forget my teaching. Chapter four, verse one. Hear, oh sons, a father's instruction. Chapter 5, verse 1, my son, be attentive to my wisdom. OK, I think I'll stop there. I think you get the point. So Proverbs is a father teaching his son what it looks like to live a wise life. Probably this son is on the verge of becoming a man. And that's why he, the father, wants to instill these things into his son. My son, you're about to go off on your own. You're about to forge your own path. And remember, we talked about the path of wisdom last week. And so my son, you need to decide which path you are going to go on. So here is this son. He's probably about to be 13, because back then you become a man when you're 13. So he's about to be 13. He's about to go off on his own. What does he need to do to live a wise life? Well, one of the things we see is he has to find the right woman. Literally speaking, finding a good wife is part of the advice that he gives him over and over again, because that's gonna help him to fear the Lord. But I think these nine chapters are also kind of taking that idea of a young man who has to find a good wife, and the father turns that into a big metaphor. So it's like he's saying, look, It's important for you to find a good wife, but you have an even more important choice ahead of you also about which woman you will choose. Will you choose Lady Wisdom or Lady Folly? One scholar points out that the Hebrew word for woman occurs 13 times, starting in chapter 10 all the way through chapter 31 verse 9. So you probably know chapter 31 verse 10 is about the Proverbs 31 woman, so there's a lot about a woman in that at the end. But the middle part, chapter 10 through 31 verse 9, the word woman only occurs 13 times. But In Proverbs 1 through 9, the beginning of the book, he says half of the verses have to do with something related to a woman. So he uses the word wife or woman or talks about the adulterous woman. And so you see that the first nine chapters are full of this metaphor about a woman and choosing the right woman. And so that's what he's trying to get at in the first nine chapters. Choose lady wisdom. And so what I wanna show you, what I'm gonna try to show you is that lady wisdom is a metaphor for choosing the Lord, choosing Yahweh. So wisdom is personified, if you know what I mean by that. Personified, spoken of as a person, as a lady, as we're gonna see, and that's a metaphor for choosing the Lord. Lady Folly, the foolish lady, is a metaphor for false gods. And so, to pursue wisdom is to fear the Lord. And in the metaphor, to pursue wisdom is to choose Lady Wisdom, who represents the Lord, over Lady Folly. So basically, it's teaching the lesson, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but teaching it through a metaphor, because here's a young man who is going to need to find a woman to marry. So that's what we're going to look at today. I don't know if I have to make this disclaimer, but I'll make it anyway. This doesn't mean God is a woman, okay? That's not what Proverbs is teaching. God is masculine. God is referred to as he over and over again in the Bible, and so it's a metaphor of lady wisdom referring to God. God is also used, there's a metaphor of God like an eagle in the Bible. Right, so what does it mean that God is like an eagle? Well, it means he carries his people and he cares for his people like a mother eagle. So you don't say, oh look, there's a metaphor of an eagle, therefore God has a beak and God has wings. But sadly, this is where we are in our day where people say, oh look, God is lady wisdom, that must mean God is a woman. No. It's just a metaphor. So, I'm not saying God is a woman. God is male. All right. Now, let's look at Lady Wisdom. Chapter 1, starting in verse 20. Remember, this is the father speaking to his son, and now he uses this image of wisdom. Verse 20, wisdom cries aloud in the streets. In the markets, she raises her voice. At the head of the noisy streets, she cries out. At the entrance of the city gates, she speaks. How long, oh simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? because we're going through basically the nine chapters, we're not going to be able to read every verse, but there you get an idea of what's happening. You see wisdom is being described like a person, right, personified. Wisdom cries aloud. Lady wisdom is crying out. You see it's a lady, it's a she. In the markets, she raises her voice. Okay, so wisdom is described as a woman. She is out in public. She is publicly available to all to come and get to know her. And so there's not some secret knowledge that you need to try to know this Lady Wisdom, which we're going to see is the opposite of Lady Folly. She's very secretive. But Lady Wisdom is out publicly available for everyone to know what she has to say. This fits with what the Bible says about God, right? So Romans 1 says that the knowledge of God is known to everyone. His eternal power, His divine attributes are known to all. But what we see here in verse 22 is the simple simpletons love being simple. People love to be simple, People love to reject the knowledge of God that they have. And we see that scoffers delight in scoffing. Don't people scoff at God? Isn't that also what Romans 1 says about people? They exchange the truth of God for a lie. And then fools hate knowledge. We suppress the truth in unrighteousness because we prefer a foolish life. So wisdom is a lot like God himself here in chapter one. Well then in chapter two, the son is again told to seek after wisdom at the beginning. But then we have another woman up here in chapter 2, verse 16. In verse 16, as he's telling him to seek after wisdom, he says, so, and in this way, in this way you will be delivered from the forbidden woman. from the adulteress with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. So, here we have this forbidden woman. Now, on one hand, it's very obvious that this is a warning to the son against adultery, right? To not involve himself, have a relationship with the woman that he is not married to. So there's that kind of surface level basic instruction not to commit adultery, but There could also be a kind of a double meaning here. The forbidden woman is the foreign woman or the outsider, the woman who doesn't fear the Lord. So maybe your Bible in verse 16 says the word strange be delivered from the strange woman. Strange doesn't mean weird. like a weird woman, it means different or other. And so on the kind of literal sense, the other woman is the woman outside of your marriage. You should not be involved with the woman outside of your marriage. That's the strange woman or the forbidden woman. But the word is also used for false gods. strange gods. In Deuteronomy 32, 16, Moses says, they stirred God to jealousy with strange gods. And so, again, we have that marriage metaphor of God and Israel, and to worship other gods is a spiritual adultery. It's to worship a strange God. And so could be here that this strange or forbidden woman is also a strange woman because she follows the strange gods. She follows the false gods of the world. We see the same with the next word, adulterous in verse 16, the second line, the adulterous with her smooth words. And that word, maybe your Bible, my Bible has a footnote there that says foreign woman, and that's what it means. It means a foreigner or an outsider. So there's the strange woman, and she's again referred to as a foreigner. So, this is also how the Bible talks about those who don't worship the Lord. In 1 Kings 11 verse 1, when it says about Solomon, King Solomon loved many foreign women. Many foreign women. So here in verse 16, they translate it as adulterous because she's outside the marriage, but it can also be referring to the foreign woman. Again, the woman who doesn't worship the Lord. Maybe you also know the story of Ezra. Remember how Ezra, they came back to Israel and they had started intermarrying with the foreigners. And Ezra, his job is to put a stop to this. And so he says in chapter 10, verse 10 of Ezra, you have broken faith and married foreign women. So using the same word here. So this is also a warning to stay away from the foreign woman with foreign gods. Of course, that's what it means when it speaks of a foreigner. It's not about what country she's from, but it's about who she worships, the god that she worships. And then at the end of verse 17, she forsakes the companion of her youth and she forgets the covenant of her God. So here again we have kind of a double meaning, forgetting the covenant. forgetting the covenant of marriage. Yes, that's the adulterous woman. But also, this is how God describes Israel. When Israel goes and worships the golden calf, they're breaking the covenant that was made at Mount Sinai. So to go after false gods is to forget the covenant of God. So these women that could even be Israelite women. They are from the nation of Israel, but they're the foreign woman because they worship false gods. So clearly, these warnings against adultery are telling this young man to stay away from the women he's not married to and to not enter into a relationship with them. But this forbidden woman also represents foreign gods, false gods. And we are to turn away from anyone who does not fear the Lord. So turn away from the foolish woman who does not fear the Lord. Well, now the next part where Lady Wisdom is mentioned is in chapter three, verse 13. If you want to follow along there, verses 13 to 18. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding. For the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. So you see she's described here again with feminine words as a she. Verse 15, she is more precious than jewels. Nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. To those who hold her fast are called blessed. So again, that sounds like God himself. God is the one who is more precious than gold and jewels. And God is the one who holds forth the tree of life. If you will follow God, if you will fear the Lord, you will find life. And so it's speaking of him as this lady wisdom. Next is chapter four. Now, I'm going to ask you to point out to me What are some relationship words, if that makes sense, words that are used to describe a relationship that we see here in chapter four, starting in verse five. So listen, as I read verses five to nine, listen for relationship type words. Get wisdom, get insight. Do not forget and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her and she will keep you. Love her and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this, get wisdom. And whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly and she will exalt you. She will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland. She will bestow on you a beautiful crown. Okay, anybody got any ideas of some words there that I don't know if my question makes sense, but relationship type, yes. Forsake, yep. So the analogy of leaving for the adulterous woman, you're forsaking the marriage, you're forsaking this lady too. What else? Prize her highly, good. Anything else? John? Love her. Love her. Good. Yes. So you are to love this woman, enter into a relationship with her and love her. Anything else? Embrace. Embrace. Yes. So you embrace your wife. Okay. So I think Yeah, I think we covered them all. So you see how he's, again, presenting to this young man what kind of woman he is to find. Metaphorically, if he is going to get wisdom, get this lady wisdom, he's going to love her, embrace her. Then what he's doing is he's entering into a relationship with the Lord. Okay, well, we're going to go to Chapter 8, and I'm not going to read all of Chapter 8. We're going to have to come back and go through Chapter 8 in detail, because remember, this was the one where many people see Christ described here in Chapter 8 as wisdom. but I'll just kind of look at a few verses. Verse one of chapter eight does not wisdom call, does not understanding raise her voice on the heights beside the way at the crossroads. She takes her stand beside the gates in the front of the town at the entrance of the portals. She cries aloud. So again, we have this lady calling out to all, and we'll see in chapter nine, it's important that she is on the heights. She's at the high point of the town calling out. And so we see starting in verse 12, she's again described as a person. I wisdom dwell with prudence. Verse 15, by me kings reign and rulers decree what is just. Verse 17, I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently find me. And then starting in verse 22 is where we see where many people speak about how this is about Christ, that he was there with the Lord at the beginning. and brought forth from God, as verse 25 says. So you can see, well, we haven't really looked at it very much, but you can see how people could see Christ here if Lady Wisdom is God himself, and yet somehow also spoken of like a person. And so theologians came along and they said, oh yeah, that's who the son of God is. He is his own person and yet he is God himself. Okay, well now we get to chapter nine. And this is really the conclusion, everything building up to chapter nine to get this young man to choose lady wisdom over lady folly. Let's look at chapter 9, verse 1. Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beasts. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table. She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. To him who lacks sense, she says, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and live and walk in the ways of insight. We'll stop there for now. So back in verse one, she has built her house. Maybe that reminds you of, maybe you know the proverb, a wise woman builds her house. A foolish woman tears it down. So here's a wise woman. She has built her house. The seven pillars, seven usually seems to mean completeness and totality. It's all finished. It's all looking good. It's a great house. It could be that this house is referring to the temple. The temple is often called the house of God in the Old Testament. And as we'll see in a minute, it's on the highest place. That's where they built the temple. So she has built her house. She has hewn her pillars. And what else has she done? She has made a meal. Slaughtered her beasts, okay, yep. She's made a meal, she has set the table, and now she's inviting people to come in. So if we see this as the Lord being represented, it's the Lord in his temple, he is inviting, if you want to seek wisdom, if you want to know the truth, the fear of the Lord, enter into the temple. And this language of the banquet, the meal, is the language of wanting to be in a relationship with people. That's why, like the feasts in Leviticus, there's the feast where it's as if God is eating the meal with his people. I think it's the grain offering in Leviticus. It's a picture of God eating with his people. And so again, here's the image. I want to enter into a relationship with you. So turn in. Who would like to go on a date? Who would like to come to dinner? Because I've made dinner and I want you to come and get to know me. That's what the Lord is saying. That's what Lady Wisdom is saying. The Heights of the City is there in verse 3. So the young women, they go out from the highest places in the town, literally that says the pinnacle of the heights of the city. And so that's where they would build temples. That's where you would go to worship God. Isaiah chapter 2 says, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the highest of the mountains. and all the nations will stream to it. So the worship of the Lord, all the nations one day will go to the highest mountain to worship him. So I think this is the picture. It's the picture of the temple. It's a picture of the presence of God entering into a relationship with God. But then we have the competition. Verse 13. So here we finally get the name of the lady. Verse 13, the woman Folly, Lady Folly. This is the other woman. It says the woman Folly is loud. She is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house. She takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. And to him who lacks sense, she says, stolen water is sweet. Bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Shale. And you see how that's the end. That's the end of this whole series of sermons. That's the end before we get into the Proverbs, starting in Chapter 10. It ends with Lady Folly and her foolish invitation. And so there are comparisons that you can make here between these two women in Chapter 9. Lady Folly is loud. but she is simple minded. She knows nothing. So, you know, sometimes people who talk a lot and they don't, they don't say, they don't really have anything to say. They're not really saying anything, but they keep talking and talking and talking. Uh, well, Proverbs says, uh, the wise man restrains his lips. It's the foolish person just goes on and on and they don't know what they're talking about. And so here's the picture of that lady. She talks a lot, she's loud, but she knows nothing. Notice also that she is sitting at the door of her house. What is Lady Wisdom doing in Chapter 9? She's cooking. She's preparing a banquet. Foolish Lady is sitting around. She's lazy. She's inviting people to come into her house, but you know what? We don't even know if she actually has a meal in her house. She's telling them she's got water and bread, but how do you even know that there really is anything? Because it doesn't tell us that she has prepared this water and bread. It just says she's sitting at the door. And so, here again, you have this picture of what Proverbs is trying to tell us. Fools, they talk a lot and they know nothing. Fools, they're lazy. Here's a woman and she's lazy. She also, verse 14 says, takes a seat on the highest places of the town. So you see, she has set herself up beside Lady Wisdom's house. She has taken her seat at the peak as well. And isn't this what happened all the time in Israel? Israel, if you read the prophets, they build their altars on the high places. And God always rains down judgment and rebuke for building altars on the high places. in Bethel, in Samaria, they build all these temples, and they go and they worship, they claim to be worshiping God, but they're worshiping a false god. And so here we have not just a picture of foolishness and wisdom, but a picture of the Lord and his temple and a false god. Woman Folly, she's the outsider. She's the foreign woman. She's the strange woman, the strange god. And she calls out, too. She calls out for your attention. She calls out, and she says, you can have secret knowledge. Stolen water is sweet. Bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But her way leads to death. That's what the father is trying to say to the son. That's what God is trying to say to us. You have two choices. You can worship the Lord and he holds out the tree of life. You can fear the Lord and you will have wisdom. Or you can go marry Lady Folly. You can marry the woman who doesn't know God. Metaphorically, you can enter into a relationship with false gods and that way will lead to death. So all of that should be in our minds when we then start to read Proverbs. And so when you read chapter 10, verse one, a wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother. You need to have this in your head. Well, what is a wise son? What's a foolish son? A wise son is one who worships the Lord. A foolish son is the one who worships false gods. If you want to live out all of these Proverbs, this is how Proverbs is theological. It's all about the choice of which God you will worship. Will you fear the Lord? And then, just one last little point, As you know, how does the book of Proverbs end? It ends with a man who has found the right woman. And why is she the right woman? Well, because Proverbs 31 verse 30 says, charm is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. She's a wise woman. She's the right woman because she's a woman who fears the Lord. And so the father says to his son, go look for lady wisdom, enter a relationship with the Lord, and go look for a woman who also fears the Lord. Find her. And finding that kind of woman is a gift from the Lord. So live a wise life by fearing the Lord. That's the message then of Proverbs. Let's pray for God's blessing. Our Lord, we recognize our own foolishness in ourselves and how easy it is to seek after the way of folly, and how there are many false gods competing for our attention. And we pray for your grace. We need your help. We need your work in our hearts by your Holy Spirit. We pray that you would teach us, help us to truly see in our hearts, in our lives, the value of fearing you, to see the tree of life that is ahead of us and also the pits and the grave that could be ahead of us by seeking these false gods. Lord, we pray that you would continue as we look at this book to continue to grow in wisdom as we walk on this path of fearing you. We pray that you would help us even today as we continue throughout the day singing praises to your name, worshiping you, help us to come before you in reverence and awe and fear of you. Thank you that you invite us. that you call us simple minded people to turn in here today to where we are, that we might hear from you and learn. And so we pray your blessings upon the rest of our time in Jesus name. Amen.