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WISDOM
***INTRODUCTION***
"Wisdom IS THE PRINCIPLE THING; therefore get wisdom:
and with all thy getting get understanding"
"Get wisdom, Get Understanding forget it not . "
"FORSAKE HER NOT , AND SHE SHALL PRESERVE THEE: LOVE HER, AND SHE SHALL KEEP THEE
WISDOM IS THE PRINCIPLE THING!
Principle - first in rank or first in importance.
Our lives wiII be oh so different, and will improve from day to day,
if 'We give wisdom first priority. Christians will surely say,
"I thought 'We are supposed to give God first priority in our lives,.
and that is absolutely correct;
But according to the Holy Scriptures,
'Which is God's instruction manual this is precisely 'What wisdom is.
Not that wisdom is all that God is in any sense of the word,
yet, all true wisdom comes only from God,
there is no other source.
When 'We are wise in the wisdom of God,
then are 'We rightly related to Him,
and wiII continue to be,
if 'We continue in His wisdom.
Godly wisdom is not separate from God.
Godly wisdom is the central focus in the lesson concerning wisdom.
Pulpit Commentary
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes is called "THE BOOK OF WISDOM."
It is called "the wise book of "educational wisdom.
" The Jewish word "mashal" has a much wider significance
than our word "proverb."
The instructions on wisdom is to edify those
Who have already made progress,
and to discipline hearers to receive
and assimilate the highest WISDOM OF GOD
IN RIGHTGEOUSNESS.
It is no mere philosophical attainment,
No merely secular advancement in
the knowledge of things;
it is this –
IT INCLUDES THE KNOWLEDGE OF ALL THAT CAN BE KNOWV;
but it is much more.
IT IS THE MORE EXCELLENT WA Y.
It has for its object the directing of our life
according to our highest interests,
so that it is equivalent to
"the fear of the Lord," that is,
practical religion,
and is often interchanged with that expression.
IT TEACHES WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF US,
HOW GOD WOULD HAVE US BEHAVE
IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES OF LIFE:
IT TEACHES PIETY, DUTY, JUSTICE.
Kings and peasants, the old and young,
learned unlearned, are hereby taught
'What is acceptable in our many stations of life,
Ages and many, stages of intellectual development.
Later on, WISDOM IS PERSONIFIED as a great teacher,
as dwelling with God from all eternity,
assisting at the creation of the world,
the original of all authority on earth.
We gather from various indications that
WISDOM IS REGARDED IN A THREEFOLD RESPECT:
(1) As an essential attribute of Almighty God;
(2) As revealed in creation;
(3) As communicated to man.
It is the mind or thought of God;
it is that by 'Which He created the world;
it is that 'Which regulates and
informs the moral being of man.
The language used in such passages as Chapter 8:23-31
adapts itself to the idea of
A REPRESENTATION OF THE SON OF GOD,
an inticipation of the incarnation of Jesus Christ our Lord;
and though, We must not suppose
that Solomon had any clear notion
of the Divine personality of Wisdom
(for Which indeed, the stern monotheism of the age Was not ready as yet),
yet We may Well believe that it was not alien from the
mind of the Holy Spirit that the Church should see it.
