(Yeah, I’m a busy boy working on two books at once.)
The first verse served as the ancient title of the entire book. The next five verses explain the reason for the book. It appears this would serve as a textbook for what we would consider secondary education. Solomon uses a string of phrases that are largely equivalent in meaning, but chosen and strung together to confirm just that. Let the reader understand that you cannot pretend to slice and dice wisdom as a separate exercise from morality in general. It’s not a question of what you know, but to Whom you are committed. In the Ancient Near East, moral wisdom was the ultimate proper aim of all research. In Israel this was somewhat simplified by recognizing only one God. Thus, everything men have always sought is bound up in reaching for His moral character.
Thus, the next few verses state the theme of the book as compiled revelatory wisdom from previous generations. The one treasure of every nation was social stability between generations. If you catch children early enough, you can instill a respect for their elders. It wasn’t merely a promise from God that those who honored their parents would have a long life (Exodus 20:12); that was how Creation itself worked. Respect for elders was not merely avoiding punishment, but was embracing cosmic moral wisdom. Let no one mistake the matching necessity of elders to ensure they had not wasted their own lives but had sought wisdom long enough to have something to offer the young.
What begins in verse ten is not a new subject, but a dramatic restatement of what a society becomes if the elders are fools and the young learn nothing from them. It’s every individual for himself. This wild plotting to gang up on healthy adults to plunder them is a reference to one’s own kin. In the ancient Hebrew society, the image is all the more shocking because they lived in tribal communities. These were irresponsible brats talking about killing their own uncles. Had they any real need, virtually everything necessary for life was already community property. How stupid is to steal from your own food stores, killing the folks who grew it for you? What kind of world would that be? So in essence, Solomon is offering this disturbing image of what happens when moral wisdom does not remain the preoccupation of any society.
We are not supposed to take that image literally, but see it as a parable. Hebrew literature at its best was parabolic in nature. Genuine moral truth was always out of reach of direct description, but could be indicated by something more familiar. Thus, the rest of the chapter introduces the parable of the noble woman, Wisdom.
Solomon describes her as striving hard to get everyone’s attention. In the most public fashion imaginable, yet entirely proper and honorable, this woman calls out to people everywhere. Did they listen? Apparently nowhere near as many as could have done so. She warns them that there will come a time when she will mock them after they have ignored her advice and done everything wrong. Once the pain and suffering takes hold, it will be too late. Rejecting God’s revelation can be deadly in many ways, she warns.
