Proverbs 7-9 Best of friends!!

July 15th, Proverbs 7-9

       I find it interesting that proverbs is written with wisdom being personified. "Say to wisdom, you are my sister, and call insight your intimate friend." Wisdom is not simply an idea, it's a person with whom you and I should be best of friends.
      Wisdom is personified as a woman. "Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice?" Then women are portrayed in two ways in proverbs. An adulteress who represents the fool's way. Then the grand finale of proverbs is the virtuous woman. The woman who is the personification of one who is wise.
       Just a side note, in a society ruled by men, this is a rather profound expression of the value of women. All the she, her, sister's could have been written he, his, brother's...but they weren't. The failure and the role model in Proverbs is personified in a woman.
       "Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her." All I can think about is how hard it is to get people to surrender their will to a teacher in our day. The one place I see it is in music. Can you imagine the train wreck if a music group didn't submit to the conductor? My will surrendered to wisdom for the greater good of the whole.
        Whoever finds wisdom and walks in her way, whoever delights in insight would have great capacity to be the one in Proverbs 31, and whoever would seek out instruction, guidance, counsel would find themselves in a very different place in 1,5,10 years.
       "Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, but he who fails to find me injures himself."