|
Wisdom |
Folly |
|
She has sent out
her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city, (Prov 9:3) |
She sits at the
door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, (Prov 9:14) |
|
“Let
all who are simple come to my house!” |
|
|
“Come, eat
my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will
live; walk in the way of insight." (Prov 9:5-6) |
“Stolen
water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!”(Prov 9:17)
|
This
comparison of wisdom and folly intrigues me. I haven’t quoted all of it, but the
point should be made. The first point of interest is that the Folly seems to
live at the highest point of the city. In Old Testament terms, high places were
often places of worship, meaning that they were associated with power. You went
to sacrifice to the gods at high places to gain what one wanted. In other
words, you went there to gain some sort of power. Today, we might think of high places as
the government or other world system.
We aren’t told where
wisdom lives, but apparently, it’s not the high place. She goes to the highest
point of the city, but she doesn’t seem to live there. We’re also told that
wisdom has servants, while folly appears to have none. An alternative is that folly
has servants, but they aren’t involved. Either she doesn’t want their help or
they’ve declined. Given the culture, I suspect it’s the former. But she doesn’t
have the sense to get far enough away that they won’t know what she’s doing.
But
both wisdom and folly give the same initial invitation to the same target
audience. Both invite the simple and the senseless to their houses. Wisdom
offers change, process, and challenge. Folly offers “feeling good” and a reward
for taking what doesn’t belong either to her or to them. In a sense, folly
seems to make no demands. It sounds safe.
There
are some who would probably suggest that it was only the writer’s opinion that
wisdom was wise and folly was foolish. Look around. What’s your experience?
Comments
Post a Comment