¹Does not wisdom call, and understanding lift up her voice? ²On top of the heights beside the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; ³beside the gates, at the opening to the city, at the entrance of the doors, she cries out: ⁴ “To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. ⁵O naive ones, understand prudence; and, O fools, understand wisdom.”

Solomon’s repeated use of what seems like an extreme, overstated metaphor of sexual temptation is sadly necessary, considering how many otherwise godly believers fall into temptation in their later years. However, we now find it refreshing to move to the following two chapters, which focus on the blessings and the way of wisdom. The motif of referring to wisdom in the feminine continues, contrasting with the competing voice of folly. Verse one of our section repeats what Solomon wrote earlier:

Wisdom shouts in the street, she lifts her voice in the square; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings … (Prov. 1:20–21)

Wisdom is not stuffed away in moldy library books, but it aggressively comes for us. No one has an excuse to miss it. Unlike adultery, wisdom does not pursue us in the secret or dark places where temptation has the advantage to bring a person down. God’s instructions for life come out in the open with a lifted-up voice and shout from the mountaintops and in the public square. These figures of speech convey that wisdom in life is free and out in the open. It hits us in the face if we are available to see and acknowledge it. We recognize it when we hear it—if we have ears to hear.

Notice the earlier teaching of the father to his son (singular) now expands to “sons of men,” “naïve ones,” and “fools” (vss. 4-5). Although learning wisdom is a lifelong process, it begins when a person is young, still under a parent’s tutelage. A naïve person is one who simply does not know wisdom, whereas a fool is a person who knows but chooses to act unwisely. Later, Solomon adds the mocker, who takes his rejection of wisdom further and disdains wisdom altogether, fully embracing foolishness.

The call of wisdom implies that we humans are not born wise but devoid of wisdom (“naïve”). As we grow, we must choose whether we remain naïve, and thereby become fools, consciously reject wisdom and thereby become mockers, or embrace wisdom and thereby become wise. God sends wisdom (as it were) to us at every turn of the road, but the choice is ours which path we follow.

Lord, help me discern the voice of wisdom above the cacophony of voices promoting and fostering foolish ways of life. I want to both know wisdom and live wisely.