⁶ “Listen, for I will speak noble things; and the opening of my lips will reveal right things. ⁷ For my mouth will utter truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. ⁸ All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing crooked or perverted in them. ⁹ They are all straightforward to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge. ¹⁰ Take my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choicest gold. ¹¹ For wisdom is better than jewels; and all desirable things cannot compare with her.”

Foolish people scoff at the idea of living wisely; the words sound foreign to them, as if the concept goes entirely over their heads. Their view of wisdom teaching is so self-centered that they delude themselves about life. Their life pattern is opposite to wise living. Our passage continues to extol wisdom as the voice competing with the voice of temptation to foolishness.

On the positive side, wisdom is described as speaking about noble things. The Hebrew word carries the root sense of making something high or conspicuous, particularly with something previously unknown or unknowable. It is sometimes used to describe riddles that confound people until they are told the answer (see Judges 14:12). Foolish people reject wisdom like a person befuddled by a mystery.

Wisdom has to do with right things, the term being used both in the practical and ethical sense. It operates from a framework of what is straight and righteous. Foolish people ply their trade in what is wicked, crooked, or perverted. Wisdom and foolishness are two completely different scaffolds for building our lives. Solomon is justified in spending so much time driving the distinction home before he launches into his actual proverbial statements.

The wisdom laid out in the coming chapters is helpful only to those who desire true wisdom. With the pervasiveness of social media and the internet in general, many voices are proclaiming to offer wisdom in many forms. The term “influencer” is used for those with large internet followings of people who hang on their videos, as they spew out about anything and everything in life, whether political ideas or how to apply makeup. Permeating it all are various worldviews that espouse many things, some wise and practical, some crooked or perverted. But the godly person desires wisdom from the most significant influencer, one who is noble and right, who teaches truth and righteousness, which is God’s wisdom.

In the end, godly instruction is more valuable than money or possessions (vs. 10-11). Jesus spoke about this in His Sermon on the Mount:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal … Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. (Matt. 6:19-20, 7:24)

Father, I want to live wisely with Your teaching in the Proverbs and with the teachings of Christ. For all true wisdom is Your wisdom!