Proverbs Ch 1 begins as follows:
1:1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2 To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
3 to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4 to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6 to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
“Obtain Guidance”
Our focus in this post is “wisdom and instruction” (Prov 1:2) and more particularly “obtain guidance” (1:5).
“Wisdom”
Wisdom is about choosing well. What is “well” (good) from as given here in Proverbs stems from justice (1:3), and prudence deriving from knowledge (1:4). Underlying these is a foundation pillar: “the fear of the Lord:”
“The Fear of the Lord”
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (1:7a), and is that which the antagonist in Proverbs–the fool(s)–despise, “fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (1:7b). Fools in Proverbs is not mental feebleness but moral rebellion in strength and even cunning, rebels against God, overriding His authority by an counter-authority of self-will.
Fear, rightful fear, reflects awe, wonder, honor of God’s every proclamation of…this is what is true, and here is the way. “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Prov 3:6). “Way” and “ways” occurs 76 times in Proverbs, the most of any Bible book, closely followed by Psalms, a much larger book, where it occurs 74 times. The way, and not the way, is a core theme of both these Books that comprise two of the five “wisdom books” of the OT, where the idea of “way” occurs 190 times in aggregate, exceeding even the sum of occurrences in the NT (168x).
Prov 1:5 Translations of “Obtain Guidance”
An exposition of the right way, choosing wisely, stems from the word translated “obtain guidance” in the ESV. Other translations have it:
- attain unto wise / sound counsels
- gain direction
- acquire skill / abilities
The words so translated from the Septuagint (LXX, the Greek OT) are:
- gain, attain, or obtain (ktaomai, Strongs G2932), is the securing of a valued possession, as that of a particular skill (techne) from disciplined training, instruction, practice. It is a know-how word for a distinctive, necessary capability.
- guidance, direction, acquisition (kybernēsis, G2941), widely used of multiple aspects of of ship-craft,
- that of an owner (the decider of a journey to be undertaken),
- that of a shipmaster (the captain on the ship), and
- that of the ship’s pilot (the hand on the wheel).
And so…
The wisdom of Proverbs, and of life, has a close parallel to that of ships on the sea, in purposeful, safe, profitable operation. This extends from investment and ownership–all the necessary knowledge and wisdom of ship operations, to captaincy managing the ship in the midst of the seas and weather, to the actual hand on the wheel directing the moment by moment adjustments of sails and rudder under every changing conditions, including life and death situations, such as the great voyage recorded in Acts Ch 27 and 28.
The underlying necessity of such ship-craft is developing the discipline of choosing in accordance with physical laws of sound ship-building and sailing, knowledge of weather and harbors, diligence of watchfulness. And this is exactly what Prov Ch 1 introduces as the central theme of the entire Book.
Like any difficult discipline, and life’s choosing is certainly that, it requires the discipline of learning, which in turn requires the humility of submission to the Word(s) of God’s instruction.
The need for such humility is represented to us in the NT in two passages where the verb form of kybernēsis is used, kybernaō (Strongs G2942), appears twice:
- Acts 27:11, where the arrogance of the ship’s captain believed his own judgment as to the ship’s safe journey from Jerusalem to Rome, which ending in shipwreck, and
- Rev 18:17, when the final fall of our age, signified by the destruction of metaphorical “Babylon,” results in the ultimate loss at sea of the entire commercial enterprise of man’s way.