Proverbs 1:20

WISDOM (PERSONIFIED) CRIES OUT WARNING; BUT MEN HEED IT NOT

"Wisdom crieth aloud in the street.

She uttereth her voice in the broad places;

She crieth in the chief place of concourse;

At the entrance of the gates,

In the city she uttereth her words:

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?

And scoffers delight them in scoffing,

And fools hate knowledge?

Turn you, at my reproof:

Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you;

I will make known my words unto you.

Because I have called, and ye have refused;

I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded;

But ye have set at naught all my counsel,

And would none of my reproof:

I also will laugh in the day of your calamity;

I will mock when your fear cometh;

When your fear cometh as a storm,

And your calamity cometh as a whirlwind;

When distress and anguish come unto you.

Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer;

They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me.

For that they hated knowledge,

And did not choose the fear of Jehovah,

They would none of my counsel,

They despised all my reproof.

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,

And be filled with their own devices.

For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them,

And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely,

And shall be quiet without fear of evil."

"I will pour out my spirit upon you" (Proverbs 1:23). Jamieson suggested that there is a reference here to the spirit of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit;[20] and there are a number of considerations that support this view. (1) Paul has told us that Christ is indeed "our wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:30); and (2) the Hebrew word here indicating the personification of Wisdom is "a plural noun,"[21] suggesting the doctrine of the Trinity. The fact of that noun's being feminine does not support this idea; but (3) as Cook pointed out, "The teaching of the Divine Wisdom is essentially the same as that of the Divine Word (John 7:38-39), namely, repentance and conversion. That is what she calls the simple to do."[22]

"I also will laugh in the day of your calamity ... mock when your fear cometh" (Proverbs 1:26). Scholars stress that in the New Testament, while there is certainly, "Sadness, sternness and severity, there is found no word of mere derision";[23] and, while this is true enough, the New Testament leaves no doubt whatever that there shall eventually come to the wicked a "point of no return," a time when too late shall be written upon all human efforts and all remorse (Matthew 25:10,30), when the unprepared shall at last find that "the door is shut." "These words should not be interpreted as a cynical indifference to human condemnation, but as the eventual vindication of Wisdom in the face of repeated and insolent rejection."[24]