Proverbs 8:1

"This chapter forms at once the nucleus and the climax of this section of Proverbs. It includes a profound presentation of Wisdom as the moving principle of the ways of God."[1]

The great problem in the chapter is the interpretation of Proverbs 8:22-31. Are they to be understood as speaking of Christ; or, are they merely a personification of Wisdom in the literary and poetic sense alone?

That the passage most certainly carries the most significant overtones of Jesus Christ himself is undeniable, although it falls short of being a prophecy. It is primarily a personification of Wisdom; and that pinpoints the stupidity of the Arian heresy that tried to challenge the Divinity and Eternal Existence of Christ upon the basis of a personification, a personification that does not pretend to say even one word about Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, Christ is most certainly in it; and there is nothing here that, in any sense, contradicts the New Testament revelation concerning either our Lord Jesus Christ or the acceptance for generations of the teachings of Christian theologians who have applied many of the things written here to Christ.

"Solomon, the wisest of men, had in himself personally become (almost) a personification of a dark and vicious life. Being himself so wise, how could he have failed to know that someday there would indeed be an Incarnate Wisdom, a glorious and eternal contrast with the Incarnate Vice (whom he had just described in the previous chapter, and to which he himself bore a striking resemblance)? In his marvelous description of Wisdom personified, and in tracing out her sweet and high-souled utterances the teacher (Solomon), unconsciously to himself, becomes a prophet, and presents, as we shall see, a faint and wavering image of Him who of God was to be made the Wisdom of God unto men and who would exhibit the perfect life embodying in their fullness all of the attributes of Wisdom."[2]

"The Christological interpretation of this chapter has existed from the earliest Christian centuries. Such New Testament passages as 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:15-18; Hebrews 1:3; and Revelation 3:14, written by the apostles Paul and John, clearly teach that the terminology used in this chapter regarding Wisdom has its full and complete meaning only in, `Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God' (1 Corinthians 1:24)."[3]

Deane's outline of the chapter is:

"I. Wisdom calls all to listen (Proverbs 8:1-5), and gives reasons for trusting her (Proverbs 8:6-11).

II. Displays her excellence (Proverbs 8:12-21).

III. She discourses regarding her eternity (Proverbs 8:22-31).

IV. She again warns against disobeying her commandments."[4]

Proverbs 8:1-5

WISDOM CALLS ALL TO HEAR HER WORDS

"Doth not wisdom cry,

And understanding put forth her voice?

On the top of high places by the way,

Where the paths meet, she standeth;

Beside the gates, at the entrance of the city,

At the coming in of the doors, she crieth aloud:

Unto you, O men, I call;

And my voice is unto the sons of men.

O ye simple, understand prudence;

And ye fools, be of an understanding heart."

What a contrast there is between the woman Wisdom, as depicted here, and the woman Vice as revealed in the previous chapter! "Wisdom does not speak in whispered seductive tones under the cover of twilight and darkness";[5] she thunders the truth from the gates of the city, shouts it in the public streets, and demands that all men of every class and condition heed her admonitions.

"O, ye simple, ye fools ... understand" (Proverbs 8:5). "The `simple' here are not the mentally handicapped, but sinners. The word `fools' is what we call the moral vocabulary of Proverbs. The word is used 49 times in Proverbs, eighteen times in Ecclesiastes, and three times elsewhere."[6]