1 My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
4 if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright . . .
Proverbs 2:1-7a (ESV)
Very few people would have guessed that a book on punctuation would have found a place on the New York Times best-seller list for more than half a year; but Lynne Truss’s Eats Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation was an overnight success. Why? There may be numerous reasons, but one reason must be that nearly everyone knows that grammar matters. And one of the first things one learns about grammar is that verbs are very special words. They indicate action and, in one of their forms, call for urgent activity on the part of one doing the action.
When Solomon piles up the eight verbs in verses 1 to 4, he emphasizes the fact that acquiring wisdom requires responsible action. In order to “understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God” one must, first, receive His word. Second, one must store up those words because they are precious. These two verbs imply special sensitivity and receptivity toward God’s words. Third, one must make the ear attentive to wisdom, paying close attention to what is said. Fourth, the heart—the seat of one’s affections—must be inclined toward wisdom, moving in its direction. Wisdom is to be sought, fifthly, with utmost urgency, calling out for it, and, sixth, even raising one’s voice plaintively for it. Seventh, wisdom is to be sought through hard work, and eighth, mined as if it were precious metals, like silver and gold.
While wisdom is to be pursued passionately, it is also, paradoxically, a gift. The Lord alone gives wisdom; He is the source of knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6). This reality does not excuse laziness. On the contrary, God’s sovereign gift should motivate the “son” to pursue wisdom with all his might.
Like the pursuit of knowledge (Proverbs 2:10), acquiring wisdom has a clear educational component. Yet, getting wisdom does not simply refer to the accumulation of facts. Wisdom does not require a high IQ or earned degrees, as helpful as those might be, for the Lord “stores up sound wisdom for the upright.” He shields “those who walk in integrity” (Proverbs 2:7). Seeking wisdom in a way that shows a genuine desire for it is a moral virtue. Wisdom is the way to righteousness, justice (Proverbs 2:9), and discretion (Proverbs 2:11). It contrasts with perverted speech (Proverbs 2:12), ways of darkness (Proverbs 2:13), and evil (Proverbs 2:14) that eventually leads to death (Proverbs 2:18).
In this light, education should have a moral grounding with the goal of producing wise persons. Wise persons are virtuous persons. And virtuous persons pursue wisdom, knowing that God delights to give wisdom liberally (James 1:5) to those who desire it.
Many seem to think that hearing God’s word being taught or preached is a passive experience, like watching television. But wise Solomon’s grammar reminds us that getting the wisdom of God is a verb.