Wisdom Calling

In these chapters wisdom is often portrayed in human form as a woman. Here she goes into the public square with an invitation. The “simple” ones (22) are the naïve and gullible who are in danger of listening to the voice of the enticers (10). The fools and the mockers have gone further down the path of self-centered and rebellious behavior. Wisdom pleads with the gullible, encouraging them not to become like the fool, highlighting the dangers of rejection and the benefits of response.

There are overtones here of God’s call to his people, their rejection and the consequent loss of relationship. This is supremely expressed in Jesus who comes as God’s wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24). He invites us to enter into a new relationship with God and laments the hardness of heart which leads to alienation and destruction (Luke 19:41-44). God’s longing is always for relationship, but there is another side. Those who are determined to go their own way and reject God’s wisdom find in the end that they can no longer hear the voice of wisdom (24-32). Hardened in their own behavior, they cannot find wisdom (28). The laughter of verse 26 is not vindictive; it is wisdom delighting in the establishment of right moral values: “Wisdom rejoices in turning the present upside down world right side up” (Bruce Waltke). Judgment is not something arbitrarily imposed or delighted in by God. It is the result of the outworking of his character, expressed in moral law and consequences brought on themselves by those who persist in rejecting his wisdom and his way.

The strong language shows the urgency of the appeal, with the desired outcome being that the hearers might pursue right rather than wrong, wisdom rather than folly, God’s way rather than their own.

How will you respond to that call? How might you stand with wisdom and issue the same appeal to your contemporaries?