Please Note: The following is a snippet from a book I’m working on about the Proverbs of Solomon as found in the Old Testament.
Perhaps you have been in that awkward situation where you received a peculiar Christmas gift from an eccentrically odd, but otherwise nice, classmate, cousin, co-worker or neighbor, and you were not sure how to react.
Is this a joke, or is she serious, you silently wonder?
You quickly put on your best face and go with, “Oh, thanks for the gingerbread man tree ornament…with the little bite taken out of the head.”
Which brings me to Proverbs 1:3,
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity.
Wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity—I refer to these as the Big Four. Solomon prompts us “to receive” the Big Four. Receive means “to take,” but this is not a polite taking, like the gingerbread man with a chunk of missing skull. “Receive” can also mean “to seize.”
You see, we are living in an age where wisdom, justice, judgment and equity have become relative terms, veering far from their original interpretations and their use within Scripture. The Bible is the sole objective source of all the revelation God has given us about Himself and His plan for humanity. It runs contrary to the fluffy rhetoric flaunted on various media platforms by quasi coaches and counselors who advise their faithful followers, “We’re all on a journey,” or, “It’s your karma,” or, “Go with the flow.”
Solomon is not dishing out such delusion.
True, we’re are all on a journey, but the journey ends at a destination that determines one’s place in eternity.
And karma? It sounds so edgy, but in reality, it pertains to pagan religions that believe good intent and deeds contribute to happier rebirths, or reincarnations, while bad intent and deeds contribute to bad karma and bad rebirths. In other words, bomb in this life and you might come back as an amoeba.
And we should be always be wary of going with the flow; that’s what dead fish do.
Solomon is referring to heartily seizing his specific instruction regarding wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity. These are personality traits of the only, and Holy, God.
Hebrews 4:12 provides us with an important reminder,
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Talk about cutting edge!