Proverbs 1:20-33

Note that the current issue of Interpretation is on Proverbs and they have a piece on this very section.

 

1) Wisdom (hokmah, sophia) is personified as Lady/Dame Wisdom through ch. 9. Wisdom is a gift of the Spirit (Is.11), but it is personified in Jesus, as well. Wisdom. One could choose to use its structure and flow for the actual sermon.

3) Wisdom does not speak in secret (v. gnostics) but in public. Moral life is played out in public as well as in private.

4) The closing emphasizes the sense that the way of Wisdom leads to life and the the way of folly leads to chaos and death. That includes physical death but can include death of relationships, the death of happiness as well.

5) Why do we reject wisdom's call to us? The wisdom of Jesus was not heeded and continues to be ignored. We prefer to be seduced by Dame Folly