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A Healing to Your Navel

Proverbs 3:7-8 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
⁷Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear Jehovah, and turn away from evil.
⁸It will be healing to your body[1]
and refreshment to your bones.

Be not wise in your own eyes is another way to say, do not lean on your own understanding from verse 5. We do not want to think that we are wise to the point of forgetting that it is Jehovah who is the true source of wisdom. If we are wise in our own eyes, we have a superiority element about ourselves. Moreover, this means that we are not open to anyone’s observations, views, thoughts, but our own. If we are wise in our own eyes, we are prideful. If we fear Jehovah, looking to him, we are humble. To fear Jehovah is not a dreadful fear, it is a reverential fear of displeasing the one we love. If that were the case, we would certainly turn away from evil. Turn away from evil is also used in describing Job in Job 1:1, saying “that man [Job] was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.”

3:8 is the result of listening to the counsel in 3:7. It will be a healing to your body that points back to the wisdom of being humble and reverentially fearing Jehovah. In Hebrew, healing to your body is literally “healing shall be to your navel.” If “navel” means the umbilical cord, it may be stressing our need for complete dependence upon God, just as a helpless fetus is entirely dependent upon its mother for nourishment. However, if “navel” refers to the muscles and tendons of the body, it could be that these parts are being contrasted with the bones of 3:8b, the body’s more solid elements. Whatever Solomon specifically meant; one thing is certain: having a reverential fear of Jehovah is the path to wisdom.

And refreshment to your bones is literally “and drink for your bones.” Just as “navel” is used figuratively in 3:8a, so are bones in 3:8b. The Bible often uses the word “bones” metaphorically about being affected by deep feelings and emotions. The emotional distress of fear, sorrow, envy, resentment, hatred, pride, and guilt will lead to physical ailments of the body. A person avoiding these evil emotions because of their fear of displeasing Jehovah will surely be refreshing to their bones, which is being influenced by deep feelings and emotions that are invigorating and exhilarating.

[1] Lit Healing shall be to your navel