Love Wisdom Instead of an Immoral Woman

Proverbs 7:4 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
⁴ Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
    and call understanding^[1] one who is known,^[2]

Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”: In the Hebrew Old Testament, sister was often used as a term of endearment in reference to a wife or lover. On this John H Walton writes, “The reference to Woman Wisdom as ‘sister’ must be understood in the context of ancient Near Eastern and biblical love poetry (‘my sister, my bride,’ Song 4:9), where the ‘sister’ is actually the beloved. In other words, the father encourages his son to make Woman Wisdom his lover, his wife.”^[3]

And call understanding one who is known: Understanding (בִּין bin; בּוּנָה Bunah) is the ability to see how the parts or aspects of something are connected to one another. One who understands can see the big picture (the entire matter) and not just the isolated facts. (Prov. 2:5; 9:10; 18:15) Discernment and understanding involve comprehending, perceiving, grasping what the authors meant, identifying individual verses in light of the whole, weighing, or evaluating one verse considering the others.

Insight Insight (בִּינָה binah; שֶׂכֶל sekel or שֵׂכֶל sekel) is the ability to see into a situation. One who possesses insight acts with wisdom, caution, and discretion. Insight is closely related to understanding, but there is a fine distinction between the two terms. Says the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament: “While bin [understanding] indicates ‘distinguishing between,’ [sa·khal′] relates to an intelligent knowledge of the reason.” (R. L. Harris, 1980, Vol. 2, p. 877) Conclusion: there is the process of thinking through a complex arrangement of thoughts resulting in wise dealing and good practical common sense. Another result is the emphasis upon being successful. Insight gives a person the ability to look into something, be prudent and cautious in decision-making, act prudently, be reasonable, rational, and sensible when considering something. A person with insight can think through a complex situation, which results in a wise decision because he uses good practical common sense.

Godly wisdom is having good sense, that is, the ability to make sensible decisions and judgments based on Bible knowledge and your biblically trained conscience. “In Old Testament culture, sister was a term of endearment for a wife or lover (Song 4:9-10, 12; 5:1-2).”[4] Thus, the son is presented with the option of loving two different women: the wife personified as wisdom or the adulteress. Insight for a person of God specifically is the ability to see clearly and biblically into the nature of an issue, situation, or matter.

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[1] Or insight

[2] I.e., intimate friend; that is to know, which is often used as a euphemism for sexual intercourse

^[3] John H Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Old Testament): The Minor Prophets, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 479.

[4] Anders, Max (2005-07-01). Holman Old Testament Commentary – Proverbs (p. 60). B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition. We should love and value wisdom as though she were our sister.