To enable men, especially the young, to know wisdom,' and to help them to discern the words of understanding'; that is, to familiarise, by the study of the book, with the characteristics of wise teachings, so that there may be no mistaking seducing words of folly for these. These two aims are expanded in the remaining verses, the latter of them being resumed in Prov. 1:6, while the former occupies the other verses.
We note how emphatically the field in which this wisdom is to be exercised is declared to be the moral conduct of life. Righteousness and judgment and equity' are wise dealing,' and the end of true wisdom is to practise these. The wider horizon of modern science and speculation includes much in the notion of wisdom which has no bearing on conduct. But the intellectual progress (and conceit) of to-day will be none the worse for the reminder that a man may take in knowledge till he is ignorant, and that, however enriched with science and philosophy, if he does not practise righteousness, he is a feel.
We note also the special destination of the book--for the young. Youth, by reason of hot blood and inexperience, needs such portable medicines as are packed in these proverbs, many of them the condensation into a vivid sentence of world-wide truths. There are few better guides for a young man than this book of homely sagacity, which is wisdom about the world without being tainted by the bad sort of worldly wisdom. But unfortunately those who need it most relish it least, and we have for the most part to rediscover its truths for ourselves by our own, often bitter, experience.
We note, further, the clear statement of the way by which incipient wisdom' will grow, and of the certainty of its growth if it is real. It is the wise man' who will increase in learning,' the man of understanding' who attains unto sound counsels.' The treasures are thrown away on him who has no heart for them. You may lavish wisdom on the feel,' and it will run off him like water off a rock, fertilising nothing, and stopping outside him.
The Bible would not have met all our needs, nor gone with us into all regions of our experience, if it had not had this book of shrewd, practical common-sense. Christianity is the perfection of common sense. Godliness hath promise of the life which now is.' The wisdom of the serpent, which Jesus enjoins, has none of the serpent's venom in it. It is no sign of spirituality of mind to be above such mundane considerations as this book urges. If we hold our heads too high to look to our road and our feet, we are sure to fall into a pit.
