“Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.” (Pr 7:4-5 AV)
It is interesting the emotional tie Solomon associates with wisdom and understanding. When we think of these two, we think primarily of information. How can someone have an emotional tie to facts? The use of ‘sister’ and ‘kinswoman’ is a reference to close and personal relationships. John Gill writes, “Intimately acquainted, greatly beloved, and highly delighted in”. Joseph Benson pens, “Say to her, Thou art my sister, my spouse, my beloved: let her have the command of thy heart, and the conduct of thy life.” Each suggests Solomon’s encouragement to his son is to have personal feelings regarding wisdom and understanding beyond mere knowledge. Dad suggests to his son to have a passion and allegiance to wisdom and understanding to the same degree he would his own sister, mother, aunt, and even his wife. But that begs the question. How can someone be personally vested in facts? How can one have personal feelings about wisdom that leads to the right choices? How can someone be personally attached to the right path, the right course of life, and the right living? Isn’t wisdom like taking your medicine? It is a pill you swallow for no other reason than it is prescribed and it will treat some underlying condition if it is not taken. How can one go from simple discipline to zealous adherence? What changes?
What changes is noticing the effect it has when followed versus the consequences if it is not. My doctor put me on three medications several years back. One for my thyroid. It is not working as well as it should. Another for my blood pressure. It was slightly elevated but more so for a hereditary brain issue that requires I pay close attention to my blood pressure. Then I am on a statin to fight high cholesterol. Not that my bad cholesterol is seriously high. It isn’t. But my good cholesterol is excessively low because of genetics. When I was put on all those, I notices a remarkable difference in my sleep quality and brain function. I slept like a rock. Still do. Before the medication, the littlest things would wake me up and I would be up for the remainder of the night. To say I was perpetually tired would be an understatement. If you talked to me, you could tell I hadn’t slept for a while. The thyroid medicine helped tremendously to stabilize my mood and the cholesterol medicine greatly improved my brain function. I have them on a daily schedule along with vitamins B12 and B6 to help with dry skin from hypothyroidism and appetite control. They are just pills. That is all they are. They are little round things made up of talcum powder and chemicals. They are inanimate. They cannot talk to me or carry on a relationship. But because of my need for them and the benefits they bestow, I definitely have a personal feeling about them.
The reason we have little emotion for wisdom and understanding is we do not take stock of how much they benefit us. Above, Solomon instructs his son to have greater personal feelings for wisdom and understanding than he would a strange woman. That is, comprehending the benefits of living by wisdom and comparing that with the pleasure he might have indulging in sin. Which has greater pleasure? Which had greater benefits? This also suggests the only way we will find the benefits of wisdom and understanding is to try them out. Not once or twice. Rather, as long as it takes to find the benefit. The first time we turn down the flesh, it might be agonizing. Doing it repeatedly will reveal that discipline has its own rewards. We give up too soon. We don’t see an immediate upside to wisdom. We see an instantaneous pleasure from foolishness. Solomon is right. We should have a personal tie to wisdom and understanding. We should be attached to it emotionally. The only way to do that is to put them into practice and allow them to have their perfect work.
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