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When David handed the royal throne to his son Solomon, Israel was at the peak of her God blessed-prosperity. It was now the greatest kingdom of the world and its new king the wisest who ever lived. To David, God made a covenant promise that his sons. would occupy the throne—as long as they remained faithful to the covenant. But if they did not, the consequences would be grave. Solomon knew he must do all within his power to prepare his sons to assume their royal duty. That meant many things but particularly it meant walking in obedience to God’s law: loving the LORD with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.
The law of Moses had been in circulation for five hundred years. But how. should it’s precepts be applied in the daily administration of the greatest nation on earth? This is no doubt what motivated Solomon to write the Book of Proverbs. It was a leadership training manual giving specific examples of applying the law of Moses in everyday situations.
Sadly, many efforts to teach the Book of Proverbs have neglected this covenant foundation. The 800 proverbial maxims have been treated more like folk lore is today — “early to bed, early to rise, helps to make a man healthy, wealthy and wise” (Benjamin Franklin). Is that similar to the proverbs written by Solomon? the foundation is completely different, reflecting the ancient covenant understanding. Benjamin Franklin’s folk wisdom may have been true sometimes but not always. Interpreted correctly, the divine wisdom in Proverbs is always true.
I am grateful that many serious Bible teachers are seeing this covenant context more clearly than in the past, particularly the Wisdom Literature which has typically not been seen in that framework. My own understanding of covenant in these books has been enriched by Old Testament scholars like O Palmer Robertson and Daniel Block who have explored the deep connection between the law-covenant and wisdom writings. In this lesson I will do the same, especially tracing how the moral requirements of the law are to be applied in daily life situations. I will use one of the most familiar verses in Proverbs to guide us:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, do not rely on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight paths for your feet” (Proverbs 3:5,6).
How do God’s covenant people apply the commands of the law in every day life? In a very practical way, it requires making the right decisions in the various situations we face every day.
Step One: The Heart Work
​Trust and the Fear of the LORD (1:7)
A significant theme throughout all five books of wisdom literature is the fear of the LORD. In the Book of Proverbs it is used over 15 times to lay the foundation of wisdom. I call it the “heart work” of wisdom because, in Scripture, the fear of the LORD begins in the desires of our hearts.
My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you, so as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God.
For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. (2:1-6)
Notice how the fear of the LORD is what equips us to have true knowledge and wisdom. It is the vital first step of wisdom because it prepares us to trust God rather than ourselves in whatever choices we are facing. This is what the key verse says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart…” Trusting and fearing the LORD go hand in hand.
Remember the covenant structure. The preamble of a covenant document introduced the parties of the agreement: notably, the king and his subjects. The king is transcendent and high above the subjects. The only correct response of the subjects is to “trust” and “fear” him.
Among the helpful scholarly resources on Proverbs, Daniel Blocks’s, Covenant: The Framework of God’s Grand Plan of Redemption (2022) shows how the law of God is in the background of all 850 proverbs. Specifically, the fear and trust of the LORD is the heart condition necessary for obedience to God’s law. Even proverbs that may seem not to have anything to do with either the law of the fear of God can only be understood in this context. For example, proverbs warns against the sin of gluttony (excessive eating): "Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, (Proverbs 23:20).
What does this have to do with the law of God and the fear of the LORD? Gluttony and drunkenness are practical displays of wrong choices. When a man rejects God’s law, refusing to fear him, he also breaks the first and second commandments. God views gluttony and drunkenness as idolatry of the heart. In the New Testament Paul made the same connection: he warned that those who reject God prove that their “ …god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things. (Philippians 3:19).
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Step Two: Mind Work
“Do not rely on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him…” (3:5,6)
A second fundamental theme of the Book of Proverbs is the contrast between the wise man and the fool. There are over 100 proverbs warning against foolishness and fools. Fools are not those who lack information or education. Fools are those who reject God’s truth in favor of their own. This is why the proverb says, “do not rely on your own understanding.” I call this the “mind work” of wisdom.
In an earlier lesson I talked about the three levels of knowledge: notitia (I see knowledge), assensus (I agree knowledge) and fiducia (I obey knowledge). True knowledge requires all three levels. And in terms of wisdom, it is not enough to notice or agree with some bit of information, no matter how true and accurate it may be. Wisdom requires obedience. This is connected to the mind work of wisdom. In wisdom, the mind work is summarized by not relying on our own observations (notitia) or even our own interpretation (assensus) of what is right. That’s what fools do and because of it they are led down paths of error and self-destruction. “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). This is why the mind work of wisdom is so important–and so difficult.
I noted above that we must view all the proverbs in the larger context of God’s moral law. The heart work of wisdom requires humble trust and submission also described as the fear of the LORD. The mind work requires examining our own folly and self-deception. The multitude of warnings in the Book of Proverbs about folly are part of that mind work: considering well the consequences of our decisions.
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Step Three: Foot Work
“...He will make straight paths for your feet” (3:5,6).
Step one of wisdom is the work of the heart. It requires we trust and fear the LORD because of who he is and who we are. Step two involves the necessary work of the mind. Those who rely on their own understanding are fools. Wisdom requires an acknowledgment that we do not know what is best. God alone does and he has revealed it in his word.
The third step is the “foot work”--it’s what we do next: the choices we make. In the three levels of knowledge, it is characterized by the word “fiducia”--I obey knowledge.
The vast majority of the proverbs describe specific situations of life and the decisions we make. We could call them the footwork of wisdom.
​​​Of the 800 or so proverbial statements, they can all be viewed as applications of the moral law, and often can be connected to multiple commands. This is because the specific commandments are all expressions of the one moral law. Jesus said that the entire law is summarized in two commands: love God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. Wisdom is the same. Though each of the specific examples of wisdom and folly stand on their own, so to speak, they are also connected to each other, and all are ultimately connected to what Jesus said: loving God and others.
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Going a step further, the third work of wisdom is what I call the foot work and is memorably summarized by the promise: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, do not rely on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight paths for your feet” (Proverbs 3:5,6).
God promises that when we do the heart work, mind work and footwork, he will make straight paths for our feet. That is the ancient way of describing good choices. Bad choices are like choosing a crooked path. In those days, a crooked path was not desirable. Not only would it take longer to get to your destination, it may also mean hidden dangers along the way.
Proverbs and the Tree of Life
I want to highlight one other insight from the Book of Proverbs, often overlooked by students and teachers. It comes from a scholar named Jonathan Ginn who wrote a fascinating study of covenant structure in Proverbs. In his article titled "The Tree of Life in the Book of Proverbs," (Themelios, 2017) Ginn noted that there are four references to the tree of life in Proverbs. We recall that the tree of life first appeared in the Garden of Eden. We know that Adam and Eve were prohibited from eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and if they did they would die. However, they were encouraged to eat from the tree of life which was also in the middle of their garden home.
Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9).
Ginn noticed that Solomon connects the life of wisdom (thus, the proverbs) to eating the tree of life: Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; happy are those who hold her tightly" (3:18, 11:30, 13:12, 15:4).
Solomon instructed his sons to do what Adam failed to do. God had made Adam as his covenant representative to exercise kingly dominion on the earth:
“Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Genesis 1:26).
Eating from the tree of life would have empowered Adam with kingly wisdom. However, rather than the tree of life, Adam chose the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life represented divine wisdom. Eating from it would be trusting the LORD with all his heart in the fear of the LORD. Adam failed, however. Eating from the tree of knowledge reflected the way of the fool: “leaning on his own understanding.”
Solomon’s sons could do what Adam did not if they trusted the LORD rather than their own understanding. And if they did, Solomon assured them this would fulfill the promises made to his father, David:
When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (2 Samuel 7:12,13).
The final section in the ancient covenant structure laid out the generational continuity of the covenant: how would the promises continue to be fulfilled? The answer from Proverbs is wisdom: eating from the tree of life.
