Proverbs 9 explained: Two Hostesses, Two Invitations

Wisdom prepares a feast (vv. 1-3)

Wisdom is a generous hostess who builds a fine house, cooks meat, mixes spiced wine and sends her servants out with invitations. The seven pillars probably suggest a complete, solid house, though scholars are unsure of the exact meaning.

Her open invitation (vv. 4-6)

She invites not the clever but the "simple," meaning inexperienced people who are easily led, and offers them both a meal and a new way to live. Christians have often read this feast alongside Jesus' stories of a great banquet open to everyone.

Who can be taught (vv. 7-9)

A mocker answers correction with insults, while a wise person welcomes it and grows wiser still. The point seems to be that openness to correction is what makes learning possible.

Where wisdom begins (vv. 10-12)

Here the "fear of the LORD" means deep respect and awe toward God, and real wisdom is said to start there and lead to a longer life. Each person carries the results of their own choices, wise or mocking.

Folly copies the call (vv. 13-16)

Folly is a loud, empty woman who sits high in the city like Wisdom and repeats Wisdom's exact invitation. She targets the same easily led people, even those simply going about their business.

The pull of forbidden things (vv. 17-18)

She claims that water taken by theft and food eaten in secret taste better, a saying many read as hinting at sexual unfaithfulness. But her guests end up deep in the grave, the place of the dead, meaning her path leads to ruin.

Key verse: Proverbs 9:10

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Wisdom pictured as a woman here is a poetic way of describing God's wisdom or a foreshadowing of Christ himself, as many older readers held.

Something to think about

When something feels sweeter precisely because it is forbidden or hidden, what do you think makes it feel that way?