Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
King Solomon wrote about one thousand years before Christ very practical and needed instruction for all phases of life, including business precepts intensely helpful in everyday life to those who will use them. It was given as a practical rule for everyday moral and religious duty to God, family, neighbor, and friend.
The speaker is Christ in the character of Wisdom, heavenly wisdom from above originating with the immortal, invisible, only wise God. It is not the wisdom of this world, which is foolishness with God. Wisdom is pictured as a cherub full of love descended from above.
In its setting Wisdom has built a house on seven pillars and furnished a table with bread and mingled wine. She cries from the highest places of the city to the simple, the foolish, those wanting understanding, and the starving to come, eat, drink, taste her food, be wise, and live. The house Wisdom built is the church of Christ, built by God's wisdom and power upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone.
The feast is the last gospel feast in the closing hours of probation, for suppertime is in the afternoon and supper is the last meal of the day. Its rich, wholesome food is present truth, the commandments of God and the testimonies of Jesus Christ, whose entrance gives light and understanding to the simple. Truth is sublime and beautiful like the architecture of heaven, consistent, strong and lovely, with a feast already prepared and guests already being gathered, rich and wholesome for those who love it. The invitation is pictured as entry to a royal banquet.
The command means to forsake folly and foolish people, company, and pursuits in order to live and to go or walk in the way of understanding, which leads to life. The way of understanding is the way of the Lord, which is Jesus Christ Himself, the way, the truth, and the life, by whom alone men come to the Father. To forsake the foolish and live means to hasten to partake while mercy lingers, while God's servants cry aloud and the Spirit and the bride say Come and yet there is room. It must be done before the house is full and the Master rises and shuts the door, when many will seek to enter and shall not be able and a famine not of bread nor thirst for water but of hearing the word of the Lord will be felt, he that is filthy will remain so, and Jesus will quickly come to gather home the saints who waited in patience for Him.
The invitation applies to becoming a happy guest at the marriage supper of the Lamb. To the honest, zealous, sincere inquirer for truth its gifts multiply charms, nourish the soul and strengthen its powers to advance further, as the summer sun and showers nourish herbs and grains, while error dries up the resources of the mind and leaves it in darkness, doubt and barrenness. Foolish company and pleasure parties are to be refused because such pleasures quickly pass away and leave barrenness of soul and an aching void. Card-playing is such folly to be forsaken, shown by its invention for concubines and for a shattered mind and by its resorts for the empty-headed, vicious, and idle. The verse is to be studied in the light of Scripture examples and to be measured by whether the beginning of wisdom is present in life.
King Solomon wrote about one thousand years before Christ very practical and needed instruction for all phases of life, including business precepts intensely helpful in everyday life to those who will use them. It was given as a practical rule for everyday moral and religious duty to God, family, neighbor, and friend.
The speaker is Christ in the character of Wisdom, heavenly wisdom from above originating with the immortal, invisible, only wise God. It is not the wisdom of this world, which is foolishness with God. Wisdom is pictured as a cherub full of love descended from above.
In its setting Wisdom has built a house on seven pillars and furnished a table with bread and mingled wine. She cries from the highest places of the city to the simple, the foolish, those wanting understanding, and the starving to come, eat, drink, taste her food, be wise, and live. The house Wisdom built is the church of Christ, built by God's wisdom and power upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone.
The feast is the last gospel feast in the closing hours of probation, for suppertime is in the afternoon and supper is the last meal of the day. Its rich, wholesome food is present truth, the commandments of God and the testimonies of Jesus Christ, whose entrance gives light and understanding to the simple. Truth is sublime and beautiful like the architecture of heaven, consistent, strong and lovely, with a feast already prepared and guests already being gathered, rich and wholesome for those who love it. The invitation is pictured as entry to a royal banquet.
The command means to forsake folly and foolish people, company, and pursuits in order to live and to go or walk in the way of understanding, which leads to life. The way of understanding is the way of the Lord, which is Jesus Christ Himself, the way, the truth, and the life, by whom alone men come to the Father. To forsake the foolish and live means to hasten to partake while mercy lingers, while God's servants cry aloud and the Spirit and the bride say Come and yet there is room. It must be done before the house is full and the Master rises and shuts the door, when many will seek to enter and shall not be able and a famine not of bread nor thirst for water but of hearing the word of the Lord will be felt, he that is filthy will remain so, and Jesus will quickly come to gather home the saints who waited in patience for Him.
The invitation applies to becoming a happy guest at the marriage supper of the Lamb. To the honest, zealous, sincere inquirer for truth its gifts multiply charms, nourish the soul and strengthen its powers to advance further, as the summer sun and showers nourish herbs and grains, while error dries up the resources of the mind and leaves it in darkness, doubt and barrenness. Foolish company and pleasure parties are to be refused because such pleasures quickly pass away and leave barrenness of soul and an aching void. Card-playing is such folly to be forsaken, shown by its invention for concubines and for a shattered mind and by its resorts for the empty-headed, vicious, and idle. The verse is to be studied in the light of Scripture examples and to be measured by whether the beginning of wisdom is present in life.