List of Themes from Class Members:

1. Fear of the Lord = knowledge
2. Beseeched to listen over and over again
3. Negative warnings
4. Wise vs Foolish
5. Strong or extreme statements
6. Those who do not know what makes them stumble
7. Definition of the wicked
8. Wisdon tied to riches
9. Wisdom and God's response to sin
10. God's wisdom is available to us
11. Wisdom vs. Folly

Overall metaphor for these sections is two women, Wisdom and Folly, who both beckon to the simple, competing for attention.

What is Fear of the Lord?

• deep honor, respect, reverence, awe
• humbleness
• to understand God well enough to put Him in His rightful place
• 2 Hebrew words for fear - Psalms contrasts them; Tom will look up these definitions and get the information to us next week
• Where in Proverbs do you note the phrase?
  1:7, 9:10, 8:13, 3:7, 2:5, 10:27, 14:26, 15:16, 15:33,
  16:6, 19:23, 22:4, 23:17

  All of the above verses use the same Hebrew word for 'fear'; Hebrew does not contain many adjectives, therefore repetition of a concept was one way to signal importance of that concept.

• Expression also noted in Job 28:28 and Psalm 111:10

What/Who is the Fool?

• one who is morally deficient
• never means dumb or not intelligent
• dumb in a decision-making sense, not in an IQ sense
• Three Hebrew words for fool, with the definitions being:
  • dull; obstinate; propensity to make bad choices
  • moral perversion; insolence
  • pathetic; perverted; much stronger than the other two uses

Assignment for next week:
Read the first 9 chapters of Proverbs again (view online), paying particular attention to verses that deal with the themes of:

• simple ones gaining knowledge (the definition of the fool)
• definition of the wicked
• the woman Wisdom vs the woman Folly

Also, continue to take notes on anything that is striking to you. That could be connections, repetitions, or anything that jumps out at you. We will use the list as a basis for class discussion in the coming weeks.