Proverbs: Week 1 | Day 4

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Day 4 

This week we are settling into our study in Proverbs by orienting ourselves in the book, and also seeking to understand one of its key concepts — the fear of the Lord. God is the source of all wisdom and knowledge. As our Creator, he knows how we will best flourish and thrive. If we don’t ground our understanding of wisdom in our relationship with God, Proverbs won’t be of much use to us.

Knowing and fearing God involves a reorientation of one’s whole life. It requires confidence in God’s goodness and love, and also full allegiance to him. It requires faith, which means saying both, “I have faith in God” and “I will keep faith with God.”[1]

Today we’re going to look at several proverbs that use the phrase “the fear of the Lord.” Make note of how these pithy, two line proverbs help expand your understanding of the concept.

Also, this is the first time in our study to read these short sayings that make up much of the book of Proverbs. Because we’ll be reading a lot of these as we move through the series, let’s get some guidance on how we should approach them.

Scholar Tremper Longman helps us become better readers of proverbs. Keep the following explanation in mind as you read through the verses below.

“With a proverb, we are immediately confronted with the brevity of the saying. A proverb wastes no words. Proverbs are written in poetic form, and poetry in general is compact language. That is, poetry says a lot using a very few words… But what makes a proverb different from any other type of poetry? A proverb expresses an insight, observation, or advice that has been popularly accepted as a general truth. Indeed, a proverb can be so universally accepted as true that simply citing it is enough to end a conversation.[2]”

“The poetry of the Old Testament is largely constructed of parallel lines. Parallelism refers to the correspondence that occurs between the phrases of a poetic line… The implication of our understanding of parallelism for reading the poetry of Proverbs and other portions of the Bible is to read slowly and reflectively.”

“As we do so, we should ask, how does the second part of the parallel line contribute to the idea of the first part? If nothing else, such reading will get us to really concentrate on the meaning of the words. We may have a tendency to skim, but this does not work well, especially when we come to that compact language that we call poetry.”[3]

Read

Proverbs 3:7

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;

fear the Lord and shun evil.

Proverbs 14:16

16 The wise fear the Lord and shun evil,

but a fool is hotheaded and yet feels secure.

Proverbs 16:6

6 Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;

through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.

Proverbs 10:27

27 The fear of the Lord adds length to life,

but the years of the wicked are cut short.

Proverbs 14:2, 26–27

2 Whoever fears the Lord walks uprightly,

but those who despise him are devious in their ways.

26 Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress,

and for their children it will be a refuge.

27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,

turning a person from the snares of death.

Proverbs 19:23

23 The fear of the Lord leads to life;

then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

Proverbs 15:33

33 Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord,

and humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 22:4

4 Humility is the fear of the Lord;

its wages are riches and honor and life.

Ask yourself

  • What connection do you see between the “fear of the Lord” and our posture toward evil? What about between the fear of the Lord and life? Are there any other connections you see?
  • Make note of your own reaction. Do any of these Proverbs strike you, surprise you, or stand out to you in a special way? Why?

Read what others say

Understanding the Fear of the Lord

From Amy Pauw:

On Proverbs 3:7: “If he [the son] thinks he is wise, then he will try to do things with his own resources, which will not be sufficient. The opposite of being wise in one’s own eyes is to fear Yahweh. The fear of Yahweh puts one’s own abilities and resources in proper perspective. It also naturally leads to an aversion to evil.[4]”

On Proverbs 14:2, 27–28: “The connection between divine and human wisdom is also reflected in proverbs that link one’s moral path and one’s attitude to God. ‘Fear of the Lord’ is a healthy cognizance of human vulnerability and accountability in the face of God’s loving and sovereign wisdom. It is reflected in dispositions of reverence and humility before God, in kindness toward fellow creatures, and in hatred of evil.

“Proverbs recognizes that fear is a constant in creaturely life. Fear of God is a ‘strong confidence’ (v. 26a) that drives out other fears that are endemic to human existence, culminating in the fear of death (v. 27b). As Christine Roy Yoder notes, ‘without ‘fear of the Lord,’ all other fears, including the fears of scarcity, ineptitude, irrelevance, and insecurity, run rampant.’”[5]

Pray

Day by day we’re gaining a deeper understanding of what it means to “fear the Lord.” Let’s take Tremper Longman’s advice and read our proverbs for today one more time, slowly. As you meditate on them, turn them into prayers. For example, ask the Spirit to give you strength to shun evil, and the discernment to recognize it, even in its subtler forms.

Talk about it

  • Earlier this week, we saw that the fear of the Lord is 1) the beginning of wisdom and 2) that it is connected to a willingness to repent. Talk it over. What would you add to our understanding of the fear of the Lord based on the proverbs we’ve read today.
  • Come up with a description of someone who fears the Lord. What would their relationship with God be like? What would their relationships with others be like? What would their life look like? What changes would you need to make to be like this person?

[1] Pauw, 20.

[2] Longman, 38.

[3] Tremper Longman III, How to Read Proverbs (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2002), 40.

[4] Longman133–134.

[5] Pauw, 81–82.