“Wisdom has built her house; she has carved its seven columns. She has prepared a great banquet, mixed the wines, and set the table. She has sent her servants to invite everyone to come. She calls out from the heights overlooking the city. “Come in with me,” she urges the simple. To those who lack good judgment, she says, “Come, eat my food, and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways behind, and begin to live; learn to use good judgment.” Proverbs 9:1-6 NLT
What an amazing way to look at God’s wisdom, actually preparing for and inviting people to a beautiful setting and a meal. There are so many pictures that come to mind as I read this.
First the enormous space that wisdom has anticipated for the event, it had seven columns. It’s not just a great feast it’s a large setting, a banquet hall ready for guests to be honored and treated like royalty. Do you see this? The SIMPLE are given a chance to feel like kings and rulers. Fools are invited to this feast! This is the Hebrew word, pethiy, fool, silly (i.e. Seducible). These are the ones who are easily enticed, misled. It’s the second most used word (15 times) for “fool” in Proverbs.
The other picture I see reflected in these verses is Jesus talking about a banquet feast that no one showed up to! Luke tells us in chapter 14 that Jesus told this story of the man who wanted to throw a huge party and invites had all gone out. However, when regrets started coming back, it made the man angry. He got excuses from the rich and/or well off – a man who just bought property, who was so wealthy he didn’t even need to see it first! Another who picked up some oxen and didn’t know if they were any good. And finally, a married guy, who forgot to tell his bride he’d been invited to a posh event, sorry no plus one. All of these smell of entitlement! So the man got really angry and instructed his servants to go out and invite the disenfranchised. They were not fools, but would likely not have opportunities to attend an event like this. This old proverb is different because the entire extravaganza was planned and prepared for those fools on the fringe.
And, here’s the kicker. Wisdom reveals her motive right there in the last stanza. “Ok,” you might think, “there’s the hook, the switch, the real truth.” But look at WHY wisdom would go to such extremes to host this party specifically for those who are specifically and regularly targeted for being taken advantage of. The catch, wisdom wants them to LEAVE their normal patterns of gullibility and find out how to LIVE! And to LEARN to use good judgment. This was a fancy, free dinner and seminar on how to better themselves and to quit being duped all the time!
Genius! Come for the elegance and free drinks and stay for a life seminar. If you could only see how much God wants to GIVE you a solid life, a good life, a smart and morally sound life, you would see how much He cares for you. Jesus retold a form of this parable with the edgy, entitled angle to basically say the same thing. This grand banquet, this free seminar is open to any who would take God up on his offer. In a very odd coincidence, it feels like Wisdom has its own Chocolate Factory and has invited the Charlie’s of the world to experience it!
PRAYER:
Dad,
Why is it so hard for folks to see how much, how hard you work to love us and give us a life filled with adventure and fulfillment. Why have we pitched salvation and redemption as a jail cell filled with rules and a boring funless life? We’ve really been duped! I think the church has been complicit in pitching holiness and righteousness and as joy and freedom killers. We’ve got it all wrong, all backwards! The real lie is this idea that our free choice to do what ever we want leads to happiness. And having our every wicked desire fulfilled leads to freedom. We have played the Pethiy fool, the simple seducible for believing that! We have all been DUPED! Help us see TRUTH, live truth!