Thursday, August 27, 2015
Proverbs 9:1-2, 13 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table ... The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge ...
BEWARE THE OTHER WOMAN
In teaching the way of true wisdom, the Lord often uses contrast. Over against wisdom, for example, is foolishness. Since "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom," the opposite would be spiritual foolishness. One Bible passage which applies is "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no god'" (Psalm 14:1).
As the first half of Proverbs chapter nine personifies Wisdom, the last half personifies a woman called Folly. Read through the end of the chapter to discover the stark contrast. Folly is truly everything Wisdom is not. Yet one thing Folly is good at is inviting everybody to follow her foolish, evil, and eternally dangerous ways.
While Wisdom offers Her guests a banquet of rich and nutritious food, Folly and her followers are spiritual junk-food addicts. Folly offers "stolen water" and "bread eaten in secret" (v. 17). Think of Martin Luther who as a lad had only Folly's bread and water, for he was taught that Jesus was only a stern and angry judge. Years later in the monastery he discovered only the bread and water menu of a works-righteous religion. How thankful he was when he learned about Wisdom's gospel feast which offers the full-meal-deal of forgiveness of all sins, comfort, peace, and joy in Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life.
Fellow Christians, beware the other woman. In our day Folly's foolishness controls all false, anti-biblical, anti-christian religions as well as the entertainment industry and the publishing world. She is an attractive adulterer who leads "her guests ... in the depths of hell" (Proverbs 9:18). So we pray and sing with the hymn writer:
Soldiers of the Cross, arise,
Gird you with your armor bright.
Mighty are your enemies,
Hard the battle you must fight.
Guard the helpless, seek the strayed,
Comfort troubles, banish grief;
In the might of God arrayed,
Scatter sin and unbelief.
Be the banner still unfurled,
Still unsheathed the Spirit's Sword;
Spread Thy Word in all the world;
Let Thy kingdom come, O Lord.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 501:1, 6-7)
