Wisdom Calls Out, Proverbs 1: 20:23. Day 8, Jan 8 | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Wisdom Calls Out

Proverbs 1 20-23

²⁰ Out in the open, wisdom calls aloud,
she raises her voice in the public square;
²¹ on top of the wall she cries out,
at the city gate she makes her speech:

²² “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
   How long will mockers delight in mockery
   and fools hate knowledge?
²³ Repent at my rebuke!
   Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
   I will make known to you my teachings.

How long will mockers delight in mockery?

¹ Blessed is the one
who does not sit in the company of mockers

so begins Psalm 1.

I tend to think that God despises mockery because is it is the opposite of his nature. He is straight-forward, he says what he thinks, and says it straight.

Mockery says what you do not believe, as when Pilate jests to the King of Kings who stands before him brutalized, bleeding, degraded and dehumanized “So you are a King?”

There is something a bit evil about it. Is it a refuge of cowards? Or of the stupid and inarticulate who cannot find the right words to express their emotion. I know that when I am so angry that words fail me (!!!) I resort to mockery.

Irony, satire and allegory are powerful weapons in the writer’s arsenal, so I need to think this out thoroughly.

Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings.

As repentance is a pathway into the Kingdom of God, it is a pathway into wisdom and knowledge.

God holds mockers in disdain, and will not reveal his thoughts and teachings to them. Repentance, ongoing daily repentance opens the door to knowing God’s thoughts and teachings.