Proverbs chapter 9

vs 1

It's not just a house. It's an open house. It has seven pillars, although I'm not sure why this is important. Perhaps it says something about her house. I thought pillars were Greek, or Roman. Perhaps it's in a cave.

vs 2

This looks to me like a picture of invitation, of hospitality. The table is set, and not just for her. Who will be joining Wisdom for dinner?

vs 3

The invitation seems to be going out fairly widely. Not just a dinner, but a banquet.

vs 4

Wisdom is so inviting that you don't go to her house for music lessons, where she whacks you with a ruler, but you go for a big dinner! She is trying to entice the fools to come!

The verse break up here is just silly. Why not take the whole sentence of invitation and put it in a verse?

vs 5

Well, she did prepare the food and wine - it would be silly for people not to enjoy it. Just a thing worth noting, I think - Wisdom is handing out wine. So obviously drinking wine in itself is fine. But possibly one of the early lessons you learn at Wisdom's table is when to stop.

vs 6

Come to Wisdom, eat at her table, but also listen to her words. The invitation isn't just to eat food. It is to learn wisdom. It is to leave simple ways, and to gain insight.

vs 7-8

This, shock of all shocks, is the kind of Proverbs we all expect! Simple statements of wisdom! It only took 9 chapters!

So the lesson here is that it is wise to accept rebuke when you are wrong. Only foolish people will hate someone who properly rebukes them. Of course, you have to do it right - there's no reason to do it overly harshly, or patronisingly.

A lot of them go over two verses or even more. Easier I'd say to deal with them like this, as a whole. The structure of this one is interesting, sort of an A1, A2, A3, B. A1 and A3 are particularly similar - you could perhaps even say A1, A2, A1, B. Just a curiosity.

vs 9

Wise people will know that there is always more to learn, and that will in fact make them more wise. Sometimes it is easy to think you've reached a plateau, but I guess that's when we need to find a wise person to remind us that we've got so much more to know, or so much more understanding to seek, or even so much more righteousness to be.