If wisdom was the only voice we had to listen to, maybe we would heed that voice more often. But there’s another voice.
Chapter 9 opens with wisdom personified again. Wisdom “calls out from the highest points of the city: “Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says, “Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave inexperience behind and you will live” (Prov 9:3-6).
And then there’s that other voice. She also calls out.
“She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths: “Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one lacks sense, she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!” But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in teh depths of Sheol” (Prov 9:14-18).
Her name is Folly.
Wisdom and Folly both city at the highest point calling out to the people. One promises instant gratification and justifies her action. The other, Wisdom, makes no such promises, other than that life is at the end who find her.
Folly says a true statement. Stolen food is sweet. Sin is tasty. Otherwise we wouldn’t be enticed. We should be aware when we are trying to justify ourselves in our actions.
But choosing wisdom is the only way to life. Sometimes we have to talk ourselves into choosing the right path. But it always brings rich dividends.
