Two Invitations: Walking Through Proverbs 9

Imagine you’re walking along, just minding your business. Suddenly, you hear a woman calling out an invitation. The offer sounds enticing, but before you respond to the voice, you hear another woman’s voice offering her own invitation. How do you choose? After all, both ladies seem to believe their invitation is the best one. Welcome to Proverbs 9. (If you’ve missed it, we’ve looked at Proverbs 1-8 already.)

Two Competing Invitations

As we’ve previously seen several times in Proverbs, Proverbs 9 features a decision. We must choose which way to go, and one decision will undoubtedly lead away from God.

Proverbs 9 describes two women offering two distinct paths: the way of Wisdom and the way of Folly. I know, I know. The choice is obvious, right? Possibly, but let’s be honest with ourselves, most people don’t choose well.

The Way Of Wisdom

Scripture describes Wisdom, a woman, as a worker.

“Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.”

Proverbs 9:1-2

Wisdom is not idle. We see her preparing her home for guests and doing the hard work necessary. Not to mention, she is opening her door to people many of us might naturally keep at a distance. Wisdom invites the simple and those lacking sense, and she wants to help them.

“Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”

Proverbs 9:5-6

Wisdom is offering a new way…a better way…to live. How easy would it be to manipulate and take advantage of a group like this? However, she offers hope and truth. Wisdom points us to God.

The Way Of Folly

Proverbs 9 gives us a second invitation. This time it’s from Folly. Unlike Wisdom, she isn’t building anything. In fact, there is no indication that she works at anything. We see her sitting at her door.

“She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way,”

Proverbs 9:14-15

Remember that Wisdom called out to the simple and to those who lacked sense in order to help them learn what is right and to leave behind their old ways. Folly, on the other hand, calls out to people who seem to be going about their day. She doesn’t appear to invite people who need her, but instead, she is a temptation to those who are “going straight on their way.”

Proverbs 9 describes Folly as loud and seductive. And as you might expect, she also knows nothing.

“The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing.”

Proverbs 9:13

We all know a woman like this. She is grating to be around, yet she does manage to fool some people into believing that she is who she claims to be. But she’s just a fraud.

Most importantly, we should note that Folly leads to destruction. The end. Full stop. There’s no getting around it.

“But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.”

Proverbs 9:18

Sure. Folly offers instant gratification and encourages seeking out forbidden pleasures. But at what cost? Destruction.

Final Thought

We are invited to live one of two ways. There is no third way. We either go the way of Wisdom, or we choose the way of Folly. And be warned that not making a decision is making a decision. Our default is Folly, and that’s the way we’ll live if we don’t actively choose Wisdom. God has provided two paths to walk, and whether we know it or not, we are choosing a path.

What do you do to ensure a life of Wisdom?

Image courtesy of Mediamodifier via Unsplash.