Feast or Funeral? | Bible Time
This past Sunday, I preached on Proverbs 9. (Read the text here) This text is near and dear to my heart because it outlines two paths. There is the path that leads to wisdom and the path that leads to folly. The theme of Proverbs 9 is that of two feasts: a feast of wisdom and a Feast of Folly.
Feast of Wisdom
The feast of wisdom is marked by order and careful preparation. Invites are sent out via messengers. This feast is made up of prepared meat, mixed wine, bread, and most importantly, wisdom. We see the text describing that the feast of wisdom is found in the steadfast reverence of the Lord.
Feast of Folly
The feast of folly features a harlot who seeks to waylay the passerby to her feast. The problem with her feast is that it does not belong to her. She has not prepared the meat, she has not mixed the wine, and she has not even set the table! Instead, she offers bread and water that belongs to another to the one passing by. Proverbs 9 then tells us that the passerby do not know that her feast is a funeral, for the dead are there.
Why are Wisdom and Folly Personified as Women?
Proverbs is mostly written as if a father is writing to his son. Not only is the father trying to prepare his son for life on his own, but he is also giving advice for his future marriage. The father wants his son to know what qualities are to be desired in a wife. Thus, he put wisdom and folly as women to outline two choices. He can choose wisdom, which he can love, cherish, and grow deeply in love with; or he can choose folly, whom he must love in secret because she belongs to another. (Proverbs is not just for sons, the wisdom is applicable to all)
The Punchline
Our job when reading the old testament is to figure out how it points us to Christ. Proverbs 9 points us to Christ in a magnificent way. We read of a father warning his son to not pursue folly. Folly is not worth marrying or even spending time with. Proverbs often uses adultery metaphors because Israel was supposed to be the bride of God in a way. Through their transgression of the law, its as if they are committing adultery against God.
FAST FORWARD a few thousand years and we are in the same spot today. God the Father has every right to tell His Son that we are the way of folly. That we are the adulterers. That we have transgressed the law and are not found at the table of the feast of wisdom. God has every right to leave us to our sin. The amazing thing is that God doesn’t do that. Rather than be justified in abandoning us because of our adultery, He tells His Son to give Himself on our behalf, and Jesus Christ does.
That is the Gospel Truth.
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