When he was young, Solomon obeyed God. He asked God for wisdom, and God gave it to him (1 Kings 3:9, 12). Other rulers, including the queen of Sheba, visited Solomon (1 Kings 10:1-13). She asked him many questions. His answers showed great knowledge of many subjects. He taught about plants, animals and fish. Solomon became more and more famous. The Book of Proverbs also contains other lessons about wisdom. And the Book of Proverbs contains many poems about wisdom. The Bible also contains some other books about wisdom. These books are Job, Ecclesiastes and James. And Jesus taught lessons about wisdom in Matthew chapters 5 to 7 and Luke chapters 11 to 16.
The simple person
Today, we should not call someone ‘simple’. We might offend him. He would think that we supposed him to be stupid. In the Book of Proverbs, a simple person is someone who is not wise. By the word ‘simple’, Solomon means more than this. A simple person has not learned to be wise. So he is in danger. Evil people can easily lead simple people to do evil actions. But nobody is really good. ‘Everyone does evil things. Everyone fails when you use God’s standards’ (Romans 3:23). We are all simple people by God’s standards.
God wants the simple person to learn his wisdom. This begins when we invite God into our lives. Then God will help us to become wise. We must grow in wisdom, and we must grow in our knowledge of God.
Young people
The people believed that they should remember proverbs (wise words). Fathers taught proverbs to their sons. Mothers taught them to their daughters. Grandchildren learned them from their grandparents. Children had to use their memories. The adults tested the children’s memories. In this way, children learned to be wise. In the future, when problems came, they would know the right thing to do. For the same reason, we should learn Bible verses today. We should teach them to our children. In this way, we shall learn true wisdom.
Many things in the world change. There are new inventions, for example television. There are new illnesses, for example AIDS. There are revolutions and new governments. Wisdom does not change. Solomon gave advice that is still good. He wrote wise words and they are still wise today. Today’s young people will grow old. Wisdom that we teach them now will remain with them.
The wise person
A wise person loves wisdom. ‘He loves God’s law. He is always thinking about it.’ (Psalm 1:2). He always wants to learn more. He is never too tired to think about wisdom. He still makes mistakes. ‘Show a wise man how he is wrong! He will love you for your correction.’ (Proverbs 9:8). He even wants you to teach him. ‘Teach a wise man and he will become still wiser.’ (Proverbs 9:9). We can all learn more. We can all grow in knowledge. The Bible teaches us God’s wisdom.
The intelligent person
Like the wise person, the intelligent person wants to learn. He will ask for advice. He is trying to understand God’s ways. As he studies, he will know more. He will even understand difficult words of wisdom.
v7 Respect God! Knowledge begins with this lesson. Fools hate wisdom and discipline.
When you learned English, you started with easy words. When you learn any subject, you must start with easy lessons. The first lesson in wisdom is that we must respect God. He made everything. He is greater than we are. We must give honour to him. A person who does not know God may be clever. He may have many skills. We can learn many things from him. Such a person lacks something important. He has learnt many lessons. But he has missed the first lesson. Wisdom begins when a person respects God. We should try to show a better way to this person.
The opposite of a wise person is a fool. A fool intends to do evil things. A simple person does evil things, because he does not know wisdom. But a fool does evil things, because he hates wisdom. We want to show God’s way to such people. But this is difficult. Jesus said, ‘Do not give valuable things to pigs’ (Matthew 7:6). Wisdom is valuable. Sometimes we must leave a fool to be foolish. A pig does not appreciate things that are valuable to us. A fool does not appreciate the value of wisdom. We can learn from the mistakes of fools. We must not copy their mistakes. A fool hates wisdom and discipline. If we are wise, we shall love wisdom and discipline.
Passion of pure oil 