… Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the Wilderness, they presently saw a Town before them, and the name of that Town is Vanity, and at the Town there is a Fair kept, called Vanity-Fair … because all that is there sold, or that cometh thither, is Vanity … Now, as I said, the Way to the Celestial City lies just through this Town, where this lusty Fair is kept; and he that will go to the City, and yet not go through this Town, must needs go out of the World … Now these Pilgrims, as I said, must needs go through this Fair.(1)
I have been spending some time in the “wisdom” Proverbs (1-9) and reflecting on the message Solomon set before us; especially the message in Proverbs 9 that sort of recaps all the previous ones. He pits Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly (sin) against each other with the issue of choice being the prize. I have also been re-reading a favorite book and the same message was brought home once again last night.
There is a powerful message in Proverbs 9 that is as important today as it was for those in the time of Solomon. Today, in the 21st century, we are faced with the same challenge Christian was in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. We also have no option … the Way to the Celestial City lies just through this Town. We have no choice but to pass through this world — upon a Fair-day too — and deal with the same things Christian and his traveling companion Faithful dealt with.
Let’s see if we can get a good view of the picture that Solomon painted for us.
Wisdom and Folly are both pulling on Christians today to give them their allegiance, and the ultimate response lies with each of us. We are the ones deciding with which one we are going to “dine.”
Prov 9:1 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:
Wisdom’s house of seven pillars (7 being the number of perfection) for us today is the perfect and everlasting church; the body of true believers that have the Holy Spirit in their hearts (1Cor 3:17).
Prov 9:2-5 She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. 3 She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, 4 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, 5 Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.
Lady Wisdom invites us to leave our “simple ways” — being gullible and lacking knowledge — and dine with her and acquire “wisdom.” And at her table she offers the bread of wisdom — the bread of life — and wine mingled with aromatic spices; the exhilarating joy and comforts of the gospel. She invites us to dine with her as we pass through the Town and avoid the Vanities of the Fair:
Prov 9:6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
And how we begin is the most critical part of the process:
Prov 9:10-12 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. 11 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. 12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
The word “beginning” (techillah) carries with it here the meaning of a “prerequisite.” It is not just the place to start, it is the place we are required to start; there is no other starting place. Starting anywhere else will result in falling short of gaining wisdom, and to gain “understanding “(wisdom) we need to “know” “holy” (Jehovah). It all begins and ends with Him; the alpha and omega. If we will heed her wisdom and respond we will learn and benefit as her voice calls to us with the offer of long-term (eternal) joy as opposed to the voice of Folly, which only offers short-term (temporal) happiness. The consequences are the result of whose voice we listen and respond to.
Now as we begin to hear the voice of Dame Folly we find ourselves exactly where our pilgrims, Christian and Faithful found themselves; in the midst of the Town on Fair-day.
Prov 9:13-17 A foolish woman is clamourous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. 14 For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, 15 To call passengers who go right on their ways: 16 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, 17 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. 18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
Think about this for a moment and put it in perspective. She is “not” speaking to those who are weak; she already has them at her table. They were the ones who headed directly to her … whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. She is after those like Christian and Faithful … to call passengers who go right on their ways. They are the ones leading an upright life as they pass through the Town on the way to the Celestial City. She is calling those who are strong in their faith, not those who are weak. And she does it with a “clamourous” voice (hamah; great commotion) offering “immediate” gratification; short term happiness. She is like Satan:
1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
What she offers is “stolen waters” that are instantly sweet tasting; referring to sex outside of marriage …
Prov 7:18-19 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.19 For the good man is not at home, he is gone a long journey:
As opposed to sex within marriage as designed by God.
Prov 5:15-18 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. 16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. 18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
And her appeal is that bread eaten in secret is pleasant; it is hidden and unknown to others.
Dame Folly (sin) is a seducing spirit and her aim is to lure the strong Christian into compromise by suggesting that “no one” will know. Her infidelity is not necessarily physical in nature — although that is often the direction taken — she is after “spiritual” infidelity; turning from God for the affections of the Town.
Seducing spirits always go after the strong as she is already secure in the weak. The simple she invites as they are already headed her way; 9:16 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. These are the very ones that Lady Wisdom has also invited to turn in (9:4)
The seducing spirits’ fight is now and always has been with the “high calling of God in Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:14) and those who are following it. Their call is the temptation to compromise; no one will ever know. But that temptation comes with a terrible price:
Prov 9:18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
And our choice was set forth by Lady Wisdom in verse 12:
Prov 9:12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
And that choice is no one else’s, it’s ours alone. Are we going to pursue God for “head” knowledge or “heart” wisdom? Do we just feed on the “facts” (knowledge) or do we strive to apply the facts “wisely” (wisdom)?
God’s wisdom abounds in his Word; His owner’s manual. But how many of us are trying to assemble our lives without reading the manual? How many of us are sitting on the garage floor on Christmas Eve with a bunch of leftover pieces, an assembled project that doesn’t look like the picture on the box or one that isn’t “working” at all? Therein lies the choice, and it’s the one that responds to Lady Wisdom’s invitation to dine with her and open the manual and read and follow the instructions. They are the very instructions that lead one through the Town and past the Vanity-Fair without minding the merchandise.
And we have no excuse for making the wrong choice. After all, we have one who has shown us the way to accomplish the task and in the midst of temptation He was able to pass through this life without sinning. And He sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven to prove the point.
The Prince of Princes himself, when here, went through this Town to his own Country, and that upon a Fair-day too: Yea, and as I think, it was Beelzebub, the Chief Lord of this Fair, that invited him to buy of his Vanities; yea, would have made him Lord of the Fair, would he but have done him reverence as he went through the Town. Yea, because he was such a Person of Honour, Beelzebub had him from street to street, and shewed him all the Kingdoms of the World in a little time, that he might, (if possible) allure that Blessed One, to cheapen and buy some of his Vanities: but he had no mind to the merchandize, and therefore left the Town, without laying out so much as one farthing upon these Vanities. (1)
I think there’s a word of caution in this for all of us. We all have to walk through the same Town and yet we don’t have to attend the Vanity-Fair as did Christian and Faithful and suffer similar consequences.
(1) The Pilgrim’s Progress; John Bunyan