Hearing Voices: The Dual Invitations in Proverbs 9

by Brian Allred

This is one of three articles on Proverbs 9. This blog series supplements Brian Allred’s video series The Way the World Works…Except When it Doesn’t.

Long before Vladimir Putin became the leader of Russia, there was Nicholas II, the last of the Russian Tsars during World War I. The downfall of Nicholas II and the Tsar dynasty is, in part, connected to a wandering religious mystic and alleged spiritual healer named Grigori Rasputin. The Tsar Nicholas II –and especially his wife Alexandra – believed Rasputin had exercised healing powers on behalf of their hemophiliac son, Alexei, leading to Rasputin’s inordinate influence on Russia’s leading family. Allegedly, Rasputin convinced Nicholas to assume personal command of Russia’s armed forces in the war in 1915 (a horrible decision). He then allegedly convinced the Tsar to entrust Alexandra with decision-making authority in the capital while he was away – with Rasputin standing by to offer ready counsel and direction (another horrible decision). Russia’s prime minister and others regarded Rasputin as a charlatan and they urged Nicholas II to distance the family from his sway, but he didn’t listen.

With the war exaggerating economic tensions among the working class in Russia and more blame being placed at the feet of Nicholas I for the incompetence, mismanagement, and defeat of the Russian military, things eventually led to Rasputin’s assassination, the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the overthrow of the Tsars, the execution of Nicholas I, and ultimately the establishment of the communist Soviet Union. Rejecting wise counsel, the Tsar and his wife listened to the wrong voices – with tragic consequences. 

All of us are always hearing voices. We’re surrounded with messages relentlessly targeting us and beckoning us to listen, believe, and obey.  And as with the Tsar, our ability to discern between the voice of wisdom and the voice of folly has profound consequences.  This reality is depicted vividly in Proverbs 9. Proverbs 9 is structured like a sandwich that works its way toward the central crux in the middle of the chapter.  At the beginning of the chapter in vv. 1-6 and the end of the chapter in vv. 13-18 we encounter two women – Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly – extending dual invitations.

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. She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks sense she says, “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 9:1-6 ESV)

The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. 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, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” And to him who lacks sense she says,“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the deadare there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol. (Proverbs 9:13-18 ESV)

Notice that these two women personifying wisdom and folly share some similarities. Both are personified as women, both are extending an invitation, both are depicted as occupying a house, and both are issuing an invitation to the same audience: the simple – those not yet fully developed spiritually or morally and so prone to wander and susceptible to making poor choices. Both women use the same form to address the simple (v. 4 and v. 16 are identical: “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!  To him who lacks sense she says …”). In addition, both target the simple to enter their house for a meal. And finally, both announce this invitation “at the highest places in the town” so everyone can hear their voices and the invitations they extend.

But it’s the contrasts between the two that are crucial. “Wisdom has built her house” and “she has hewn her seven pillars” – phrasing that possibly alludes to the seven days of creation and is suggestive of stability, wholeness, and flourishing. In v. 2 she has prepared a feast and “set her table.” Everything is ready if the simple will just come in. Folly, on the other hand, is “loud, seductive” (the latter can be translated “full of simpleness”) and “knows nothing.” Her promised banquet consists of “stolen water and bread eaten in secret” – suggestive of forbidden cravings and sensual indulgence. But the key contrast is located in the conclusion of both sections. In v. 6 the invitation of wisdom is to “leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”  By contrast in v. 18, the one heeding the voice of folly “does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depth of Sheol.”  One offers life while the other leads to death. Indeed, when it comes to hearing voices – the voices of wisdom and folly – what’s ultimately at stake is a matter of life and death.  

What’s important for us to understand is that the voices of wisdom and folly still extend their invitations at the highest places today for everyone to hear.  We encounter their voices in our books, music, entertainment, advertising, classrooms, and media sources. They permeate our culture with messages about how to live and think. We hear voices saying things like: live your truth; you do you; indulge your pleasures however you want because it’s nobody else’s business; you have absolute autonomy over your body, your mind, and your words; construct your own identity; love is love; follow your heart; follow the science; you’re a good person; your problems are not your fault; the greatest love is learning to love yourself; you’re entitled to what you want; you’re entitled to be happy – and to the things you’re told will make you happy; bigger is better, more is more, newer is truer, and old is mold; celebrate pride; you only live once, never settle for less; stop hate – except hate for your enemies; what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas – there is no judgment, no accountability, no personal responsibility.  Just Do it (Nike); Have It Your Way (Burger King); You’re Worth It (L’Oréal).

But you can hear other messages, too: in the beginning God (Genesis 1:1); the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9); you are not your own (1 Corinthians 6:19); do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself (Philippians 2:3); God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6); deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me (Luke 9:23); flee sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18); blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the pure in heart, the peacemakers (Matthew 5); one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15); it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27); it is better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35); love your enemies and bless those who curse you (Luke 6:27-28); there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).

We’re hearing voices all the time – the voices of wisdom and folly. Can you tell the difference? Which messages are you heeding and opting to live by? To put it in a way suggested by the imagery in Proverbs 9, whose house do you daily dwell in?  Whose food are you eating?  Whose voice are you listening to as you navigate the daily decisions of life – the voice of wisdom or the voice of folly? Your voice of choice is hardly inconsequential. It’s a matter of life and death.