In Thursday’s post, we briefly surveyed Proverbs 9 and identified a few common counterfeits of wisdom in our day. Here are some principles demonstrated in that post.
1. Observe Comparison and Contrast
Proverbs 9 describes two different women. We are meant to observe what is similar (comparison) and what is different (contrast) about them.
Similarities: women, serving a meal, making invitations to bystanders.
Differences: prepared food vs. secret bread, mixing wine vs. stealing water, sending maidens vs. no maidens, hewing pillars vs. knowing nothing.
Observing the similarities and differences enables us to see that, though both want to recruit followers and serve them a meal, what they offer and how they offer it is very different. Folly is copying Wisdom, but with less power and weaker results. We too ought to expect counterfeits to wisdom.
Comparison and contrast are simple yet powerful to observe. Here are a few more examples.
Characters, such as:
- Abram/Lot in Genesis 13-14, 18-19
- Zechariah/Mary in Luke 1:5-38
Plots, such as:
- Men meeting women at wells in Genesis 24:15-21 & 29:9-12, Exodus 2:15-22, John 4:1-10
- Sexually immoral demands at the doorstep in Genesis 19 & Judges 19
Settings, such as:
- Personal encounters with God on mountains in Exodus 33-34, 1 Kings 19:9-18, and Mark 9:2-8
- Childlessness in Genesis 11:27-31, 25:19-22, 29:31; Judges 13:1-3, 1 Samuel 1:1-2, Matthew 1:18-25
Things, such as:
- Two gates, two trees, two candidates for the Kingdom, two houses in Matthew 7:15-27
Whenever we see two or more things that resemble each other in some way, we should keep our eyes out for both similarities and differences. Make two lists, and ask yourself the question, “what is the author trying to communicate by comparing or contrasting these things?”
2. Identify What a Passage is NOT Saying
When I moved toward particular application, I began to list some common assumptions in our day regarding what makes someone wise. I haven’t yet defined, from the text of Proverbs, what wisdom is; I thought first it would be helpful to clear out some misconceptions.
One way to apply a text of Scripture is to consider what we ought to believe in light of the passage. As we do so, we can identify what common beliefs exist in our culture don’t quite hit the bullseye. Recognizing these faulty beliefs enables us to clear the debris so we can apply right beliefs. We’ll see this in a few weeks when we move past the counterfeits (what wisdom is not) and define what wisdom is.
Comparison is on the the easiest parts of observation but it amazes me how many people have never heard of it, while doing Bible Study. And I am not talking about your average layman but people who have been in ministry for awhile.