Wisdom
המכח (hokmah): Wisdom, skill, shrewdness.
I think we may have been underestimating the book of Proverbs in class today. While many of the sayings seem a bit simple, a lot of them carry much weight as well.
Take Proverbs 18:2 for example:
"The fool takes no delight in understanding, but rather in displaying what he thinks."
This proverb talks about the fool (and not the holy kind) as one who does not think before he speaks. While this seems to be common sense, how often do we speak before we think? One would think common sense would be, well common.
In addition, this displays an interesting dichotomy. Not only does it lambast the fool for speaking without due regard, it relates that to the very act of being foolish: not learning. We can expect the man who least understands a situation to talk about it the most.
Many of the proverbs can be distilled to a simple piece of wisdom, or a little bit of hokmah can find a lot more going on in the background.
I think we may have been underestimating the book of Proverbs in class today. While many of the sayings seem a bit simple, a lot of them carry much weight as well.
Take Proverbs 18:2 for example:
"The fool takes no delight in understanding, but rather in displaying what he thinks."
This proverb talks about the fool (and not the holy kind) as one who does not think before he speaks. While this seems to be common sense, how often do we speak before we think? One would think common sense would be, well common.
In addition, this displays an interesting dichotomy. Not only does it lambast the fool for speaking without due regard, it relates that to the very act of being foolish: not learning. We can expect the man who least understands a situation to talk about it the most.
Many of the proverbs can be distilled to a simple piece of wisdom, or a little bit of hokmah can find a lot more going on in the background.
posted by J.M.R. Burgard @ 2:32 PM
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