Proverbs 1
Author: Jim Brewer

CC Image courtesy of Melvin Gaal on Flickr.

When you look at Proverbs 1, right away you begin to hear the echoes from Moses’ instruction in Deuteronomy 6 as the people of Israel prepared to navigate life in the Promised Land: “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One…” In Proverbs 1:5, 8, 23 and 33 God’s people are urged to “listen” to these proverbs.  As any teacher, parent, or counselor is aware, just hearing something, knowing something, even memorizing something doesn’t mean you are prepared for life. And so here in the first chapter is the repeated call to “listen.” The writer concludes with the two ways you will approach this proverb and all proverbs: a contrast between the way of those who won’t be taught and the way of those who “listen.”