Proverbs 3:13-18 – The Blessings of Wisdom

BIBLE TEXT

Proverbs 3:13-18

SUMMARY

Those who find wisdom are blessed in a myriad of ways.

ANALYSIS

This passage begins “Happy are those who find wisdom…”  The word here translated “happy” can also be translated “blessed,” thereby connecting us to such places as Psalm 1 and the Beatitudes. (SeeProverbial Teaching in the New Testament: Proverbs, Parables, and Beatitudes” entry in Bible in the World – Proverbs.)

The description of wisdom in the third person which follows adds a good deal to the overall picture of Woman Wisdom in Proverbs.  She is pictured as of more value than silver, gold, and jewels. And the specific image pictured in verse 16 is highly significant:
Long life is in her right hand;
    in her left hand are riches and honor.
Such an image conjures up images of the Egyptian Goddess Ma’at who is represented holding an ANKH in one hand and a scepter in another. (See “Connections between Woman Wisdom and Egyptian Goddess Ma’at” entry in Bible in the World – Proverbs.) Such an image might even call to mind Queen Elizabeth the First. Wisdom walks in certain ways/paths, and “she is a tree of life” to those who hold her fast (See “Woman Wisdom as Prophet, Teacher, Priest, Master Worker, Child of God, and Order of the Universe” entry in Bible in the World – Proverbs.)