WISDOM'S BUILDING
WISDOM’S BUILDING
Proverbs 9:1 - 3; Proverbs 14:1
My exercise is to speak about wisdom, but wisdom as seen in her building. We have to read, I need not say, the Old Testament in the light of the New. In this, as in all else, it is what is new first.
The New Testament, therefore, leaves us in no doubt as to what the book of Proverbs alludes to when it personifies Wisdom. In the letter to the Corinthians the subject is touched on. The position, the environment, and the antecedents of the saints in Corinth made it opportune that this subject should be introduced there. Being Greeks, they were conversant with the subject of wisdom, but it was largely, if not altogether, a matter of word, a matter of literary or oratorical composition. It was not the wisdom of God. What remains of it, certainly, is simply of that character, and the apostle expressly says that his preaching was not of that kind; he preached Christ crucified; the Jews had sought a sign, and the Greeks wisdom, but he had preached Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, to the Greeks foolishness; but to those called, both from among the Jews and the Greeks, Christ was the wisdom of God; 1 Corinthians 1:22 - 24.
It is with this in view that the believer opens the book of Proverbs. He has the key in that he has Christ, and Christ crucified. Being of the called of God (1 Corinthians 1:9), he is to be instructed in the wisdom that is of God; he is to be made conversant with the hidden wisdom — not simply that which was ordinary, as seen in the creation, but that which was hidden, which God “predetermined before the ages” as he says, “for our glory” chapter 2:7. Thus we are effectively [p. 133] lifted out in our mind, as, indeed, being possessed, further, with the spirit of wisdom, we are lifted out of the world of man’s wisdom, which is folly, and introduced into what was before the ages, specially intended for us, “predetermined ... for our glory” We look there, beloved, for our classics; we find there the divine storehouse of wisdom. None of the princes of this world knew it; had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him” 1 Corinthians 2:9 It is not His thought that these precious things should go begging, that they should be spoken to unappreciative ears; they were to be presented to, and to be the possession of those who love Him, so that their houses might be filled with treasures, and they thus made independent of what man presents, however elaborate; for however much man’s products are the result of patient research, they are but folly. “The called” those who love God, are in possession of God’s wisdom in a mystery, that hidden wisdom — things “revealed to us by [his] Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God” 1 Corinthians 2:10 Think of that! The Spirit who dwells in us searches all things, even the depths of God.
And so we are thus able to look at this book of Proverbs, and to understand a little of the personification of wisdom. It was with God; it was not simply called into being as the necessity arose; it was there in reserve before ever the earth was, before the heavens were prepared, when there were no depths, before the particles (as the word may be rendered), the very dust of the world, as it says, were made — not only before these particles were brought together and welded into one, but before they existed, wisdom was there. Then when God began to move in relation to that which has proved to be, and was designed to [p. 134] be the theatre for the display of His love, wisdom was there.
What one is inclined to say is this: that the Lord Jesus as the Son of God is presented to us in relation to this creation in a mediatorial way. The form or means He took are left undisclosed, but it was by Him God made the worlds. He was the ‘nursling’ of God’s love, or His artificer, as it is otherwise read; whether it be the one or the other, it refers to what Christ was. He was employed, “by whom also he made the worlds” Hebrews 1:2. Stupendous statement, indeed, directing our minds to the vastness of the divine operations and to the great Mediator of them; thus all was performed by wisdom! We read, “He spoke, and it was done” Psalm 33:9. That brief statement discloses to us that the operations were the result of the divine mind, that it was designed. All was by Christ. It says, that “without him not one [thing] received being which has received being” John 1:3. There was the Word bringing out the mind of God, so that these worlds (as they are called) which are before our eyes were brought into being by the word of God. “By faith we apprehend that the worlds were framed by [the] word of God” Hebrews 11:3. The heart follows Jesus. That, however, is not building, but framing; things being set up in perfect relation and poise so that they continue. It is a question of the mind of God apprehended by faith. He intended it to be a testimony; it was not a mere scaffolding, although it is that; it was intended to be a testimony, and it is a testimony, for “their voice is heard, their line is gone out through all the earth, and their language to the extremity of the world” Psalm 19:3,4. The divine mind was behind that; it was intended to stand out as a witness, throughout the history of our race: “For from the [the] world’s creation the invisible things of him are perceived, being apprehended by the mind through the things that are made, both his eternal power and divinity” Romans 1:20. They are apprehended by the mind, so that men are without excuse as having minds. Thus we see the far-reachingness of the creation and the place wisdom has in it.
But then there was the building, and it is with this we are concerned for the moment, because it comes down to ourselves. We are not particles. The physical system may have been made — as indeed Proverbs 8 would indicate — of particles, brought together by wisdom, but the material for wisdom’s house is not constructed of these; the material is the saints of God. Wisdom has now under her hand that which answers to her — not dead matter, not lifeless particles, but living stones. And so it is wisdom’s house; she has builded it. Here, you will observe, it is the past tense, “Wisdom hath built her house” we are directed, therefore, to the past. If “God bringeth back again that which is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15), so does faith, so does love, in us. As emerging from the darkness of current religion, we require that which is past, and that too which continues. And so this book furnishes us with instruction as to wisdom’s building.
What building there has been in this world! As one said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?” (Daniel 4:30); and as others said earlier, “Come on, let us build ourselves a city and a tower” Genesis 11:4. What builders there have been! But who is ready to contemplate wisdom’s structure? Attention is called to wisdom and what she builds. It is all her own; she is entirely without obligation to man. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, repudiated in the strongest terms any of man’s material or aid; he had no need of these, he was independent, of them; he neither resorted to the eloquence of men, nor to the literary skill of men; he taught wisdom, indeed, and spoke it, but it was the wisdom of God in a mystery. So that wisdom’s house is all her own; she [p. 136] has borrowed nothing; she has hired nothing; she is under no obligations to the princes of this world, nor to the learning or the architecture of this world. She shows it in her ways that it is all her own. “Wisdom hath built her house”; it is hers. She is jealous over it, as I may say, she is exclusive in regard of it; she will have no extraneous matter in it. The material is all her own, the architecture is her own, and the building is all her own — it is her house. The pillars are hers, they are hewn out. They are not cast, as of metal; they are hewn, they are original, they are permanent, and they are complete, for there are seven of them. Whether it be strength, or beauty, or ornamentation, they are perfect; nothing need be added; she has left nothing unthought of. She has killed her beasts, they are hers; she has mingled her wine, it is hers; it is her own mingling, what a flavour! Have we tasted it, beloved? Mingled by her — how perfect is the blending! And she has furnished her table — mark it is her table.
Thus you see how wisdom stands out in her majesty, in her independence, and then in her bounty — in the bounty of the slaughtering of her beasts, in the mingling of her wine, and in the preparation of her table, and all this is presented to us, both old and young here, as accomplished, as the work of wisdom, and as available to the votaries of wisdom — those who answer to her call. She sends out her maidens; she crieth upon the highest places of the city; she would have us to hearken and to come and partake of her bounty, and to live in these things. Believers are the family of wisdom, nourished, cherished, and cared for, under such a hand. It is the way the Spirit of God would impress upon us that nothing can be added to what God has effected; nothing is unthought of; no right desire is left unsatisfied, nor unmet, in this arrangement.
[p. 137] Well, that is how Christianity began. It stands over against the foolish woman, for, as might be expected, it was countered, as the chapter shows. She is clamorous, but she knows nothing. Think of that humiliating statement by the Spirit of God! She is clamorous, she has much to say, but she knows nothing! Whatever form she may take, religious or social, she knows nothing. She stands out as the enemy’s counter to wisdom’s institution, and we are warned. She flatters with her mouth, as we read elsewhere; she embraces all the folly of current religion; she includes all the folly of sensational entertainment; she sits at the door of her house; brazen there, she is clamorous and invites those who go right on their ways to what is stolen. What she has got is stolen. It may be that she clothes herself with that which seems to be of God, for she has nothing of her own. “Stolen waters” she says, “are sweet” and what is in secret — “bread of secrecy is pleasant” Proverbs 9:17; but the dead are there. Let the young be warned! She embraces all that goes on in the way of entertainment in this world, but folly is her name. She knows nothing, and the dead are there, and her guests are in the depths of hell. She is in that environment. Well, that is how matters stood, and how they stand from the divine side.
But I wish now to say a little in a practical way as to building, for we are brought into it, as to what is going on; chapter 14 refers to what is going on: “The wisdom of women” as it should read, “buildeth their house” It is a question again of wisdom. It is the same word exactly as is used in chapter 9, only in chapter 14 the word is in the plural, as our translators tell us, conveying the fulness of the thing. What came out at the beginning is the same as exists today in the Spirit. The wisdom seen in the building at the outset is still here. Wonderful fact! It lies in the Spirit. “If any one of you lack wisdom” we are told, “let him ask of God, who gives to all freely, and reproaches not” James 1:5. It is not that He has to give it out of heaven, for it is all here. The epistle to the Ephesians presents things on their highest level, and so the prayer in chapter 3 alludes to God as doing exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, but it is according to the power that worketh in us; nothing more than that is given, nothing is added. The truth is God has added nothing. Did He need to add anything from heaven, it would imply that He had omitted something, that He had failed to foresee what might be needed, through some exigency yet unmanifested. But God saw everything, so that if He does anything for us, it is according to the power that worketh in us. When Moses complained of his heavy task, he implied that God had omitted something, that He had failed to gauge what Moses would be required to do! But God says, No! I have furnished you abundantly, and if others are to share the charge with you, you will have to share the power that you have with them. There is to be nothing added. It is a question therefore of God reckoning that He has here the means of help in abundance. It is according to the power that worketh in us; so that if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not. What He gives is here in the Spirit.
Now, this is where the lack lay at Corinth. I refer to this epistle because it is that in which this very subject is worked out initially. In Colossians we go further and get the mystery, “in which are hid all [p. 139] the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge” Colossians 2:3. They are all here. Marvellous fact! The obtaining of these things, according to Colossians, is by the comfort of love: “That their hearts might be encouraged, being united together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the [full] knowledge of the mystery of God; in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge” Colossians 2:2,3 They are hidden there. They are available to us. The apostle combated for the Colossians, and for all who had not seen his face in the flesh (may we not include ourselves?) for this very thing.
Ephesians goes beyond this. It is not simply that the wisdom is hidden in the mystery, but that “now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies might be made known through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God” Ephesians 3:10,11. Think of that being actually here! That the assembly has become the lesson-book in regard of the all-various wisdom of God to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies. Were they not intensely interested in the display of wisdom in the physical creation? They were: “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” Job 38:7. They were intensely interested in it, but as yet the hidden wisdom had not come out, as yet the wonderful material of living stones, of men made to live through Christ, had not come in. Wisdom saw them, for Proverbs 8 is really all one piece; it is anticipative; it anticipates the incarnation and the bringing in of men to the habitable parts of the earth. That was what wisdom had before it. His delights were there with living men, for these men are builded together by wisdom, and in them, as thus builded together as the assembly, the principalities and powers in the heavenlies see the working out of the all-various wisdom of God.
That is Ephesian Christians normally, and I think that answers to the wisdom of women in chapter 14. The reference is a subjective one. It is not simply wise women acting, but “the wisdom of women” that is to say, the wisdom that operates now in the assembly by the Spirit — it is that wisdom. That which wrought in Christ in the building in chapter 9 now works in women — a symbol, as I said, of what is [p. 140] subjective as answering to the Man. The work that goes on day by day, week by week, and month by month, and year by year in the saints is the wisdom of women that builds their house. And over against that wisdom you have folly. In chapter 9 we have the great objective system set before our eyes. The product of wisdom and all that is to be carried on in the light of that; but in chapter 14 it is the filling in, and it is a question of our responsibility, hence it is “their house” So that every one will be tested in regard of what he is building; what he builds will be tested; hence it is, “But let each see how he builds” 1 Corinthians 3:10 It is a question of wisdom. The question that had to be asked at Corinth was, “Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you?” 1 Corinthians 6:5 Is not that question ever present, beloved, in every little company of the people of God? “Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you?” Why all the confusion? Why all the fog? One wise man, although poor, delivered the city; Ecclesiastes 9:15. It is a question, therefore, of a way out, for an impasse is never contemplated; wisdom has no such thought; there is always a way out, which is available in every difficulty; hence it resolves into this — in every difficulty in our localities, in our meetings, Is there not a wise man? It is a reproach that it has to be asked, but it has to be asked. The book of Ecclesiastes shows that the poor wise man delivered the city by his wisdom; it was not by his strength, or by riches, for he had none, but by his wisdom; and thus we see that wisdom is love’s handmaid.
Love will plan a way out; it turns to God, and God gives the wisdom, so if anyone lack it, let him ask of God. The wisdom that comes from God, that comes from above, “first is pure, then peaceful, gentle, yielding, full of mercy and good fruits, unquestioning, unfeigned” James 3:17. It thinks for God. And so the [p. 141] wisdom of women, it says, buildeth their house; the building goes on. But ‘folly’ (and what is folly but the natural mind working in the things of God), it says, “plucketh it down with her hands” She uses both her hands; it is remarkable the assiduity with which folly works. How one sees at times that not a stone is left unturned to defeat the work of God; it is most humiliating! She plucketh it down with her hands, that is to say, she enters into it with both hands, the will is in it, the will of the flesh, for “the mind of the flesh” (even in a Christian) “is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither indeed can it be” Romans 8:7. Hence the need, dear brethren, for the disallowance of all selfish and personal feelings, sectional feelings, partiality and hypocrisy, that wisdom, the wisdom of God working through us — the wisdom of women, as it is called here — should continue to build. Let the building go on; it is going on, but it is a question of wisdom. “The wisdom of women buildeth their house; but folly plucketh it down with her hands”