Two Houses, Two Invitations
1 Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars. 2 She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table. 3 She has sent out her maidens. She cries from the highest places of the city: 4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, 5 “Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed! 6 Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding.” 7 One who corrects a mocker invites insult. One who reproves a wicked man invites abuse. 8 Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise person, and he will love you. 9 Instruct a wise person, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous person, and he will increase in learning. 10 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 11 For by me your days will be multiplied. The years of your life will be increased. 12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you mock, you alone will bear it. 13 The foolish woman is loud, undisciplined, and knows nothing. 14 She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, 15 to call to those who pass by, who go straight on their ways, 16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, 17 “Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is pleasant.” 18 But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
Both women stand in the same place and say the same sentence to the same man, and the only difference is what is on the table.
The chapter is built as a matched pair and the matching is exact. Wisdom has built a house, carved out seven pillars, killed her meat, mixed her wine and set her table. Folly sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city. Both are in the high places. Both call to passers-by. And both use the identical sentence: Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.
That identity is the chapter's argument, and it is why the book had to spend eight chapters preparing for it. The two voices cannot be told apart by their invitation. A young man standing in the street hears the same words from both doors, addressed to him by the same description, in the same tone. Nothing about the offer discloses which is which.
What differs is the preparation and the menu. Wisdom's house was built, its pillars cut, its animals slaughtered, its wine mixed, its table set, and her servants sent out. Every verb is work done in advance. Folly has done nothing at all — she is loud, undisciplined, and knows nothing, and she is sitting. What she offers costs her nothing because it is not hers: Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is pleasant.
That sentence is the most accurate thing in the chapter. She does not pretend her goods are better. She names the actual attraction, which is that they are stolen and secret, and she is right that this is precisely what makes them taste as they do. The book pays her the compliment of quoting her strongest argument.
The difference that decides it is not on the doorstep but past it. He doesn't know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol. The one thing a man cannot see from the street is the inside of the house, and the previous chapters exist to tell him what is in there. Set between the two invitations is the book's motto restated — The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom — closing the frame that opened at Proverbs 1:7 and standing exactly where the choice is made.
settled What this mark means