“Wisdom shouts in the streets. She cries out in the public square. She calls to the crowds along the main street, to those gathered in front of the city gate: “How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge? Come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with you and make you wise. “I called you so often, but you wouldn’t come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention. You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered. So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you— when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone, and anguish and distress overwhelm you. “When they cry for help, I will not answer. Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me. For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord. They rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them. Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes. For simpletons turn away from me—to death. Fools are destroyed by their own complacency. But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.””
Proverbs 1:20-33 NLT
Solomon describes wisdom as a jilted would be lover who searches for her lost lover to no avail. She has thoroughly and openly made herself available. She has gone searching for him and found that he doesn’t want her. Her conclusion is that he has left her to the easier ways of others. But he also warns that these ways produce bitter fruit. Though she is a vulnerable women, she is not helpless. She is confident of her ways and their outcomes. Part of her angst lies in the impending doom of the person she loves, as she knows they will reap that bitter harvest. By Solomon’s personification of wisdom he speaks to the idea that no one has an excuse. She is a generous and available lover. She searches the streets. If a man lives foolishly, and reaps his negative consequences , it will not be because she was aloof. He is guilty. He chose to be a fool. He chose the path that leads to damnation. He chose to reject her as a lover to him. It is plain to see to all who listen. They can see her begging him to come back to her. His blame upon her for not warning him of what he will reap is a farce worthy of her mockery. It is not meant to demean but to spread the cautionary tale, to bring something worthwhile from his foolishness for the next soul who chooses to reject her.
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