Wise Up! Part 1: The Many Faces of Wisdom
Over the next few weeks I plan on writing a series of blog posts on the topic of wisdom. To kick things off, we’re going to begin by asking the age-old question, “What is wisdom?” I have wrestled with that seemingly easy question for years. I’ve heard helpful definitions thrown around, such as “skill in living” or “knowledge is what you know, wisdom is what you do with what you know.” These are helpful, but they still felt vague to me while I was growing up and trying to really grasp what wisdom is. I’ve realized that nailing down a single sentence or phrase that captures the essence of wisdom is one way of going about things. Sometimes, however, it can be helpful to go the other way and to try and give a big, all encompassing definition of wisdom. We might say that instead of giving a narrow definition, we want to study the many faces of wisdom.
If we want to know what wisdom is we will want to go to Proverbs, of course, a book all about how to be wise. In the first chapter of the book, where the theme of wisdom is introduced, we are hit with a series of synonyms that show different aspects of wisdom. I want to take a few minutes to look at seven synonyms that are all used to convey the same goal of the book—to share wisdom concerning how to live rightly, especially for young people (Proverbs 1:1-4).[1] There is a danger in such a project that we overpress the differences. All these words are on some level similar and even interchangeable, that’s why we call them synonyms. But there are shades of meaning and those shades are slightly different. With that in mind, I think we will find greater clarity as to what it means to be wise by looking at the slight differences of these seven synonyms at the outset of Proverbs, God’s manual on smart living.
“To know wisdom and discipline” (Proverbs 1:2a)[2]
Wisdom (Hebrew chokmah)
This is the word we normally translate as wisdom. However, interestingly enough, the first time it is used in the Old Testament, it isn’t describing knowing how best to live life. In Exodus, those working on the priests’ garments and the tabernacle were given wisdom (Exodus 28:3; 31:3, 6). Wisdom here means skill, the skill needed to do things like build a beautiful tabernacle or make fine clothing.
This usage helps us get a better understanding of what the Hebrew word means. “Skill” seems to be the idea in Exodus, but what skill is in mind in Proverbs? Well, just as there is skill in craftsmanship, there is skill in living life well. A wise craftsman knows what he needs to do to take the raw materials he has and make them into something beautiful. A wise person takes what comes their way and knows how to live a life that is maximally successful. Just as we might say there are people who are good at woodworking, we also recognize that there are people who are good at life. Scripture would say those people are wise.
Discipline (Hebrew musar)
This word is often used for the training up of children, and often with a correctional vibe. Part of being taught and trained on how to live is being warned when our behaviors are wrong and need to be addressed. No one likes being corrected, but Proverbs is clear that one of the things separating wise people from foolish people is that wise people learn from their mistakes and from the correction of others (Proverbs 12:15). Discipline is thus another word for instruction, with a slight emphasis on the corrective nature of instruction.
“To discern words of discernment” (Proverbs 1:2b)
Discernment (Hebrew Binah)
The Hebrew noun behind this noun (binah) is based on the Hebrew verb (bin) that comes from a Hebrew preposition (bayin). I know that’s a little confusing, but let’s break it down. The Hebrew preposition bayin means “between.” The verb that developed from that pronoun meant “to make a choice between two things.” That means the noun ended up meaning something like, “the ability to make the right choice.” In our lives we will have the opportunity to make thousands upon thousands of choices. Some of them will not matter at all, like whether you eat Frosted Flakes or Lucky Charms. Some will matter a lot, like the choice of whom you will marry. Most will matter more than you think, because in the end you and I are the sum total of the choices that we make, and so little decisions that might not matter in the short run can sometimes make a huge difference in the long run. For this reason, we need discernment, or insight, to choose rightly between the options we see.
“To receive discipline in prudence” (Proverbs 1:3)
Prudence (Hebrew shakal)
Prudence here could also be translated as “insight.” The word conveys the sense that a person understands a situation and is able to act in a way that brings about success. The word, in fact, often means to have success. For example, if Joshua meditated on God’s word, he would have good success (Joshua 1:8). Those with insight, who truly understand what is going on, will be able to make the discerning choices they need to so that they find the most successful outcomes.
“To give cleverness to the simple” (Proverbs 1:4a)
Cleverness (Hebrew ‘arum)
This word is variously translated as prudence, cleverness, shrewdness, or subtlety. It is perhaps the most surprising term on the list. Not so much for what it means, but for the first person to be described as “subtle”. If warning bells are going off in your head, that’s probably because the serpent in Genesis 3:1 is the first person about whom this word is used. When I first realized that, I found it fascinating. What the serpent did was wrong, no doubt, but the idea of subtlety or cleverness itself isn’t a bad thing. In fact, not only is it not a bad thing, it’s something that God wants Christians to develop.
So what exactly is cleverness? Cleverness is the ability to come up with creative or unconventional solutions to perplexing problems. Sadly, what the serpent does in that account is indeed very clever. He appeals to the woman, rather than the man. He begins by asking questions to gauge where she is. He waits until he’s got her hooked before he contradicts God. The whole account really is a masterclass and how to use cleverness to get people to sin. But God wants us to use cleverness to figure out better ways to love and serve and obey Him. Jesus will tell us that we should be harmless as doves, but wise as serpents (Matthew 10:16). Jesus wants us to be clever, but to use that skill to serve the king, rather than get our own way and serve our own desires.
“To give to the young man knowledge and discretion” (Proverbs 1:4b)
Knowledge (Hebrew da‘at)
It has often been said that wisdom is more than mere knowledge. This is true, but wisdom must have some knowledge to work with. A person may read dozens of books on how to play the trumpet, but if they never actually play the trumpet that knowledge won’t automatically transfer to skill. At the same time, one would expect that a person who plays the trumpet has quite a bit of head knowledge about trumpets. So while wisdom is more than knowledge, building a knowledge base of important, good information is a key step in being wise.
This is because wisdom needs some knowledge that it can work with. The pursuit of knowledge is not wrong, then, only incomplete. We can and should seek to be growing and learning more all our lives, but we need to be careful that we don’t simply fill our heads with useless (or even helpful) facts if we don’t ever seek to apply our knowledge carefully to real life situations.
Discretion (Hebrew mezimah)
Finally, there is discretion. This noun is based on a Hebrew verb which means “to plan.” The noun form, therefore, tends to convey the idea of making careful plans about what you will do and what you won’t do. Often, this word is used by people making wicked plans, plots, and schemes, but it can also be used positively by those who are careful, discrete planners. Wise people take the knowledge they have and skillfully come up with plans for the future.
So what does wisdom look like? We could use simple definitions like “skill in living” or “knowledge applied,” but it’s also helpful to get the full picture. Wisdom is skill, yes, but this skill comes from being disciplined, that is, corrected when we go wrong. It’s the ability to make discerning choices by selecting the best when there are two confusing alternatives to choose between. It means that we have insight to find the most successful outcomes, and that we can find clever solutions to the problems we face, and that we are growing in knowledge and in the ability to make good plans.
Wise people will do all this and more, which means that wise people will be successful people. Wisdom is essentially the ability to find and follow the path that best leads to successful living. But how do we decide what success looks like? We’ll come back to that question next week in our next blog post in this series.
[1] I was originally writing this blog post because it overlapped with a sermon I am working on. Once I was nearly complete, I remembered that Frontline had done an edition on wisdom, and that they had written an article very much like this one. I check on Dr. Oats article, and while there is much overlap, they are not the same. His list is fuller, but some of my individual descriptions are fuller (thanks to the fact that blog posts have no word limits).
[2] All translations are my own. Because there is so much overlap in these synonyms, translations will often vary what English words they use for Hebrew word.
Ben Hicks is the Associate Pastor at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis. You can check out Bible studies he has written as hearanddo.org.
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