Solomon Stresses That The Source Of True Wisdom Is God, And That He Gives It To His Own, In Order to Maintain True Righteousness, And Enable Them To Appreciate It And Walk In It (Proverbs 2:6-11).
In Proverbs 2:1-5 the concentration has been on earnestly seeking after God through gaining wisdom and understanding. Now the concentration is on God's activity as He imparts that wisdom, and on His word (what comes from His mouth) which gives that knowledge and understanding. And what He achieves by this is the storing within the upright (those who fear Him, that is, who truly believe in Him and submit to Him) sound wisdom, so as to guard the paths of justice and preserve the way of those who are set apart to Him. Were He not to do so moral chaos would take over and His people would be left floundering. And the reason why that has not happened is because God has safeguarded it. Truth must ever be guarded, and here we learn that it is God Who watches over it.
The passage can be presented chiastically:
A For YHWH gives wisdom, out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6).
B He lays up sound wisdom for the upright, He is a shield to those who walk in integrity (Proverbs 2:7).
C That he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints (holy ones) (Proverbs 2:8).
B Then will you understand righteousness and justice, and equity, yes, every good path (Proverbs 2:9).
A For wisdom will enter into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul, discretion will watch over you, understanding will keep you (Proverbs 2:10-11).
Note in A the emphasis on wisdom, knowledge and understanding repeated in the parallel. In B He lays up sound wisdom for the upright, and in the parallel that sound wisdom is described. Centrally in C YHWH guards His people's way.
For YHWH gives wisdom,
Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
He lays up sound wisdom for the upright,
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
That he may guard the paths of justice,
And preserve the way of his loyal ones,
Then will you understand righteousness and justice,
And equity, yes, every good path.'
What then is the source of true wisdom and knowledge of life? The answer is that it is found in YHWH their God. It is YHWH Who gives wisdom, and He mainly does so through His words. For it is ‘from His mouth' that wisdom and understanding come. We note from this that Solomon does not see himself as simply passing on ‘wisdom teaching'. He sees himself as having sifted it and brought it into line with God's word, and as having only accepted what he sees as ‘words from God'. Humanly speaking in this lay his genius. But he recognises that what he has to teach has been entrusted to him by God, and that it is God Himself Who, through him and others, is storing up sound wisdom for the upright. By this God is acting as a shield to protect His truth, on behalf of those who walk in integrity. The shield is the small shield carried by the infantry to ward off arrows and missiles. God as the shield of the righteous wards off falsehood and evil ideas.
That this is the meaning of ‘He is a shield' here comes out by comparison with the parallel. He is a shield by storing up sound wisdom. Elsewhere He is, of course, also a shield Who protects His people directly (e.g. Genesis 15:1; Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalms 3:3; Psalms 18:2 etc.), but that is not the thought here. Here He is a shield in protecting truth on their behalf, and protecting truth within them. And this is confirmed by the fact that He ‘guards the paths of justice', and ‘preserves the way of His loyal ones' (those who are loyal to covenant love), so that they will ‘understand righteousness and justice, and equity, yes, and every good path.' He ensures the means of sound understanding of His ways. We can compare with this Paul's words in 2 Timothy 3:16, ‘all Scripture, being God-breathed, is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness'. Solomon sees his teaching concerning wisdom as being the same.
Thus Solomon sees himself as very much a part of God's activity in preserving the truth about Him and His ways, a truth now revealed in the Book of Proverbs. He is not passing on some good ideas propounded by men, some generally accepted ‘wisdom teaching', but truth as it has come from the mouth of God, which he himself has, under God's hand, sifted out, partly with the help of that body of wisdom teaching.
‘The paths of justice' are explained in terms of ‘righteousness, justice and equity', words which indicate obedience to the Torah (righteousness), true justice for all (justice), and fair-minded judgments (equity). Note how the reference to ‘righteousness, judgment and equity' parallels ‘righteousness, judgment and equity' in Proverbs 1:3 b. Here then is a fulfilment of Solomon's aims, but whilst Solomon's words may inculcate them as in Proverbs 1:3 b, in the end such ideas are taught to us by God.
‘For wisdom will enter into your heart,
And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul,
Discretion will watch over you,
Understanding will keep you.'
Solomon intends his teaching to have a real and significant impact in men's lives. Wisdom (the spirit of wisdom - Proverbs 1:23) will enter their hearts, their inner beings. Knowledge (the knowledge of God's ways) will be pleasant in their inward lives. They will bring about genuine spiritual experience. They will have a new heart and right spirit created in them (Psalms 51:10). God will put His instruction within their inward parts and in their hearts will He write it (Jeremiah 31:33; compare Ezekiel 36:27). To use Jesus' words such people will be born from above (John 6:3). James spoke of being ‘begotten again by the word of truth' (James 1:18). Peter spoke of being ‘begotten again -- through the word of God (1 Peter 1:23). For note in context that it is YHWH's wisdom which will enter the young man's heart, and the knowledge of God that will be pleasant to his soul (Proverbs 2:5-6). No wonder then that it will be so effective. God-given wisdom is not general wisdom. It is wisdom about God and His ways revealed by God. Solomon certainly has in mind his own teaching, but as a teaching that has been formed on the anvil of God. And it is this truth that will enter into the heart of the one who truly seeks God (Proverbs 2:2-6), and will be pleasantly refreshing to his soul. He will receive the poured out ‘spirit' of God's Wisdom (Proverbs 1:23). And the consequence is that the one who receives it will be watched over by Discretion, and preserved by Understanding. Truth will be his preserver, delivering him from false steps. Note the personification of ‘discretion' and ‘understanding', which can be seen as like twin sheep dogs preserving the flock. It is thus not only wisdom that is personified. Discretion and understanding are also personified. And it is because he has received the wisdom and knowledge of God that he will be guarded by discretion and understanding. He will thus be discreet and understanding when he faces up to the temptations of life which are now to be described, a discretion and understanding communicated to him by God.