Proverbs 8:22–31
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old.
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
When He prepared the heavens, I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depth:
When He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the deep:
When He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment: when He appointed the foundations of the earth:
Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him;
Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
All true wisdom comes from above. As all authority and power belongs to God and may be derived from Him, likewise all wisdom also belongs to God. He is the legitimate and authentic Source of all wisdom and He may choose to lease it to others. This is the testimony of Wisdom here: “Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of His way.”
Once more in this text, Wisdom identifies as a person in relationship with Yahweh God. Herein is the mystery of the origins of the Word, the Wisdom, and the Son of God revealed first in Solomon’s book. The Wisdom, the very Son of God, was not contained by time, and He was brought forth “from everlasting.” He was “eternally begotten” of the Father. Indeed, the Son of God who is Jesus to us may claim the name “I am,” for like the Father, He always was. He is older than the hills, and His derivation is not of this earth ( John 3:31).
How then is the Son uniquely fitted with the name of Wisdom, and so closely identified with the quality of wisdom? First, let us remember that the genius of the entire created universe is attributed to Him. All things were created by Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made ( John 1:3). By the Son of God “all things consist” (Col. 1:17). He rules over every atom, and every action and reaction taking place in this universe. All things occurring in time and space work out for His glory, by His wisdom and sovereign rule. This is the arena in which Wisdom operates, and the Son of God executes His work by Wisdom.
“When He prepared the heavens, I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depth: When He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the deep.”
The Father set a compass and prepared the heavens. But Wisdom implemented the divine decree, the plans, and appointments for the physical creation. All things are decreed by the Father and accomplished by the Son in creation, providence, and redemption. Together then, Father and Son produced the entire material created sphere.
Wisdom’s work may be clearly seen all about us. The Wisdom of God is displayed in every square inch of creation. His fingerprints are everywhere. Whether we look into biology, chemistry, physics, anthropology, or astronomy, all studies of the universe are nothing but the examination of the works of divine wisdom. Human engineers design buildings and machinery before they build their prototypes and manufacture finished products. God does the same thing with His universe, which is a billion times more complex, self-maintaining, reproducing, diverse, harmonious, and beautiful than the clanking, awkward mechanical systems men put together. Man forms plastics out of oil. God creates chickens to peck about in the backyard all day long, turning bugs and grass into nourishing eggs. This world is no accident. Every part of it is carefully designed, created, and controlled by the infinite wisdom of the Son and the Father.
“Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.”
As opposed to the Unitarian view of reality, God was always in relationship. God was never alone. He delighted in the Son…and in fact He loved His Son “before the foundation of the world” ( John 17:24). Not only were they together, but they delighted to be in the company of each other. We read here, “I was daily His delight.” These are some of the most intimate insights into the existence of God available to man. What we find are two Persons in relationship, delighting in the relationship—the one valuing the other, and rendering honor and the glory for the other. Love so characterizes the very essence of God, that the Scripture states that “God is love” (1 John 4:16). Man is created in God’s image, with the capacity and the need for relationship. Man is not meant to be alone either. He is made to be in relationship with fellow man (or woman), and to delight in these relationships. But more than this, God has made man for fellowship with Himself. This we read in the following verse.
“Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.”
God delighted greatly in all that He created by Wisdom; for at the beginning, He looked upon it all and called it “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Above all, He delighted with great enthusiasm over man whom He had created, and he rejoiced to be with him in the garden and to commune with him “in the cool of the day.” This relationship was tragically interrupted with the fall of man into rebellion and sin. But still, God would not abandon all prospects for a relationship with the creature He dearly loved. To salvage this lost relationship with man, Yahweh God would give up His only begotten Son, the Son whom He loved, the Son in whom He delighted, as a sacrifice on the cross at Calvary. His Son was called Emmanuel, or God with us, and He would reconcile God with us in order that God may be with man forever and ever. And the Lord God came down here to save man, that He should rejoice over us with joy; and that we would rest in His love; and that He would delight in us with song (Zeph. 3:17).
1. Contrast the work of the Father and Son in creation. How does “Wisdom” fitly describe the Son, in God’s works of creation, providence, and redemption?
2. Provide several examples of God’s Wisdom seen in creation.
3. How do we respond to this idea that God loves us, and God sings over us? How does this change our view of life itself?