Anand 1

O.S. Prem Anand

Michael Cosgrove
Biblical Studies
8 September 2014
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and
instruction.
This verse is basically talking about the fear of the Lord, and fools (follies)
avoiding wisdom. This verse means that you have to fear the Lord, to get true
wisdom. For example if you fear the Lord, you will do good deeds, if you do good
deeds you make wise decisions in daily life, and when you make wise decisions
you get true wisdom. The second phrase means that fools dont follow
instructions, which leads to bad decisions and the opposite of wisdom. The
background information of the verse is in the time of Solomons reign. Solomon
was the wisest king who lived and will ever live. However he made bad choices,
decisions and lacked wisdom. This verse explains how this happened. Solomon
feared the Lord at the beginning, when God gave instructions and showed the
path, he was wise. After time passed on, he was diverted from the path, and so he
rejected the instructions and didnt fear the Lord. Which made him folly and
unwise. The words that are used differently in Hebrews than English according
to qbible.com and lexiconcordance.com are, that in the Hebrew version of the
verse, it uses the word wiyliym which means silly and in English it uses the
word fool, which has slightly different meaning. Also it uses the word y'hwh,
which is the Hebrew name of Lord, and in English it uses the word Lord instead
of Jehovah (the proper translation).
Anand 2

I could apply this verse in daily life, since we make thousands of decisions
per day from doing which homework first, to saying what things at what time,
and we need wisdom to make each and every decision. I could apply this verse
by following Gods words (instruction) and fear God. If we fear God we wont do
bad things, since we know there is someone out there who is watching our every
actions. One of the examples I showed wisdom through this context is that, when
I was in third or fourth grade. I was walking in the corridor after lunch, when I
saw my friend steal one of my friends earphone. He saw me, and he said that if
he told anybody he would get angry with me, and then left. I was stuck in a
dilemma, then luckily after two periods after lunch I had Biblical Studies and the
topic was about truth and honesty. Each of the words my teacher told me was
like a dart, which pierced my heart.
I felt guilty and at the end of the class I told my friend the consequences of
what he did and some morality. Then I told him that he could get away with this,
by writing sorry in a paper and paste it on the earphone with a tape. Then after
doing this he could place the earphones near his locker. It was very convincing
and so my friend did it. I felt contended and relieved after doing this, so was my
friend. I feared the Lord, since I know someone was there looking at my every
actions, and so I made a wise decision to advise my friend, and my friend too
made a wise decision by agreeing. In conclusion, God is the ultimate being and he
has an eye on everyone, rich or poor, wise or unwise, holy or unholy. So we
should keep that on mind and fear the Lord. By doing this you get the gift of
wisdom.