Seeking Wisdom Early

I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver (Proverbs 8:17-19 - King James Version).

How soon should men seek wisdom? Early. By seeking wisdom early, men are guaranteed success. The harlot (folly) calls to men in the twilight, to spend the night illicitly. Wisdom calls early, as at daybreak. The day is to be given over to seeking wisdom. He who is diligent in the quest will be rewarded.

By comparing the treasures of wisdom with the precious metals, Proverbs drives the point into the minds of men: the most valuable asset of all is wisdom. Solomon was already wise when he asked for wisdom; he recognized that he was asking for the most valuable of all assets. Wealth subsequently flowed to his kingdom (I Kings 10:14–21). The fame of this rule spread everywhere (I Kings 4:3–11). The powerful and wealthy came to him for counsel (I Kings 10:11–13). In short, he achieved indirectly, through wisdom, the goals that other men seek directly through intrigue, magic, and violence.

God speaks clearly to men. They can understand His words because they are made in His image. He communicates to them by means of analogies and metaphors. When He compares the value of wisdom with gold, He speaks a universal language. Like the pocketbook parables of Jesus, the economic language of wisdom personified can be grasped by anyone, in the day of Solomon or in the twenty-first century.

The universality of gold and silver as desirable assets to lay up in one’s treasury reinforces the words of wisdom. When men think about the universal forms of wealth, they think of gold and silver. Across the globe, men understand the value of the precious metals. Abraham’s wealth was counted in these metals (Gen. 13:2). When men speak out against the economic importance of gold and silver, they speak nonsense. When John Maynard Keynes spoke of gold in 1923 as a barbarous relic, and when Lenin suggested in 1921 that the victorious Bolsheviks would someday use gold for public lavatories, they proclaimed utopianism (“utopia”: no place). These two spokesman of their era spoke for both sides of the Iron Curtain. Both men had contempt for Christian society. Keynes the atheistic homosexual and Lenin the atheistic revolutionary knew enough about Christianity to prefer the harlot of the twilight.

Source:

Excerpt from Wisdom and Dominion: An Economic Commentary on Proverbs by Gary North pages 83-84.