"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs 1:7
“The fear of the LORD.”
To fear the LORD is to know Him and worship Him. Those with a teachable spirit can learn the fear of the LORD.
“Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD,” (Psalm 34:11).
The person who wants to get to know God needs to begin the search with “fearing Him.”
“Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God,” (Proverbs 2:5).
There is a settledness and maturity with believers who understand and practice the fear of the LORD.
“Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied,” (Acts 9:31).
When we fear the LORD and have a right relationship with Him, we do not stumble over fearing men.
“Is the beginning of knowledge:”
The “beginning” is the starting point, and it’s the foundation, it is what we must know first to learn more later. We might say it is the prerequisite to future knowledge. The “fear of the LORD” is this foundational knowledge. To reject this first point is to be disqualified for the knowledge that could have been learned later. The faithful follower will learn the fear of the LORD well and then be blessed with other lessons that the LORD teaches him.
“But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
What sad words these are! This fool is the person who has a “lax or careless habit of mind and body,”1 (Bullinger). Knowing God isn’t a necessity to him.
“Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction,” (Proverbs 10:14).
He is not interested in knowledge. We read that he “despises” it. There are many illustrations in the Bible of people who “despised wisdom and instruction.” Cain rejected wisdom and killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:6-8). Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phineas hated to be told what to do, and they were judged by the LORD (1 Samuel 2:12, 25). And several others were in this sad predicament.
“And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding,” (Job 28:28).
Don’t play the fool! Listen to the LORD and His Word.
1. E.W. Bullinger, The Companion Bible, the electronic version in eSword.