Chapter 8

Proverbs 8 (Kim)

"Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD. But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death."

City gates in ancient Israel were the places to be. All of the "good stuff" happened there. It was like Court TV, CNN, your local news, and the History Channel all rolled into one. It was where the elders, judges, Levites, and even kings sat - witnessing and sealing civil and social contracts, judging disputes, sentencing criminals/sinners for civil and religious transgressions, discussing God's Law, and on slow newsdays, telling lively stories of His great works. Now, you could hang out there and just be entertained by all the goings on (remembering the juicy bits to tell your friends later) or you could listen carefully and diligently to learn just judgment, proper application of the law, the consequences of committing crime, the word of the Lord... the excellent things. In short, you could gain gossip or wisdom.

Wisdom is telling us here to listen for the excellent things, to be eager for them (waiting at the posts of my doors...). Like when you were a kid and your neighbor's mom was going to take you swimming and you'd be waiting at the door hours before it was time to go.

Wisdom tells us there are great benefits in doing so and warns us that failing to do so will harm us personally.