Knowledge of the Holy One

Proverbs 9:10. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

This is almost the same sentence as Proverbs 1:7, placed at the end of the book's long opening section like a bookend. The repetition is deliberate. Nine chapters of appeals and warnings, and the writer returns to where he began: you cannot be wise without fearing God.

But the second half of the verse is new. Knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Wisdom is not only a posture toward God; it is knowing him, the Holy One, the one who is set apart from everything else. Understanding in Proverbs is not the same as intelligence. It is the ability to see how things fit, and things only fit when you know the one who made them.

It is Monday, and the week will ask you to understand many things: a problem at work, a person who is being difficult, a decision about money. Proverbs says understanding starts upstream of all that. Know the Holy One, and the rest begins to make sense.