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Proverbs 1:1-7: Yir’ah

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

What does this mean? Does this mean that we are supposed to be timid from terror? No, it doesn’t. Yir’ah, the word translated fear hear probably most approximates the English word ‘deference’: Deference is not absent of fear but it more precisely refers to extreme, practical respect.

I have witnessed deference firsthand in courtrooms among other places. You would be surprised at how quickly a person removes his hat or turns off her cell phone with just one sideways glance from that judge. I have seen people talking big outside the courtroom and then a moment later I have seen them inside bowing quickly to the authority and power of the courts. I have seen even your most law-abiding citizens who are in court to assist someone else and who know the judge quite well – when they are addressed by the judge - immediately defer to her position. This deference is not entirely without fear. Our courtrooms are probably one of the best parallels to the emotions that accompany yir'ah in contemporary western society.

But there is more: When we love someone we don’t want to fail him or her. When we serve someone we don’t want to let him or her down. When we love and serve someone we want to do everything we can for them because we love them. This is also a component of yir’ah fear. It is this fear of the Lord that keeps us holy. It is this fear of the Lord that causes us to follow the rest of the wisdom put forth in the book of Proverbs. It is this love, respect, and fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom; for only when we have this real love for and intense desire to serve the Lord that we can possibly be wise enough to serve Him. If we want to be wise it must begin here. It must begin with an intense love for the Lord. Deference, the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

What is wisdom then? Wisdom is knowing how to survive in this world. It is an understanding of how the world works. The Bible and Proverbs are not books of do’s and don’ts randomly or otherwise generated to organise a society or to earn our way into heaven. The Scriptures were given by inspiration of God, and they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice (TSA d.1). The Scriptures explain to us the mystery of how and why the world works. The more we read them the more we know about God, just like the more time we spend with God, praying and reading His Word, the more we know Him.

As we read through Proverbs, we notice that indeed each proverb is a brief glimpse into the reality that is our life. These are words to live by as is the whole canon of Scripture but we can only really understand this when we really do love the LORD with all our heart, mind, body, and soul, when we love our neighbour as ourselves (Lk. 10:17; cf. Dt. 6:5, 11:13, 30:16, 30:20) and when we honestly do have a healthy deference, yir'ah, a fear of the LORD, because the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

How is this wisdom reflected in your life?
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