The Way of the Wise - Proverbs
13 - The Two Feasts
In Proverbs 9 you have a choice! Have you ever asked: “What is real wisdom? What is real understanding?” This chapter in the Old Testament of the Bible tells us. Two feasts are set before us. They are rival feasts! One is offered by wisdom and the other by folly. Solomon, who wrote this, is giving us a picture, an illustration, of what he is saying in verse 10 where he tells us: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Two invitations are sent out for these two rival feasts. So you have a choice! It Is a choice that everyone makes. However, if you have already been to “Folly’s feast” you can leave it and come to “Wisdom’s feast” which is obviously the right one to go to. Verses 1 to 6 of this chapter describe wisdom’s feast, and verses 13 to 18 describe folly’s feast.
Now, as Jesus said that the Old Testament speaks everywhere about Him, we realise that “Wisdom’s feast” is a picture of the gospel. It presents a little picture of what it means to come to personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. “Folly’s feast” is a very sad picture of what it means to refuse the first invitation. The second meal is very popular, few can resist going to it. Far less people attend wisdom’s excellent meal. You are invited to a fine house with seven pillars. Why seven pillars? Well, in the Bible, “seven” always speaks of perfection. When you come to faith in Christ you are coming to the wonderful Son of God. He IS God. He is perfect in all His ways. His character is perfect. His life on earth was perfect. He is the only person to have ever lived a sinless, holy, perfect life. His death on the cruel cross was a perfect sacrifice for the sins of all those who would come to trust Him as their Lord and Saviour. So when you come to Christ, you come to the Perfect One! You can trust all His promises, you can be clothed in his perfect righteousness, your many sins and failures and shortcomings can be forgiven and forgotten by the God you have offended.
The invitation to “Wisdom’s feast” reminds me of the invitation in Isaiah 55:1, where we read : “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” And it goes on to say, “Eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” In Proverbs 9:3, the messengers issuing the invitations are described as ‘maids’. It is a lovely picture of those who are inoffensive, gentle, kind, innocent, even vulnerable. It describes those whom the Lord has called to issue his gospel invitation. People who are abrasive and arrogant are not going to see too many people responding to their invitation! They just put people off! But those who are winsome and humble and gracious and caring are the ones the Lord uses in His work. I can imagine these maids not only being gentle, but serious and earnest as they invite people to this special feast. It is a serious invitation. The gospel is about people’s eternal destinies. When we proclaim the gospel we want to do it in a way that is appropriate to the amazing message that it is. We don’t need clever methods; we don’t try and manipulate people or use techniques such as entertainment or hypnotism. The apostle Paul said to the Thessalonians that “the appeal we make does not come from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.” He says, “We never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up - God is our witness” (1 Thessalonians 3:3 to 5).
The invitation is a call to “leave your simple ways” (verse 6). When we come to Christ there has to be leaving of the old ways of selfishness and sin. This is called repentance when our whole desire is to change the way we live. I’m so glad that Jesus said that He didn’t come to give his life for “good” people but for sinful people like me. Actually there aren’t any “good” people in God’s sight because we have all come short of His standard. The really great thing about this feast is that it is free!! You can’t begin to pay for it. An old hymn writer put it this way: “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to your cross I cling! Naked come to you for dress, helpless look to you for grace; foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me Saviour or I die”.
There is a real sense in which the gospel corrects us and rebukes us. It shows us our sin and ourselves as we really are in God’s sight. Many people are deeply offended by that. Some of them get really angry. That is exactly what Solomon says to us in verses 7 to 9 of this chapter. “Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.” The wise person will listen to what God has to say and will take it to heart.
So what is this rival feast at the end of chapter 9? Well, “Folly” is pictured as a coarse woman with a loud voice! She is said to be undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits on her door step and shouts to people as they pass by. There is nothing gentle or kind in her manner at all. She too is inviting the simple to come and feast with her. Those who respond are described as lacking in judgement. There is something very different about her food. Even the water she is offering is stolen, presumably from someone’s well. She shouts out that “food eaten in secret is delicious”. Why is it being eaten in secret? The other feast wasn’t a secretive affair. This speaks of things that are underhand and deceitful and dishonest. Isn’t it a picture of the life that is lived without any reference to God? Isn’t it a picture of a life lived apart from the Lord Jesus Christ?
The final verse in this chapter describes the real truth about folly’s feast or life without Christ: “But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.” Aren’t you glad that Wisdom gives you an invitation to her feast? Aren’t you glad that the Lord Jesus Christ invites you to come to Him to receive life and wisdom and understanding and a right relationship with God? The message of Proverbs 9 is simply this: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”, so come to Christ to-day and He will receive you and forgive and love you, and one day take you home to Heaven to be with Him always.