Proverbs, in the Hebrew tongue is "Mishlai", it means "to rule", and in the Greek the word is "Paroimiai", "any dark sententious saying". Thus it is a rule or saying to govern your life. It is not a collection of human wisdom, but a Divine set of rules from YHVH, our heavenly Father. We could say that the Proverbs is a set of comparisons, and as we study through the Proverbs, we will see that there is much more to these set of rules than is written. This book requires us to use common sense in applying it to our lives. God is telling us how to govern and rule our own life. This book of Proverbs is the sister to the book of Ecclesiastes, God's instructions to the man that walks under the sun; The man living in his flesh body; in order to have peace of mind and be happy.

This set of instructions is given by Father to help us control and make our decisions in our personal life [civil order], as well as our religious and business life. This book of Proverbs tells us how to operate a business and be successful. Even though they are called "dark sayings", it does not mean that these sayings are Satanic, it means that these points of wisdom are hidden from a foolish person; those not seeking instruction from God. The foolish man will never obtain true wisdom. When you read these sayings, and apply them to your life, it will always work: Because God will be the one to make it work. God takes care of His own, and those that seek to follow His set of instructions; those that stay focused on His Word.

God removes those problems and things that you cannot handle yourself. However, God also expects us to use our common sense, to to tend to those things that we can do for ourselves. Remember that when it gets to rough for the people of this world, that is when God's people get focused and back to work. Christians can handle it, because we have Father with us.

Proverbs 1:1 "The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;"

Solomon was the wisest of the wise, except for Jesus Christ. Before David died, he gave his son Solomon a charge as to how he should rule the kingdom.

I Kings 2:2-3 ""I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man; and keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself;"

I Kings 2:4 "That the Lord may continue His word which He spake concerning me, saying, `If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee' (said He `a man on the throne of Israel.' "

Solomon asked God for wisdom, and even with all of Solomon's wealth and wisdom, he still messed up at times. He was human.

Proverbs 1:2 "To know wisdom and instruction; To perceive the words of understanding;"

When you know and follow wisdom and instruction, it is using just good old common sense. Common sense plays an important part to perceive words of understanding. It is important to start the teaching of these words of understanding as a small child, to make it become part of the child's thinking process as the child grows into adulthood.

Proverbs 1:3 "To receive the instruction of wisdom, Justice, and judgment, and equity:"

Most people today reject simple instruction, they don't want to know God's instruction, but seek to follow their own self-made set of standards and rule. "Equity" as used here is "prudence", the ability to use good common sense and wisdom [insight]. Wisdom takes control of your actions during your daily life, by speaking to you through the conscience of your mind, warning you of those dangerous and unwise things that face you. Wisdom and common sense is a wonderful companion in your everyday life.

Proverbs 1:4 "To give subtility to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion."

The word "subtilty" in the Massorah Hebrew text is #6195 in Strong's Hebrew dictionary "`ormah" means "discretion, prudence"; It's an economic word that tells us to be skillful managers of our money and wealth. The "simple" as used here are the "silly and foolish", and God's wisdom will change a person and set him [her] changed in a new direction. God's Word will give the you the best knowledge and sound counsel you could ever obtain. It is simple, when you read the word, follow the set of instruction you get from it's direction; just do it. The counsel is free from our Heavenly Father. Father will give His wisdom absolutely free, but He requires that you search it out of His Word. The pattern for every detail of your life is all there in the Bible.

Proverbs 1:5 "A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; And a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:"

The wise man will read and listen to the instructions that God is him [her] and take it all into his or her mind.

Proverbs 1:6 "To understand a proverb, and the interpretation: The words of the wise, and their dark saying."

The "dark sayings" are only hidden to those that do not have the understanding from God. Otherwise they are live and real in the mind of the follower. This next verse is the secret for your entire life, and is the key to getting wisdom and the very foundation of all wisdom comes to those that revere ["fear"-give reverence] to God.

Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

"Your reverence of the Lord "YHVH" is the beginning of knowledge:" That is the first principle of wisdom. If you do not "give reverence to the Lord", then no matter what you do or think in your life, you are missing the entire point of direction in life. This is the first step that you take within your life, and it is the key to what mom and dad should have drilled in your mind while you learned to take your first step as a child.

The fool is one that always tries to do it his own way, with a quick snappy way to shortcut the sound path of wisdom and instruction. These people deceive no one but themselves. These people are closed minded and think that the ways of the world are the only wisdom that there is. The true wisdom from our Heavenly Father is hidden to them. It become nothing but dark saying to them, in their blindness.

The fear or reverence of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge, it is the start of understanding the times that we life in today, the first earth, or the eternal nature of God and the life we will live in, in the Millennium and the eternity. If you love someone, you will listen to their words because you want to please that person. That is why the reverance of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, because you have to understand what it is that pleases God, before you can follow that path to obtain all the blessings and protect that He gives.

Proverbs 1:8 "My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother:"

"The law of thy mother" is given it the last chapter of Proverbs [31:1-9]. It is the set of instruction of a mother to her child, to set the direction for that child's life.

Proverbs 1:9 "For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck."

Your mind or brain is in your head, and this set of instructions from God's Word becomes an ornament of grace worn in your mind. It's not around your neck for other to see, but in your mind to light your path and give you directions for your life. This set of instructions is something that you always carry with you, just a chain about your neck that you never take off. Wisdom and knowledge become chained to you to give you counsel when it is needed. It starts with your reverence to the Father, and your desire to please Him; and when you do that, everything you do and say is built around the instruction He gives, and the wisdom and blessings you receive from Him. You simply can not help prospering in all areas of your life.

Proverbs 1:10 "My son, if sinners entice thee, Consent thou not."

"Sinners" as used here is "chatta" in the Hebrew text. He is on with a sinful or criminal mind. Those are the ones that lead you into doing those things you know are just not right. Those things that they will say to you will be contrary to the Word of God.

Proverbs 1:11 "If they say, "Come with us, lets lay wait for blood, Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:"

They have their plans to rip of the people, and deceive them into buying their junk, or shortcutting the job to a point to where when it is found out, you will be long gone. That seems to be the way of business in the world today; false advertising, doctoring of the books, deceptive wording in contracts, products that appear to be what they are not...on and on the list grows..."Come with us in our deceptive plan for we lurk privily on the innocent, for they don't know...". "Blood" means pure homicide, and as it is used here it means that you could care less what happens to the individual you are dealing with. It means to rip off the poor and innocent and even your brother, and this is one of the fastest ways to have God turn on you, when you are set in this frame of mind.

God is the chief Shepherd and He is the caretaker of the flock. When an outsider starts messing around with His sheep, look out. If you have been place as a caretaker of God's sheep, the warning to you is to feed them, not rip them off. Remember Jesus' instructions to Peter after His resurrection? Three times Jesus said, "Feed My lambs", "Feed My Sheep", "Feed My sheep". The feed that the sheep are fed is from the Word of God, all of it from Genesis to Revelation, with understanding.

Proverbs 1:12 "Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:"

Again, this is what the sinners say. Be aware from this verse that man sentences himself. Anytime you pass sentence on an innocent person, to send them to the pit or cause their good name to be darkened, that is the judgment that God passes upon you. God will see to it that you will go to the pit, when you bring something on an innocent person, to lay in wait to rip of someone, that is the judgment coming upon you. You right your own ticked.

Proverbs 1:13 "We shall find all precious substance, We shall fill our houses with spoil:"

This is the sinners continuing in their planning. What will your house full of riches gain you in the eternity? When someone becomes rich by ill-gotten gains becomes a barrier to your soul in reaching eternal life.

Proverbs 1:14 "Cast in thy lot among us: Let us all have one purse:"

This sounds like the workings of communism, everyone sharing what they have, and no one becomes rich. In every system that it has been tried, it has failed. God blesses those that have worked and earned it, and He expects those that live their lives according to His ways to prosper. That is the opposite of communism [socialism]. Think about it the next time some lazy person wants you to share your wealth with him. You put the money into the purse, and he take is out giving himself an equal share. This is the basis of all communal living, where all exist out of one purse. It is not God's way, except God expects us to take care of the needy, the handicap, and the sick and aged. You don't need a communal purse.

Proverbs 1:15 "My son walk not thou in the way with them; Refrain thy foot from their path:"

This is real easy to do, simply by selecting those that you run around with, and tie yourself to. If you run with those that put God's Word to the front of their life, then God's Word becomes the center of your conversations. The ways, wisdom, direction, and things of importance to you have become the ways God's ways. However if you follow after those with deceit and wickedness in their mind, that in time becomes your ways and goals.

Proverbs 1:16 "For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood."

This type of people always looks for ways to rip of somebody, that is their mindset.

Proverbs 1:17 "Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird."

Proverbs 1:18 "And they lay wait for their own blood; They lurk privily for their own lives."

What this is saying is that there are some birds, that even when they see the net before them, they will still fly into the net to get the food. They just don't care about the danger that is around them. Even if it causes their own death. The metaphor within this, is that likewise, it is the same mindset that the sinner has. He just doesn't give a second thought to his eternal soul, nor his standing before God; the only thing that matters is the here and now. Sure, they can see the net and see exactly what they are doing that brings them into the trap, yet it doesn't matter to them that they are flying to their own death or destruction. This is the basis of the trouble in our major cities where children are killing children...they see the net before them, but they just don't care.

Wisdom sounds the alarm and alerts your mind of the trap that is set before you. It keeps you from falling into those traps. When one does not seek wisdom, it is like having a death wish, blind to the dangers around you. However, in God's eyes, there is no perfect crime, God sees all and knows all, the only one being fooled is the one that planned the foolishness. The warning here is; "Don't be trapped, open your eyes."

Proverbs 1:19 "So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; Which taketh away the life of the owners thereof."

God is warning us that there is no getting away with any mischief anyone plans. You will face your wicked deeds. Deuteronomy 19 tells us exactly what happens to those that take part in the taking of an innocent life by homicide. Those that do will stand before God's throne, with the murdered soul standing before them, and there will be no one defending your wicked ways. The Judge then sees right into your mind, and there are no hidden secrets.

Proverbs 1:20 "Wisdom crieth without; She uttereth her voice in the streets:"

Friend, common sense [wisdom] is all around you. Common sense cries out for you to take hold of yourself. Wisdom demands that you be a good citizen of your family, within your neighborhood, nation and the human race. Wisdom [common sense] utters that voice no matter where you are on the face of the earth.

Proverbs 1:21 "She crieth in the chief place of the concourse, In the openings of the gates: In the city she uttereth her words, saying,"

"She" [wisdom speaking] cries out in your business, at the judgment seat at the court house, and even in your home and schools; and this is what she says.

Proverbs 1:22 "How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge?"

This word "simplicity" in the Hebrew text is "pethiy", it is "silliness, foolishness". This scorning is in an anti-religious sense. Scorning at another person's beliefs and faith in God. Remember back in verse seven; "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." The scorners are those fools that despise God's wisdom and instruction and they take pleasure in what they do. However when these fools are in great danger and facing death, their whole outlook on life, eternity and the Father changes. They want to come back to the Father through repentance, however, most of them try to do it their way and not God's way. They then recognize that there is a God, but they refuse to accept His path through His Son Jesus Christ and the cross to obtain their salvation. These fools that say there is no God are trapped by their own hatred of knowledge and wisdom from God's Word.

As these scorners reach their old age, the scorning and ridicule seems to stop, and they start seeking the truth. Once truth comes into their life, they will either accept the truth, or become one miserable person. Man without hope is a miserable person.

Proverbs 1:23 "Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you."

"Reproof" is God's "chastisement, and correction" of you when the Spirit of God is making His Word know to you. Some people are slow to get the point, and have to sink to the bottom before they catch on. However God is promising you here that if you reach out, I will help you. Wisdom is promising that if you just try, I will help bring to your memory, and God promises that; "I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you." Friend, when "wisdom" corrects you, it is time to stop, and head in the opposite direction from where you were going. Try to do what is right.

Proverbs 1:24 "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;"

Proverbs 1:25 "But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof:"

You sat under my counsel, but you would not listen to My Words. This is talking about those flying into the trap, they would not listen to the truth, but would scorn at the truth.

Proverbs 1:26 "I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;"

Who is going to have the last laugh? God will! As you fall into those traps and calamity that you fall into when you reject Wisdom and common sense, it will be come humor to God. Have you ever laughed at someone when in ignorance they fell, or had something happen to themselves? Well, that is exactly how your calamity appears to Father as He watches you refuse to accept the wisdom that is promised to you, free for the taking. Wisdom will laugh at them for their biblical illiteracy.

Proverbs 1:27 "When your fear cometh as desolation, And your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish cometh upon you."

In the crises of your life hits you with sudden destruction, and and it will.

Proverbs 1:28 "Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; They shall seek me earily, but they shall not find me:"

Then after all the destruction come, these fools will call upon the Lord, but do you know what wisdom is going to say? Nothing, that's right nothing, "but I will not answer." If you chose through your life not to seek wisdom and truth, when that truth is necessary for your help, it will not be there. They will seek the Lord early when the pain hits, but not before; but they will not have the knowledge and common sense to even see the direction back to God. There is always one day to late, in a given situation, and at that point in time you are either going to have to swim, or drown. Should God allow you to pull yourself to the river bank, you had better pray and seek wisdom, for all wisdom comes from God. Don't look for wisdom in the world, for today there is nothing but confusion. Then and only then will there be hope for you. You seek wisdom before it is needed, or it will stand laughing at the calamity you got yourself into. It is up to you, you either choose wisdom, or you choose to be stupid and biblically illiterate.

Proverbs 1:29 "For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of the Lord:"

It is up to you personally to make the choice; To hate knowledge, or to find wisdom. Remember what verse seven said? "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction." The beginning or starting point of all wisdom, is to give reverence to our Heavenly Father. If you love God, you can not help but following His Word and His ways.

Proverbs 1:30 "They would none of my counsel: They despised all my reproof."

Those that reject God's counsel from His Word, you just can't tell them a thing of wisdom. Every time God puts a warning in their path, they fall into it and blame God for all their troubles. The only thing that matters in their minds is themselves.

Proverbs 1:31 "Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices."

This is important to understand: "Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way," What happens to them is exactly what they deserve. As you live and choose to live, you set the outcome by the acts you do and the words you say. You set the sentence that will be placed upon you. It is real easy for God to judge you, because you set the sentence upon yourself. Those things and deeds that you set on others is the same thing that will be turned around and placed on your own head. Stop and look around you, and you can see it coming to pass in the lives of those around you. Those that lack wisdom never learn the lesson; if I do people right, then they will do me right. God's wisdom is a beautiful thing in getting along in life. You make your own way by the way your treat others.

Proverbs 1:32 "For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them."

The riches and ill-gotten gains will eat them alive and destroy any enjoyment in their lives. A person without wisdom is dead, and doesn't even know it. He [she] is a fool, for God and wisdom already have their sights set on him, and there is no getting away with anything. There is a time when all sins not repented of in Jesus name, will be accounted for. The poisons of your own words and deeds will destroy you and your soul, as far as the eternity is concerned.

Proverbs 1:33 "But whose hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, And shall be quiet from fear of evil."

Don't read over this, "And shall be quiet from fear of evil." Why? You don't have to be in fear of evil, because your under God's protection. Evil will not be with us very much longer anyway. Wisdom is from God and with in His Word. God has fortified us in His Word as to what we shall face, and what shall take place in these latter days. If you know what to expect and the outcome of the those things, you know that you, as one of God elect, will be protected anyway.

God gives us permission to turn any evil deed by the fools of the world against us, to turn it on their own head. If someone tries to rip you off, God gives you the right to seek to right the wrong. We do that under the laws of whatever land we live in. If you know the ways of the evil mind, be on guard against those things being done to you. Don't fear evil, protect yourself with wisdom to have the knowledge to defend yourself against those things.