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Being Wise or Foolish

Wisdom has built her house;
    she has made its seven ·columns [pillars; C a large house].
She has ·prepared her food [L slaughtered her slaughter] and prepared [mixed] her wine;
    she has set her table.
She has sent out her servant girls,
    and she calls out from the highest place in the city [C the location of the Temple, indicating she symbolizes God].

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Wisdom and Folly

Chapter 9

At God’s Banquet[a]

Wisdom has built her house;
    she has hewn her seven pillars.
She has slain her animals and mixed her wine,
    and she has spread her table.
She has sent forth her maidservants
    and proclaimed from the heights of the city,

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 9:1 This beautiful poem once again presents Wisdom as a person. She invites men and women to a feast in her house, the seven pillars of which symbolize perfection. The theme of the feast at which the wise are gathered was dear to antiquity; Christ, too, will speak to us of guests invited to the royal feast (see Mt 22:2; Lk 14:16). Reading this fascinating invitation, Christians will be reminded of the Eucharistic Supper where Christ offers them the word and the bread. It is the sign and foreshadowing of the royal feast to which are called all human beings, and where all will experience the joy of God.