The Fear of the Lord
Job 28:28
And to man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.


Can man attain the highest wisdom, the highest state of excellence, without a revelation from God? When man is set before us as possessing powers and capacities which may be said to conquer nature, how comes it to pass that the intellectual development is not equalled by moral elevation? He is described after all as not having found wisdom. Science may give knowledge, but cannot attain wisdom. Whence, then, this mystery of inconsistency, this riddle of greatness and littleness, of good and evil? Man is not in the state in which he was made. He is a ruined monument of a once noble creature. Can fallen man purchase wisdom? He may acquire wealth, but he cannot put a price upon wisdom. The fearful lesson of history gives emphasis to the word of God as to the moral degradation which has marked man in every age. Personified wisdom is seen in the person of Christ. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom. What is the adaptation of man to receive what God is pleased to reveal? God communicates the wisdom; man receives it, appreciating and sympathising with the Divine mind, and this capability of reception existed from the very first. What is man's proper position and duty in consequence of this Divine communication?

(J. C. Cadman.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

WEB: To man he said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.'"




God's Access to Wisdom
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