Pulling Up to Wisdom’s Table

“Wisdom has built her [spacious and sufficient] house; she has hewn out and set up her seven pillars. She has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her maidens, she calls from the highest places of the city: “Whoever is naive or inexperienced, let him turn in here!” 

As for him who lacks understanding, she says, “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed [and accept my gifts]. Leave [behind] your foolishness [and the foolish] and live, and walk in the way of insight and understanding.”’ (Proverbs 9:1-6, AMP)

I learned from my mama how to host a meal. When I was growing up, my mom opened her home for showers, birthday parties, Christmas Eve dinners, graduation parties. You name it, she did it. She even hosted my wedding reception in the middle of COVID and you never would have known the world was shut down. 

And you’d better believe that I was enlisted to help her execute every party she had growing up; whether it was folding cloth napkins and setting the table for Christmas Eve, or setting up tables and chairs for a pig-pickin’, or setting up decorations for a theme party– I was there. And I learned a lot.

In a lot of ways, she trained me in just the right hospitality it takes to being a pastor’s wife. Now, I plan potlucks, host dinner get-togethers with families in our congregation, and women’s ministry luncheons. And trust me, this devotion isn’t about putting together Martha Stewart-level events, but in Proverbs 9, Solomon presents Wisdom to us as a woman who is putting together a lovely, intimate gathering at her home. She beckons those who have sat around her table and those who lack understanding to come and pull up a chair for the first time.

And Wisdom is no slap-the-party-together kind of gal. From top to bottom, she has thought of every detail that makes her home warm, inviting, comforting, and hospitable in the name of sharing her Godly insight with her guests.

In verse 1, Solomon talks about how she– Wisdom, herself– has built her house. And her house isn’t some hovel or bungalow. It’s spacious and sufficient. It’s a house people want to get together at. She put in hard work to make sure her house is structurally sound and well-made; she carved out the stone that her home is built on, constructing seven pillars, which not only makes for a sturdy home, but it also gives us the idea that this home is ornamental and beautiful.

In verse 2, we see the table she has laid for her guests: She has set the table, prepared delicious food and mixed her wine. Mixed with what, you might ask? The method is up to interpretation but based on the practice of that day, the wine was either mixed with spices to make it more fragrant and delectable, or water, which would have cooled the wine from the cask down to make it more refreshing.

Either way, the refreshments that Wisdom has laid out are pleasing, invigorating, and restorative. The wisdom that is offered at her table– the understanding one finds in our home when they come to visit– is something that is precious and delightful. It’s rejuvenating to engage and interact with. Some translations in verse 5 say that she beckons to her guests to, “Come eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed!” 

Sound familiar? Even though Solomon might not have known the significance of bread and wine to the modern Christian, we see the foreshadowing of what is at the center of Wisdom’s conversation: the Gospel. We see Christ Himself at her table, in her midst. Because Godly wisdom cannot exclude the God from which all wisdom and redemption flows.

Wisdom also sends out her handmaidens with an invitation to her table. They shout aloud her invitation from the high places in town– from the city center, the gates, the places where most people frequent. 

And who does she invite? Not the scholars, not the priests, not kings nor important officials. She invites the simple, the untrained, and the knowledgeable. She invites ordinary people to come and learn, taste and see.

We need to do the same. So many times, we see those who don’t know the Gospel, or who have a lower view of the Gospel as lesser than. We count them out before they’ve even gotten to the table and started to learn about the God we serve. This dinner party that Solomon is showing us isn’t exclusive. It’s not a top-secret gathering or saving the best resources for the higher-profile guests. 

So we need to make sure that our efforts to share the Gospel aren’t biased by who we think is worthy to hear it or not. And we need to make sure we’re sharing the Lord with others to the best of our ability. That means presenting it articulately, with kindness, with passion, and with our best foot forward.

We want to do our best to avoid the way Folly throws a party later on in the chapter: “The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” and to him who lacks sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.” (Proverbs 9:13-18, ESV)

Folly is loud and knows nothing. She sits just outside her door shouting at people to come inside. She offers stolen water and secret bread, claiming that these things are better than what you can find elsewhere, but whoever eats or drinks it doesn’t know that her house is full of the dead. She leads her guests to hell. What a difference from the warm, inviting home of Wisdom, but you’ll notice that Folly aims to invite the same simple-minded people that Wisdom does. 

If those unknowing, unsuspecting people take the wrong invitation, they will be sitting at a table that only leads to death. They won’t know what they could have had and missed, because they were fooled by a foolish person with sinful counsel.

Jesus, our Savior and wisdom-bearer, is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The more we cultivate His knowledge from His Word, the farther down the path of Life we are lead.

So if we find ourselves amongst the simple-minded today, then let’s pull up a chair to the right table. Let’s buckle down, sit in front of our Bibles, and taste and see. Let’s seek God and gain insight. 

And if we find ourselves as a regular at Wisdom’s table, full of Godly understanding and prudence, then we need to start inviting people that need to hear to pull up a chair. There is plenty of room at Wisdom’s house to come, commune, and enjoy her bread and wine. There is plenty of insight to go around, so start looking out for who needs to come in and stay awhile.