What does wisdom look like? We could use simple definitions like “skill in living” or “knowledge applied,” but it’s also helpful to get the full picture. Wisdom is skill, yes, but this skill comes from being disciplined, that is, corrected when we go wrong. It’s the ability to make discerning choices by selecting the best when there are two confusing alternatives to choose between. It means that we have insight to find the most successful outcomes, and that we can find clever solutions to the problems we face, and that we are growing in knowledge and in the ability to make good plans. 

Over the next few weeks I plan on writing a series of blog posts on the topic of wisdom. To kick things off, we’re going to begin by asking the age-old question, “What is wisdom?” I have wrestled with that seemingly easy question for years. I’ve heard helpful definitions thrown around, such as “skill in living” or “knowledge is what you know, wisdom is what you do with what you know.” These are helpful, but they still felt vague to me while I was growing up and trying to really grasp what wisdom is. I’ve realized that nailing down a single sentence or phrase that captures the essence of wisdom is one way of going about things. Sometimes, however, it can be helpful to go the other way and to try and give a big, all encompassing definition of wisdom. We might say that instead of giving a narrow definition, we want to study the many faces of wisdom.

If we want to know what wisdom is we will want to go to Proverbs,  of course, a book all about how to be wise. In the first chapter of the book, where the theme of wisdom is introduced, we are hit with a series of synonyms that show different aspects of wisdom. I want to take a few minutes to look at seven synonyms that are all used to convey the same goal of the book—to share wisdom concerning how to live rightly, especially for young people (Proverbs 1:1-4).[1] There is a danger in such a project that we overpress the differences. All these words are on some level similar and even interchangeable, that’s why we call them synonyms. But there are shades of meaning and those shades are slightly different. With that in mind, I think we will find greater clarity as to what it means to be wise by looking at the slight differences of these seven synonyms at the outset of Proverbs, God’s manual on smart living.

“To know wisdom and discipline”
(Proverbs 1:2a)^[2]

Wisdom (Hebrew chokmah)

This is the word we normally translate as wisdom. However, interestingly enough, the first time it is used in the Old Testament, it isn’t describing knowing how best to live life. In Exodus, those working on the priests’ garments and the tabernacle were given wisdom (Exodus 28:3; 31:3, 6). Wisdom here means skill, the skill needed to do things like build a beautiful tabernacle or make fine clothing.

This usage helps us get a better understanding of what the Hebrew word means. “Skill” seems to be the idea in Exodus, but what skill is in mind in Proverbs? Well, just as there is skill in craftsmanship, there is skill in living life well. A wise craftsman knows what he needs to do to take the raw materials he has and make them into something beautiful. A wise person takes what comes their way and knows how to live a life that is maximally successful. Just as we might say there are people who are good at woodworking, we also recognize that there are people who are good at life. Scripture would say those people are wise.

Discipline (Hebrew musar)

This word is often used for the training up of children, and often with a correctional vibe. Part of being taught and trained on how to live is being warned when our behaviors are wrong and need to be addressed. No one likes being corrected, but Proverbs is clear that one of the things separating wise people from foolish people is that wise people learn from their mistakes and from the correction of others (Proverbs 12:15). Discipline is thus another word for instruction, with a slight emphasis on the corrective nature of instruction.

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