Proverbs 8:26 Commentary and Bible Study

The second part of the verse is an intriguing statement in the Hebrew, and very difficult to translate. ‘The highest part of the dust of the world’ is very difficult to understand, because there are so many different suggestions from the experts as to what it means. We cannot altogether get to the bottom of that, but we can all understand ‘the dust of the earth.’ These are the ready-made means by which they grew sufficient to put on their tables and support their families – the earth or the fields, and the dust of the world. They were an agrarian people, and they would have understood the dust as the productive soil. God made a world which was supportive of life. It needed work, of course, to make use of its fruitfulness, but the soil was there, the sun shone on it and the rain watered it. Its productivity was built into it. But before the fields were marked off and the crop-producing districts were tamed and the rich soil yielded its increase, there was wisdom preparing it all. So the wisdom of God is the most productive thing. Wisdom knew how to produce a world which would feed mankind. Wisdom does not need to make use of these means: just as it can feed the body, so it can feed the soul. The man of the world says, ‘Christianity, what is that? That is a faith, that means going to church, that means believing. What I want to do in life is something productive, what I want to do is manufacture things, see my name on articles that people buy in the shops, or produce knowledge or books or something. I want to produce something lasting, or be part of this. I want to have a family, and I want my life to mean something, and to be productive.’ Ah yes, but the most productive life comes from the wisdom of God, where that is exactly what you do. You live out your days, and you bring up your family making a contribution that will stand eternally. Children who will come to the Lord, children who with you will occupy heaven singing the everlasting praises of God, and make a deep, moral, worthwhile, spiritual contribution. To make the lasting contribution, to be the most productive in the most valuable way requires the wisdom of God, and that is what the verse is hinting at. The most productive fields are spiritual fields, and that needs the wisdom of God.