Before the fall, reason in man had the right use, that is, the mind felt God, and reason expressed the experience of the mind. "A pure mind rightly looks at things; the mind formed by exercise places what it sees as if before the eyes of others" [St. Theognost, ibid."] [25, p. 207].

This remark is also confirmed in the book under consideration: "The profligate seeks wisdom and does not find it; but knowledge is easy for the prudent" (Proverbs 14:6).

Wisdom is not something that a person can simply achieve by his own efforts. Read all the books, listen to all the lectures – and become wise. The acquisition of wisdom requires great, if not complete, efforts. "My son! if thou wilt receive my words, and keep my commandments unto thee, that thou shalt make thy ear attentive to wisdom, and incline thy heart to meditation; if thou shalt call upon knowledge and appeal to reason; if you seek it as silver, and seek it as treasure, you will understand the fear of the Lord, and you will find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth is knowledge and understanding" (Proverbs 2:1-6).

It turns out that wisdom and piety is a gift of God, and the source of wisdom is in God Himself, Who created the world, and only God can give man wisdom. Coming from God, it leads to God – only such wisdom is revered in the Scriptures and in the Book of Proverbs as true. "Abaddon and death say, With our ears we have heard the rumor of it. God knoweth her way, and he knoweth her place. For He looketh unto the ends of the earth, and seeth under all heaven" (Job 28:22-24).

Having said that God is the source of wisdom, let us finally move on to the highest level of understanding: He Himself reveals Himself as Wisdom. Wisdom in Solomon appears personified: it says something, calls for something, does something (Proverbs 8:9). As we shall see, we are talking about the Hypostatic Wisdom of God. "From Him also ye are in Christ Jesus, Who was made unto us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption," writes the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Three Invocations of Wisdom. The first part of the book contains the so-called appeals of the Wisdom of God to people [see, e.g., 23, col. 127-129]. The first proclamation is contained in chapter 1: "Turn to my chastisement: behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you, I will declare my words to you. I called, and you did not listen; She stretched out my hand, and there was no one to hear; and you have rejected all my counsels, and have not received my reproofs. For this I will laugh at your destruction; I will rejoice when terror comes upon you; when terror comes upon you like a storm, and trouble comes upon you like a whirlwind; when sorrow and distress come upon you. Then they will call me, and I will not hear; In the morning they will seek me, and they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord for themselves, did not accept my counsel, despised all my reproofs; therefore they will eat of the fruit of their ways, and be satisfied with their thoughts. For the stubbornness of the ignorant will kill them, and the carelessness of fools will destroy them, but he who hears me will live safely and quietly, fearing no evil" (Proverbs 1:23-33). Here it is quite obvious that wisdom is not identical with knowledge, since the misfortunes that will befall a person who does not have it, and, conversely, the safety of people who follow wisdom, clearly exceeds the consequences of the possession or absence of ordinary knowledge. These words are very reminiscent of the Old Testament prophetic preaching.

The second proclamation of Wisdom is contained in chapter 8. Wisdom "stands in high places, by the wayside, at the highways; She cries out at the gates at the entrance to the city, at the entrance to the doors: To you, people, I cry, and to the sons of men my voice!<... >Hear, for I will speak important things, and the utterance of my mouth is righteousness; for my tongue shall speak the truth, and wickedness shall be an abomination to my mouth; all the words of my mouth are just; there is no deceit or deceit in them; all of them are clear to the prudent and just to those who have acquired knowledge. Receive my teaching, and not silver; knowledge is better than choice gold; for wisdom is better than pearls, and nothing that is desired compares with it. I, O wisdom, dwell with understanding, and seek prudent knowledge. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and evil ways and deceitful lips I hate. I have advice and truth; I am the mind, I have power. By Me kings reign, and rulers legitimize righteousness; I am ruled by rulers and nobles and all the judges of the earth. Those who love me I love, and those who seek me will find me; riches and glory are mine, a treasure that does not perish, and righteousness; My fruits are better than gold, and the purest gold, and I am more profitable than the choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, to bring great good to those who love me, and I fill their treasuries. The Lord had me as the beginning of His way, before His creatures, from time immemorial; I was anointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the existence of the earth. I was born when there were no abysses, when there were no springs abounding in water. I was born before the mountains were erected, before the hills, before He had yet created the earth, nor the fields, nor the primordial specks of dust of the universe. When He prepared the heavens, I was there. When He drew a circular line on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He gave the sea a statute that the waters should not overstep its boundaries, when He laid the foundations of the earth, then I was a painter with Him, and I was a joy all the day, rejoicing before Him all the time, rejoicing in His earthly circle, and my joy was with the sons of men. So, children, listen to me; and blessed are those who keep my ways! Listen to the instruction and be wise, and do not depart from it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching every day at my gates, and standing on guard at my doors! for whoever has found me has found life, and will receive grace from the Lord; but he who sins against me injures his soul: all who hate me love death" (Proverbs 8:2-4, 6-36). Wisdom was born "before all ages." Wisdom, which appeared in the midst of people, appears here as the creative power of God, through which the Lord creates the world. We know that the Lord creates the world through the Son, "in whom all things were." The gift of Wisdom is like a pearl and a treasure. He who seeks wisdom learns its teaching and through it is delivered from death. In terms of content, this passage reminds us of the Gospel preaching of the Savior (especially the speeches contained in the Gospel of John).

And finally, the third proclamation is contained in the 9th chapter. It is usually better known than the previous two, since it is read as the third paremia on the feasts of the Mother of God: "Wisdom built herself a house, hewn out its seven pillars, killed the sacrifice, dissolved her wine, and prepared a table for herself; She sent her servants from the high places of the city to proclaim: "Whoever is foolish, turn hither!" And she said to the dull-witted: "Come, eat my bread and drink the wine that I have mixed; forsake foolishness, and live, and walk in the way of understanding."<... >The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding; for through me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be added" (Proverbs 9:1-6, 10). If we continue the line of linking these speeches to sacred history, it is easy to see here the apostles who were sent after Christ had established the Church to preach the world. All has already been accomplished, and all are invited to the solemn meal of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). It is clear that since the offering of sacrifice and the building of the Church (the house on seven pillars, understood as sacraments) became possible only through the Incarnation, which took place with the participation of the Mother of God, this paremia is read on the feasts of the Mother of God. Such an understanding of this passage is also recorded in hymnography:

"The all-guilty and life-giver, the immeasurable Wisdom of God built a temple for Himself from the Pure Unadulterated Mother: for Christ our God was glorified in the temple.

Secretly leading his friends, He prepares a meal for the nourishment of the soul, and truly the Wisdom of God dissolves the cup of immortality for the faithful: let us draw near piously, and cry out: Glorified is Christ our God.

Let us hear all the faithful, summoning by lofty preaching the uncreated and natural Wisdom of God, crying out: Taste and understand, as Christ is, cry out: Glorified is Christ our God" [On Holy and Great Thursday at Matins, Canon, Ode 1, Troparia 1-3 // Lenten Triodion].

As a means of correcting dull-witted (i.e., suffering from a lack of virtue) people, bread and wine are offered, which usually do not increase intelligence. This meal points to the Eucharist, by which the human soul is healed and makes it a receptacle of Wisdom, because by the Eucharist man is united with Christ.

By the meal prepared by Wisdom one can understand not only the Eucharist, but also the teaching of the Savior. St. Basil the Great says that the Scriptures "speak of everything in a higher sign, by the image of the bodily giving us to understand the spiritual. For he calls the verbal food of the soul a meal, to which he summons with lofty preaching, that is, teachings that do not contain anything low and contemptible" [12, part 4, p. 198].

Almost at the end of the book, the following words are found: "Who ascended to heaven and descended? Who gathered the wind in his handfuls? Who tied water in his clothes? Who set up all the boundaries of the earth? What is his name? And what is the name of his son? Do you know?" (30: 4). You can consider them as a rhetorical question – in the sense that a person does not have an answer. But you can also see in them a return to the beginning. Especially the question of the name of the Son in the context of the need to comprehend wisdom, the One who is actually Wisdom.