There is a common conception or model of Biblical wisdom that portrays it as something that you use while seated and thinking. Solomon was a wise king and he certainly did just that. So we get Proverbs like: “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (18:17).
But many matters addressed in Proverbs seem pretty far from an official courtroom situation. For example: “Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words” (7:4–5). Wisdom in this case is associated with the character to stay away from sex outside marriage.
In Proverbs, wisdom is a key to rule over others whereas folly leads to subservience. Thus, “the fool will be servant to the wise of heart” (11:29b). But there are other masters to which the fool also is a servant.
- “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32).
- “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls” (Proverbs 25:28).
- “The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust” (Proverbs 11:6).
- “Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes” (Proverbs 6:25).
- “The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor” (Proverbs 21:25).
- “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1).
- “Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings” (Proverbs 31:3).
- “The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray” (Proverbs 5:22-23).
So wisdom is about ruling, but it applies both to ruling in a community and ruling over one’s self. We could even specify that it applies to ruling over one’s body parts because what the Lord hates is often described in terms of body parts.
There are six things that the LORD hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers (6:16–19).
This may be the Scriptural background for Romans 6:12-23 and Matthew 5:29, 30; 18:8, 9.
So this gives us a reason why wisdom is associated with personal character and discipline as well as passing judgment or ruling from a throne. You must rule yourself well to rule anyone else well.
For an example of how this works, consider how the virtue of patience is equated with possessing wisdom:
Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding,
but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly (Proverbs 14:29).
Of course, this authority over oneself enhances one’s ability to wisely rule others. If one cannot control one’s temper one will be useless at dispensing impartial justice. If one has not developed the discipline of listening and allowing others to speak, for example, one cannot judge a case rightly:
If one gives an answer before he hears,
it is his folly and shame (Proverbs 18:13).
So one’s personal character has to have reached some level in order to have the patience to sit in the judgment seat and the will-power to think.
Otherwise, one ends up being the kind of enslaved ruler (and, therefore, enslaved populace) that Augustine of Hippo describes in his book, The City of God:
Thus, a good man, though a slave, is free; but a wicked man, though a king, is a slave. For he serves, not one man alone, but, what is worse, as many masters as he has vices.