Wisdom, in the book of Proverbs, is a multi-sided thing.  In order to communicate what wisdom is, the introduction uses several different synonyms to help draw out what exactly wisdom is.  For your study of this book, I thought I’d just provide some linguistic background so that as you study this book, you can understand exactly what is meant by the various words instruction, wisdom, learning, knowledge, etc.  When you’re studying specific passages of the Bible, it is often helpful to look at the specific words used and ask “why this word and not another.”  Use this guide to help understand exactly what the author/redactor meant when he was writing the introduction of Proverbs (vss. 1-7).

yd’ This is the verb for “to know.”  It’s noun form (da’at) is also used in the proverbs for “knowledge.”  Yd’ implies more than simple head knowledge or book smarts.  Rather, yd’ always implies…