Proverbs 16:22

“How much better is it to get wisdom than gold!” The verse is an exclamation, and its second line says the same thing again in new words: understanding is “rather to be chosen than silver.” In Israel gold and silver were the chief forms of wealth, standing and security. They paid for trade and tribute, they adorned temples and palaces, and to gain them was a common hope. To set wisdom above the metals everyone wanted was a striking thing to say.

The verb “to get” in both lines is qânâh, which means to acquire or buy, and also to possess or own. Wisdom is something we go after and take hold of, with all the effort and desire that people spend on silver and gold. “Rather to be chosen” makes it a matter of preference, so that when the two are offered side by side, understanding is the one to take. “Better” is ṭôwb, the broad Hebrew word for good, which takes in what is beautiful, favourable and pleasant. Used in a comparison like this, it means of higher worth and greater advantage.

The things to be gained are named by two words. Wisdom, chokmâh, is practical skill in living by God’s design, the ability to put knowledge to work in real situations so that we live rightly and prudently. In Proverbs it belongs to God and is his gift. Understanding, bîynâh, is discernment, the power to tell things apart, to grasp how they connect and what follows from them, and so to judge soundly and tell truth from falsehood.

“The highway of the upright is to depart from evil.” The word for highway, mᵉçillâh, comes from a root meaning to raise up or heap up, and it names a built-up road, well trodden and plain to see. So the road of upright living is open and public. People know where it is and where it goes, and the principles of a good life were well understood in Israel. The whole direction of this road is “to depart from evil”. The verb çûwr means to turn off, to remove, to withdraw or eschew, and it describes a deliberate turning away. Evil, raʻ, here means the deeds that break peace among people, violate God’s covenant and displease him. The upright keep moving away from it, and that steady choice is what their road consists of.

The second line gives the result: “he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.” A person’s way, derek, is the whole course of his life, his choices and where they lead. To keep it is to stay on it with watchful care, day after day. The one who does keeps (shâmar) his soul. The word for soul, nephesh, comes from a root meaning to breathe. It covers a living creature, life itself, the self, the person and even appetite, so the promise takes in the whole person, life and inner being together, kept safe from the harm that comes with a life tangled in evil.

Scripture calls us to this turning again and again. “Depart from evil, and do good” (Psalm 34:14). “Wash you, make you clean... cease to do evil” (Isaiah 1:16). “Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Romans 12:9). Peter promises good days to the one who will “eschew evil, and do good” (1 Peter 3:10–12). Proverbs adds the care that keeps us on the road: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23), and “The integrity of the upright shall guide them” (Proverbs 11:3). God’s law promises “length of days, and long life, and peace” to those who keep it (Proverbs 3:1–2), and “the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous” (Psalm 1:6). The preserving is his blessing on those who walk in integrity.

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” This is one of the most quoted lines in the Bible, and its two halves say one truth twice so that we will remember it.

The word for pride, gâʼôwn, can mean majesty and even ornament, but here it is arrogance, a swollen sense of one’s own importance that disregards God’s authority and the worth of others, and so stops listening to wisdom and counsel. Haughty, gôbahh, comes from a verb meaning to be high. Joined to spirit, rûwach, a word whose senses are wind, breath and spirit, it names the inner attitude of the high-minded person, who looks down on others, overrates his own powers and brushes aside instruction. The first line names pride as a whole, the attitude and its outward show together, and the second points to the attitude within.

What lies ahead of them is destruction and a fall. Destruction, sheber, comes from a verb meaning to break, and it means a breaking, an injury or a disaster. Fall, kishshâlôwn, means properly a tottering, and so ruin, the loss of the place where one stood. “Before” in this verse is built on the Hebrew word for face, pânîym, and the picture is of a procession with pride walking out in front, leading its owner straight toward the break. Pride carries the seed of its own undoing. It blinds a person to what is real, makes him overconfident and drives others away from him.

This warning runs all through Proverbs: “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility” (Proverbs 18:12), and “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit” (Proverbs 29:23). The fall is part of the moral order God has set in his world, for “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6), as Peter also writes (1 Peter 5:5). The fear of the LORD, which is “the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), is the humble acknowledgment that God rules and that we are limited.

Scripture shows pride at work from the start. The serpent’s promise in Eden was “ye shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:5), and the builders of Babel said, “let us make us a name” (Genesis 11:4). What holds for people holds for nations and empires too, as the downfall of proud rulers such as Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar shows. A few verses earlier the chapter has said that a king’s throne “is established by righteousness” (Proverbs 16:12), and this proverb names what brings the proud down.

“Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” Coming straight after the warning about pride, this verse turns it into a choice. “Better” is ṭôwb, the same word as in verse 16. The humble spirit is shâphâl joined to rûwach: low, brought down, humble in spirit. Here it describes a modest, unpretending heart with a true sense of its place before God and before others, and a ready dependence on him. It carries none of the feeling of worthlessness that the English word can suggest.

“The lowly” (anawim) are the poor, the afflicted, the meek and the overlooked, people with little standing, wealth or power who often meet hardship. In Scripture the word also describes those who are humble before God and know that they depend on him. To be “with” them is to take their side and share their lot, hardship included.

“He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.” The verb behind “handleth wisely” is sâkal, which in this form means to be wise and have understanding, to consider, to make wise or instruct, and to prosper. The one who brings careful thought, foresight and sound judgment to his affairs finds good, a favourable outcome and well-being. In daily life that may mean looking carefully into a matter before spending money on it, seeking counsel from experienced people before a large change, or planning the day well. “The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way” (Proverbs 14:8).

The second line names the deeper source of good. To trust, bâṭach, is to be confident and sure, to rest one’s weight on someone. Here that someone is the LORD (Yᵉhôvâh), the covenant God of Israel, and trusting him means relying on his character, his promises and his rule, above our own abilities and above our circumstances. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5–6). Jeremiah gives the same promise: “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is,” for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters (Jeremiah 17:7–8).

The two lines belong together. God calls us to act wisely and diligently, and the good we find and the happiness we enjoy come from him, as the chapter’s first verse says of our plans and words. Even Solomon’s wisdom was God’s gift, for “God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much” (1 Kings 4:29), and anyone who lacks wisdom may ask God, who gives it liberally (James 1:5).

Verses 21 and 23 belong together. Both speak of the wise, châkâm, and of the heart, lêb, and both end in learning, leqach.

“The wise in heart shall be called prudent.” In Hebrew the heart is the core of the person, the seat of thought, will and moral character as well as feeling. The wise man is skilful in living, able to apply what he knows, and when that wisdom is rooted in the heart it shows in his choices. Others see it and give him a name for it: he “shall be called prudent”, a word from bîyn, to understand or discern.

“And the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.” Sweetness, metheq, is used here of pleasant speech, and the lips, sâphâh, stand for speech itself, as the word does elsewhere for speech and language (it can also mean the edge or shore of a thing). Learning, leqach, is properly “something received”, teaching as it is given and as it is taken in. The verb yâçaph means to add, so gracious words add to what people learn. When a teacher speaks with grace and clarity, hearers lower their guard and take the teaching in. Proverbs says the same about gentle words: “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger” (Proverbs 15:1), and “a soft tongue breaketh the bone” (Proverbs 25:15). The Preacher “sought to find out acceptable words” (Ecclesiastes 12:10), a word spoken in due season is good (Proverbs 15:23), and Paul writes, “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt” (Colossians 4:6). In Israel, where teaching and counsel passed from elders to the young by word of mouth, this mattered greatly.

“The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.” Here the heart is the teacher and the mouth its pupil. Wise speech comes from a wise inner life, considered and disciplined, so the heart both governs how we speak and fills what we say with real instruction. Jesus said the same: “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34), and “of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45). The contrast is the fool, for “the tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness” (Proverbs 15:2). James calls the man who can govern his words “a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body” (James 3:2), and Proverbs warns that “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). Wisdom’s own speech in Proverbs 8 shows how excellent such words are. Speech is only as good as the heart that teaches it, and so the heart is where wise speech begins.

“Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly.” Understanding here is sekel, a different word from the one in verse 16. It means intelligence and insight, and by implication success, and it takes in discretion, prudence and good sense. The wellspring, mâqôwr, is properly something dug, a source of water, including a spring that flows of itself, and figuratively a source of happiness or wisdom. In a dry land where water was scarce and precious, a spring meant life, refreshment and survival. Understanding keeps giving to the person who has it, the way a spring keeps running. “Him that hath it” is built on baʻal, to master or own, so this is understanding made one’s own and put to use. Proverbs says the same of the teaching of the wise: “The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death” (Proverbs 13:14). That is why “wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom” (Proverbs 4:7).

The second line turns to fools. Instruction, mûwçâr, covers teaching, warning, reproof, discipline and chastisement. The fool, ʼĕvîyl, is foolish in the sense Proverbs gives the word, a person who lacks the fear of God and refuses advice. What such people teach is ʼivveleth, silliness and foolishness, and it leads those who follow it into harm. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise” (Proverbs 12:15). The verse right after this passage gives the warning in full: “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25), words found already in Proverbs 14:12. Where our counsel comes from decides a great deal about where we end.

“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” Pleasant, nôʻam, means agreeableness, delight, grace and beauty. Pleasant words have real charm and grace because they come from a kind and wise heart. They are true words, spoken in love and chosen to build up, encourage, comfort and bless, and so they are far from flattery or deceit.

The KJV’s “honeycomb” renders two Hebrew words together: tsûwph, the comb of honey, named from its dripping, and dᵉbash, honey, from a root meaning to be gummy. In Israel honey was a prized food, loved for its sweetness and valued as nourishment and, people believed, as medicine. It stood for abundance and blessing, and God promised his people “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8). The psalmist uses the same picture for God’s own word, which is “sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10). Kind words take after the God who speaks such words to us.

Pleasant words are “sweet to the soul”. The soul is nephesh again, the same word as in verse 17, the whole inner person, and kind words bring it comfort, joy and peace and lift its distress. They are also “health to the bones”. Health, marpêʼ, means a medicine or a cure, healing, and figuratively deliverance and calm. The bones, ʻetsem, are the frame and strength of the body (the same word, used of a day or a thing, can also mean “this very” or “itself”). Together soul and bones stand for the whole person, inside and out. Words reach the body by way of the heart, and Proverbs joins the two elsewhere: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones” (Proverbs 17:22). “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life” (Proverbs 15:4).

The New Testament asks for this kind of speech from God’s people: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29). Such words grow from the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, gentleness and the rest (Galatians 5:22–23), and they often bless the speaker as much as the hearer.

These verses belong to the collection of Solomon’s proverbs, short two-line sayings for living wisely. Chapter 16 opens with nine verses on the LORD’s rule over human plans (Proverbs 16:1–9). “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD” (Proverbs 16:1). He weighs our motives, and we are to commit our works to him (Proverbs 16:2–3). He has made all things for his purpose (Proverbs 16:4), and by mercy and truth he brings favour to those who please him (Proverbs 16:6–7). “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). The chapter then turns to justice and righteous rule (Proverbs 16:8–12) and the king’s favour (Proverbs 16:13–15). Our passage follows, moving from wisdom and humility to the heart and the tongue, and the God who directs our steps is the same God who gives the wisdom these verses praise.

The New Testament shows us where the wisdom of these verses is found in full. Paul calls Christ “the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24) and says that he “of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). In him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). So to get the wisdom that is better than gold is, in the end, to get Christ, the treasure hidden in a field for which a man gladly sells all that he has (Matthew 13:44). Against him stands the wisdom of this world, which “is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19).

Jesus called himself “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and he walked the highway of verse 17 to its end, tempted in all points as we are, “yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He came down from heaven to do the will of the Father who sent him (John 6:38). God gave his Son so that whoever believes in him should have everlasting life (John 3:16), and those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh and walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:24), following the steps of the one who left us an example (1 Peter 2:21).

Verses 18 and 19 find their clearest picture in him. Where pride began with the wish to be as God, the Son, being in the form of God, “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,” humbled himself and “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” and God “hath highly exalted him” (Philippians 2:5–9). He washed his disciples’ feet (John 13:1–17). He turned away the devil’s offer of all the kingdoms of the world (Matthew 4:8–10) and took the path of humble obedience to the cross. He chose the lowly over the spoil of the proud, and he taught, “whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12, and again in Luke 14:11).

Trust in him brings the happiness of verse 20. He came that we “might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Being justified by faith, “we have peace with God” (Romans 5:1), and we wait for “that blessed hope” of his appearing (Titus 2:13).

His speech fulfils verses 21 to 24. He knew the thoughts of those who questioned him (Luke 5:22), and he taught “as one having authority” (Matthew 7:29). The officers sent to arrest him came back saying, “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46), and in Nazareth the people “wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luke 4:22). He was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14), and his words “are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Whether he was teaching on the mountain (Matthew 5), rebuking the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23) or comforting his disciples (John 14), his heart taught his mouth perfectly. He offered rest to all who labour and are heavy laden (Matthew 11:28), he healed all who were sick (Matthew 8:16), and Peter answered him, “thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). The wellspring of verse 22 points to him as well, for he offers living water that becomes “a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:10–14), and he is “the bread of life” (John 6:35).

These verses hold out a wealth that gold cannot buy. God gives wisdom and understanding to those who seek them, he keeps the life of the one who walks his road, and he lifts up the lowly while the proud walk toward their own fall. Trusting him is the way to true happiness, because he is the one who directs our steps and blesses those who rest on him.

They also show how God’s wisdom reaches other people. It starts in the heart, runs like a spring, and comes out in words that teach, refresh and heal. When we speak gracious and true words, we pass on in a small way the sweetness of the God whose own word is sweeter than honey, and we follow the Son whose lips were full of grace.