Barricae.com: Articles

Writings by Barri Cae Mallin

Love the Bride

Monday 08 August 2005 - 13:11:24

Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding!
Do not forsake her, and she will guard you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom;
and with all your acquiring, get understanding,
Prize her, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace
her.
She will place on your head a garland of grace;
She will present you with a crown of beauty.
Prov. 4:5a, 6-9

Brides are everywhere! Friends of mine are brides, co-workers of
mine are brides. There are brides on TV, and some even make national
headlines like the Runaway Bride.

In Proverbs, wisdom has a motif described as a bride. Solomon, the
author of Proverbs portrays wisdom as a woman not be forsaken (v.6)
and she will protect you. As the groom sets his affections on the
bride, we are to set our affections on wisdom. We are to acquire
wisdom. It is a command.

The Hebrew verb "khah-nah" means to acquire goods through a
financial transaction. When a bride is of age, the father would give
his approval only if the intended groom paid the dowry price, the
mattan. The bride had value to the family and the groom could not
marry her unless he paid the dowry price, even if it meant giving
everything he owned for her. The bride then
rewarded her husband with her love. She gave him her sincere
affection.

We are commanded to acquire wisdom. How striking it is that this is
not encouraged by any financial planner, yet the acquisition of
wisdom is necessary for this life as well as the life to come. We are
to "buy" wisdom, even if it costs us everything that we own. We go
into debt for thirty years to acquire a home, but would we do the
same thing to acquire wisdom? Would we be willing to make "wisdom"
payments for thirty years? how about a lifetime?

Yet that is exactly what Solomon exhorts us to do. Do you want
wisdom? Solomon says "come and get it." In exchange for all of your
possessions. Isn't this what Messiah Yeshua Jesus wants of us - our
everything?

We are admonished to love wisdom, to cherish and esteem her. There
is a high value for wisdom. We must cherish and respect her. The
Mishnah, a Jewish commentary, defines this as a closeness, or
intimacy or an embrace. We are to love wisdom. We are to love this
bride, wisdom. We are to embrace wisdom and develop an intimacy with
her. And what is the reward?

She will exalt you. She will elevate you from your low position.
Wisdom honors the person who embraces her, just as the bride honors
the one who embraces her.

Wisdom gives a reward of honor to all who cherish her. The reward is
a glorious crown. She will place a garland of grace upon the head. It
is not a kingly crown but it is an "atarah", the type of headdress
that enhances the beauty of the wearer.

So how does one acquire wisdom?

Emulate Yeshua Jesus.
And Yeshua Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor
with God and men. Luke 2:52

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the
LORD, yir-at Adonai, is the reverential awe of God. This is where we
begin.
It is not the acquiring of worldly knowledge. It is the humble
acknowledgement that God is God and we are not.

You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him,
and swear by His name.
Deut. 6:13 NASB

Fear God. Eccles. 5:7

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all
men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
James 1:5