Book of Proverbs Quiz: Wisdom and the Fear of God

1. What is declared to be the 'beginning of wisdom' in Proverbs, and what does this mean?

1. 'The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding' — reverent submission to God is the foundation of all true knowledge and practical skill for living
2. 'The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge' — wisdom begins with the right kind of emotional disposition toward learning
3. 'Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding' — surrendering self-reliance is the beginning of wisdom
4. 'Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning' — speaking well is the first mark of wisdom and the starting point for gaining more

2. How is Wisdom personified in Proverbs 8-9, and what does she declare about herself?

1. Wisdom is personified as a king on a throne — she rules over all the earth and judges those who reject her instruction
2. Wisdom is personified as a mother — she disciplines her children with love, and those who receive her discipline will be blessed with long life
3. Wisdom is personified as a servant girl — she works quietly behind the scenes preparing meals while the foolish woman makes loud speeches in the streets
4. Wisdom is personified as a woman calling out in public places, declaring that she was with God before creation, was his craftsman at his side, and invites all to her feast: 'Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed'

3. What advice does Proverbs 3:5-6 give about decision-making?

1. 'A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength; for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers'
2. 'Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans' — dedicate your work to God before you begin it
3. 'The plans of the diligent lead to profit, but all hasty decisions lead to poverty' — take time to plan before acting
4. 'Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight'

4. What does Proverbs say about the power and danger of the tongue?

1. 'A gentle answer turns away wrath' — the tongue's only danger is anger, and controlling emotion eliminates all speech problems
2. 'The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit' — words can build up or destroy, give life or bring death, and the speaker bears responsibility for which it does
3. Proverbs consistently teaches that silence is always better than speaking — the wise person speaks only when asked a direct question
4. Proverbs teaches that the tongue's danger is primarily in false promises — only vows made carelessly are condemned, not ordinary speech

5. What does Proverbs teach about laziness through the famous image of the ant?

1. 'A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth' — laziness is so extreme it prevents even self-preservation
2. 'Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest'
3. 'The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt' — the cost of laziness is missing out on life's best opportunities
4. All of the above are found in Proverbs as teachings on the sluggard

6. What does Proverbs say about pride, and how does it contrast with humility?

1. 'Humility is the fear of the LORD; its wages are riches and honour and life' — the practical rewards of humility are concrete and specific
2. 'Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall' — pride is the specific sin that precedes catastrophic failure
3. 'When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom' — the contrast is not between success and failure but between disgrace and wisdom
4. All of the above are found in Proverbs

7. What does Proverbs 22:6 say about child-rearing, and how is it commonly interpreted?

1. 'A child left undisciplined disgraces its mother' — parental neglect produces social embarrassment
2. 'Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death' — the severity of the warning is deliberately shocking
3. 'Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away' — children are inherently foolish and need correction
4. 'Train up a child in the way he should go; when he is old he will not turn from it' — a parent's consistent training creates a path a child will return to

8. What is the repeated contrast in Proverbs between the righteous and the wicked?

1. The contrast is primarily about intelligence — the righteous are wise because they are intelligent, the wicked are foolish because they lack capacity
2. The contrast is primarily about wealth — the righteous are prosperous, the wicked are poor. Proverbs teaches a strict prosperity gospel throughout
3. The contrast is primarily spiritual — the righteous worship correctly, the wicked worship idols. The consequences are spiritual (heaven vs. hell), not practical
4. The contrast runs through practical outcomes: the righteous find life, the wicked find death; the righteous speak truth, the wicked speak deceit; the righteous are generous, the wicked hoard. The contrast appears across hundreds of couplets throughout the book

9. Who contributed to the book of Proverbs besides Solomon, and what does this tell us about wisdom?

1. Agur son of Jakeh (chapter 30), King Lemuel's mother (chapter 31), and the men of Hezekiah who copied additional proverbs of Solomon (chapters 25-29) — wisdom is not monopolised by a single author but gathered from many sources
2. Only Solomon contributed — the entire book is attributed exclusively to him in the opening verse
3. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah contributed anonymously — some proverbs in chapters 10-22 have been attributed to them by scholars
4. The wisdom books of Egypt and Mesopotamia were directly translated — Proverbs borrows wholesale from foreign sources without attribution

10. What does the epilogue of Proverbs (the noble wife in chapter 31) describe, and how does it connect to the book's overall theme?

1. The noble wife (eshet chayil) is praised as a capable, industrious, generous, wise woman whose worth is far above rubies — 'a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.' She is the human embodiment of personified Wisdom from chapters 1-9
2. The noble wife is a literal description of the ideal Israelite housewife — it serves as practical advice about marriage that completes the family instruction that begins in chapter 1
3. The noble wife is primarily a poem about the post-exilic community rebuilding Jerusalem — the woman's domestic work is an allegory for Israel's restoration
4. The noble wife poem is an ironic conclusion — it shows that wisdom's highest aspiration leads only to domestic life, which Proverbs then subverts with Qohelet's critique in Ecclesiastes

11. What does Proverbs teach about the handling of money and wealth?

1. Proverbs consistently warns against all wealth as a spiritual danger — the wise person lives simply and avoids accumulation
2. Proverbs holds a complex view: diligence generally brings prosperity, generosity multiplies rather than depletes, honest gain is better than dishonest wealth, and a little with righteousness is better than much with injustice. Wealth is a gift but not the ultimate good
3. Proverbs is indifferent to wealth — it focuses on character and leaves financial outcomes entirely to God without offering any practical guidance
4. Proverbs teaches a strict prosperity gospel — righteousness always produces wealth; poverty is always a sign of laziness or sin

12. What does Proverbs say about seeking advice and the importance of counsel?

1. 'A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength; for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers'
2. 'Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed'
3. 'The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice'
4. All of the above are found in Proverbs

13. What does Proverbs say about the heart and its centrality in human life?

1. 'Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it' — the heart is the source of all life-choices and must be carefully protected and shaped
2. 'Create in me a pure heart, O God' — the heart must be surrendered to God in prayer before wisdom can take root
3. 'Love the LORD your God with all your heart' — the heart's primary purpose is worship, and wisdom follows from directed devotion
4. 'The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure — who can understand it?' — Proverbs teaches that the heart is irredeemably corrupt

14. What is the structure of Proverbs, and what are its main sections?

1. Proverbs has no formal structure — it is an anthology collected without editorial arrangement, and the sections are modern scholarly divisions without ancient basis
2. Proverbs has seven sections: instructions of Solomon (1-9); more proverbs of Solomon (10-22:16); thirty sayings of the wise (22:17-24:22); sayings of the wise (24:23-34); proverbs of Solomon copied by Hezekiah's men (25-29); Agur's sayings (30); Lemuel's sayings and the noble wife (31)
3. Proverbs has three sections: creation proverbs (chs. 1-10), historical proverbs (chs. 11-25), and eschatological proverbs (chs. 26-31)
4. Proverbs has two sections: positive proverbs (1-16) praising wisdom, and negative proverbs (17-31) warning about folly

15. What does Proverbs 1:7 say, and why is it the 'motto' of the book?

1. 'The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; fools despise wisdom and instruction' — this verse establishes the contrast that the entire book develops: the fear of God leads to wisdom, contempt for God leads to foolishness
2. 'To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight' — this opening line of the book describes its purpose and its intended audience
3. 'Trust in the LORD with all your heart' — this is the most important proverb in the collection and serves as the book's thesis
4. 'Wisdom shouts in the street, she raises her voice in the public square' — this verse introduces personified Wisdom who calls throughout the book

16. What does Proverbs say about a friend's faithfulness in difficult times?

1. 'A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity' — true friendship is revealed in crisis, not comfort
2. 'Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative's house when disaster strikes you — better a neighbour nearby than a relative far away'
3. 'Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses'
4. All of the above are found in Proverbs

17. What does Proverbs teach about the relationship between parents and children regarding discipline?

1. 'He who spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them' — love and discipline are explicitly connected, not opposed
2. Proverbs teaches that children are inherently good — discipline is only needed in exceptional cases of clear rebellion
3. Proverbs teaches that older siblings are responsible for disciplining younger ones — parental discipline is a secondary approach
4. Proverbs teaches that verbal correction alone is sufficient — physical discipline reflects a failure of parental patience and wisdom

18. What does Proverbs 8:22-31 teach about Wisdom's role in creation, and how has the church read this passage?

1. 'The craftsman at his side' — Proverbs presents Wisdom as a secondary deity who assisted God in creation, a concept later absorbed into Jewish and Christian angelology
2. 'The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works... I was the craftsman at his side' — some early church fathers read this of the eternal Son of God (the Logos of John 1) being present and active in creation. Others read Wisdom here as a literary personification of God's attribute, not a separate person
3. 'Wisdom was created before the earth' — this verse proves that wisdom can be added to creation and learned, like a skill, rather than being an eternal divine attribute
4. Proverbs 8:22-31 is exclusively about the design of the tabernacle — 'creation' here refers to the construction of Israel's worship space, not the cosmos

19. What does Proverbs teach about the proper response to a hungry enemy?

1. 'A wise man attacks a city of warriors and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust' — Proverbs endorses proactive defense against enemies
2. 'Do not rejoice when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart be glad — or the LORD will see and disapprove'
3. 'Do not say, I'll pay you back for this wrong! Wait for the LORD, and he will avenge you'
4. 'If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you'

20. How does Proverbs relate to the other wisdom books (Job and Ecclesiastes) in terms of its theology?

1. Job and Ecclesiastes contradict Proverbs and represent a later, more pessimistic wisdom tradition. They should be read as critiques rather than complements to Proverbial wisdom
2. Proverbs is the only book that can be applied directly — Job and Ecclesiastes are thought experiments that should not be used for practical living
3. Proverbs presents wisdom's general patterns (diligence brings prosperity, righteousness brings blessing) while Job and Ecclesiastes function as necessary correctives — showing that the patterns do not always hold for individuals and that mystery remains. Together they give a full wisdom theology: pattern, exception, and mystery
4. Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes all teach exactly the same thing — they are three parallel expressions of identical wisdom theology with no tension between them