Proverbs 4 – 5
What constitutes “wisdom” and what constitutes “understanding” here? The best guess I have now is that “wisdom” might mean knowledge of godly principles and “understanding” might refer to experience in applying those principles. If you do not seek to acquire those principles your experience will amount to nothing and if you learn them but don’t apply them the knowledge you have will be of no use.
The counsel to go not after strange women but to hold fast to “the wife of thy youth” is not simply an injunction against adultery but also a recommendation to stay within the people who share the covenant and culture you are familiar with rather than mixing cultures in marriage. Mixing cultures is often not evil but it always adds complexity to the situation.
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