The fear of the LORD is the
beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

So much is packed into these fifteen words, that we are only focusing on the first ten. The last five words we will save for our 31 Days of studying a fool. 

It is one of those verses that our human finite minds cannot fully grasp its meaning and ramifications. So, we will handle these words with extra care with the caveat that this is a brief discussion and there is much that even Solomon, in all his wisdom, did not fully understand. And that is where faith comes in. If we think it through, who wants a god that can be completely figured out or comprehended? Not me! I might as well just trust in myself (as so many humans do these days) and not bother with any kind of god at all and just ‘Seize the day’! 

Instead of just me, myself and I…I want to seize the God who is the I AM…the Alpha and Omega from before the beginning of time! Speaking of beginning, Solomon tells us to start at the beginning and that beginning is ‘the fear of the LORD’! Two things to notice here: LORD is all capitals and the word fear has multiple meanings. 

LORD 

It is the Hebrew word we spell Jehovah and in Hebrew (YHWH). I don’t know how to use the actual Hebrew characters from my keyboard so will not attempt that. The

Jehovah = “the existing One”…the proper name of the one true God unpronounced by ancient Hebrews. Derived from H1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jeho-vah,
Jewish national name of God.

Strong’s Concordance H3068

 “Jehovah” is the Hebrew name for God in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. He is introduced in the book of Genesis, or beginnings, as creator of the universe and everything in it. The name Yahweh comes from the Hebrew word for “I am,” which was eventually translated as “Jehovah.”

[Leah Kessler] [study.com]

It is a fascinating study to delve into the many names of God used in Scripture with most of them beginning with Jehovah. Here are just a few examples.

• Jehovah Nissi (The Lord My Banner)
• Jehovah Raah (The Lord My Shepherd)
• Jehovah Rapha (The Lord That Heals)
• Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is There)
• Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness)
• Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord Who Sanctifies You)
• Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide)

LORD just simply cannot be contained by human language or understanding so we should not ever try to contain Him into our finite thinking or fickle emotions. It is enough to know that He is all in all without beginning or end and worthy of our fear.

Fear

The Hebrew word for fear is ‘yira’ (H3374) and defined as: “fear, terror, fearing …awesome or terrifying thing (object, causing fear)…fear (of God), respect, reverence, piety…revered.”

Some try to soften this definition of fear by emphasizing the respect, reverence, piety and awesome piece. Others try to harden this definition by emphasizing the fear and terror piece. Both attempts are limited and do exactly what we shouldn’t do with LORD; we try to contain Him into our boxes of what we want to comprehend so we can fashion the god we want to follow. That never works! 

We should fear the LORD, I mean real fear! He is Jehovah, the Great I AM who rules the universe whether we want to believe that or not. LORD is not to be trifled with. But, we also must…must couple that fear with respect, reverence and piety. We come to LORD with awesome reverence and acknowledge that LORD is to be feared which actually makes the Gospel more amazing than ever! That this LORD sent His own beloved SON to die on a cross and shed His blood to pay the penalty of my sin debt that separates me from LORD! Now as His daughter I call Him; Abba Father, Gentle Shepherd and Loving Savior!! 

And all of that is the beginning of knowledge/wisdom! If we start anywhere else, we will be the fool mentioned in the last five words of this verse. I do not want to be that fool! You?