The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
5 sermons cite this verse
… fear. It means to be afraid of. To fear God means to have a healthy terror of the idea of coming into the presence of God. Why should we be afraid of God? Proverbs 9 verse 10 links the fear of God with the holiness of God. The fear of the Lord, the writer says, is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. We are to fear God because of the holiness of God. That word holy literally means to cut or to separate. When we say God is holy, we mean he is separate from us. He is a cut above anything else in creation. There is a great gulf between a holy God and us. We are limited in our understanding, but God is omniscient. We have a beginning, but God is eternal. We are sinful, but God is completely righteous. There is a great gulf between God and us. And when we understand that, there ought to be a fear of God. …
… We've been learning about this on Sundays with Pastor Jack in the book of Proverbs. These verses have been quoted recently and yet we will look at them again in Proverbs 1.7 and Proverbs 9.10. we see here that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And then in Proverbs 9, 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. You will never, and I repeat, you will never arrive at the point of wisdom nor knowledge if you do not properly regard God for who he is and live in awe of him. The second thing that the fear of the Lord does practically for you and I is it causes us, or it should cause us, to depart from evil. Proverbs 16.6 says, And by the fear of the Lord, one departs from evil. It's by the fear of the Lord that one departs from evil. And then in Job 28, 28, we read here, And to man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. …
… you respect the judgment of God. But Proverbs 9.10 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Start with God. Teach them about God. Proverbs says that those who fear God prolong life, are blessed beyond wealth, enjoy an abundant life and stay free from evil. Those who fear God sleep satisfied, foresee confidence in the future, are praised by others, and have their prayers answered. Would you want all that for your child? And teach your child to fear God. Fearing God is the foundation of worship, and therefore the foundation of blessing. And the second thing I would say to teach your child, and this is really urgent, to teach your child to speak the truth. Teach your child to speak the truth. Fear God and speak the truth. Proverbs says, those who speak truth offer words that endure forever, are a fountain of life, a tree of life, like choice silver, soul-satisfying. They feed others. They bring healing. …
… Proverbs 1, toward the end of the chapter, verse 29, we read this, "'And because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord'," and by the way, Proverbs 9 10 says, "'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.'" That's where wisdom begins. If you don't fear the Lord, you have no wisdom. Wisdom begins, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. So verse 29 says, "'Fools hate knowledge and didn't choose the fear of the Lord.'" They don't choose to worship God. "'They would not accept My counsel.'" That is the counsel of wisdom. "'They spurned all My reproof.'" Here wisdom is personified. It's as if wisdom is speaking. They wouldn't accept wisdom's counsel. They wouldn't accept the reproof that wisdom brought. So, verse 31, they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, so much like Romans 1. They rejected wisdom, and God turned them over to the consequences of their own choices. Verse 31 says, to be satiated with their own devices, for the waywardness of the naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. …
… And so, if I'm going to have wisdom, he said, look, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. If I want to know the best plan there is for my life and your life, then what do we do? We go to the One who gives us wisdom and understanding, having created you. He knows all of your abilities, all of your talents, all of your skills. He knows exactly what He had in mind when He created you. And He says, this is what I'm willing to do. I'm willing to help you. I'm willing to enable you to live out your life and not waste it. I don't believe God has days in your life and my life to be wasted. They're to be filled with whatever brings Him glory and honor. Sometimes that's rest. But it's the will of God. Sometimes it's extreme labor. And for some that's the will of God at that point in their life. …