She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed.
Summary: Solomon refers to a “tree of life” in this passage. Is it a prophetic reference to Jesus? It certainly could be.
“The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Genesis 2:9)
In the beginning, mankind had a choice before them. They could choose the tree of life or that other tree, the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” We chose the wrong tree. Even though we chose death, God did not give up on us.
God chose a people for his own out of all the people on the planet. The man he chose to honor for this task was Abraham. Because of this, Abraham is the most venerated human ancestor in all of earth’s history.
Out of Abraham’s seed salvation would come for all of mankind (Genesis 12:3; Genesis 22:18). As before, God would provide a “tree of life.” But this tree would be very different than the tree that had been in the Garden of Eden.
Where the tree in the Garden of Eden was probably beautiful and full of life, the tree that would bring salvation to a fallen people would be stark and bare.
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (Galatians 3:13, KJV)
Two trees, one beautiful and the other bare and ugly. Yet it is through the ugly tree that brought a torturously painful death to Jesus that our salvation is found.
We have a second chance, world. Let’s choose rightly this time.
Application: Choose Jesus!
Food for Thought: How is wisdom reflective of God’s character?
How is wisdom reflective of God’s character?
Wisdom is a good thing that helps us in life, all things good are from above, we should seek wisdom, all who seek and pray with all of their heart shall find our Lord. I feel like proverbs is all about wisdom. How we should seek wisdom to gain knowledge of right and wrong then more understanding of Gods character. God’s words are all truths that those who are wise follow them. The first thing that we have to do to gain wisdom is to fear the Lord. To fear the Lord you have to know the Lord. I wish I could remember all the scriptures I am thinking of but the only thing I can think up with is Daniel 20. I’m not sure what it says but I can always pray for more wisdom and it is nice to know that our God will give it to us. We are made in the image of God. We are to imitate/be a reflection of His character, and He tells us over and over to seek wisdom. And to seek Him. To seek Him with all your heart is to know Him. To know Him you must be in a relationship with Jesus. To be in a great relationship it must be everyday. To be in a relationship everyday you have to be in His word everyday. And speaking of being in His word everyday I’m going to look up Daniel 20.
Tim,
Your words tell us about your heart. Seeking God and seeking wisdom. In both you reflect God and his love.
Ok. Its early and it is wise for me to point to Daniel 2:20 for Gods character.
I love Daniel, that book holds a special place in my heart. Bless you.
T, your comments left me speechless. So well written and thoughtful. Thank you for the words I needed to hear this morning.
God sent his only Son to live on earth. Jesus felt and experienced everything we do. However, He did not sin. He has the wisdom – the experience, the knowledge and additionally the good judgment in that He did not sin, all of which are reflective of God’s character.
As T pointed out, the Psalms is full of wisdom. To me, it’s like a dos and dont’s of the bible. Yesterday, in fact, one of my daily devotions was Psalm 32:8 which reads: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.” God keeps his eye on us, but more importantly, we need to keep our eyes on Him. We need to be in communion with Him. To hear Him, we must know him. To know Him, is to fear him (in a good way).
Jeff states above Abraham was the “venerated human ancestor.” Jesus then should be the most “venerated” individual of all time – and Jeff, thank you for the vocab lesson for me today on the word venerated =)
Darla,
Thank you! To hear God is to fear him and to fear him is to know him. Well said!
PS – No extra charge for the big words! 🙂
How is wisdom reflective of God’s character? To have wisdom you must have truth. Having and using wisdom isn’t a process with input and output where it wouldn’t matter if one was using “wise tactics” to employ lies. Truth is a “living” thing that can expire with the slightest falsehood. In God’s Word and in God’s character is eternal truth. When God thinks, speaks and acts it is in absolute truth. Because of that everything that God thinks, speaks and acts on shows wisdom.
Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
Chris,
Truth is a word that is bandied about a lot. The kind you are talking about is real truth. It is essential for life. Thank you for pointing us to it today.
02-11-2022, Proverbs 3:18, How is wisdom reflective of God’s character?
Believers do not generate light, we can only reflect God’s wisdom as light to the world around us.
All wisdom, knowledge and understanding comes from God who cautions us, no human wisdom, understanding or plan can stand against Him. By Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him. The wisdom of this world is folly with God. He catches the wise in their craftiness.
Proverbs 2:6, 21:30,1 Corinthians 3:19, Colossians 1:16
God is light, He creates spiritual light by which His children can see the truth. Without His illumination, we would walk in darkness as the world walks. To walk in the light means to know God, seek His wisdom, understand His truth, and live in the light of His righteousness.
2 Corinthians 2:14
Ron,
“Believers do not generate light, we can only reflect God’s wisdom…”
Your statement captures a very important truth. 2 Peter 2 was a rant against false teachers. It might be said that a false teacher is someone who is trying to be their own light. God’s wisdom, as you point out, is a reflection of God’s light, the true light. Wisdom is knowing the difference.
The Romans 11 passage that Chris mentioned was the first that came to my mind. Others of interest that came to my mind are: Isaiah 55: 6 – 11. Job 40: 1 – 42: 6.
Wisdom is reflective of God’s character because it is a part of His character. He is the source of all true wisdom. Proverbs 2: 6; Proverbs 9: 10 Isaiah 28: 26 – 29.
Rich,
Your command of Scripture inspires me! Thank you for sharing all of these insights.
How is wisdom reflective of God’s character?
We talk about there being different sources of wisdom, but really there is only one, God. The other source isn’t wisdom because it takes out truth, it takes out things we would rather not do or hear, it takes out more and more until it’s the opposite of God.
Wisdom reflects God because everything God asks us to do is to be more like Him. As Jeff said, we gave up being like Him in the garden and chose ‘wisdom’ that was not His, but the serpent’s.
Abraham is most venerated because he chose God’s wisdom. He made his life work sojourning in a place because God told him to. He didn’t take riches from a king after saving all his stuff from 5 armies. He took his son, that he had waited 25 years for, to be a sacrifice on the mountain. These actions are all wise, because God was at work in his life. God gave Abraham’s descendants the land of his sojourning, He gave Abraham riches, riches that couldn’t be boasted about by his own or any other man’s work. God gave him a ram to take the place of his son as a sacrifice and a descendant to redeem all the families of the earth if they only believe, Jesus (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)
Wisdom reflects God’s character because He already knows the plan. He knows ahead of time what will happen. Why do we listen to other people who only know the past, when God knows the past, present, and future for each human in existence.
Wisdom reflects God’s order. He created everything to work as it does, down to the most minute detail. The wisdom of daily tasks to keep us healthy, or working efficiently display His logic.