Prov 2.1-22 speaks about how wisdom (the virtuous woman) brings security. The 22 verses are in acrostic form using all 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This is to indicate the completeness (from Aleph to Tav) of God’s word and the profitability of following the Torah
Prov 2.1-9 shows the advantages in observing God’s wisdom.
v 1…My son, if you will receive my sayings (doctrines, proverbs) and treasure (hide) my commandments (mitzvot) within you.
v 2…Make your ear attentive to wisdom (hear and obey it-Jam 1.5), incline (apply) your heart (desire, thoughts, intentions) to understanding (binah-comprehension);
v 3…For if you cry for discernment (insight), lift your voice (to Yehovah) for understanding (binah);
v 4…If you seek her (wisdom personified as the virtuous woman) as silver (with the effort it takes to dig for silver) and search for her as for hidden treasures (with the same effort it takes to dig for gold and jewels);
v 5…Then you will discern the fear (awe) of Yehovah (understand it is valuable) and discover the knowledge (da’at) of God (Hos 4.6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of “the” knowledge or “ha da’at in Hebrew. That knowledge is the Torah).
v 6…For Yehovah gives wisdom (chachmah); from his mouth came knowledge (da’at) and understanding (binah-having the right judgment in life’s situations is a revelation that comes from his Torah and a blessing from God-comprehension).
v 7…He stores up (in order to give it) sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield (magen) to those who walk in integrity (wisdom shields us from evil and protects us. This “shield” is an allusion to the Messiah-Prov 30.4-5).
v 8… Guarding the paths of justice, and he preserves the way of his godly ones (guarding them from evil works and behavior-Jude 24).
v 9…Then you will discern (understand) righteousness and judgment and equity and every good course (a path or track wagons would make in the soft earth, then it hardens. Others that follow later will use these tracks. We should make good tracks for others to follow).
Prov 2.10-22 says wisdom will guard us from evil.
v 10…For wisdom will enter your heart (desires, thoughts, intentions), and knowledge will be pleasant (not distasteful) to your soul (synonymous with heart).
v 11…Discretion (good counsel) will guard you (if we reflect on good counsel), understanding will watch (keep) over you (all of this comes into play because the harlot has presented herself as the virtuous woman. We must be able to discern between what is of the harlot and what is of the virtuous woman. This will be the main contrast in Proverbs. Righteousness is seen as the virtuous woman, and wickedness is seen as the harlot, as defined by the Torah. This can also be seen as true religion as found in the Scriptures in contrast with false religion. Remember, there are only two religions in this world, God’s and then all the others).
v 12…To deliver you from the way of evil (the harlot), from the man who speaks perverse things (contrary to the Torah).
v 13…From those who leave the paths of righteousness (the virtuous woman), to walk in the ways of wickedness (the harlot).
v 14…Who delight in doing evil (like it), and rejoice in the perversity of evil;
v 15…Whose paths are crooked (not in line with the Torah), and who are devious in their ways (full of lies);
v 16…To deliver you from the strange woman (the harlot is contrary to the virtuous woman, or wisdom-Prov 5.3-33, 6.24-30 with Prov 31.10 and Rev 12.1-17), from the adulterous who flatters with her words (a seduction away from the Torah/Scriptures);
v 17…That leaves the companion of her youth (Torah at Sinai) and forgets the covenant of her God (this can be literal, or it can mean the righteous and the unrighteous, or true religion and false religion. All of these applications work. The Hebrew word for marriage is “Kiddushin.” The Hebrew word for harlot is “Kedushin”).
v 18…For her house sinks down to death and her tracks lead to the dead (sinks down to the spirits of the dead).
v 19…None who go to her (the harlot) return again (to the path of wisdom and the virtuous woman) nor do they reach the paths of life.
v 20…So you will walk in the way of good men (follow their behavior, walk in the Torah with faith in Yeshua), and keep to the paths of the righteous (continue in it).
v 21…For the upright will live in the land (of the living in this world, Israel, but ultimately the Olam Haba) and the blameless shall remain in it (forever).
v 22…But the wicked (rashim) will be cut off from the land (of the living) and all treacherous (transgressors of the Torah) will be uprooted (no branch left, no descendants) from it (Mal 4.1).
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