The Fear of the Lord - Conclusion

On this final section of the essay, I have to note that Thesis 5 almost didn't make it out of the outline stage. When I was studying over the verses dealing with the fear of the Lord in Proverbs and attempting to make a series of points based on common themes, I debated with myself over whether to include that one. However, I am unapologetic. Besides, I would've heard about it if I'd left it out, too.




     Thesis 5: The most essential trait to look for in a wife is a fear of the Lord; all else is secondary.


In Proverbs 31, we receive something rather unique in Proverbs: A teaching, not from Solomon, but from the mother of King Lemuel. I don’t know who Lemuel is, nor who his mother is. One ancient Jewish legend suggests that Lemuel is another name for Solomon. If so, the mother would be identified as Bathsheba. While not impossible, this is far from certain. It is probably best to simply identify her as an unknown mother who desired her son, a king, to marry wisely.

     “An excellent wife who can find?
     She is far more precious than jewels.” (Proverbs 31:10, ESV).

What follows in this chapter is a description of this ‘excellent wife’. This hypothetical woman is summed up in verse 30,

     “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
     but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30, ESV).

It always fascinates me how people love to refer to their spouse as the ‘best’ or ‘greatest’ spouse ‘ever’. Dropping superlatives, or throwing around the ‘perfect’ label is rather curious, to put it mildly. In the first place, it’s biblically inaccurate – no one is perfect, or without sin. In the second place, it smacks of flattery (though, no doubt many would defend themselves by arguing that they are obviously using exaggeration. How this improves the statement remains a mystery) – why we would ever approve of flattery as a public (or private) compliment is baffling. What might be more appropriate is to speak of one’s spouse as, ‘the perfect one for me’. This would be accurate; after all, God, who ordains all things according to the perfect counsel of His will, must, no doubt, also prepare each one’s spouse for them. Some will obviously have more positive traits than others, just as all people are not precisely equal in positive traits. The point is that God knows what we all need and has prepared for all (at least of those who will marry) a partner fit for us (Gen. 2:18).

The mother of Lemuel does not say, ‘Who can find a perfect woman?’ Or ‘Who can find a woman without flaws?’ On the contrary, she says, ‘An excellent wife who can find?’ (v.10). And while the context is clearly intended for men, I don’t think the principle is untrue in reverse. Finding an excellent spouse is certainly harder than finding an excellent piece of fruit, for instance (although, even those can take a bit of searching for).

So what is it we are to look for? Verse 30: A woman who ‘fears the Lord’. Did someone just ask what that looks like, practically speaking? I sense you have not been reading closely. Moving back to our previous points, a woman (or man) who fears the Lord will seek to know the character and will of God and will desire to live in accordance with it. They will not be afraid of evil, but will fear (and trust in) the Lord.

“But aren’t there other important things to look for before we run off to get married?” Someone asks. Of course there are. Physical appearance, personality – these are part of who a person is. But, warns the mother of Lemuel, physical appearance will change over time. If that is all you care about, your relationship will deteriorate with your aging bodies. In addition to that, ‘charm’, that which is pleasing about their personality; the attractive part of it, is not the full story. A husband and wife will invariably go through hard times. How a person acts in courtship and how they act in difficult situations a year or two into marriage can no doubt be a bit of a changeup. While your spouse may be the rare jewel of contentment who never ceases to be gracious, the truth is that few people (even among the redeemed) are so blessed. And if they be so, it is purely a trickle-down blessing from the more important quality of fearing the Lord. That, this wise woman tells us, is the prime quality which we should look for in a wife.

I think that as we look at our first two points under fearing the Lord (knowing the Lord, and doing His will), we may note that they relate closely to the idea of faith, or belief. The things that are chiefly involved with saving faith are a trust in the Lord and a turning away from sin and turning toward godliness. Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is one of two women mentioned in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. Peter describes her in 1 Peter 3 in this way:

     “5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to
     their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if  
     you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” (1 Peter 3:5-6, ESV).

As God’s purpose for marriage is to provide a partner fit for us, (Gen 2:18), marrying someone who does not fear the Lord will invariably hinder us from this quest. Solomon found this out the hard way. Ignoring the command and warning of God in Deuteronomy 17:17, he was led astray by his wives.

     “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite,
     Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the 
     LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall
     they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these
     in love. 3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away
     his heart. 4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his
     heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.” (1 Kings
     11:1-4, ESV).

And instead of being a helper for him in his position, they became a hindrance and a stumbling block. This is obviously why the Scriptures, both in the Old and New Testaments, warn against marrying those who do not worship the Lord and fear Him. They fail the first and most important requirement a husband or wife must meet: They do not have the common purpose of uniting to serve God as one with us.

     Thesis 6: Choosing to fear the Lord leads to eternal life, rejecting it leads to spiritual death.

One might assume from passages such as Proverbs 10:27 that Solomon is thinking only of this current lifetime, not in terms of eternal life or death.

     “The fear of the LORD prolongs life,
     but the years of the wicked will be short.” (Proverbs 10:27, ESV).

This conception might be encouraged by other passages in Proverbs. For instance,

     “The reward for humility and fear of the LORD
     is riches and honor and life.” (Proverbs 22:4, ESV).

Riches and honor seem to suggest this current lifetime strictly. And again,

     “The fear of the LORD leads to life,
     and whoever has it rests satisfied;
     he will not be visited by harm.” (Proverbs 19:23, ESV).

But if this current life be all that Solomon is concerned with, why would he say that the fear of the Lord, “leads to life”? Does this mean we have not attained it yet?

     “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,
     that one may turn away from the snares of death.” (Proverbs 14:27, ESV).

Life springs up like a fountain for those who fear God. Through it, we turn away from death. Is this turning away from death a permanent thing? In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon likewise says very little about any life to come. But if we examine carefully the end of the book, we may note something interesting.

     “13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is 
     the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing,
     whether good or evil.” (Proverbs 12:13-14, ESV).

So if this life is all that there is, why does Solomon exhort men to fear God and keep His commands? Because, “God will bring every deed into judgment”. And if there is a judgment, there is some sort of afterlife. And the fear of the Lord leads to that.

Solomon is certainly aware that the concept of fearing the Lord did not originate with him. It was a traditionally accepted practice, but also one which he had personally subscribed to, as we see in his personal meeting with Almighty God (1 Kings 3).

Furthermore, an almost identical phrase is used in Psalm 111 to what Solomon himself says in Proverbs 9.

     “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
     all those who practice it have a good understanding.” (Psalm 111:10, ESV).

     “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
     and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” (Proverbs 9:10, ESV).

Now, who wrote Psalm 111 is not certain; no author is named. My personal opinion is that it originated with David, thus creating a direct link to Solomon’s usage of it. However, it could be any number of different people. Solomon himself could have written it, or it could have been written after his death. Still, at the same time, whether David wrote this or not, the phrase clearly predated Solomon.

     “And he said to man,
     ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
     and to turn away from evil is understanding.’” (Job 28:28, ESV).

Where Job is quoting God as saying this is uncertain, but the phrase, or idea, was known in his time and apparently predated him as well.

So why do those who practice the fear of the Lord have a good understanding? Because they ‘get’ it. Those who fear the Lord know that there will be a reckoning. Good and evil will be judged. While many on this earth would be deemed by the general populous as ‘wise’, God does not consider them so. Anyone who can live for even an hour and observe the world around him with a reasonable coherence should consider it obvious that a Creator God exists.

For men to seriously suggest that there is no God is the basest form of foolishness. And by foolishness, we do not suggest that these people are slow mentally, or that they are intellectually challenged more than the average person, we mean that they are morally foolish. They refuse to recognize God (Romans 1:28). Why would anyone ever refuse to recognize God? Because to recognize Him would necessitate a consideration of who He is and what He expects of us. Furthermore, it would necessitate an admission that our way of life is subject to examination by a higher power. When we do not live by the standard He has prepared for us, we condemn ourselves to judgment. The foolishness is seen in that they simply deny God’s existence. But whether they choose to believe in Him or not, they will one day be forced to not only admit His existence, but His power over them (Phil. 2:10-11).

There is nothing more tragic than a condemnation of eternal separation from God with everlasting torment. Yet that is what awaits those who ignore the obvious.

    
     3. A Warning Regarding ‘The Fear of the Lord’

Now that we’ve waded through the biblical pool of teaching on the fear of the Lord, one might wonder, “Does fearing the Lord make everything perfect? Will all my problems be fixed if I fear the Lord?” And the obvious answer is? It depends on what you’re looking for.

Let us consider for a moment some examples of those who are described as fearing the Lord.

First, let us look down the road to a time long after Solomon had passed on. The king of Assyria, after conquering the northern kingdom of Israel, sent a colony of peoples from other parts of his kingdom to settle in Samaria.

     “25 And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD
     sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26 So the king of Assyria was told, “The
     nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the
     god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them,
     because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” 27 Then the king of Assyria
     commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go
     and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” 28 So one of the priests whom
     they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should
     fear the LORD.” (2 Kings 17:25-28, ESV).

So God chastised the new inhabitants of the land He had given to His people. They recognized that the problem was a result of their sin. That is, they did not know the law of the Lord. So recognizing the need of this, they sent to the king who caused a priest of Israel to live among them and teach them the law of God.

     “29 But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that
     the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived…33 So they feared the
     LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they
     had been carried away.” (2 Kings 17:29,33, ESV).

The subsequent end that we hear of them is that ultimately they did not listen to the Lord’s commands. While they tried for a time to fear both God and their other gods, the final result was pure idolatry.

Whatever this fear of the Lord was that they possessed, it apparently was not enough to cause them to devote their ways fully to God Almighty.

Another example that we find is that of Jonah. If you’ve ever read his story, you know that he is not a particularly strong example of model evangelism. God instructs him to go to Nineveh and preach against it (Jonah 1:2). Jonah immediately takes off in the opposite direction. When God sends a mighty storm to threaten the boat he has taken passage in, the sailors are terrified. They determine that it’s Jonah’s fault that this storm has occurred, and he admits it:

     “9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the
     sea and the dry land.” (Jonah 1:9, ESV).

Jonah instructs them to throw him into the sea, which they eventually do. God prepares a giant fish to swallow him, which carries him around in its belly for three days. Finally, Jonah is thrown back on land by the fish after he repents before God. He preaches judgment to Nineveh, but when they do repent, Jonah exits the city and pouts. He is unhappy that God isn’t going to punish the enemies of Israel. God uses an illustration to teach Jonah why He is choosing to be merciful, however no further response is recorded from Jonah. So we really don’t know if he ever accepted God’s reason. While he is self-described as fearing the Lord, Jonah disobeys, repents, obeys, and then becomes upset at God over the results. While this may be simply an example of the way far too many Christians act, Jonah may never have repented, we are simply not told.

Finally, we look to the author of Proverbs himself: King Solomon. We see much that is exemplary about him. His request for discernment from the Lord shows maturity. The teachings in Proverbs are first-rate. God used him greatly for His glory. Yet at the same time, Solomon turned aside from the way of the Lord because of his many wives. He worshipped idols and acted very sinfully. Did Solomon ever repent? Ecclesiastes, particularly the end, gives us some hope for him, but again, we simply don’t know.

Can one truly fear the Lord in the way described in Proverbs and be unsaved? Honestly, I don’t think so. I think one might purport to fear the Lord, but at the end of the day, the things that comprise a genuine fear of the Lord (which we have described above) do not belong to unbelievers. A knowledge of God and a desire to do His will is, at its root, what it means to be a Christian. Wisdom comes from God alone (James 1:5,17). No one seeks after God, we are told in Psalm 14:1-3 and Psalm 53:1-3 (in fact, Paul reaffirms this truth by quoting it in Romans 3:10-12), except those whom the Father has appointed to do so (John 6:37) through the leading of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14).

The fear of the Lord is a recognition that He is great, and must be obeyed, and that we cannot do it in our own strength. Only through faith and repentance, which comes from God (Phil. 1:29, Eph. 2:8), can we fear Him and receive the life in Christ Jesus promised to those who fear Him.

     “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.
     Amen.” (Romans 11:36, ESV).


Sources:

Bunyan, John. The Whole Works of John Bunyan, Volume 3. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977.


Crossway Publishers. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Crossway, 2007.


Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Boston: Hall, 1986.


Phillips, Dan. God’s Wisdom in Proverbs. The Woodlands: Kress, 2011.


Definition of ‘fear’ quoted from Webster’s 1828 Dictionary online at: “http://www.webster1828.com/definition.aspx?word=Fear”