What is the message of Proverbs? In broad terms, the book presents two paths that can be taken, and describes the people who take each, how they behave, and what happens to them. One is the way of folly, which is crooked (2:15) and dark (2:13); those traveling this path are fools and wicked people, and its end is death. The way of wisdom, by contrast, is traveled by the wise and the upright, and it leads to light and life. “The function of the Scriptures is not only to lead unbelievers to repentance and faith in Christ but also to instruct and nurture believers with truth that transforms our understanding and our lives. If this is so, then the believer must study the wisdom literature of the Bible (primarily Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs); and the Christian minister must preach it, regardless of the difficulties involved, as we shall see” — Duane Garrett, Proverbs, New American Commentary, p. 19.
