Toward the end of the long sentence that is Proverbs 2, Solomon promises his son that the way of wisdom is safe, guarding and preserving him from the perverted speech of both men (2.12-15) and women (2.16-19). God calls the son to a mission of dominion, a mission that requires that he become a brother in arms with other men in fulfilling our masculine duty as well as finding a personal helper, a woman who will aid him in building a house, being fruitful and multiplying. There are fallen men and women out there who submit to the father of lies and because they bind themselves to him, they assume his nature as liars. They make false promises concerning the mission. Their lies promise you that you can defy reality–the way God made and sustains the world–and, in the end, find the same rest, peace, and security that God promises.
Both men and women use perverted speech, lies, to try to seduce the son. The men want the son to join their marauding gang (cf. Pr 1.10-19) and walk in evil paths, obtaining glory through wicked means. The woman entices him that he can have sex without consequences or commitment; no marriage, no children, only fun. Both are lies that lead to death.
Wisdom protects you from these lies because wisdom is rooted in reality, understanding how the world really works and fits together under God’s rule. But the lying words are enticing for several reasons.
Words, in general, are powerful. Through words and the Word God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1). As the image of God, we create through words at a creaturely level. I can create a little world of tension by speaking harsh words, or I can create a peaceful environment by speaking kind words. As a parent, I shape my children through speaking to them. Words create worlds, spaces in which we live and move, directing our lives.
Words are integral to our dominion project. Our speech is to harmonize with God’s speech to create a world with him.
Perverted speech is a lie. A lie seeks to create a false or alternative reality. Lying is rooted in fear. The liar is afraid of reality; whether that fear involves the consequences of something he has done that he must face, the fact that reality isn’t pleasant for him, or that he simply hates reality, he is scared of what is real. Reality is not perceived to be a safe place for him. It is a threat that needs to be eliminated. The answer to that is to try to create one’s own reality, suppressing the truth out of fear.
We are watching this in our society. We are experiencing a rocky relationship with reality. People are trying to “control the narrative” to reshape reality. Whether it is President Biden saying that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was an “extraordinary success” or saying that “menstruating persons” are not limited to one sex, menstruating and non-menstruating hominids try to change reality they don’t like through repeating words over and over.
But you can’t change reality. You can only twist and pervert it. Reality is a stubborn thing because it is grounded in the immutable God, a God who does not change. Lying only complicates existence in reality. Lying to yourself about your ability to fly will not change reality if you jump off of a bridge. Reality will be confirmed, and it will smack you in the face.
Perverted speech appeals to us because our sinful hearts have remnants of hatred of God lodged in them, and we don’t like his reality. What he requires is too difficult and takes too long. We want quick and easy, and the liar promises just that. But it is a false reality, nothing but smoke and mirrors. No matter how many times we repeat a lie to ourselves, even convincing ourselves that it is true, it doesn’t change reality. It is your word against God’s, and those are odds that you don’t want to take.
Wisdom is a safeguard against false reality because its source is in the one who created and sustains reality; the one in whom we live and move and have our being. So, “trust in Yahweh with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Pr 3.5-6)
