Proverbs 8:25

How old is wisdom? Older than the hills! Before God created the mountains and formed the hills, He had infinite wisdom, which He used in forming the earth (Pr 8:22-23). He offers related wisdom to man for his success in life (Pr 8:10-21). No matter how old you consider the mountains or hills, God had perfect wisdom long before they were made.

Proverbs 8 is a personification of wisdom as a woman, Lady Wisdom. She is identified in the first verse by the feminine pronoun “her”; and the last verse has two occurrences of the personal pronoun “me” (Pr 8:1,36). The chapter has an introduction (Pr 8:1-9), a description of the benefits of wisdom (Pr 8:10-21), the LORD Jehovah’s ownership of wisdom from eternity (Pr 8:22-31), and a concluding appeal to men (Pr 8:32-36).

The English language has an idiom, “Older than the hills.” It is a colloquialism for very old. The size, stability, and strength of mountains and hills imply their ancient origin and great permanence, so men have compared things to the age of hills to emphasize their oldness. God has done the same in His inspired Scriptures (Job 15:7-8; 38:4-11; Ps 90:2; 102:25-28; Heb 1:10). And He glorified wisdom to you in this proverb by declaring His possession of it before He formed the mountains and hills, when He created the earth.

The words, “Before the hills was I brought forth,” do not describe the eternal generation of the Son of God. By two counts, this verse does not teach the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ at all. First, eternal sonship is a manmade heresy, invented by a theological speculator named Origen (185-254 AD), to make the Bible more compatible with Greek philosophy. He first corrupted John 1:1 to teach that the Word of God is merely “a god.”

Jesus is Jehovah! He is the Mighty God, God made flesh, Immanuel – God with us (Is 7:14; 9:6; Matt 1:23; John 1:1,14; 8:58). He is not a begotten god by the pagan theory of eternal generation, regardless of what the Watchtower Society teaches, the N.A.S.B. declares in John 1:18, or the Catholic-Protestant creeds say. Jesus was not eternally generated: His divine nature is Jehovah – I AM THAT I AM! Jesus was not eternally generated: His human nature was generated in time in Mary (Luke 1:31-35; Gal 4:4).

The second reason this proverb does not teach such nonsense is because of its obvious personification of wisdom as a woman. Is the Son of God a woman? Solomon described God’s use of wisdom in creation by the figure of a woman. Why? To enhance wisdom’s appeal to you by this inspired use of a powerful literary tool. If wisdom was essential to God in creation, you surely need it. Lady Wisdom offers wisdom to you in Proverbs.

If God had wisdom as His personal possession in eternity before He made the universe, then wisdom is of great importance. If God used wisdom in the formation of the heavens and earth and their features, then wisdom is most valuable. What will you do today to acquire more wisdom? Lady Wisdom offers it to you. The Bible and Proverbs have it in abundance for your perfection. Do you have a pastor/teacher that preaches and teaches it?