The Fear of the Lord is the Alphabet of Wisdom

 

A couple weeks ago I posted here about being a poet (one of the meanings of the Greek for doer) of the word. I recently found a line in my Amplified Bible that thrilled me just as much, and the unexpected meaning of a word was included right in the Bible's parenthetical additions to the verse. Quoting Psalm 111:10a--

The [reverent] fear of the Lord is the beginning (the prerequisite, the absolute essential, the alphabet) of wisdom..."

A note about brackets and parentheses: The Amplified 2015 version uses brackets in roman type to include shades of meaning that are present in the Hebrew word but lost in the English translation. Thus, we fear the Lord in awe and reverence, not as scared or afraid. It uses parentheses in roman type to refine the meaning of the preceding word in context of the whole. For example, "beginning" is used here in the sense of "prerequisite" rather than, say, a mere start to something. I'd guess most of us aren't surprised by "prerequisite" or "absolute essential" used as enrichment words here, but alphabet? Amazing!

I love that. It's like saying, "Reverence for God is the ABC's of wisdom." Like "How do you spell wisdom? F-E-A-R  O-F  G-O-D." Like "You can't begin to get a handle on wisdom until you learn and assemble its most basic of basic elements." 

It doesn't matter who thinks they know what. If they're an individual without reverence for God, they don't know the first thing about wisdom. They don't even have the alphabet for it. And if they speak long enough, those who do have the alphabet, and His word, will begin to hear the difference.