Place in Our Tradition. The Book of Proverbs can make an important contribution to Christians and Jews today.

• First, it places the pursuit of wisdom over the performance of individual wise acts. To seek wisdom above all things is a fundamental option and a way of life.
• Second, it portrays the quest as filled with obstacles. There are men and women who offer a substitute for the real thing; discernment is required.
• Third, the book teaches that acquiring wisdom is both a human task and a divine gift. One can make oneself ready to receive by discipline, but one cannot take so divine a gift.
• Fourth, wisdom is in the world but it is not obvious to people entirely caught up with daily activities. The instructions and the aphorisms of the book can free the mind to see new things. Christians will see in personified Wisdom aspects of Jesus Christ, who they believe is divine wisdom sent to give human beings true and full life.
• Yet there is a universal dimension to Proverbs, for in its attention to human experience it creates a link to all people of good will.

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