Proverbs 7 · a question people ask
"Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.”" (7:4). Is wisdom a person here?
The verse speaks of wisdom as someone the son can call family: "Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.” Call understanding your relative" (7:4). The next verse gives the reason: "that they may keep you from the strange woman" (7:5). In Hebrew relative is moda', a word the Hebrew Bible has only here and in "Naomi had a relative of her husband’s" (Ruth 2:1) (tap relative). Elsewhere in these chapters wisdom calls out as a woman: "Wisdom calls aloud in the street" (1:20), and "Doesn’t wisdom cry out?" (8:1). This chapter says no more about who wisdom is; it names wisdom and understanding together, as a pair (7:4). Christians read Wisdom's own words in chapter 8 in more than one way, and chapter 8's honest question sets out those readings. These notes don't settle who Wisdom is.
The verses
“Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.” Call understanding your relative, that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.”
“Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.”
“Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares.”
“Doesn’t wisdom cry out? Doesn’t understanding raise her voice?”