The Hebrew term for wisdom is ‘hokhima,’ but the word is used in Hebrew literature to mean many things, according to Lewis Browne: everything from ‘divine insight’ to ‘low cunning.’ Lewis Browne is the author of one of my very favorite readings,
“The Wisdom of Israel.” In modern day, the Wikipedia defines wisdom as a “comprehension of what is true or right, coupled with optimum judgment as to action…It is to make the best use of knowledge.”
Those who espouse wisdom are sages, not professors, for professors espouse knowledge, and knowledge is derived from only the knowing of something. Knowledge of a subject is like a head of cabbage; it has many layers, the heart of which is pure knowledge or the pure truth of the subject. Very few individuals ever arrive at the heart or the core. Many espouse knowledge that may be only one or two layers deep. Most will add their own bias or subjective thought in relationship to that level of knowledge, making it even less valuable to the learner.
Neale D. Walsch said that, “When you give your children knowledge, you are telling them what to think. When you give your children wisdom, you do not tell them what to know, or what is true, but, rather, how to get to their own truth.” I agree with this statement only if what he means by ‘their own truth’ is to dip into the universal truth that is owned by no man, but belongs to all. Truth is not transient but is defined by wisdom as, “What always has been, what is now, and what always will be.” Truth is a constant, not what an individual thinks is true for themselves or true for the moment. Convenience has never produced a truth. Wisdom is the judicial use of truth for the short and long term benefit of men. Knowledge is truth only when that knowledge has reached the core or heart of the subject. Anything short of the heart is also short of the truth. No man owns the truth; it belongs to the universe of knowing and wisdom. Where truth is absent, so also is wisdom.
Sages are those who, by knowledge and a deeper understanding of life, are able to apply their knowledge of truth to mankind in a beneficial way. Sages, like professors, are limited to their area of sagacity. They cannot know all things or apply wisdom in all facets of life.
The following seven traits of a wise man are described in Brown’s book, ‘The Wisdom of Israel’: He does not speak in the presence of one wiser than himself, He does not interrupt when a colleague speaks; He does not rush out with a rejoinder; He asks questions that are relevant and gives answers that are logical; He deals with first things first and last things last; He readily admits when he does not know about a matter; He acknowledges the truth.
The opposites of these traits mark the boorish man.
We ordinarily look for a person with longevity when in search of wisdom, but there have been youth who have demonstrated great wisdom. Sages cannot be described or defined by gender, by degrees earned, by age, by whence they came, by the thickness of their purse, by the color of their skin, nor by the size of their girth. Wisdom may have little or no relationship to the number of books read, near whose feet one may have sat, or what mountain one may have climbed to speak to the aged and the self proclaimed guru at the top, nor to have observed the deprived or the self inflicting (who walk on hot coals or sleep on nails). When we come to recognize that the source of all truth and all wisdom is God, the Almighty, and when we are ready to submit to Him and wait upon His input, we will begin to absorb His wisdom. His truth is truth eternal, His wisdom incorporates all the wisdom achieved by man and beyond. His wisdom and truth are sufficient for all of us who dwell here on this earth, the earth that he has created for our experience and as our institution of learning. Our very purpose is to garner, while here, as much of His wisdom as we can, and the more we can, the better off we will be in the next stage of our development. He who was given two talents and added two others was rewarded manyfold, and he who was given one and hid it, lost even what knowledge and understanding that he had. May God bless us to go to the source and to listen to the one that is wiser than us all, through the tools that He has provided for that purpose.