Wisdom was set up before the Earth was made.

‘For wisdom is better than all the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it.’ (Proverbs, 7. 11).

Surely it is what mankind ought to strive for? The gaining of Wisdom which leads to acquiring Virtue in all things.

Ancient figures like Seneca, Epictetus, Solon, Cicero, Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, and Aurelius all understood the importance of Wisdom. But it is no better articulated and gathered in one place than within the Biblical Proverbs - there contains a veritable feast of messages, lessons, and warnings to give one pause.

And so say the Wise Old Owl to Athena.

Here are a few for reflection:

‘A wise man shall hear, and shall be wiser: and he that understandeth, shall possess governments.

He shall understand a parable, and the interpretation, the words of the wise, and their mysterious sayings.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.’ (1. 5-7).

‘I walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgement.

That I may enrich them that love me, and may fill their treasures.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning.

I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made.’ (8. 20-23).

‘Pride goeth before destruction: and the spirit is lifted up before a fall.’ (16. 18).

‘There are four very little things of the earth, and they are wiser than the wise:

The ants, a feeble people, which provide themselves food in the harvest:

The rabbit, a weak people, which maketh its bed in the rock:

The locust hath no king, yet they all go out by their bands:

The stellio supporteth itself on hands, and dwelleth in kings’ houses.’ (30. 24-28).