What Is the Book of Proverbs About? | The Story of a Son
Proverbs isn't a loose collection of moral tidbits. It's the story of a father teaching his son wisdom, one stage at a time.
Belly Buttons and Bones
Why would fearing the Lord bring healing to your belly button and drink to your bones? Two hidden centers, and what God gives them.
This week we’re looking at the literary artistry of Proverbs 3:7–8:
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.
(Proverbs 3:7–8)
I want to focus on the last two lines: “It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”
A More Literal Translation
First, we need to make the translation a little more literal in two places.
“Flesh” is literally the word for navel, your belly button.
“Refreshment” is simply the noun form of the verb “to drink,” so we’ll translate it as drink.
That gives us a more literal reading:
It will be healing to your belly button
and drink to your bones.
But what does that mean? Why the belly button, and why the bones? Why does your belly button need healing, and why do your bones need a drink?
Two Centers
Start with why these two body parts. Think about where they are.
The navel is the vertical center of your body. It is a central point.
Now think about the bones. They are central too, but on a different axis: from the outside in. They are at the core of the body.
So we have two centers. Not being wise in your own eyes and fearing God brings healing and drink to your center, the central part of you.
Notice too that both are hidden. Your bones are inside your body, and your belly button is usually hidden by your clothes. So the healing and nourishment go to your hidden center, your interior life.
Healing and Wine
But there is more. The word for “drink” has a particular connotation. As one Hebrew lexicon puts it, “We should not understand water, but some more delicate drink, especially wine.”
So notice the two ends of the spectrum, the two things the fear of God provides. Healing is the remedy for something negative. Wine is a positive, joyful gift. One takes away what is bad; the other gives what is good.
The fear of God, and not being wise in our own eyes, reaches our hidden center with both healing and joy.
And here is the irony. Emptying yourself of your own wisdom doesn’t leave you empty. It leaves you completely full, renovated.
And that, my friends, is why the Bible is art.