In this message I would like to give a further word regarding the proper way to receive and to use the book of Proverbs.
The Bible was breathed out by God through more than forty different persons. The sequence of the sixty-six books of the Bible was arranged by God. According to this sequence, God put Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs together and placed them immediately before the prophets.
There are two ministries in the Old Testament: the ministry of law, represented by Moses, and the ministry of the prophets, represented by Elijah. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs are placed at the end of the section of the law, just before the prophets. Do these books belong to the law or to the prophets? I would say that they belong to the section of the law. In particular, Proverbs may be considered a subsidiary, or a helper, to the law.
Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, was the last writer in this section. God raised him to the highest peak of humanity. What he was, what he had, and what he did were unparalleled. It is hard to believe that eventually he became degraded to the uttermost. These three books were written by Solomon, the last two after his degradation, repentance, and return to God.
Of these three books, the first is on wisdom; the second, on vanity; and the third, on satisfaction. Proverbs is on the real wisdom, and Ecclesiastes is on the real meaning of the human life under the sun, which is vanity of vanities, a chasing after wind. Song of Songs is the satisfaction of satisfactions. Apart from Christ, there is no satisfaction in the whole universe. The unique Christ, the embodiment of God, is the unique satisfaction not only to man but to the entire universe, which has been made subject to vanity (Rom. 8:20). The fact that the creation is now subject to vanity means that everything under the sun is vanity. Today God is embodied in Christ, and Christ is realized as the compounded, sevenfold, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, who is the consummation of the processed Triune God. This indwelling One is our subjective satisfaction.