We are familiar, I think, with Proverbs 1:7 where it says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. I looked into every modern translation I have available and the only one that has changed that word into something softer than fear is the Moffatt translation, which uses the word reverence. Modern translators still choose to use fear, which is a much harsher word than reverence, because it carries with it connotations of fright. Is it possible that those connotations are intended by God to be part and parcel of our understanding and use of that word?
I think we need to begin to understand that our worship of a great, powerful, and holy God is not intended to be taken for granted. Fright, dread, and terror of Him are a vital aspect of all that is encompassed by the generic term fear.
The book of Proverbs is, first and foremost, a book of wisdom - one which teaches us to discern between wise and foolish (good and bad) choices. And here in Proverbs 1 we see that God is depicted as wisdom personified. There is a woman (wisdom/God) who is calling out to mankind and saying, in effect, that there is a natural wisdom, a truth out there which, if people would only recognize and use what we might call common sense, they would be able to avoid many of the hardships of life into which they fall as a result of sin.
Fearing God is a choice. We are faced with so many pressures, forces, and influences each and every day of our lives which compel us to react. And then we must make a choice: Shall I go this way or shall I go that way? One way represents the fear of God; the other way represents the fear of men, the fear of the loss of pleasure, the fear of the loss of some other physical, social, or cultural need that we do not want to lose.
Look at the verbs used in this series of verses: hated; did not choose; would have none; despised. Is it any wonder that Romans 8 says that the carnal mind is enmity against God? We begin now to understand that it was the fear of God, given as the gift of God, which drove us to react and drove us in the direction of the very One who holds the issues of life in His hands! God instilled that reaction within us!
We see that there is an antagonism toward wisdom - toward God. It is not hiding, as we are shown. The people have access to what is common wisdom and it is described as being right out there on the street - out there in the public. It is in the forest; it is in the city; it is on the job - it is everywhere! We are surrounded by it. This is why God can make the accusation He does (in Romans 2) that the Gentiles who do not have the law are a law unto themselves when they understand that they shall not kill. Their own conscious bears them witness that they understand what is right and what is wrong.
It shows in Proverbs 1 that God (or wisdom) uses just about every device to awaken people to what is right so that they will fear evil. And we see her threatening, laughing, and warning, sort of like a dog baring its teeth. If a snarling pit bull braced to attack every time we were about to sin, we would fear then, would we not? Our skin would crawl; our hair would stand on end and we would be almost spitless!
God has not chosen to warn us in that way, but He does warn us through His Word. And He also warns us through the fruit of sin - which we see in this world and also in our own lives. It is almost as if wisdom is saying here in Proverbs 1, I told you so, but you would not listen!
Turn to whom? Turn to the psalmist; turn to the teacher. Why? So that they can have a more perfect knowledge of what is right and what is wrong.
The same word translated as fear in these two verses is rendered as dread in Deuteronomy 1:29; terror in Jonah 1:10; awe in I Kings 3:28, and reverence in Leviticus 19:3. All of these factors are part-and-parcel to the context of Proverbs 1:7 and Proverbs 9:10. With God as the object of this fear we have contained therein elements of both shrinking … . . .
