Imagine yourself in a great banquet hall. The building is so large the center of the roof must be held up by a line of seven beautifully carved pillars (columns) running the length of the hall but excluding the outer walls. Tables are set up throughout the hall with different types of dishes in each area.
Everyone is invited to Wisdom’s banquet. No one is shunned because of ability, age or sex. While we are all different because that is how God made us, we can all use wisdom to improve our lives. There is however an exception. Verse 10 tells us again, “For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom. Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding.”
But there are mockers in this world who will not acknowledge God. In the late 1960’s, a young man tried to explain a theory called the “Big Bang” where he reasoned something exploded billions of years ago and created the universe. His only problem was he could not explain the what, why or when of the explosion other than it was billions of years ago. Just before his death, someone asked him if he still believed in the “Big Bang Theory” and why. His response was, “yes because of gravity”. (See more about this theory at Institute of Physics – The Big Bang)
This is why Wisdom said, “If you rebuke a mocker, you will only get a smart retort; yes, he will snarl at you. So don’t bother with him; he will only hate you for trying to help him.”
Finally, in her last words in Proverbs, Wisdom compares her offerings to those of a prostitute. “I, Wisdom, will make hours of your day more profitable and the years of your life more fruitful.” What does the prostitute offer her followers? Stolen fruit that results in death and hell.