In the Wisdom Literature sections of the Old Testament, we are meant to feel the teaching, by taking on the role of the characters. We are meant to sit in the dust and suffer with Job. We are meant to cry out to God with David in the Psalms. We are supposed to feel the meaninglessness of life with the teacher in Ecclesiastes. Song of Solomon puts us in the middle of a graphic love story to experience passion. In each of these, you are not just meant to study the text, but to experience the teaching.

Proverbs is a book of wisdom. While chapters 10-29 are just straightforward statements of wisdom, the rest of the book gives us a framework for this teaching. The book is structured as a father passing on wisdom to his son. We can take on the role of the son, receiving wisdom from our heavenly Father, but we can also use this wisdom as a gift to live out for the next generation. As we study through Proverbs, it is both to receive wisdom, but also to build up an inheritance that we can pass on to others.