The fear of ADONAI is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. In the introduction to the book, Solomon promises to give readers chokhmah and da’at (wisdom and knowledge). Then, just a few lines later—here in verse 7—he reveals the crucial source of those qualities. A person might look in many directions for the beginning of knowledge. One might look to the royal wisdom of great kings from ages past. Royal wisdom abounds in Mishlei (Proverbs),
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