A Willingness to Be Interrupted and Redirected by Wisdom's Divine Rebuke

• Day 2 of Creation: Relation

• The 2nd lamp of the righteous: Understanding

• The 2nd feast of the Lord: Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matzah)

• The 2nd lamp of the wicked: Lying Tongue

Because today is Shevat 1, on the Hebrew calendar, we will read Proverbs 1

Proverbs 1:23 Repent when I reprove —I will pour out my spirit to you,

I will make my words known to you.

When the book of Proverbs opens, Wisdom steps into the street and raises her voice. In 1:23 she issues a decisive invitation:

“Return at my rebuke; behold, I will pour out my spirit to you, I will make my words known to you.”

This single verse becomes a rich intersection when read alongside Shevat, the second day of Creation, and the imagery of the menorah and the feasts. In this post, the aim is to trace those threads together: Creation Day 2 as “Relation,” the lamps of the righteous and the wicked, and the unleavened simplicity of matzah.

Turning at the Rebuke

The key verb of Proverbs 1:23 is “return”. Wisdom does not merely say, “Listen,” but “turn.” The assumption is that the hearer is already moving along a trajectory shaped by folly and deception. The rebuke is not punitive for its own sake; it is an invitation to pivot.

This turning opens a twofold promise: an outpoured spirit and revealed words. Wisdom does not leave the penitent in a moral vacuum. When the heart turns, Yahweh’s own breath and speech begin to saturate the inner life. The verse describes not only a correction but a reorientation of the entire person around revelation.

Day 2: Relation and Separation

On the second day of Creation, Yahweh divides the waters above from the waters below. What is created is not a solid object but a relational space: a firmament that holds a boundary and creates order. Day 2 is about distinguishing, separating, and establishing right relationships between realms.

Proverbs 1:23 mirrors this pattern. The act of “turning at reproof” is a kind of internal firmament. Wisdom stands in the middle of the chaos of mixed waters—truth and lie, pride and humility, righteousness and wickedness—and calls for a division. The heart must allow Yahweh to separate what belongs above from what belongs below. Only then can the Spirit be “poured out” into a newly ordered inner world.

The Menorah Lamp of the Righteous: Understanding (Binah)

In Hebrew thought, binah (understanding) is not cold analysis but Spirit-illumined discernment. It is the capacity to distinguish between similar-looking paths, to hear nuance in Yahweh’s words, and to separate true from false.

Proverbs 1:23 marks the moment when the menorah “lamp of the righteous - Understanding” is lit. When a person turns at Wisdom’s rebuke, the promised outpouring of the Spirit becomes the oil that fuels this lamp. Understanding is not self-generated; it is given as Yahweh makes His words known. In this way, binah becomes both a gift and a responsibility—light entrusted to the righteous so they can walk and speak in alignment with heaven’s order.

Shevat, Matzah, and Unleavened Speech

Shevat, as a month, carries layers of imagery. One thread traces back to ideas of striking or lashing, evoking the intensity of winter rains. Another draws on the related term for rod or branch, hinting at growth, authority, and the emerging life that will soon blossom. Put together, Shevat becomes a time when what has been hidden in the ground starts pushing toward visibility under the pressure of season and rain.

Matzah, the unleavened bread of the feast, adds another dimension. It is bread stripped of inflation—no puffing, no hidden fermentation. Applied to Proverbs 1:23, matzah pictures what happens to the heart and tongue when one turns at rebuke. The “leaven” of self-importance and distortion is removed, and Yahweh’s words are received and spoken in an uninflated, simple, truthful form. The outpoured Spirit bakes matzah-like integrity into the believer’s speech and conduct.

The Menorah Lamp of the Wicked: The Lying Tongue

Every lamp has a counterpart. If the 2nd lamp of the righteous is understanding, the 2nd lamp of the wicked is the lying tongue. Just as binah distinguishes and clarifies, a lying tongue blurs and confuses. It refuses the separation of Day 2, preferring the murky mingling of truth and falsehood.

Proverbs 1:23, therefore, stands at a fork in the road. Wisdom calls publicly, rebuking the patterns that feed a lying tongue. Turn, and the same mouth that once circulated distortion can become a vessel of revealed words. Refuse, and the inner world remains water without firmament, a place where speech is powered by darkness rather than light. In menorah terms, the question is: which lamp will be fueled—understanding or deceit?

Living the Shevat Invitation

Read in light of Shevat 1 and Day 2 of Creation, Proverbs 1:23 becomes an invitation to let Yahweh establish a new relational order inside.

It calls for:

• A willingness to be interrupted and redirected by divine rebuke.

• A yielding to the Spirit’s outpouring so that understanding is received, not manufactured.

• A commitment to matzah-like speech—unleavened by pride, free of the fermentation of the lie.

This is the Shevat work of the heart: allowing the divine “rod” to correct, the “branch” to bud, and the rains to soften the soil so that the lamp of understanding can burn clear. In that light, Proverbs 1:23 is not just an ancient warning; it is a monthly, even daily, call to move from the menorah of the wicked to the menorah of the righteous—one turn at a time.