Proverbs 9: Two tables, one invitation, different company

Chapter 9 completes the long opening instruction by placing two houses and two invitations opposite each other. Wisdom has built, prepared, furnished, and sent servants before she calls the inexperienced to eat. Folly occupies a prominent seat and copies the wording of the invitation, but her appeal depends on secrecy and the supposed sweetness of what is stolen. Between the two meals comes a test of teachability. A wise person can become wiser because correction is admitted, while the scorner turns the same reproof into hatred of the one who gives it. The fear of the LORD remains the beginning of wisdom, showing that the choice of table is also a choice of authority. The last verse finally reveals Folly's hidden company. The dead are already there, so the danger was never an unfortunate side effect added after the meal.