Proverbial Wisdom

There are many, many references to wisdom in Proverbs. There proverbs about:

• Wisdom and money (Proverbs 6)
  
• Wisdom and avoiding promiscuous women (Proverbs 7)
  
• Wisdom and righteousness (Proverbs 1)
  
• Wisdom and a virtuous woman (Proverbs 31)
  
  

Wisdom is even personified in chapter 8 of Proverbs (and elsewhere). But what is it? What is wisdom? I have been reading this book for years and my first few times through Proverbs I kept asking the same question:

Proverbs never defines wisdom, it just shows examples. What does wisdom look like?

And that IS the answer. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. Wisdom is what righteousness looks like. Here is a way that I sum it up:

Knowing that a tomato is a fruit is knowledge. Not putting it in a fruit salad is wisdom.