Proverbs couples wisdom with understanding, insight, and knowledge.
Wisdom is the first principle of creation, a cosmic seed that contains the whole universe as pure information. Wisdom is too simple and contains too much information, so the role of understanding is to stretch out the heavens and develop, explain, and detail the ramifications of this seed.
Understanding is like the earth’s soil that has the power to expand and express the seed into something knowable. Understanding is the power that supports a principle with specific facts, and wisdom is the principle that covers these facts with a spiritual identity. Knowledge is the process and final result of these interactions.
(The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis - A Commentary by Matthieu Pageau, 2018. Pages 43-45)
Etymology
In Hebrew, the word “understanding” is connected to both the concepts of building and in-between.
(The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis - A Commentary by Matthieu Pageau, 2018. Pages 43-45)
The Wise
Let the wise hear and increase in learning, / and the one who understands obtain guidance, / to understand a proverb and a saying, / the words of the wise and their riddles. - Proverbs 1:5-6