The expression “the fear of the Lord” and related statements are very common in the OT, well over 400 uses by one resource. The Hebrew word ranges from “terror” to “respect” to “reverence.” It seems as if the “fear of the Lord” is a catch phrase that means something like “reverence”. Though that single translation does not exhaust the word.
the poem on Wisdom in Job 28 ends with this statement
And he said to man,
‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.’
(NIV)
Wisdom is not a category of information – such that I can learn wisdom sayings as I might find them in Biblical or Extra-biblical wisdom literature. Wisdom is defined here as “the fear of the Lord” which is almost the same as saying that wisdom is faith itself.
Wisdom is knowing who has the answers, and paying careful and respectful heed to the Lord. One can neither learn the asnwers without knowing the source of the answers, nor can one know the source and ignore the answers.
FR