Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 25-28.

When I first read through today’s passage I did not see any common themes running through the various proverbs in it.  So, I pulled out a few phrases around which I struck me as a basis to build what I would write.  Then I looked at them to begin to write and realized that at least some of them fit together.  The first thing I saw was how the writer emphasized the value of gentle patience.  When we seek to convince others gently and patiently reasoning with them from love will accomplish more than angry and forceful rhetoric.  Closely related to that, the writer warns us against hastily reaching conclusions.  Instead, we should wait for all of the facts to come out before we reach a conclusion about events.  Speaking of waiting for the facts, the writer tells us that gossip provides fuel for quarrels between people, and some people stir up strife for their own entertainment.  Neither succeeds if we do not allow them to convince us with partial information.  Rather than form an opinion about what others have done based on gossip, or the partial information provided by those who seek to generate strife, let us patiently wait for all of the facts.  Let us find others who will similarly seek to do God’s will, and ask them to test our thoughts before we reach a conclusion.

The writer gives us two proverbs together which seem to contradict each other:
Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
    or you yourself will be just like him.
 Answer a fool according to his folly,
    or he will be wise in his own eyes.
These two represent two important things to keep in mind when having a debate with someone.  The first one means that you need to make sure that you do not debate someone on issues where they make assertions which are not supported by their assumptions.  For example, if an atheist argues that God cannot be good because He allows for evil.  Ask him to explain what evil means.  Ask the atheist to explain what makes it evil.  Which in a way leads us to what the second of those two proverbs means.  When debating someone who has taken a foolish position (as defined by the Bible), take their assumptions to their logical, foolish conclusion.  Finally, when debating, or in any other sort of confrontation, with someone who is hostile, treat them well, do not return their hostility.  Instead, treat them with respect and provide for their needs.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 25-28.

Today’s passage contains some of my favorite advice from Scripture.  In several different ways the writer tells us to avoid excess and instead do things in moderation.  Perhaps one of my favorite passages is Proverbs 26 verses 4 and 5

Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you yourself will be just like him.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.

These two verses seem to contradict one another, but with some thought they make sense.  Verse four tells us not to allow those we are arguing with to set the terms of the debate, while verse five tells us to take the fool’s argument to its logical conclusion in order to demonstrate its foolishness.  The writer also warns us against those who will misuse wise sayings to support foolish ideas or Scripture to support ungodly behavior.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 25-28.

We continue today with more short sayings which sum up important points of wisdom.  So, I am going to comment on a few of those sayings which spoke to me about my life, while encouraging you to read the passage for ones which speak to where you are.  I will start with this one:

What you have seen with your eyes
   do not bring hastily to court,
for what will you do in the end
    if your neighbor puts you to shame?

In the past I always interpreted that as being about not being in a hurry to go to court about what you see, but I realized the saying has broader application than that.  If you think about it, the writer tells us not to jump to conclusions, wait until you have all the facts before you reach a conclusion about what happened.  All too often, people will condemn others based on the first facts which come out, only learning later that the actions they condemned were justified.  Or, worse yet, they will stop paying attention and never hear the facts which justified that person’s action.

I really struggled about this next one because I feel like everyone should know it, but I just could not move on without highlighting it:

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
    if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
    and the Lord will reward you.

This connects with what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you…” Which brings me to another phrase in today’s passage: “ an undeserved curse does not come to rest.”  Which really teaches two things. It teaches us not to be concerned by those who curse us for doing God’s will.  Their curses cannot harm us.  But it also tells us not to do things which would make us deserving of our enemies’ curses, which goes along with doing good to those who hate us.

I had more phrases which I pulled out of the passage that I intended to write about, but I am just going to tag them on the end here for you to make of them what you will (I am going to make a note about one of them).

“Like a muddied spring or a polluted well
    are the righteous who give way to the wicked.”

“fools repeat their folly. ”

remember the translators’ note from chapter one said the word translated as “fool” means someone who is morally deficient, and I believe the word translated “folly” would suggest morally repugnant behavior

Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware
    are smooth lips with an evil heart.

Do not boast about tomorrow,
    for you do not know what a day may bring.

A ruler who oppresses the poor
    is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.

OK, so here is a second note. To me this suggests that a ruler who oppresses the poor is like a farmer who eats his seed corn. A ruler who oppresses the poor is destroying his own future.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 25-28.

Feeding the hungry and giving water to the thirsty is a basic tenet of Christianity, even if they have done us wrong, especially if they have done us wrong.  Here is how the proverb writer puts that message:

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
    if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
    and the Lord will reward you.

Doing good to those who have done us wrong will shame those capable of being shamed, and God will deal with the rest.  Sometimes following the writer’s advice will turn an enemy into a friend.  More importantly, you will not fall to their level and God will reward you.

Yesterday I mentioned some proverbs which appear to contradict other proverbs.  Here is an example of such where one follows right after the other:

Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
    or you yourself will be just like him.
 Answer a fool according to his folly,
    or he will be wise in his own eyes.

I always read this as warning us against getting caught up in an argument with a fool without allowing them to think that we agree with them.  Another interpretation, which does not nullify the one I just gave says that we should not allow fools to define the scope of the debate.  I have seen this second point made by those who warn against allowing those we disagree with to define the words used to debate an issue, because most times the actual issue in dispute is the meaning of those words.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 25-28.

Today’s passage resumes being a listing of individual proverbs.  In this case we are told that they are a collection of proverbs from Solomon which were collected by King Hezekiah.  There is one proverb which appears to me to have multiple applications.

Just because you’ve seen something,
don’t be in a hurry to go to court.
For what will you do in the end
if your neighbor deals you a shameful defeat?

The first application of this is that we should not be in a hurry to report negative information about others that we have observed.  This addresses specifically telling the court, or the government, but really it applies to telling anyone else.  It contains the hint that perhaps what we have seen is not as it appears; that perhaps there is more information of which we are unaware which changes the meaning of what we saw.  We should apply this both to spying on our neighbors for the government and to spreading gossip about them (please note that there are other places in the Bible where we are told to testify against those we know have committed crimes).  The full wording of this seems to imply having seen something which leads us to sue our neighbor.

There are so many proverbs in here that I would like to highlight, but you can read them directly for yourself.  However, I think it worth pointing out that there are two themes which this passage addresses in multiple proverbs.  The writer warns us repeatedly about being cautious in our interactions with fools.  Interactions with fools can lead us to becoming foolish ourselves, but failing to interact with them at all may lead them, and others, to believe that foolishness is wisdom.  The writer also warns us repeatedly against being lazy.