Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 14-17.

Today’s passage contains so many proverbs which sum up key points of wisdom in simple sayings that I never quite know how to write a blog on it.  I am going to try and find a few themes which I think are addressed from different viewpoints in several of these sayings, maybe I will even be able to connect these themes together.  First of these: the wise do constructive things which build up people, things, and organizations, making them better, while fools tear down people, things, and organizations.  Those who tear down often claim that the tearing down must be done in order to build back better, but a careful examination will usually reveal that they have no plans for what to do after they have destroyed whatever they claim to desire to improve.  One example of this comes from examining some companies which laid off employees in order to cut costs.  They cut staff to save money without ever truly understanding who their productive employees were.  I was reminded of that by this proverb: “Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty,
    but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.”                        The point of this being that the most efficient way to keep the manger clean is by getting rid of the oxen which soil it, but without the oxen you cannot harvest the crops which provide you with income.  Related to this we often find those seeking to destroy dishonest and deceitful, while those seeking to build honestly portray the risks they propose we take.  The former despise God, while the latter fear and honor Him.  Which brings me to the final point I want to cover from this passage: those who fear the Lord use restraint when speaking, while the destructive use words as one more tool to destroy and break down.  The wise wish to communicate clearly so they are careful to use words which mean what they wish to say, and which will not bring unnecessary hurt to the listener.  The foolish use words which cut  and can be easily misconstrued.  This truth is such that even the foolish appear wise when they keep their mouths closed.  In fact, if you fear that you are foolish a good way to gain wisdom is by listening to what others have to say while keeping your own thoughts to yourself.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 5-8.

The proverb writer in today’s passage spends a lot of time warning against adultery.  He goes on to link committing adultery to a lack of discipline.  I also find it interesting that the phrasing suggests that the writer endorses monogamy: the writer tells us to be satisfied with the wife (singular) of our youth despite the fact that tradition attributes these proverbs to King Solomon.  After indicating that being adulterous indicates a lack of discipline, the writer warns against a few other symptoms of lack of discipline: lack of industriousness (or laziness), and being deceitful.  Then he returns to warning against adultery, against allowing our sexual desires to govern our lives.  The writer warns us that all of these poor decisions result from not listening to wisdom.  Further, the writer goes on to tell us that wisdom calls out to us if we will but listen and look for it.  Acquiring wisdom does not require hard effort, or seeking obscure sources of knowledge.  Wisdom can be acquired merely by being open to the lessons around us.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 1-4.

One gets the most out of Proverbs by taking note of Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
    but fools^[c] despise wisdom and instruction.

All of it is important, but I think we often miss the important aspect highlighted by the translators’ note designated by that “c”.  That note points out that the word generally translated as “fool” in Proverbs, and much of the rest of the Old Testament indicates a person who is morally deficient.  We today view a fool as one who does things which they have not thought through, that a fool may be well-meaning but misguided.  However, Proverbs implies that foolishness results from trying to get away with the morally reprehensible.  You may imagine that doing something you know is wrong will result in positive outcomes for you, whether that will be pleasure, or wealth, or power, or something else which you think will benefit you, but, while you may get the outcomes you imagined, you will also get negative outcomes much greater than anything positive which comes from doing so.  On the other hand, you may imagine in certain circumstances that doing what you know to be the right thing will have negative consequences you do not wish to face.  Again, you may be correct, but you are passing on blessings of which you are unaware.  The writer of Proverbs tells us that doing the wrong thing will always come with a price higher than you would be willing to pay if you realized in advance you would have to pay it.  While doing the right thing always has a reward for which you would pay much more than whatever price taking that action costs you.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 29-31.

I want to focus on three themes I find in today’s passage.  The first two I believe reflect on what we see going on around us today  And are closely related.   I have chosen four proverbs to illustrate these two themes.  The writer warns us that mockers stir people up and that fools fight and riot when they get angry, but that the wise seek to reduce tensions and bring about calm.

Mockers stir up a city,
    but the wise turn away anger.

Fools give full vent to their rage,
    but the wise bring calm in the end.

The writer also gives us insight into government figures who encourage the mockers and the fools.  Some do so because they have no concern for the destruction such things cause as long as they get their bribes and other benefits of corruption.  In fact, they will encourage such things in order to increase their benefits and power.  Others do so because they have listened to lies so long that they cannot distinguish lies from truth.

By justice a king gives a country stability,
    but those who are greedy for bribes tear it down.

If a ruler listens to lies,
    all his officials become wicked.

I am not going to quote specific proverbs for the final theme: Without discipline, order falls apart.  This has two aspects.  One must live a disciplined life and society must discipline those who do discipline themselves.

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.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 22-24.

I am going to follow the pattern I have used the last couple of days; pulling a few of the proverbs out of today’s passage and commenting on them.  The first two I want to look at have related messages:

Rich and poor have this in common:
    The Lord is the Maker of them all.

Humility is the fear of the Lord;
    its wages are riches and honor and life.

The second one that those who fear the Lord are humble.  Which means that those who are not humble do not fear the Lord.  Elsewhere the proverb writer tells us that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,  Taken together these tell us that those who are arrogant are not wise.  This brings me to the first of these two proverbs.  Any claim to greatness I may have comes from the fact that I am made in God’s image.  Yet, everyone can make the same claim.  We should humbly recognize that we are no better, and no worse, than others.  True humility means recognizing this fact: I am neither better than others, nor am I less than others.  We often fail to recognize that considering ourselves inferior to others is a kind of arrogance and as much to be avoided as considering ourselves superior to others.

I was tempted to conclude with the previous paragraph, but I think the lesson from putting these next two proverbs together too important to leave out.

The prudent see danger and take refuge,
    but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.

The sluggard says, “There’s a lion outside!
    I’ll be killed in the public square!”

The first of these proverbs says that we should carefully plan for danger.  The second of these warns against using danger as an excuse to not work.  One could easily see them as contradictory., but, like several other proverbs, they should act as warnings that we can take good ideas too far.  On the one hand, we should be alert to danger and take refuge from it.  On the other hand, we must not use imaginary danger as an excuse to not take get anything done.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 18-21.

Like yesterday, I pulled out a few of these proverbs to focus on, but there are many more which are worth thought.  The first two I want to look at are chapter 19:10-11.

It is easy to read these and overlook how they fit together because of the way so many of today’s proverbs are just little tidbits mostly independent of the one before and the one after.  In fact, I had not realized before today that these two go together.  There are numerous proverbs which refer to how the wealth of the rich protects them.  But in this case, the proverb warns rather than declares.  The righteous run to the name of the Lord and ARE SAFE. On the other hand, the rich IMAGINE their wealth a wall too high to scale.  So, we are warned to put our trust in God, not in our wealth, no matter how much of it we have.  I am tempted here to discuss how this applies to things which are going on in society around us, but instead want to focus on making it personal.  I must not allow the wealth I accumulate, however limited it may be, to replace God in my life.

There were some other proverbs in this passage which I had pulled out to possibly write about., But I am going to include just one more:

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 14-17.

I could do my entire blog on just a couple of these proverbs, and that is what I am going to do.  I prefer to find themes for the entire passage, or something which links everything together.  However, today I am going to pull just a couple of these proverbs out and talk about them. So, let’s start with this one:

“There is a way that appears to be right,
    but in the end it leads to death.”

This one is perhaps the scariest.  It tells us that there are paths we can follow which seem right, but are not.  However, this reminds me of one of my hobbies, playing Tabletop Roleplaying Games.  In such games one of the players is known as the Gamemaster, whose job it is to tell the story for the rest of the players and act as a referee to ensure that the players are following the rules. From time to time in describing the situation the players must take part in the Gamemaster will say some thing like, “The room APPEARS empty,” or “The chest does not APPEAR trapped.”  Most players have learned to treat such things as a red flag and be on the alert for what comes next.  In much the same way, the proverb writer is warning us to be alert when something feels right,  when our emotions tell us it is the right thing to do.  That is when we must engage our logic and compare it to what God says is right.  Which leads us to the second one of today’s proverbs I want to write about:

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
    and he will establish your plans.”

We cannot go far wrong if we seek with all of our actions to bring glory to God and not to ourselves.  If you do whatever you do in order to bring glory to God, with no thought to your own interests, you will avoid the path which the first of these warns against.  in fact, the third of the proverbs which I wanted to write about today expands on this them:

“Better a little with righteousness
    than much gain with injustice.”

Seek righteousness rather than reward and you need not fear that you are on the wrong path.  I started out thinking that what I would write on each of these proverbs would stand alone, but, as you can see, once I started writing I realized that they linked together to teach us.

I want to leave you with a thought from the proverb writer which challenges me every time I come across it:

“Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,
    and discerning if they hold their tongues.”

As you might guess, keeping silent is not one of my gifts.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 9-13.

The wise and the righteous (but according to the proverb writer I repeat myself) welcome corrections when they make mistakes and rebukes when they do wrong.  On the other hand, mockers and the wicked (again the proverb writer says that I am repeating myself) insult those who correct them and abuse those who rebuke their wrong behavior.  Once again the writer makes clear that wisdom is there for all who will embrace its riches, but folly also calls forth offering pleasures.  The writer points out that the pleasures offered by folly disguise traps which lead to misery and death, while the riches offered by wisdom require effort and hard work. There are many valuable lessons to be learned by the various proverbs contained in today’s passage, but the one I want to highlight is that while wisdom will generally bring wealth, wealth is not what the truly wise most deeply desire.

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