Day 187: Proverbs 7-9

(The previous post covered Solomon giving the principal cause of profitability: Wisdom. Then he proved that actions that were an effect of the wrong how/why resulted in unprofitability.)

(Solomon wanted the reader to focus on his commandments. Remember, David wrote in the Book of Psalms for the reader to focus on God's commandments. In the earlier Proverbs, Solomon did tell us to focus on God's Words. However, even when Solomon gave advice that he got from God, notice the focus was on Solomon and not God...)

Proverbs 7
¹ My son, keep my words, And lay up my commandments with thee.
² Keep my commandments and live; And my law as the apple of thine eye.

(These commands, to follow wisdom and get understanding, ought to be guiding us in all our actions.)

³ Bind them upon thy fingers; Write them upon the tablet of thy heart.
⁴ Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; And call understanding thy kinswoman:
⁵ That they may keep thee from the strange woman, From the foreigner that flattereth with her words.

(Keep wisdom and understanding close so that they will keep you from deception.)

(Verses 6-23: concerned a "strange woman" and a "young man void of understanding.")

⁶ For at the window of my house I looked forth through my lattice;
⁷ And I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, A young man void of understanding,
⁸ Passing through the street near her corner; And he went the way to her house,
⁹ In the twilight, in the evening of the day, In the middle of the night and in the darkness.
¹⁰ And, behold, there met him a woman With the attire of a harlot, and wily of heart.
¹¹ She is clamorous and wilful; Her feet abide not in her house:
¹² Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places, And lieth in wait at every corner.

(The strange woman waited at every corner trying to deceive.)

¹³ So she caught him, and kissed him, And with an impudent face she said unto him:
¹⁴ Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me; This day have I paid my vows.
¹⁵ Therefore came I forth to meet thee, Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
¹⁶ I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; Let us solace ourselves with loves.

(The things she offered the young man focused him on short term effects, they made the physical the cause instead of the effect.)

¹⁹ For the man is not at home; He is gone a long journey:
²⁰ He hath taken a bag of money with him; He will come home at the full moon.
²¹ With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield; With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along.
²² He goeth after her straightway, As an ox goeth to the slaughter, Or as one in fetters to the correction of the fool;
²³ Till an arrow strike through his liver; As a bird hasteth to the snare, And knoweth not that it is for his life.

(The young man who was void of understanding (a fool) succumbed to her deception. If you are void of understanding, you have no why. If you have no why, you will not be able to discern between truth and deception. Truth requires a right why, deception has no or a wrong why. Ultimately, you will not be able to intentionally have wisdom.)

²⁴ Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me, And attend to the words of my mouth.
²⁵ Let not thy heart decline to her ways; Go not astray in her paths.
²⁶ For she hath cast down many wounded: Yea, all her slain are a mighty host.
²⁷ Her house is the way to Sheol, Going down to the chambers of death.

(Encouragement to avoid evil: "the strange woman." The theme of this chapter was to stay away from the strange woman. The theme of the next chapter was to pursue the "other woman"...)




Proverbs 8
¹ Doth not wisdom cry, And understanding put forth her voice?
² On the top of high places by the way, Where the paths meet, she standeth;
³ Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, At the coming in at the doors, she crieth aloud:
⁴ Unto you, O men, I call; And my voice is to the sons of men.

(Wisdom was seen as an excellent woman and the reader was supposed to be an excellent man. In the Bible, women were present when profitability occurred. Wisdom and understanding cried out to all men. It was man’s fault if he did not make profitable decisions (wisdom) and did not know the why (understanding). Wisdom and understanding were available to all.)

⁵ O ye simple, understand prudence; And, ye fools, be of an understanding heart.
⁶ Hear, for I will speak excellent things; And the opening of my lips shall be right things.
⁷ For my mouth shall utter truth; And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
⁸ All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.

(Wisdom spoke of excellent and right things: Truth (right what with a right how/why). All wisdom's words were righteousness and there was nothing wrong in them.)

⁹ They are all plain to him that understandeth, And right to them that find knowledge.

(Wisdom's words were plain (clear) to those who had understanding.)

¹⁰ Receive my instruction, and not silver; And knowledge rather than choice gold.
¹¹ For wisdom is better than rubies; And all the things that may be desired are not to be compared unto it.

(Wisdom ought to be desired more than anything. We ought to desire to make profitable decisions. However, Solomon (speaking in the place of wisdom) told us to receive instruction and knowledge from wisdom instead of silver and gold. Then he stated wisdom was better than rubies.

Remember what David wrote in Psalm 19? -
"7 The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul: The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart: The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring for ever: The ordinances of Jehovah are true, and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the droppings of the honeycomb.")

(Next, Solomon more blatantly spoke in the place of wisdom...)

¹² I wisdom have made prudence my dwelling, And find out knowledge and discretion.
¹³ The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil: Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, And the perverse mouth, do I hate.
¹⁴ Counsel is mine, and sound knowledge: I am understanding; I have might.
¹⁵ By me kings reign, And princes decree justice.
¹⁶ By me princes rule, And nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
¹⁷ I love them that love me; And those that seek me diligently shall find me.

(If you diligently sought wisdom, you would find her. Again, wisdom was available to all men.)

¹⁸ Riches and honor are with me; Yea, durable wealth and righteousness.
¹⁹ My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; And my revenue than choice silver.

(The fruit, or effects, of wisdom was better than gold...than "fine gold" like David wrote.)

²⁰ I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice;
²¹ That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, And that I may fill their treasuries.
²² Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way, Before his works of old.

(From the beginning, the Lord possessed wisdom.)

²³ I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, Before the earth was.
²⁴ When there were no depths, I was brought forth, When there were no fountains abounding with water.
²⁵ Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills was I brought forth;
²⁶ While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, Nor the beginning of the dust of the world.

(Next, we will see wisdom was involved in the Creation...)

²⁷ When he established the heavens, I was there: When he set a circle upon the face of the deep,
²⁸ When he made firm the skies above, When the fountains of the deep became strong,
²⁹ When he gave to the sea its bound, That the waters should not transgress his commandment, When he marked out the foundations of the earth;
³⁰ Then I was by him, as a master workman; And I was daily his delight, Rejoicing always before him,
³¹ Rejoicing in his habitable earth; And my delight was with the sons of men.

(Wisdom was with God before, during, and after the Creation.)

³² Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me; For blessed are they that keep my ways.
³³ Hear instruction, and be wise, And refuse it not.
³⁴ Blessed is the man that heareth me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors.
³⁵ For whoso findeth me findeth life, And shall obtain favor of Jehovah.

(Those who found wisdom found life: the ability to repair.)

³⁶ But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: All they that hate me love death.

(Those who hated wisdom loved death: the inability to repair.)




Proverbs 9
¹ Wisdom hath builded her house; She hath hewn out her seven pillars:
² She hath killed her beasts; She hath mingled her wine; She hath also furnished her table:
³ She hath sent forth her maidens; She crieth upon the highest places of the city:

(In the previous chapter, we saw that wisdom was with God before, during, and after the Creation. Here, wisdom was represented as the ruler of what she had built.)

⁴ Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: As for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him,
⁵ Come, eat ye of my bread, And drink of the wine which I have mingled.
⁶ Leave off, ye simple ones, and live; And walk in the way of understanding.

("Leave off, ye simple ones" meant to forsake the foolish. We ought to leave behind foolishness and progress in and towards understanding.)

⁷ He that correcteth a scoffer getteth to himself reviling; And he that reproveth a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
⁸ Reprove not a scoffer, lest he hate thee: Reprove a wise man, and he will love thee.

(A wise man loved being confronted. This man would understand the value of being shown why he was wrong. When you are shown why you are wrong you have the opportunity to become more right. Remember, every time David was confronted with his sin, he chose to humble himself and grow.)

⁹ Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

(Here we see that the wise became more wise when they were instructed/corrected. Also, teaching the righteous led to them becoming more righteous. The key words here were instruction and teach:
-Instruction was being shown how/why you were wrong.
-Being taught meant you were given understanding.)

¹⁰ The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

(Before you could receive wisdom from God, you must fear (revere) Him. The first cause was to see God as greater than yourself, which was humility of yourself and worship of God.)

¹¹ For by me thy days shall be multiplied, And the years of thy life shall be increased.
¹² If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself; And if thou scoffest, thou alone shalt bear it.

(We are accountable for our own actions and will be judged according to them, both good and bad.)

¹³ The foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple, and knoweth nothing.
¹⁴ And she sitteth at the door of her house, On a seat in the high places of the city,
¹⁵ To call to them that pass by, Who go right on their ways:
¹⁶ Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither; And as for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him,
¹⁷ Stolen waters are sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
¹⁸ But he knoweth not that the dead are there; That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

(More examples of a woman attempting to take a man without understanding off course. Are you convinced of the importance of wisdom and understanding yet?)

(This post covered proverbs that presented wisdom as an excellent woman and contrasted that with deception as being a strange woman/harlot. The reader's response to correction determined whether he had understanding or not.)

Day 188