Day 192: Proverbs 22-24

(This post covered three chapters that progressed the theme by showing the benefits of managing the causes (actions and words) that resulted in what was planted in your heart, not only for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others.)

Proverbs 22
¹ A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, And loving favor rather than silver and gold.

(A "good name" was better to be chosen than riches because a "good name" was a name that represented someone who was right and just. Remember, the word name meant "cause." Therefore, a "good" name was someone who was focused on "good" causes.)

² The rich and the poor meet together: Jehovah is the maker of them all.

(God created all.)

³ A prudent man seeth the evil, and hideth himself; But the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

(A prudent, or understanding man, could recognize evil and could choose the good and not the evil.)

⁴ The reward of humility and the fear of Jehovah Is riches, and honor, and life.

(Humility was rewarded with riches (long term), honor (respect), and life (eternal ability to repair). Humility was a cause, it could be done intentionally. Everyone could intentionally consider any perspective, including that they could be wrong.)

⁵ Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse: He that keepeth his soul shall be far from them.

(Those who guarded their soul would be far from thorns and snares, things that hinder progress.)

⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it.

(Train a child in the way he should (ought to) go and he will not depart from it. We ought to teach our children how to think and when we teach them what to think, always give the why. This will lead to a child having understanding and wisdom.)

⁷ The rich ruleth over the poor; And the borrower is servant to the lender.
⁸ He that soweth iniquity shall reap calamity; And the rod of his wrath shall fail.

(You reap what you sow (causality). Are you sowing (planting) iniquity or righteousness?)

⁹ He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; For he giveth of his bread to the poor.

(Those with a bountiful eye could see the things they ought to do, one thing being giving to the poor.)

¹⁰ Cast out the scoffer, and contention will go out; Yea, strife and ignominy will cease.
¹¹ He that loveth pureness of heart, For the grace of his lips the king will be his friend.
¹² The eyes of Jehovah preserve him that hath knowledge; But he overthroweth the words of the treacherous man.

(God overthrew those who were treacherous/deceitful.)

¹³ The sluggard saith, There is a lion without: I shall be slain in the streets.
¹⁴ The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: He that is abhorred of Jehovah shall fall therein.

(Those who abhorred (defied) God would fall into deception.)

¹⁵ Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

(A "rod of correction" was for the long term benefit of the child. Children did not have understanding. The "rod" should have been used to help them learn by experience until they were able to learn by understanding.)

¹⁶ He that oppresseth the poor to increase his gain, And he that giveth to the rich, shall come only to want.

(Long term gain came when we gave to those who did not have.)

¹⁷ Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, And apply thy heart unto my knowledge.

(Listen and understand the words of those who lived wisely.)

¹⁸ For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, If they be established together upon thy lips.
¹⁹ That thy trust may be in Jehovah, I have made them known to thee this day, even to thee.

(If we applied the words we gained by those who had understanding and wisdom to our lives, we would have trust/faith in God.)

²⁰ Have not I written unto thee excellent things Of counsels and knowledge,
²¹ To make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, That thou mayest carry back words of truth to them that send thee?

(These things were written to us so we would know the words of truth and could share the words of truth with others. Truth was facts that create, a right what with a right how/why.)

²² Rob not the poor, because he is poor; Neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
²³ For Jehovah will plead their cause, And despoil of life those that despoil them.

(God pleaded the cause of the poor and the afflicted so it was encouraged for you to not add to their poverty or affliction. If you did, God would plead their cause against you.)

²⁴ Make no friendship with a man that is given to anger; And with a wrathful man thou shalt not go:
²⁵ Lest thou learn this ways, And get a snare to thy soul.

(Being a "friend" to those who were given to anger and wrath would cause you to learn their ways. This did not mean you should not interact with these people. Just that you should be aware of who you were interacting with and whether or not you wanted the cause of their actions to be the cause or yours.)

²⁶ Be thou not one of them that strike hands, Or of them that are sureties for debts.
²⁷ If thou hast not wherewith to pay, Why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
²⁸ Remove not the ancient landmark, Which thy fathers have set.

(We ought to learn from those who lived before us, from the good and the bad.)

²⁹ Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; He shall not stand before mean men.

(Those who were diligent (working profitably) would stand before those who were authorities.)




Proverbs 23
¹ When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider diligently him that is before thee;
² And put a knife to thy throat, If thou be a man given to appetite.

(Humble yourself before those who ruled. If your flesh rose in you, kill it.)

³ Be not desirous of his dainties; Seeing they are deceitful food.

(What your flesh would desire was deceit.)

⁴ Weary not thyself to be rich; Cease from thine own wisdom.

(Seek God’s Wisdom. Man’s wisdom sought short term pleasure, such as riches.)

⁵ Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.
⁶ Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, Neither desire thou his dainties:
⁷ For as he thinketh within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.

(What we plant in our heart will come out in our actions: good or bad.)

⁸ The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, And lose thy sweet words.
⁹ Speak not in the hearing of a fool; For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

(Those who you know that do not have understanding and do not want understanding should not be spoken to as if they did. This would be a case where you are "casting pearls before the swine." See Matthew 7:6.)

¹⁰ Remove not the ancient landmark; And enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
¹¹ For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their cause against thee.
¹² Apply thy heart unto instruction, And thine ears to the words of knowledge.

(Apply your heart to that which will show you your faults and why you have them.)

¹³ Withhold not correction from the child; For if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.

(Short term pain led to long term growth. We ought to correct our children with a right reason (why) and in the right way (how), in truth.)

¹⁴ Thou shalt beat him with the rod, And shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.
¹⁵ My son, if thy heart be wise, My heart will be glad, even mine:
¹⁶ Yea, my heart will rejoice, When thy lips speak right things.

(Like Solomon, fathers were joyful when their children lived wisely.)

¹⁷ Let not thy heart envy sinners; But be thou in the fear of Jehovah all the day long:
¹⁸ For surely there is a reward; And thy hope shall not be cut off.

(Being jealous of sinners was only being jealous of a short term benefit. Always fearing God would lead to Reward.)

¹⁹ Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And guide thy heart in the way.

(Solomon was encouraging the reader (you? his son?) to understand and be wise.)

²⁰ Be not among winebibbers, Among gluttonous eaters of flesh:
²¹ For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

(Those who made the physical the cause would come to poverty. Those who made the spiritual the cause would have riches for eternity.)

²² Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she is old.
²³ Buy the truth, and sell it not; Yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

(Buy the truth: value for value. This was not referring to buying with money (physical). See Revelation 3:18 and Mark 8:35.)

²⁴ The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; And he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him.
²⁵ Let thy father and thy mother be glad, And let her that bare thee rejoice.
²⁶ My son, give me thy heart; And let thine eyes delight in my ways.

(Solomon wanted his son to live as he did, wisely. Did Solomon live this way his whole life?)

²⁷ For a harlot is a deep ditch; And a foreign woman is a narrow pit.

(Did Solomon marry "a foreign woman"?)

²⁸ Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, And increaseth the treacherous among men.
²⁹ Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?
³⁰ They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed wine.

(It seemed that Solomon had experience with the effects of making wine (alcohol) a cause.)

³¹ Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly:
³² At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder.

(An adder was a "poisonous serpent.")

³³ Thine eyes shall behold strange things, And thy heart shall utter perverse things.
³⁴ Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
³⁵ They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; They have beaten me, and I felt it not: When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.




Proverbs 24
¹ Be not thou envious against evil men; Neither desire to be with them:

(Do not be jealous of evil men or desire to be with them. Evil men were destructive.)

² For their heart studieth oppression, And their lips talk of mischief.

(Evil men's hearts meditated (thought deeply) on destruction.)

³ Through wisdom is a house builded; And by understanding it is established;
⁴ And by knowledge are the chambers filled With all precious and pleasant riches.

(Through wisdom a house was built (created), understanding would establish it (foundation), knowledge (facts that were retained) would fill it.)

⁵ A wise man is strong; Yea, a man of knowledge increaseth might,
⁶ For by wise guidance thou shalt make thy war; And in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

(Our wars ought to be fought with words, wise guidance. See 2 Corinthians 10.)

⁷ Wisdom is too high for a fool: He openeth not his mouth in the gate.

(Wisdom was out of reach for those who had no understanding.)

⁸ He that deviseth to do evil, Men shall call him a mischief-maker.

(Those who thought to do evil caused evil.)

⁹ The thought of foolishness is sin; And the scoffer is an abomination to men.
¹⁰ If thou faint in the day of adversity, Thy strength is small.

(Strength in the day of adversity came from God. Those who fainted in those times were "small" in strength. Strength was "the ability to handle a sudden conflict." In this case, the "conflict" was adversity.)

¹¹ Deliver them that are carried away unto death, And those that are ready to be slain see that thou hold back.
¹² If thou sayest, Behold, we knew not this; Doth not he that weigheth the hearts consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? And shall not he render to every man according to his work?

(Even if you say you do not know something, God knows your heart and you will be judged for every action you have done. The heart does not lie.)

¹³ My son, eat thou honey, for it is good; And the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to thy taste:
¹⁴ So shalt thou know wisdom to be unto thy soul; If thou hast found it, then shall there be a reward, And thy hope shall not be cut off.
¹⁵ Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous; Destroy not his resting-place:
¹⁶ For a righteous man falleth seven times, and riseth up again; But the wicked are overthrown by calamity.

(Encouragement to the wicked to not be against the righteous because the righteous would keep on standing when they fell; the righteous would repair the wrongs they had done.)

¹⁷ Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, And let not thy heart be glad when he is overthrown;
¹⁸ Lest Jehovah see it, and it displease him, And he turn away his wrath from him.

(Do not be glad when your enemy falls. If you take action from this gladness, it could cause God to stop the wrath against them. Forgive your enemies and God will judge them. To forgive meant "to state your will that you will not equal out your own Justice." This would allow God to equal out the injustice.)

¹⁹ Fret not thyself because of evil-doers; Neither be thou envious at the wicked:
²⁰ For there shall be no reward to the evil man; The lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

(Do not worry yourself with evil-doers. They will not be rewarded and God will judge them.)

²¹ My son, fear thou Jehovah and the king; And company not with them that are given to change:
²² For their calamity shall rise suddenly; And the destruction from them both, who knoweth it?
²³ These also are sayings of the wise. To have respect of persons in judgment is not good.
²⁴ He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; Peoples shall curse him, nations shall abhor him:
²⁵ But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, And a good blessing shall come upon them.

(Those who rebuked (confronted) the wicked would be given blessings. It ought to be done the right way (how) and for the right reason (why), even if the wicked did not repent.)

²⁶ He kisseth the lips Who giveth a right answer.
²⁷ Prepare thy work without, And make it ready for thee in the field; And afterwards build thy house.

(We ought to plan out and administrate our work before we start. If we do not, it could be flawed.)

²⁸ Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause; And deceive not with thy lips.

(Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.)

²⁹ Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me; I will render to the man according to his work.

(This was equaling out your own Justice. Remember, forgiveness was stating your will that you will not equal out your own Justice. If we equal out Justice ourselves, we relieve God of the ability to equal out Justice Himself.)

³⁰ I went by the field of the sluggard, And by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
³¹ And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, The face thereof was covered with nettles, And the stone wall thereof was broken down.

(The work of a slothful man who had no understanding would be overgrown with things that hindered growth.)

³² Then I beheld, and considered well; I saw, and received instruction:

(Considering well led to receiving instruction. Instruction was being corrected. Considering well led to this because it included considering where you could be wrong.)

³³ Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep;
³⁴ So shall thy poverty come as a robber, And thy want as an armed man.

(Spiritual riches would come through contrastive thinking (receiving instruction, counsel) but with the slightest laziness (comparative thinking) would come spiritual poverty.)

(This post covered three chapters that gave several specific applications of the themes of the previous chapters. In fact, the examples almost read like a final list, as if this was the end of the Book of Proverbs.)

Day 193