INSIGHT FOR LIVING - A STUDY ON PROVERBS
'CP' denotes 'Compare Passage'
INSIGHT FOR LIVING -
A STUDY ON PROVERBS
Of the thirty-one chapters in the book of Proverbs, twenty-nine are ascribed to Solomon. Chapter 30 is attributed to Agur, Son of Jakeh, and Chapter 31 to King Lemuel. It is not known who they were (CP Pr 1:1; 10:1; 25:1 with 30:1 and 31:1).
Proverbs is not just a collection of pithy sayings with a practical emphasis on how to live a happy and prosperous life, but Divine instructions for God's people to govern their whole conduct of life, providing moral and spiritual guidelines for Godly living. They contain the applications and implications of all that is in God's moral law. They deal with sin and holiness, and are directed to the unlearned, the simple, the foolish, the young, and even to the wise, that all may increase in learning. Ch 1 teaches the use and the end of the Proverbs; an exhortation to flee the company of the wicked; and to hearken to the voice of wisdom. (CP Pr 1:1-6).
Wisdom in Proverbs is not simply a high degree of intelligence or vast knowledge, but the skill of living a Godly life as God intended man to live - knowing the truth and how to apply it to any situation (CP Pr 1:2-3, 7, 20; 2:2, 6-7, 10; 3:13, 21; 4:5, 7, 11; 5:1; 7:4; 8:1, 5, 11-12, 14; 9:1, 10; 10: 13, 21, 23, 31; 11:2, 12; 12:8; 13:10; 14:6, 8, 33; 16:16; 17:16, 24; 18:4: 19:8; 21:30; 23:9, 23; 24:3, 7, 14; 29:3, 15; 31:26 with De 4:5-8; 1Cor 1:18-31; 2:4-7, 12-16; Jas 3:13-17). Later on in scripture, in the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon observes that in much wisdom there is grief, and that it is also vanity, but there he is not referring to Godly wisdom, but human wisdom (CP Ecc 1:18; 2:15). What Solomon is saying here is that as an ultimate value, human wisdom and knowledge only highlight problems - they do not rectify them; that a life lived strictly for the sake of acquiring human wisdom is futile (CP Ecc 2:12-16 with Pr 18:1; 23:4). Only wisdom imparted by God has lasting value. The rest is transitory.
Instruction in Pr 1:2 refers to chastisement, reproof, warning, correction, discipline, doctrine (CP 1:2-3, 7-8; 4:1, 13; 5:12, 23; 6:23; 8:10, 33; 9:9; 10:17; 12:1; 13:1, 18; 15:5, 32-33; 16:22; 19:20, 27; 23:12, 23; 24:32). Understanding in Pr 1:2 looks at the mental discipline that matures one for spiritual discernment. It is knowledge seasoned and modified by wisdom and insight; it makes wise, guides willingly, behaves self; it refers to discretion, sense, intellect, reason, skilfulness (CP Pr 1:2, 5; 2:2-3, 6, 11; 3:4-5, 13, 19; 4:1, 5, 7; 5:1; 6:32; 7:4, 7; 8:1, 5, 14; 9:4, 6, 10, 16; 10:13, 23; 11:12; 12:11; 13:15; 14:29, 33; 15:14, 21-22; 16:16, 22; 17:18, 24, 27-28; 18:2; 19:8, 25; 20:5; 21:16, 30; 23:23; 24:3, 30; 28:2, 11, 16; 30:2). Equity in Pr 1:3 refers to the living of life that is just and fair; uprightness, concord, straightness (CP Pr 1:3; 2:9; 17:26).
Subtilty in Pr 1:4 is used in a good sense. It means prudence, wisdom (CP Pr 1:4). Dark sayings in Pr 1:4 refers to riddles, enigmas, allegories, parables (CP 1:6). The lack of context sometimes clouds the interpretation of some Proverbs, but often a verse is partially repeated elsewhere where the variant form clarifies the meaning.
In Pr 1:7 Solomon teaches that the first step in becoming knowledgeable and wise and acquiring wisdom is based on the fear of God - holding Him in reverential awe (CP Pr 1:7, 24-29, 2:4-7; 8:12-14; 9:10; 15:33 with Job 28:28; Psa 111:10 - 112:1). The fear of God is the beginning and principal part of knowledge, the first essential. It is the sum of what God's word requires. It reflects the reality that God's word directs His children in the way they are to walk (CP Psa 119:9 with Ecc 12:13). Next, Solomon admonishes God's children to obey their parents (CP Pr 1:8). Solomon's admonition to his son here to obey his parents extends to every professing Christian in the New Testament Church (CP also 3:1; 4:1-4; 6:20; 7:1-3; Ex 20:12 with Eph 6:1-3; Col 3:20). Obedience to their parents' advice will bring honour to the children (CP Pr 1:9).
God's children must reject out of hand any enticement to sin (CP Pr 1:10-14 with 11:19). Children of God must not even fraternise with those who would entice them to sin (CP Pr 1:15-19 also 14:7 with Psa 1:1-6; 119:101). This translates to New Testament believers heeding Paul's injunction not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers (CP 2Cor 6:14-18). Next, wisdom is personified as a woman identifying sin and calling sinners to repentance (CP Pr 1:20-33). This indicates that everyone is endowed with natural faculties to know right from wrong and make Godly decisions (CP Jn 1:9; Ro 2:12-16). It is man's own God-given wisdom that will laugh and mock at the calamity he brings upon himself through folly and rejection of wisdom's pleading in Pr 1:26, but God too will also laugh and hide His face (CP 1:26 with Psa 2:4; 37:12-13; 59:1-8; Mic 3:4). V 30-33 in Pr 1 teaches God's spiritual law of sowing and reaping (CP V 30-33; 11:18-19; Ga 6:7-8).
Next, in Pr 2, we learn that there are conditions attached to receiving the knowledge of God and His wisdom. We learn the advantages of wisdom and the evils from which it delivers (CP 2:1-6). If we receive God's word and treasure up His commandments within us (CP Psa 119:11); making our ears attentive to skilful and Godly wisdom (CP Isa 55:3a); inclining and directing our heart and mind to understanding - applying all our power to the quest for it (CP Pr 22:17); if we pray for discernment and understanding and seek wisdom as silver, and search for it as for hidden treasure (CP 1Ki 3:9-12 with Mt 7:7-11, also Lu 11:7-11), then we will understand the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God, and receive the wisdom He gives to the righteous (CP Pr 1:7a and 2:6-8 with Jas 1:5-6; Psa 91:1-7, 11-12; Ecc 2:26). The principle of life Solomon expounds in Ecc 2:26 is that God rewards righteousness and punishes evil. Wisdom will save from the enticements of men to follow perverse ways (CP Pr 2:9-15 with 1Cor 2:14-16; He 5:14).
When wisdom enters into a person's heart and knowledge is pleasant to their soul, discretion shall preserve them and understanding shall keep them to deliver them from marital infidelity and sexual immorality (CP Pr 2:10-11, 16-22 with 5:1-23; 6:20-29; 7:1-27; 9:13-18; 22:14; 23:26-28). We will examine only 2:16-22 here and the others individually as we come to them. Strange woman in V 16 refers to either a harlot, a prostitute or an adulteress who leaves the guidance and friendship of her husband and breaks the marriage covenant (CP V 16-19 with Ex 20:14; Lev 20:10). The irreversible nature of this continuing sin points to its devastating consequences. It leads to physical death and eternal damnation. Anyone can be saved though under the New Covenant who turns to Christ and walks in the way He has prescribed for them (CP Pr 2:20-22 with Jn 2:16-18, 26; He 7:25).
Pr 3 is an exhortation to the practice of virtue. Children are again admonished to obey their parents (CP 3:1-2). Law in V 1 is Torah - God's law (CP 29:18), but in 3:1 as elsewhere in Proverbs, it is used of the principles and commands that God gave through Solomon to His children to obey in every age, if they want to live long peaceful lives and please God (CP Ex 20:12 with Pr 4:10; Eph 6:1-3; Col 3:20). God's children must never let the virtues of mercy and truth forsake them (CP Pr 3:3-4). This translates to New Testament Christians "putting off" that which Paul commands in Col 3:8-9, and "putting on" what he commands in V 10-17 (CP Col 3:8-17). God's children must begin, continue, and end every work, purpose, and plan with God (CP Pr 3:5-6). God must be the sum total of every facet of a Christian's existence (CP Psa 127:1). As the navel is the means by which a child in the womb receives life and nourishment from its mother, so revering God and shunning evil will bring health to the flesh and nourishment to the bones of a child of God (CP Pr 3:7-8). Next, Solomon teaches that no one can out give God (CP 3:9-10). This does not teach tithing as some believe, nor the law of sowing and reaping per se. For New Testament Christians it translates to stewardship of possessions. All that they have belongs to God and it all must be placed at His disposal. God will reward those who use it for the extension of His kingdom (CP Pr 3:27-28; 19:17; 21:25-26 with Lu 6:38).
God's children must not shrink from or reject God's chastening. He chastens those He loves just as their earthly fathers do (CP Pr 3:11-12). This is quoted by the writer of Hebrews and translates to New Testament Christians being chastened by God's word. Chastening refers to activity directed toward a child to influence conscious will and action. It means to instruct, to educate, to correct. New Testament Christians are corrected by God's word. It redirects their paths from sin to holiness (CP He 12:5-11 with 1Cor 11:27-28, 31-32; 2Cor 13:5). Wisdom and understanding yield the richest of treasures, described in V 13-18 that follow in Pr 3 as more profitable than silver, better returns than gold, more precious than rubies. There is nothing one can desire that compares, giving long life with one hand, and riches and honour with the other. The way of wisdom and understanding is pleasure and peaceful, the source of life, blessing all who lay hold of her (CP Pr 3:13-18 with Pr 8:12-21; 1Ti 4:8; Jas 3:13-18). Wisdom is basic to all of life. By it God created the universe (CP Pr 3:19-20 also Psa 104:24-32; Jer 10:12-13; 51:15-16 with Pr 8:22-31).