09/09/2018
We’ve had two dogs, and both had a rather disgusting habit of vomiting, and then quite shortly afterwards, proceeding to return the food from whence it came! This is just one of a variety of real-life events that Solomon turned into a Proverb.
We’ve had two dogs, and both had a rather disgusting habit of vomiting, and then quite shortly afterwards, proceeding to return the food from whence it came! This is just one of a variety of real-life events that Solomon turned into a Proverb.
Anyone know the second reference to a dog in Proverbs?
"Like one who seizes a mad dog by the ears is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own." (Proverbs 26:17)
It’s been a while since I’ve read the book of Proverbs, so let me invite you to join with me in reading the whole book of Proverbs for the month of October – one chapter a day! And on the Sundays in October, there will be an opportunity for you to share what you learnt from your reading during the week.
We tend to turn to the Psalms far more quickly than Proverbs and I
believe we need give Proverbs more of a look-in. In actual fact, if we look at
the Psalms closely, we find that in at least 5 places, they tell us to seek wisdom and of course, Proverbs is
where we find it.
The Psalms teach us how to worship, the Proverbs teach us how to
act. We tend to use the Psalms in the context of “church” (Sunday Mornings,
Prayer Meetings, Private Devotions) but we need the Proverbs when we go out
into the world. We use the Psalms on our knees; we use the Proverbs on our
feet.
So in order to encourage you to read the book of Proverbs for
yourself, I’m going to tell you a little about it. I can’t read the Bible for
you. Just like I can’t eat your dinner for you, but I can try to whet your
appetite. So let me introduce you to the book of Proverbs.
The book of Proverbs actually requires two introductions – an
introduction to a person, namely King
Solomon and an introduction to a theme,
namely Wisdom.
Solomon was King David’s son and he ruled Israel for 40 years
during what was termed as a golden age of peace and prosperity. He built the
first Temple (which replaced the mobile tabernacle built by Moses) and he put
Israel firmly on the map as an important centre of culture, religion and trade.
Solomon was an international celebrity and many people, like the Queen of
Sheba, travelled from far and wide to visit Solomon on account of his
extraordinary wisdom, riches and achievements.
So what was the secret of Solomon’s success? It was his wisdom. And where did he get it? From
God, of course. One night in a dream, God offered Solomon anything he wanted,
and he chose wisdom to govern the people. Solomon excelled in wisdom but unfortunately,
he didn’t always follow his own good advice. A recurring theme in Proverbs is
to stay away from bad women and be faithful to your wife and of course Solomon
did the opposite. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Maybe he wrote much of
Proverbs in the light of bad experience and regret.
Solomon composed many proverbs, but he also collected them from
other people. Some of the proverbs in the Bible are Arabic and some are
Egyptian. Solomon recognised wisdom wherever he found it.
And that brings me to my second introduction, to the theme of
Wisdom.
Our reading from 1 Corinthians 1:17-25 contrasts the wisdom of the
world with the wisdom of God. In some cases (such as the Cross of Christ) human
wisdom is totally opposed to God’s wisdom but in many other situations, it’s
not. People are made in God’s image and given a conscience and intelligence and
so they will come up with timeless truths like “a stitch in time saves nine” or
“look before you leap” - Proverbs like these are just common sense and are not
at all incompatible with God’s wisdom. Solomon knew this and so he had no
problem in taking certain proverbs from pagan sources and applying them into
the context of a relationship with the one true God, Yahweh, the God of Israel,
who is mentioned at least 70 times in this book. And indeed today, we can find
wisdom from the secular world of business and finance, but we need to be
selective and we need to be discerning.
A recurring theme in Proverbs is “the fear of the Lord”.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”;
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”;
“The fear of the Lord leads to life”.
The fear of the Lord is not about being afraid of God, because God
is love and perfect love casts out all fear, it’s to do with reverence and awe.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” is translated
like this in the Amplified Bible:
The [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and
regarding Him as truly awesome] is the beginning and the preeminent part of
knowledge [its starting point and its essence]
And so we must approach the book of Proverbs from a place of
reverence, respect and awe of God if we are going to imbibe God’s wisdom from
its pages.
When we think of the different classes of people in the Old
Testament, we think of Kings and Prophets and Priests. But there was another
class of people, and they were called “Sages” or wise men. Proverbs is largely attributed to Solomon –
his own proverbs and those he collected, but there are also some sayings of
other wise men, the sages.
Proverbs is a book of literature – it’s nice to read because it is
poetic, but not the type of poetry we learnt in school. It has a rhythm of thought rather than rhyme.
There are metaphors: Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler.
There are metaphors: Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler.
There are similes: Like
a bad tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in times of trouble.
And there are word pictures:
”There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I
do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a
rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden. “
(Proverbs 30:18-19)
There are short sayings
– one or two lines expressing a single thought and then there are longer
passages, called oracles.
Proverbs is also a book of contrasts.
It deals with wisdom and folly, pride and humility, love and lust,
singlehood and marriage, wealth and poverty, work and leisure, gossip and
discretion, masters and servants, righteousness and wickedness, diligence and laziness,
life and death. It speaks into nearly every situation you could ever find
yourself in and helps you make the right decision.
There are a couple of things to watch out for when you read
Proverbs.
Proverbs is essentially a book of morality, about right living. So when it talks about wisdom and folly, it is nothing to do with
intelligence. Folly is seen as a moral
deficiency, not a mental deficiency. Intelligent people can do immoral things.
Conversely, wisdom is not about having a high IQ, it’s about making godly
choices in life. We see this principle in
other parts of the Bible. For example, in Psalm 14 we read:
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
I’m sure there are lots of very intelligent atheists in the world!
Proverbs is a book of general principles and observations
General observations don’t always hold true. For example:“Grey hair is a crown of splendour; it is attained in the way of righteousness.” (Proverbs
16:31)
I’m sure there are criminals with grey hair who did not lead a
righteous life! And so a proverb, as a general observation, doesn’t apply in
every case.
A proverb is not always a promise.
As part of my research on Proverbs, I listened to some material by
a guy called David Pawson, a well respected Bible teacher. He was very strong
on this point: He says a Proverb is not a Promise full stop. His argument goes
like this: A proverb is a general observation on life whereas a promise is a
specific obligation. A proverb is generally true but not always and so we can’t
apply a proverb to every situation and depend on it to work.
Here’s an example:
Commit to the Lord whatever
you do, and your plans will succeed. (Proverbs
16:3)
Heard that one? So if you decide to start a business, with no
business plan and no market research and no capital and you say, well I’ve
committed it to the Lord - is God under an obligation to make it succeed? Of
course not!
Here’s another one:
Train a child in the way he
should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
(Proverbs 22:6)
People often quote this proverb about their wayward children –
as if it’s a promise that because they were brought to Sunday School, they will
eventually turn to God later in life. It is true that if you bring up a child
in a Christian home and environment, they are more likely to become committed
Christians than other people, but if they don’t, it doesn’t mean the Bible’s
not true, or that God doesn’t keep His promises. At the end of the day, each
person has to make their own choice to accept or reject Jesus and God will not violate
their free will.
Does that make sense? I
would add one caveat to David Pawson’s argument. I believe that there are times
when the Holy Spirit can speak to you through a Proverb, or some other verse of
Scripture for that matter, and personalise it to you as a promise. But you have
to be very careful that it’s really from God and not just wishful thinking. And
that’s all the more reason to seek the wisdom and discernment that God will
give us as we read and study the book of Proverbs.
Finally, Proverbs is a book of Edification – it builds you up, it
encourages and inspires.
One of my favourite proverbs is in Chapter 3:5-6.
Even if I take these 2 verses as a promise from God, I have to be
careful how I interpret them. In Scripture, a straight path is not an easy
path, it’s a narrow one and a difficult one at times. Answered promises are
sometimes like answered prayers – not exactly what you had in mind!
To conclude, there’s a lot more to be said about the book of Proverbs, but listening to me talking about it is not going to make you any wiser, you’ll have to read it for yourself!
Let me finish with some words from chapter 4:
Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve
from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and
she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honour
you. (Proverbs 4:5-8)
Let’s Pray.
