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Proverbs 5:12 And you say, "How I have hated instruction! And my heart spurned reproof!"
Pride goes before a fall . . . into sexual sin. This entire chapter is a father's advice and counsel to his son. The issue which is being discussed is that of sexual immorality - with an emphasis on the adulterous and immoral woman. Toward the end of his instruction Solomon tells his sons that there will come a day when their adultery will be brought to light by God. When that day happens, we are told that the one who followed after these sins will not be truly repentant. Instead he will speak of how he hated all that teaching about adultery being sin. He ignored all that garbage that the Bible had to say about morals. He will say it even as his life is in shambled about him - due to his sexual immorality. The two words used in this verse are instructive to us about what our attitude becomes toward God's call for holy living. The first word is "sane" which means to hate. The word means to loathe, dislike, and even despise another, their actions or their words. Here the sexually immoral man hates the instruction of the Bible on sex. He also "spurns" reproof. The word for "spurn" is the Hebrew word "na'as" which means to revile, reject, and scorn. This word has the idea that the one doing this is very unhappy and angry as they do this. Thus when reproof comes their way - they can spew angry and unhappy words as they hate what they are hearing. I've had the unfortunate responsibility to confront people about sexual immorality - and have faced the vitriol that comes toward those who dare to speak against the spirit of this age, which fully embraces a full and free expression of sexuality without any limits. A quick look at the Biblical record of people who were given over to sexual immorality shows that they were very rebellious to the message of God's Word. Whether that was an appeal to the Law of God - or the appeal of one of God's prophets, they hated when they were rebuked. Just like this passage says, they spurned God's reproof and would not listen to the teachers God sent them. Sexual sin blinds us to the truth - and the further we go into it - the worse that blindness becomes. All that is visible is the desire for more that knaws at those who reject the morality God calls us to follow. God warns us in Romans chapter 1 that ignoring His commands concerning sexuality, (which are simply this - sex is only acceptable in a marriage relationship between a man and a woman - all other sexual activity - heterosexual immorality, monosexuality, or homosexuality are sin) ignoring them is sin. When we reject this - God gives us over to our sin - first in more bondage to fornication heterosexually - and eventually to homosexuality, as a sign that we are further being given over to our sin. What is a little frightening is that by the end of Romans - we have a society that has rejected pretty much all that God commands - and heartily approve of others who live as they do - rejecting God's way. There is a steady move away from God, away from listening to Him and His Word, and away from any kind of teachable mindset. A wise man sees far enough into a sexually immoral lifestyle to know that it will hurt him in many ways. We've seen from prior verses that health and relationships are destroyed by it. Now we see that one's relationship to truth is greatly harmed by it - as well as their relationship with the God Who gave His Word to us. Some think they can tinker with immorality without consequence to their relationship with God. After reading and looking at today's proverb - the wise man knows better, and instead submits himself to God's Word. The stakes are just too high to ignore what God says here.
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He who digs a pit will fall into it, And he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him. Proverbs 26:27
This is not a proverb that explains why bad things happen to Wylie Coyote - even though at first glance it might. It is actually about those who plan to do evil to others. Those who set traps to catch others and have bad things happen to them are warned in this proverb that what they do will eventually happen to them. Let's take a look at what this means - and also see an example or two. Those who dig a pit do so to catch someone in it. In biblical times people would dig pits and cover them for the purpose of catching more than just animals who would fall into them. These pits would be dug and covered with camouflage as well as wetted down on the sides so that whoever was caught in them would not have opportunity to escape. Those who caught the person would then either take them captive as a slave - or kill the one who fell into the pit. The reason a stone would be rolled is to be put on a steep hill so that it could then be rolled down to kill or badly injure someone who was coming through the valley. This was a tactic of thieves who wanted to steal what travellers would have as they went through valleys and along roads that were next to hilly or mountainous areas. The idea with a pit or with a stone was to injure or kill someone for evil purposes. God warns that those who do such things will fall into a pit themselves. God also warns that the stone that is rolled with come back on them. This is not a reference to an actual pit or an actual stone rolling on them - but was a warning that God was going to hold them responsible for their wicked actions. A good example of this would be the story of Joseph and his brothers. The brothers threw Joseph into a pit with the original intention of killing him because of their jealous hatred of him. Joseph and his stinking varicolored coat reminded them every day that their father loved him more than them - so why not teach the little runt a lesson. Of course killing your brother is a little intense. In the end they decided just to sell him into lifelong slavery (their sibling rivalry was way more intense that what I remember with my brothers). They covered their tracks by dipping the hated coat in blood and telling their father that a wild animal killed Joseph. But the pit they dug - and the rock they rolled was going to come back on them one day. The first "pit-experience" was when their father almost died from grief. Then there was the famine that came and caused them to have to go to Egypt where they had to ask for food from . . . wait for it . . . their snotty little brother who was now the second ruler of Egypt. What was very good for them was that their brother had far more mercy on them in their pit that they had on him when he was in theirs. They had rolled their stone on him - but he refused to roll his on them. He chose forgiveness rather than revenge. The varied pits that you can fall into are as numerous as the ones you dig for others. It is amazing as I grow older to see all the various pits that people have fallen into after they've dug ones for someone else. It is a fact of life that what goes around comes around. That is the simple, one-sentence way to define this particular proverb. I just hope that we all remember that the next time we grab our shovels and start digging for someone else. He who assaults his father and drives his mother away Is a shameful and disgraceful son.
Proverbs 19:26 Here we have a proverb that is very strong in what it says. We have a son who is assaulting his dad - and driving his mother away from him. This is very strong language - so strong that many of us could not imagine a young man doing something like this. Yet this proverb is given as a warning to both the son who would act this way - and the parents who would rear such a child who chooses such things. This young man "assualts" his father. The Heberw word here is "sadad" and it means to destroy and ravage, to oppress and assualt, to spoil and lay waste or devastate. I find it interesting that the NASB chose the word assault because it speaks more of the physical idea expressed in this word -rather than how other translastions use the words, "do violence" or "wasteth." Regardless, there is a violent reaction in this son toward his father. He does not like him -and the biblical concept of honoring him is completely absent in his attitude and actions. Mattoon uses this definition in his commentary on this passage, "The word "wasteth" is from the Hebrew word shadad {shaw-dad'}. This word means "to deal violently with, devastate, ruin, destroy, spoil, assault, or utterly ruin." (Treasures from Proverbs, Vol. 1, Mattoon). Mattoon gives the idea that there is not just violence here - but a lifestyle that devastates and ruins a father. There are many sons whose lifestyles ruin their parents. Some do it through drugs, while others have run ins with the law that bankrupts their parents. Others live ungodly and immoral lives that ruin the family name. Whatever it is - the son who does this is a shameful and disgraceful young man. Not only does this young man act ungodly toward his father - he also "drives his mother away" too. He lives in a way that is so ungodly that it literally drives his mother away from him. He chases her away - making her want to run from her own child. This is such a shameful and disgraceful lifestyle because the statement is true that mothers will stick with you longer than anyone else. Your mother's love is pretty much the last thing you can lose in life. If you run her off - you've pretty much gone as low as you can go. There is also another way that this passage can be understood - and it has to do with the wicked doctrine of Dr. Freud and his disgusting psychological babble that has done much to destroy our families. Dr. Freud has gotten the reputation of blaming everything in our lives on our parents. Thus we have a couple of generations which he has spoiled with his ignorant philosophy of blaming everything on mom and dad. We even have Christian counsellors who instruct their clients that they should have a hatred for their parents who have messed them up in their lives. What is the fruit of such counselling? It is a generation more spoiled than any we can remember in the history of our nation. We have a generation of children who have no honor or respect for their parents. The fruit of that is that we are now rearing generation after generation in this self-destructive pattern. It leads only to more and more shamfeul and disgraceful sons and daughters. God intends for us to honor father and mother. It is not a suggestion, it is a command. The generation that ignores this command will not do well. The promise of God is that when we honor our parents it will go well with us and that we will live long in the land God gives us. I know this proverb looks like it speaks only to physical violence (which if you watch the news is far more prevelent than one would want) but there is a verbal violence toward parents today that needs to be abandoned. I am not saying that our parents were perfect - but most of us should wake up to how good we had it with loving ones. Maybe we can look at the dearth of this promise in the last several generations - (i.e. things are NOT going well - we are NOT living long in this land) and stop the madness of being so disrespectful and dismissive of our parents. Then maybe we can stop the next generation from being even more shameful and disgraceful as the one before us today. A perverse man spreads strife, And a slanderer separates intimate friends. Proverbs 16:28
There are those who through their falsehood and gossip cause great harm to the relationships of others. This can be the case even with intimate friends. The first action of this man is to spread strife. The way that this man does this is through lies and slanderous falsehoods. He starts by lying to one friend of the other about the actions of their "so-called" friend. Those who will not listen to gossip will shut down this kind of ruiniation of another. The slanderer is just as dangerous - but his falsehood and lies have a far more sinister goal in mind. He is not content to just spread strife and discord. Look at the proverb for today and not that the one filled with slander - does so not just to cause arguments - but also to separate a man from his friend. He has a target in view - and that target is a friendship of which he is very jealous. Why else would he desire to see this relationship destroyed. Once someone can penetrate your mind with slanderous gossip - it is hard to remedy the situation. The desire is to serarate a man from his friend - so that the one who sabatoged this relationship can see it destroyed. That way he can have a better one - or at least keep the two former friends from making his relationships look weak and feeble. There are some who just are not happy unless they are making others miserable. Be careful around such perverse, small-hearted people. They are filled with bitterness and hatred because they usually want what you have with a friend - but cannot get it because of their ungodly ways and how they are unable to maintain a relationship due to their own selfishness. Avoid these people like you would avoid the plague! He who conceals hatred has lying lips, And he who spreads slander is a fool. Proverbs 10:18
One might think on the first reading of this proverb that God is encouraging those who have hatred to let their mouths voice it openly. But you need to remember that many of the proverbs start with a basic statement - and then that statement is explained with an added comment that further defines it. That is the way to understand the proverbs. If we do not read them this way - it is easy to grab a partial proverb and make it say something it was never meant to say. What we have here is a proverb about hidden hatred later escaping through slander. The first part of this proverb speaks of one who is concealing their hatred by saying things they do not believe. An example of this is someone who says nice things or supportive things of someone when they are around that person. Inwardly they despise this person - but they do not allow their hatred to be expressed when around them. But do not be deceived by their lying lips - because deep within them they are churning with a hatred that will surface in time. Their hatred surfaces in what is said in the second part of this proverb. They begin to spread slander. They will not speak openly about their hatred of a person, a viewpoint, a decision, etc. But later they will begin a slander campaign to express their hatred. Put very plainly - they won't tell someone openly they hate them - but in private and with others they will let their hatred fly by slandering them often. The one who does this is a fool. The Scriptures says that it is better to openly rebuke someone than to secretly slander them. If there is a biblical issue that needs to be addressed, then address it privately with the person. If there is a view that needs to be opposed - then oppose it where a debate of ideas can be had. If there is a decision that is wrong - then openly state that it is wrong. To allow a hatred to build up in our hearts is not just foolish - it is dangerous. In time it will surface in slanderous gossip. We WILL eventually have our hatred come out - and when it does - it will not be pretty. You may not like someone who openly confronts you - who rebukes and questions a view you have taken - or who disagrees with you publically. But one thing is for sure. You have far more respect for someone who does this, then for someone who speaks open words of support - but follows them up with slanderous gossip when you are no longer around. Such a man is a fool - and his actions will come back to roost eventually. Speak the truth in love - and if you disagree with someone and do not feel God wants you to speak out - then love them by interceding for them. Hatred, gossip, and slander has NEVER helped any situation where it was used. It has only made for fools and for deep hurt by those who have been injured by it. "But he who sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love death." Proverbs 8:36
What happens when we do not live according to the wisdom of God? What happens when we reject God's view of things - beginning with His work in creation - and then widening to include an ever greater rejection of what He says and commands? That is what today's Proverb tackles. This proverb meantions two views of God's wisdom. The first is to sin against wisdom. The second is to hate it. This speaks progressively of where we go in life as we convince ourselves that it is OK to reject the wisdom of God. The first step is to sin against wisdom. The word used for "sin" here means to miss the mark. Things begin as we miss the mark concerning what God says. It starts as simple as rejecting a command of God - or questioning whether we can even trust what God says. We miss the mark. The Hebrew word is "hata" and it means to miss the mark - but it also means to go wrong, to sin. The word was used of those who would miss the mark as archers or slingers. They would miss the target. But it also meant someone who would fail to reach a goal. Some miss wisdom by simply being ignorant of it - or not having any desire to read or study God's Word so as to grow in it. Their missing the mark, though unintentional at first - grows into a basic level of ignorance which is willfull. They see no real need to get God's wisdom - seeing that they think so highly of their own. They will do just fine in their own thinking - therefore to spend time studying to know God's viewpoint is silly and unnecessary. When we live like this, the Bible tells us that we "injure" ourselves. Injure is the Hebew word "hamas" and it means to be violent - or to act violently or wrongly. It was used to describe unethical behavior. When we miss wisdom - we are hurting ourselves. It is not just an error we are committing - we are hurting and injuring ourselves. To reject God's wisdom is injurious to our well-being because God's ways are always best for us. This comes back to seeing that God created us - and therefore knows exactly what we need and what is the way we should live. If we are just the sum of purely accidental happenings over billions of years - it really does not matter what we do. Everything is meaningless anyway. But if we are the creation of God - there is not only a purpose - but a plan for us to follow to become what we were created to be and to do what we were created to do. The latter stages of mankind's rejection of God is to eventually hate wisdom. At first the wicked are just annoyed by the wisdom of God. They are annoyed at a being who would claim absolute power, wisdom, and authority. But soon that annoyance would grow to become anger - and anger will give rise to hatred. The hatred grows out of a rejection of the notion that anyone or anything besides us have the right to control or even comment on our lives. The more one runs up against God's commands and against the consequences of rejecting them - the more they resent the God Who wrote them. That is why any sin - embraced long enough will bring us to the point of hating God. It is alway why the Word of God says in James chapter 4 that friendship with the world is enmity against God - the one who loves the world, hates God. We are told that those who follow their sin to this point are ones who "love death." God came to give us life and life abundantly. His Word and His wisdom are filled with life. When we embrace it we receive an abundance of life and joy. But when we reject it - we begin to love death. It is fascinating to see how the more a society rejects God - the more it begins to embrace self-destructive, even death-loving behavior. This makes perfect sense when we see that a rejection of wisdom is the love of death. May God give us grace to learn to love His wisdom. May we learn to treasure what He says to us - and to also treasure what His Word relates concerning the origins of all that He has made. These choices will lead us to love and embrace God's wisdom. To do otherwise is to love death. We've watched our society reject God's wisdom over the years - and also embrace a culture of death more and more. May we be those who embrace wisdom - the the overflow of life that comes with it. Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, And do not deceive with your lips. Do not say, "Thus I shall do to him as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work." Proverbs 24:28-29
How important is it for a soceity to value telling the truth? One might argue that without this the ability of that soceity to function with any sort of justice is completely comprommised. There has to be a basic level of trustworthiness and honesty for a soceity to function. That is why our proverb for today is so important. It urges us to tell the truth - and not to be a witness against our neighbor without cause. Don't lie about your neighbor is what we are being told. This is especially the case when any kind of bitterness of thought of revenge comes into our minds. There is a basic level of honesty that must be prevelent for a soceity to function. Think for a moment about the number of transactions that take place every day that are based on the premise that we are being told the truth. Now consider the number of ponzie schemes that have been exposed recently in our financial system. This undermines everyone's confidence in the system itself. It is only when honesty and truth prevail that one can feel even remotely safe in a society. When that breaks down, the soceity itself breaks down. Unless there is the rule of law - and the most basic levels of truth in what we do - our society will wind up looking like a banana republic where almost everything you do will have to be accompanied by a bribe to be done. There will be no justice - and security will have to be maintained by how well you are armed. All this starts with the breakdown of honesty and truth between neighbors. This is why God tells us NEVER to be a false witness against our neighbor. We are not to give deceitful testimony - but rather to speak the truth. The breakdown of decency is not the fault of Washington. Decency broke down because we abandoned it toward our neighbors. What we have in Washington is what happens when a society in general leaves honesty and accepts growing levels of dishonesty in itself and in its leaders. We would not have the pack of dishonest, money-hungry, power-hungry fools leading us in our capitol accept for the fact that we ourselves did not DEMAND that our leaders be better than that. When faced with dishonesty in office, we should have DEMANDED RESIGNATIONS - and if that did not happen - they should have been told plainly that this is the last term they would ever serve as our representatives in government. Instead we traded truth for government hand-outs in the form of projects, grants, and every other way one can say government bribery without using the word bribe. Without honesty, truth, and integrity - we are doomed as a nation. Our proverb warns us in verse 29 that the worst way that dishonesty raises its ugly head is as a means of revenge. We are presented with a situation in which someone has been a false witness. We are warned not to decide that we will do to them what they have done to us. When we choose to fight fire with fire - everything and everyone gets burned. Scripture teaches us to turn the other cheek. We are informed to allow the proper government authorities to deal with these matters. We are also told that we are to treat others as we would have wanted to be treated ourselves. Know this . . . God is keeping track of all wrongs and His justice will prevail in the end. In the meantime - use every opportunity to show forth grace and mercy - so that you will also have opportunity to share the gospel - even with your enemies. Avoid revenge. It may give you a brief moment of pleasure at their pain - but in the end it will rot your soul. Give your offendedness to God for Him to heal - then embrace the very Spirit of Christ - Who will enable you to be gracioius to those who mistreat you, and will strengthen you to pray for those who abuse you. Then all will see that you are a son of your Father in heaven. Speak truth - be an honest witness - and leave judgment to God. Men of bloodshed hate the blameless, But the upright are concerned for his life. Proverbs 29:10
In a sinful and fallen world there is something that provokes the wicked when they see a man of true integrity. Today's proverb tells us about "men of bloodshed," and how they hate men of integrity. Men of bloodshed are those who have shed the blood of humans - they are either very violent men - or most often men who have murdered. When we think of murderers though, we need to see them in two ways. There are those who have crossed the line of literally taking someone's life by murdering them. But there is a second type of which the Scriptures speak that encompasses far more people than one would think. In Matthew 5 Jesus said these words, "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER ' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. (Matthew 5:21-22) This statement of Jesus shows us that pretty much everyone in the world is guilty of murder. If we've been angry with a brother or sister - called someone a derogatory name - we are guilty of murder before God. We are guilty enough to go into the fiery hell itself. This is where murder begins, in the mind. It is what God told Cain before he murdered Abel. God said to him, "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." (Genesis 4:7) Cain's murder of his brother Abel began as a thought - an angry, evil thought - which soon hatched into a heinous, murderous action. Sin always begins in the mind - and if we do not master it there - it will yield its wicked fruit in our actions. Murderous men hate men of character and godliness. The word hate here is the Hebrew word "sane" which means to hate, to consider another an enemy - to dislike, be hostile to, or to loathe another. It is the direct antonym of the Hebrew word "anab" which means to love. John wrote of this very incident between Cain and Abel. He said, "For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous." (1 John 3:11-12) This passage in 1 John tells us exactly what our proverb today is trying to tell us. The murderer hates the godly man. It should be noted that the word "blameless" does not mean without sin. It speaks of a person of integrity who desires to live a godly, moral life according to God's Word and God's precepts. This world does not love such a man - and the more ungodly they are - the more they hate him. We see this growing every day in our society. Just look at how Christians are portrayed in our world today - especially in the media. The hatred of the media elite and the ungodly in positions of power there drips off our television and movie screens. It is difficult, unless you are watching a movie produced by a Christian, to find positive Christian characters. This is because when a man's deeds are evil - he hates the people who pursue righteousness. Just an aside . . . we see this proverb lived out daily in the moral and cultural battle that is raging in our own nation today. This is especially true when we see the actions and words of the radical homosexual movement. The more the homosexual movement gains ascendency in our laws and in the movie and television industry - the more you will see this hatred grow. The radical homosexual movement absolutely despises biblical Christianity because the Bible is clear that homosexuality is sin. That will pit them against us - if we choose to remain true to the Word of God and preach the true gospel. But, our place is not to hate the homosexual - or for that matter anyone who hates us because we hold to biblical truth and morality. Our place is to love them even if they hate us and do violence to us in their cause to legitimatize what God calls sin. Remember what this world system did to our Lord - the ultimate blameless man of absolute integrity. He Himself told us if they hated Him, they would hate us as well. But we are NEVER to turn to violence to defend ourselves from such attacks. We must remain true to the gospel and win them by the love of God - and by the grace of His eternal gospel. The remainder of our proverb today states that the upright are concerned for the lives of the moral and those who walk in integrity. The literal translation of this would say, "But the upright seek his soul." We stand with the godly man of integrity - because we see that life is more than just the 70 or so years we spend on this planet. There is an eternal soul in each man - and that is what we should be most concerned with in life. There will come a day when the wicked will be loosed in a way that we have not seen before in our nation. Regardless of our most recent elections, there is not a moral, godly ascendency going on in our nation. If there was, such moral issues such as abortion, homosexual and heterosexual immorality, decency, and the moral debauchery of our nation would be put on the front burner as the real problems we face as a nation. As it is - we continue to worship the dollar - and when it finally crashes to the ground, which it will, we will face a country that will rip itself apart because we lack basic morality. In that day it will be difficult to stand with the "blameless man" in our nation. In some ways it already is. Franklin Graham has taken several biblical stands for righteousness and he is more and more being ripped apart in the public square. We should stand with him and with other men who stand for biblical righteousness. Even if it becomes increasingly difficult to do so - we need to be concerned with the souls and lives of such men. For according to this proverb . . . that is wisdom. |
 Proverb a DayEach day, we'll take a look at a verse from the chapter of Proverbs for the day. Our hope is to gain wisdom each day - and from that wisdom - to have understanding to make godly decisions in the throes of everyday life. 
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