Verse 4:
A sluggard does not plow in season;
so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
I’ve heard it said that this means in certain seasons we are called to make lots and lots of money. I find that somewhat of a troubling doctrine, especially if during that season things that should matter more than money fall by the wayside. I’m referring to God, friends, family, loved ones, etc. Should we really “push the plow” so hard that these things are neglected? I find that hard to believe.
On the other hand, there is something to be said for diligent and concerted planning. I have one friend who is a full-time IT consultant. As an independent contractor, there are times of plenty, and times of not-so-much. Sometimes he has a few contracts going on simultaneously. Other times, he’s pretty much jobless. And yet somehow, he and his wife (who’s a teacher) managed to buy a house here in Silicon Valley. But as far as I can tell, he’s never neglected the things that really matter.
To me, that’s diligent planning and doing a good job of “plowing in season” so that there is much during “harvest time”.
Verse 2:
It is not good to have zeal without knowledge,
nor to be hasty and miss the way.
This makes a lot of sense. If we’re going to be zealous for something, we’d better understand what we’re being zealous for. It seems a bit apropos to the Apostle Paul. It would even be ironic if we wrote it this way:
It is not good to have zeal without knowledge,
nor to be hasty and miss the Way.
Any Bible scholars catch my drift*? The early followers of Christ were said to belong to “the Way.” So if we re-write the passage with that in mind, we totally see how Paul’s zeal was misplaced, and he missed the Way. Paul was zealous for Judiasm. But he missed the gospel entirely. In Philippians 3, he lists his amazing credentials:
[He was] circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
In verses 7 and 8, he tells us of his folly:
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish…
So indeed, if we are to be zealous, we’d better be educated on where we’ve placed our zeal.
Verse 2:
A fool finds no pleasure in understanding
but delights in airing his own opinions.
This reminds me of those people in my life who are slow to listen and quick to speak. They interrupt and fail to hear me out, jumping to erroneous conclusions. It’s really frustrating, and good to know that Proverbs addresses such people.
Verse 11:
The wealth of the rich is their fortified city;
they imagine it an unscalable wall.
The following verses don’t expose this as folly, but I think it’s safe to assume that this is the implied conclusion. By the very fact that the word “imagine” is the operative word, I think it’s clear that wealth really isn’t a “fortified city” or an “unscalable wall”. I think we’ve all learned this lesson with the collapse of the economy.
Verse 13:
He who answers before listening—
that is his folly and his shame.
Another way to phrase verse 2.
Verse 22:
He who finds a wife finds what is good
and receives favor from the LORD.
Another reminder of the blessing of being married! I think it’s interesting how many times I’ve read this phrase, or something similar in Proverbs. But I’ve never read anything about the blessing of owning a house, or a car, or a boat, or stuff in general. The emphasis is almost never on material “stuff,” but it continues to emphasize the blessing of having a wife. Indeed, I’m blessed to have Charlene.
I’m not quite sure what happened the last week or so, but I completely missed Proverbs 5-12. I read them of course; I just never got around to posting about them here. Totally my bad. I guess they weren’t as interesting to me as the rest of the book has been. I think the first part is mostly about personifying Wisdom and Folly as well as warnings against the adulteress. Good warnings to be sure, but much harder to summarize or boil down into one or two verses.
They definitely weren’t the one or two liners found throughout the rest of the book.
In any case, I’m back on tomorrow with Proverbs 13. Likely, I’ll be off the horse for a few days after that because of the weekend. Weekends are always hard to post on. I have no idea why. I guess I just get busy with other things.
A few weeks, I did a post on Proverbs 23, which admonishes us not to strain to become rich. As a follow up, I love the message I found in the Mercury News a few weeks back. The article details the life of Jim Safka, former CEO of Ask.com. Through a series of unfortunate events, Jim Safka is confronted with his own mortality and decides he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life slaving away at some job. (Yes, CEOs can be slaves as well. They report to the Board of Directors and to the shareholders.)
So he quit his job at Ask.com and found something closer to home and with some more flexibility.
Sounds like he really took Proverbs 23 to hearth, perhaps without even knowing it.
Verse 3:
When I was a boy in my father’s house,
still tender, and an only child of my mother
This is an interesting bit of narrative. Solomon was the son of Bathsheba. The woman with whom David committed adultery. He subsequently murdered her husband, and tried to cover it all up. But God knew better. But this seems to indicate that (at least for a while) Solomon was an only child. I wonder if he was always an only child, or if Bathsheba and David subsequently had other children who are not mentioned. Interesting…
Verses 1-2:
My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you prosperity.
Seems to me that Solomon is not only admonishing his son, but us as well, that the wisdom contained in the Proverbs is useful for prolonging life and bringing about prosperity.
Verses 5-6:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Two of my favorite verses in the entire Bible, and the very first two I memorized. Such a great comfort and affirmation. When we trust in God with all that we are, He takes care of the rest and makes our paths straight. It’s only when we fail to do this that we end up in trouble.
Verse 7:
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.
An admonition to not be haughty or proud. It seems that fearing God and shunning evil go hand-in-hand.
Verse 6:
For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
This is why James so admonishes the “12 tribe scattered among the nations” to ask God for wisdom. He’s the only one who can truly give it to us.
Verse 12:
Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse
Does this seem to imply that wicked men are foolish? Not sure whether or not the context allows the converse to be true.
Verses 16-17:
[Wisdom] will save you also from the adulteress,
from the wayward wife with her seductive words,
who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God.
It’s an odd context to be reminded from. But this is a lesson Charlene and I learned in our pre-engagement class. When you make your wedding vows, they are not primarily to the other person. They are made primarily towards God. In that way, the other person’s actions have no bearing on our vows. It doesn’t matter what they do or what they say, the vows I made to God on my wedding day are still in effect.
According to this verse, the adulteress has ignored this covenant to God.
Verse 10:
My son, if sinners entice you,
do not give in to them.
Such a bold statement in the first Proverb. I like the admonition to refrain from being swayed by peer pressure.
Verse 20:
Wisdom calls aloud in the street,
she raises her voice in the public squares
I find it interesting that wisdom is personafied as a woman. (Not that women can’t be wise. I just find it an interesting way to anthropomorphize Wisdom.)
Charlene is already aware of this, but this was part of the set of criteria I was looking for in my future wife before we even started dating. I’ll do a more thorough analysis of some of the verses, but for now, here’s verse 10:
A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Indeed, a wife such as this is quite valuable. I am blessed to have a wife of noble character. They’re not impossible to find, but they are quite rare.