January Devotions

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<div> <A HREF="id10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="contact"><B>Pastor Cain</B></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="41"><div> <A HREF="id12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="map"><B><IMG SRC="03c0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="map"><B>Map</B></A></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="699" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 34 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><B>Back to calendar</B></A><A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><B> </B></A><A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><IMG SRC="0400e0e0.jpg" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></A>   </div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <B>For PREVIOUS PROVERBS : Scroll up, </B><I><B>OR</B></I><B>  Return to Devotional Calendar</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=357 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div>  <A NAME="january_1st"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="585" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 12:19</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> Lips of truth are established perpetually, </div> <div> but a lying tongue is perpetuated <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Bell MT" ><I>only as long as</I></FONT> I <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Bell MT" ><I>can</I></FONT> wink. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>    </B></FONT>The first half ends with the same Hebrew word which begins the second half: <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Gideon-Medium" >d[</FONT>, '<I>ad</I>'.  The word denotes progress, as in progress of time.  We have sought to reflect this dual use by "perpetually" and "perpetuated".  </div> <div>     Most translations have something like "for a moment", for the literal "I wink".  Sayings like "in the wink of an eye" are common enough for us to retain a literal rendering here.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Truthful lips</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A lying tongue </div> <bR> <div> Their Outcomes<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Erected perpetually</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Last only as long as a blink</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The certainty of an outcome 'contracts' time and space, so to speak.  When we already know what is going to happen, the event can be practically present before it happens.  If I have dropped a ball on the floor nine times and caught it on the bounce each time, I can anticipate the results of a tenth drop with a great deal of certainty.  Before that tenth drop happens, the expectation is technically a matter of faith, but that does not make it uncertain.  </div> <div>     Solomon, in his continuous training of our faith vision, wants us to anticipate certain future outcomes with a great deal of certainty.  He wants us to 'contract' time and bring a future event near <I>by faith</I>.  In this verse there are two future certainties under consideration.  The second one is taken with the stronger 'contraction' of time.  The fizzling out of a lying tongue, the frustrated end of its career, is presented as occurring by the time I can finish blinking my eye.  That is a powerful contraction of time.  I am, by faith, to bring into the very immediate present the future certainty that the lying tongue will fail.  </div> <div>     Why do I need to do this?  First, because in the present a lying tongue can seem to be very effective and therefore desirable.  Also, so that when I am tempted to lie, I can know that that lie is <I>not </I>going to attain the end I desire.  <I>It </I>will fail, and <I>I </I>will fail as long as I stand by it (and oh how hard it is to abandon a lie once it is spoken!).</div> <div>     On the other hand, lips that speak certainties rather than falsehoods are promised to be unshakeable in the final analysis.  Why do I need to know that?  Because truthful lips quite often seem to promise a shaky outcome in the present; and because I can <I>feel </I>pretty shaky when I know that the truth will be misunderstood, outright rejected, or, worst of all, will get me in trouble.  If I can, by faith, bring the future certainty of truth's vindication <I>near</I>, I can calm myself and proceed with confidence.</div> <bR> <div>     A final note:  lying includes agreeing to untruths which the Church has settled on, sometimes for generations.  It is a full-time and ongoing  job of the Church to insure that its version of the Truth is as Biblical as possible and always becoming more Biblical.  It will not help us when we face Christ as judge of our deeds that "I only believed what everyone else did" on this or that doctrine, or that we believed what smart people did.  Christ considers His words clear and sufficient.  The Church's studiousness in Scriptures does not presently reflect agreement with Him on this.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="jan_2"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="441" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 12:20</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" >Deceit </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" >in the heart of those who forge evil,</FONT></div> <div> but for those who counsel peace <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Bell MT" ><I>there is</I><I> </I></FONT> joy. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Those who plot (lit., "plow") evil</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Those who advise peace</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Deceit is in their hearts</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">They receive joy</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The previous verse dealt with <I>lying</I>, now this one continues with <I>deceit</I>.  The bad traits being related, we can also assume a relation of the good traits; therefore, a truthful tongue is also a tongue that counsels peace.  They are both 'genetically' transferred traits from one Father.</div> <div>     The main comparison of this proverb is between what <I><B>dwells </B></I><I>in the heart</I> of one kind of person (deceit) versus what <I><B>comes </B></I><I>to the heart</I> of another (joy).  The two activities that identify these  characters <I>and </I>cause their results are the <I><B>de</B></I><I>vising </I>of evil and the <I><B>ad</B></I><I>vising </I>of peace.  The plotter of unrighteous things can never be rid of the <I>deceit </I>in his heart.  The one whose overall blueprint for others is peace can expect <I>joy </I>to come to his heart.  </div> <div>     The advising or counseling of peace is more than just sitting down to settle disputes when they arise.  It is a general philosophy in our dealings with others.  It is seeking their well-being (one of the meanings of the Hebrew word for peace, "shalom").  It is likely that Jesus had this verse in mind when He said "Blessed are the peacemakers".  A peace-maker is peace-worker / deviser, not too far from the literal meaning of the phrase in our verse (one version actually translates it "those who devise peace").</div> <div>     There is an interesting comparison here between deceit and joy.  They are depicted as completely incompatible.  Therefore, for people whom joy seems to elude, it is likely that deceit governs a large part of their lives.  This is quite ironic, because deceitful plotters are trying desperately to make things work to their advantage.  They are actually trying to <I>bring </I>joy to themselves; but it will always elude them.  Even if they get their hands on whatever prize they were seeking, they will find that real joy is the farthest thing from their expected reward.</div> <div>      By the way, plotting evil includes plotting substandard righteousness.  Many a Christian's general plans are those of God's kingdom with a small but significant slice of his own agenda wedged in.  As long as the deceit is in their hearts (as our proverb says it is), they can certainly only expect to have an effected joy, at least to the degree their deceit rules.</div> <div>     Joy is a gift of God as, through Him, is the reward of a good conscience testifying that we have sought the well-being of men, not our own ends nor their hurt.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="jan_3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="550" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FF9999 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> <B>Prov 12:21</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> All <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Bell MT" ><I>meaningless </I></FONT>trouble shall not approach the righteous,</div> <div> but the immoral shall be filled with unpleasantness.</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >The key word of the verse is the one translated "meaningless trouble".  The Hebrew is 'aven', with a root meaning "to pant, hence to exert oneself, usually in vain."  It is translated properly by everything from "affliction" to "idolatry" to "iniquity / wickedness" (by far the most).  Affliction would seem to be the closest meaning here, but since the term is carrying so much weight, the additional word "meaningless", part of the root meaning (and where the connection to idolatry arises), seems helpful.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The righteous</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The immoral / wicked </div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">No vain difficulty can come near him</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Shall have bad things to the full</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon is not trying to pose a difficulty here.  He comes to his proverbs with the assumption that other inspired books are at our disposal, and so the book of Job.  There it is written in the conclusion that all Job's kindred and friends came to him and</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><B>... comforted him as to all the </B><B>evil</B><B> that </B><B>Jehovah had brought</B><B> on him.</B><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Job 42:11</B></FONT><B>  </B></div> <bR> <div>     This was not a difficulty to Solomon as it is to most modern readers.  Our verse today is a commentary on the same subject, but it is not a contradiction.  The fact that it could seem so to us is evidence of two facts:  1)  we read superficially and miss basic meanings; 2)  we do not come to the Bible with fundamental lessons under our belt.  Solomon is assuming that since we have the book of Job, we have mastered the basic lesson of the book.  What is that lesson?  That God can oversee 'bad' things coming into our lives for good purposes; that bad things in a Christian's life <I>are </I>for a good purpose; and that the greatest purpose of all is knowing God better.  </div> <div>     Hence, the underlying problem of man is that we don't know God very well, and nothing short of cataclysm seems to shake us from our ignorance.  Even someone who knew God better than anyone in his day (Job 1:8) needed to know Him better (Job 42:5).</div> <div>     So, summarizing Job with the two definitions of "bad" that confuse us:  "Bad" things came into Job's life, but nothing "bad" happened to him in the process, because God had His hand on the situation, and He intended to work it to Job's good.  "Bad" things happened (unpleasant events), but nothing "bad" happened (separation from God, who is our ultimate Good).  In fact, <I>worse </I>things happened than Job's loss of possessions, children, and health:  Job began <I>arguing </I>with God and justifying himself.  But even this "evil" could not thwart God's plan to do Job good.</div> <div>     Therefore, it is quite true that "all affliction shall not approach the righteous".  It shall not enter his soul with any permanent harm.  It can only do the temporary damage of fire, but it is the fire of the gold refiner, melting the gold, exposing its impurities, but then removing them, leaving only pure gold in the end.  You might say that afflictions happen 'all around' the righteous, but not directly <I>to </I>him, because his true experience, one beyond his own senses, is God working the image of Christ in him.  Or you might say that it is never the "meaningless trouble" of blind chance that happens to a Christian, but only the "meaningful trouble" of God's refining fire.</div> <div>     We are not playing word games.  Depending on how we context ourselves, we <I>can </I>say that evil happens to Christians; but we have to include the final definition, the one that outlasts the other, and that is that no evil ultimately takes hold of a Christian.  If our circumstances are part of God's plan, they cannot be ultimately evil as far as they concern us.  So evil, yes, and evil, no; we must just be sure and define our terms, considering the <I>narrow</I>, but keeping the <I>whole </I>picture in view.</div> <div>     And the whole picture includes what happens to non-Christians.  The verse quoted above from Job uses the same word for evil that is tranlated "unpleasantness" in the second half of our verse.  So Job got 'bad circumstances' as part of the cosmic (and earthly) <I>good </I>being done him.  The unrighteous only get the 'bad circumstances' as part of the overall <I>bad </I>that is happening to them; that is, that they are separated from God and therefore abandoned to sin.  Since all they can ultimately have is bad, they are guaranteed to be <I>filled </I>with bad day by day, even when it is "good" (riches, enjoyment, prestige ...).  In fact, the 'good' things enjoyed by unbelievers probably have the highest actual 'badness' rating in the ultimate sense, because the 'benefits' tend to keep them from realizing their spiritual predicament.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="jan_4"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="483" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99CCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 12:22</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" >Lying lips </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" >hateful to Jehovah, </FONT></div> <div> but those who deal faithfulness <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Bell MT" ><I>are</I> </FONT>His delight. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>   </B></FONT><B> </B>"Hateful" is from the Hebrew word for abomination:  that which God rejects at a heart level.</div> <div> <B>    </B>"Deal faithfulness" could be simply translated "do the truth".</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Lying lips</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Those who work truth</div> <bR> <div> God's Reactions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">God hates</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">God's delight</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This is the third of four such comparisons.  Prov. 11:1, 11:20, 12:22, and 15:8 all use the same "Hateful / delight" comparison.  "Hateful" or "abomination" is used twenty times altogether in Proverbs, but our four verses give the most complete turnaround of emotional responses in God (and remember that His emotions are part of His righteous perfections); that is, all the way from what <I>repulses </I>Him to what makes Him <I>smile</I>.  These four verses are, therefore, especially instructive.  The first one deals with fair business practices, the second with basic heart dispositions, and the last with religious exercises; the third one, our proverb today, deals with truthfulness.</div> <div>     God is unchangeable.  One aspect of this attribute is that God does not have to decide what His response is to any of the above-mentioned areas.  He does not have to think whether He hates one lifestyle or practice and delights in another.  These responses are an eternal part of His character.  Nor did God <I>ever </I>have to decide what His character would be.  He is now as He always was.  He will always hate the same things and delight in the same things which He always has <I>because of who He is</I>.  The basis of His responses?  Righteousness.  Nor is righteousness a standard outside of God; it, too, is part of His eternal character.</div> <div>     Especially relevant to our proverb today is God's relation to truth and His relation to limitations.  It is in the area of truthfulness that Scripture gives the clearest word on a kind of limitation in God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Heb 6:18</B></I></FONT><B>  so that by two immutable things, in which </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>it was</B></I></FONT><B> </B><B><U>impossible </U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B><U>for</U></B></I></FONT><B><U> God to lie</U></B><B>, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>us</B></I></FONT><B> </B></div> <bR> <div>     The two immutable things spoken of are God's promise to Abraham, then His oath on top of that.  We are interested, however, in the statement that it is <I>impossible </I>for God to do something.  It is impossible for Him to lie.  Is that a <I>limitation </I>in God?  Not in His ability, for He is still able to do all He desires.  A limitation in His character, then?  Not unless lying would <I>improve </I>God's character.  If lying would <I>diminish </I>God's character, then <I>lying </I>is the limiting factor.  He remains unlimited, then, by His <I>rejection </I>of lying.  Unfortunately, we have been influenced  with moral relativism in our day to the point that we think God needs to have the option to lie in order to remain unlimited.</div> <div>     So God naturally responds with hatred towards lying.  Lying is not a choice He <I>could </I>make, since His soul consents only to truth; therefore, neither is lying a practice He can <I>countenance </I>or even be <I>ambivalent </I>towards.  He <I>must </I><B>hate </B>lying.  </div> <div>     Well then, so should <I>we </I>hate lying.  In fact, this is a very necessary part of speaking the truth; we have to actually <I>hate </I>lying to really <I>avoid </I>lying.  If we merely <I>prefer </I>not to lie, we will eventually be put in a spot where we <I>will </I>lie.</div> <div>     For those who love to tell only the truth (and whatever we truly love automatically dictates what we hate), they have God's delight.  God is moved with favor towards those who not only tell the truth, but <I>deal </I>truthfully in all ways with all people.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="jan_5"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="541" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 96 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 12:23</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> An insightful man conceals knowledge, </div> <div> but the heart of dullards cries aloud <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Bell MT" ><I>their </I></FONT>senselessness. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >This is the first time this Hebrew word for fools has been used since chapter ten.  Its root meaning is "fat", and we have translated it "dullards" (from BDB).</FONT></div> <div> <B>    </B>This is the second time we've heard about the "insightful" man, from a Hebrew root meaning "to make bare."  In 12:16 we introduced him as the savvy person, the sharp-minded one.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A keen man</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A dullard's heart</div> <bR> <div> Their Defining Activities<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Conceals knowledge</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Calls out stupidity</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     It is remarkable how many proverbs depict the wise man 'playing his cards close to his chest'.  The wise man almost sounds secretive, but then we read proverbs that reveal the healing activities of the wise man's outgoing words and acts.  Putting these factors together, we surmise that a wise man always speaks from a backdrop of silent thoughtfulness and then only what <I>should </I>be spoken in the situation.</div> <div>     Our verse characterizes the insightful fellow by his attitude towards knowledge.  He conceals it.  This doesn't mean that <I>all </I>he does is conceal it, but it means that he knows how, contrary to human impulse, to hold knowledge in reserve.  </div> <div>     What do most people do with knowledge?  Spill it.  That's right, when knowledge is revealed at the <I>wrong time</I>, it's just as bad as not even airing the knowledge when it's needed; prematurely relayed, knowledge is a waste, a spill. And that's what our verse says the dullard does.  He 'spills his guts', as the saying goes; not too far from a literal rendering of our verse.  </div> <div>     So the dullard can also be characterized by <I>his </I>attitude towards information.  He sees no need to guard his mouth.  If it's something that has occurred to <I>him</I>, everyone else may as well know it too.  There is no screening process in his mind; or, rather, his screening process is self-approving.  His heart only knows how to display his ability to size things up, which, contrary to his own opinion, is actually an <I>in</I>ability.  As Solomon says elsewhere:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Eccl 10:3</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>   Yes also, when the fool walks by the way, his heart fails him, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Even the way a simpleton walks down the road betrays his folly.</div> <bR> <div>     There are some very important matters that simply should not be presently revealed.  Much of this restraint has to do with a wise assessment of the readiness of our audience to hear.  This is even true of Biblical knowledge, but in that case, it is shameful if we are unprepared to receive what God has spoken:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Heb 5:11</B></I></FONT><B>  of whom [Melchizedek] we </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>have</B></I></FONT><B> much to say, and hard to be explained since you are dull of hearing. </B></div> <bR> <div>     May it never be the case that our pastors withhold truth from us because of our preference for ignorance!  Their silence would thus amplify the cry of our hearts that we are senseless.  (You might be surprised- rather it should be ashamed- at what your pastor is not telling you.)</div> <div>  </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="jan_6"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="451" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 12:24</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The hand of the hard worker shall rule, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" >but the lazy ones will become forced labor. </FONT> </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >The Hebrew for "hard worker" means "incisive".  It was used earlier in Proverbs as "gold" (as something dug with an 'incisive' tool).  Perhaps "digger" would be a more literal rendering.</FONT></div> <div>     The Hebrew for "lazy" is another word used slightly differently by Solomon than other Old Testament writers.  Everywhere else, this word is translated by forms of the word "deceit".</div> <div>     The basic meaning of "forced labor" is "burden".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The digger's hand</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The shiftless ("hand" can be supplied from the first half of the verse; so "the shiftless man's hand")</div> <bR> <div> Their Defining Activities<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Rules</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is put to burdensome work</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This is the second time we've met this pair.  In 10:4 we read:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 10:4</B></I></FONT><B>  He who deals </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>with</B></I></FONT><B> a </B><B><U>lazy</U></B><B> hand becomes poor; but the hand of the </B><B><U>hard worker</U></B><B> makes rich. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Now we also learn that in the human 'food chain,' the guy who keeps at it will eventually gain higher authority and the fellow who shirks responsibility will fall under more despotic oversight.  </div> <div>     Lazy people simply can't hold a position of responsibility on their own.  They may be able to delegate work, blameshift, bluster, or make excuses, but eventually their distance from the actual work will catch up with them.</div> <div>     Almost everyone has lazy tendencies.  Most of us learn to overcome these tendencies when their attendant unpleasantries begin to surface.</div> <div>     We noted above the kinship between laziness and deceit in the Hebrew.  The lazy person is a natural deceiver.  <I>As </I>he abandons tasks, he is writing his script should he be questioned; he even includes acting directions ("make pitiful face," etc.) to pull off his sham.</div> <div>     The lazy person may not be altogether unproductive in life; it's just that he'll have to have someone 'sitting on top of him' to see that he follows through.  (For example, prominent men are oftentimes lazy men who were driven to their status by their wives.)</div> <bR> <div>     The 'ditch-digger' personality is driven somewhat similarly, except it is not some overlord who has to 'sit on him.'  His <I>own motivations</I> drive the diligent man.  Usually he has a combination of motives:  knowledge that the work needs to be done, so I may as well do it right and on time; knowledge that higher, more desirable positions assume greater diligence; knowledge that sustenance only comes through work; shame at the thought of being considered lazy.  Of course, the supreme motivation for the godly worker is the fear of God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Col 3:22 - 25</B></I></FONT><B>  Slaves, obey </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>your</B></I></FONT><B> masters according to the flesh in all things; </B><B><U>not with eye-service</U></B><B>, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.  And whatever you do, do </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>it</B></I></FONT><B> </B><B><U>heartily</U></B><B>, as to the Lord and not to men;  knowing that </B><B><U>from the Lord you shall receive the reward</U></B><B> of the inheritance. For </B><B><U>you serve </U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B><U>the</U></B></I></FONT><B><U> Lord Christ</U></B><B>.  But he who does wrong </B><B><U>shall receive </U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>justice</B></I></FONT><B> </B><B><U>for the wrong</U></B><B> which he did, and there is no respect of persons. </B></div> <div> <B> </B><B> </B></div> <div>     Even a slave can bear rule, by the way:</div> <bR> <div> <I> </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Prov 17:2</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  A wise servant shall have rule over a son who causes shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brothers. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Not all paths to greater dominion are the same.  Of course we remember Joseph in prison.  Even as a faithful prisoner he rose in responsibility and esteem.  Remember, God is the rewarder, so we <I>will </I>rise to our proper place of service.  If you feel you are diligent and <I>un</I>rewarded, remember two things:</div> <div> 1)  You may be basically diligent with a certain stubborn area of laziness that needs to be dealt with.  God would be unwise to raise you to the next level with this remaining handicap;</div> <div> 2)  The 'job description' God has for you at the next level may have an automatically longer 'prerequisite' training period in the lower position(s).  Moses spent 40 years out of Egypt before coming back to his assigned work.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="jan_7"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="399" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 12:25</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down,</div> <div> But a good word makes it glad. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Heart worry</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A positive word</div> <bR> <div> Their Effects<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Prostrates / depresses the heart</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Makes the heart glad</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Something from <I>inside </I>a man, with no other source than himself, can be like a large rock in his soul, weighing him down.  Something from <I>outside </I>of man, a word spoken by another, can enter the heart and brighten it, lifting the weight and dispelling the worry.</div> <div>     Technically, the word spoken doesn't even have to be from someone else:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>1 Sam 30:6</B></I></FONT><B>   And it greatly distressed David, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, each one for his sons and for his daughters.  But David </B><B><U>encouraged himself</U></B><B> in Jehovah his God.</B><B> </B></div> <bR> <div>     Anxiety needs no more motivation than a person's negative imagination.  Many people commit suicide every day who seemed to have 'everything going for them'.  Ugliness of situation is in the eye of the beholder, and some people just tend to see mostly ugliness.  This is not to say that there is no ugliness in the world.  There may even be more ugliness than good (based on rewards given on the last day); but Solomon is saying that a person's <I>response </I>to life is what matters.  </div> <div>     Again, Joseph in prison could have focused on his brothers' hatred and betrayal, Potiphar's unjust sentence, his lack of prospects for release.  All of these no doubt plagued Joseph's mind, but he made himself listen to a better voice.  Something (actually Someone) was telling him that an ultimately good purpose was being worked out through all of this.  God had revealed things to him, and God would not now abandon him.  </div> <div>     A very basic and a very simple lesson confronts us here.  "Gospel" means "good message" in Greek.  If our heart is not gladdened by it, have we really received the Gospel?  If we are not basically glad people, what realistic claim do we have to being a Christian?  We are not talking about a saccharine, superficial gladness here.  Nor are we talking about a gladness that categorically refuses negative thoughts, such as conviction of sin.  Jesus said:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B> </B><I><B>Matt 5:4</B></I></FONT><B>   </B><B>Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B> </B></FONT><B> </B></div> <bR> <div>     It is not those who bypass sadness who receive comfort; it is those who <I>go through</I> the sadness God intends.  We are sinners, and if we are not sorrowful for our sins and sinfulness, this is just as sure a sign that we have never understood the Gospel.  The glad word from God is not, "Be glad. I am God," for as God, He is just as much Judge.  The glad word from God is, "Be glad.  I am Savior."  And a savior saves from something.  Salvation from poverty, loneliness, and a negative attitude?  Thus much of the modern Church would have it.  But no, salvation is from <I>sin</I>.  If you're not a sinner, you don't qualify for the gospel.  If the salvation isn't saving you from sin, it doesn't qualify as salvation.  So what is sin?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>1 John 3:4</B></I></FONT><B>   Everyone who is a sinner goes against the Law, for sin is </B><B><U>going against the Law</U></B><B>.</B><B> </B></div> <bR> <div>     What is the Law?  </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Rom 13:8, 9</B></I></FONT><B>  Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves another has fulfilled </B><B><U>the Law</U></B><B>.   For: "Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not lust;" and if </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>there is</B></I></FONT><B> any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." </B></div> <bR> <div>     Paul puts the Ten Commandments at the heart of the Law.  Love for God and love for man is a summary of the Ten Commands (and all God's laws).  Let us ask, then, d<I>o </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT>we keep God's commands; that is, do we love sufficiently?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Rom 7:14, 15</B></I></FONT><B>  For we know that the </B><B><U>law is spiritual</U></B><B>, but </B><B><U>I am carnal</U></B><B>, sold under sin.   For that which I do, I know not.  For what I desire, that I do not do; but what I hate, that I do. </B></div> <bR> <div>     So much of the modern gospel is an attempt to squelch this admission.  But <I>the </I>Gospel is a gladdening word, not by denial of my sinfulness, but by an admission that this is the kind of person God came to save!  As Paul closes out this chapter:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Rom 7:24, 25</B></I></FONT><B>  O </B><B><U>wretched man </U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B><U>that</U></B></I></FONT><B><U> I </U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B><U>am </U></B></I></FONT><B>!  Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?   </B><B><U>I thank God</U></B><B> through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then with the mind I myself serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Paul can easily say both things in one breath, because that is simply the nature of the Gospel.  The Gospel gladdens me because it meets me right down in the muck of my sinfulness.  And I accept the ongoing struggle with sin.  Part of me will always be a reminder of who I was; but the real me will be serving God (and notice in the verse that this service is by thinking on God's Law). </div> <bR> <div>     We should say more about the need for speaking kind and encouraging words to other people, but let us be clear that the kindest word is the Gospel, and the Biblical Gospel has been misplaced today, by and large.</div> <div>     So if you are a Christian, you should be glad because of God's word of kindness- the Gospel.  With this gladness, you should speak good words to others in two ways:</div> <div> 1)  Specifically- by the same Gospel that saved you;</div> <div> 2)  Generally- by giving uplifting words to bring people out of discouragement or keep them from it. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="jan_8"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="535" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CC9999 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 12:26</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The righteous investigates more than<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#333333" FACE="Bell MT" ><I> </I></FONT>his neighbor <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#333333" FACE="Bell MT" ><I>does</I></FONT>, </div> <div> but the way of the wicked leads them astray. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >The Hebrew for "investigates" means "seek, search out, spy out, explore".  It is translated in a fairly wide variety of ways, but this rendering seems sufficiently straightforward.</FONT></div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The righteous</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The immoral</div> <bR> <div> Their Defining Activities<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Searches / analyzes more than his neighbor</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His path causes him to stray</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The righteous man is righteous because he knows that righteousness is <I>not native</I> to himself.  He is righteous because he knows righteousness has to be <I>imported </I>into a human being.  Righteousness, then, is able to come <I>into </I>him because he has realized that righteousness does <I>not </I>flow <I>from </I>him.  This gives a righteous man a good foundation for being fairly objective.  He knows not to look to himself for true standards.  True standards are <I>outside </I>himself, in God and in His Word.  Thus, the righteous man <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><I><B>investigates </B></I></FONT>his path in life.  The only way he can know if he is right is by investigation.  His intuition fails him automatically.  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><I><B>Intuition </B></I></FONT>is the way of the immoral, according to our verse; <I>his </I>path, the path that is native and natural to him, leads him into error.</div> <div>     So a righteous man is a <I>thinking </I>man.  Furthermore, he is self-critical.  Ironically, this gives him great confidence in his life choices.  Because he has <I>not </I>listened to his heart, as the world would have him do, he is able to discern with great accuracy the factors before him and within himself, subject them to the light of Scriptures, and come to valid conclusions.  </div> <div>    The world tells us to trust our hearts because it has wholly abandoned any hope of finding objective truth;  I just have to find <I>my </I>truth and you have to find <I>yours</I>.  Unfortunately, many Christians follow only a slight variation on that theme.  They say, "You go by your interpretation of Scripture, and I'll go by mine."  Or even more subjectively (subjective = opposite of objective), "You go by what the Holy Spirit is telling you, and I'll go by what He's telling me."  By our verse, God would define someone who is truly sold on this approach as wicked, as verified by Jesus' warning:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Matt 7:22, 23</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord!  Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works?  And then I will say to them I never knew you!  Depart from Me, those working lawlessness! </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Concerning the 'Every man for himself' approach to interpreting Scripture, possibly the most important issue the Church <I>ever </I>has to decide is:  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>Has God spoken clearly in His Word?</B></FONT>  At the root of this question is the further question:  Did God have the power to convey His words in the Bible exactly as He wished?  Strangely, in our day the Church generally answers a hazy kind of Yes to this, but then proceeds to treat the Bible as a very <I>unclear </I>word.  Individual Christians almost feel forced to abandon a strict interpretation of Scriptures because of some passage they have encountered that stymied them one way or another.  Then, because of this personal failure to understand Scriptures, they have proceeded to some alternative means of arriving at God's will.  It is almost always Scripture <I>in combination with</I> some form of human wisdom: Scriptures where they say what I understand, church maxims where those are easier to grasp.  The problem is, everyone considers the maxims as Spirit-taught truth.</div> <div>     Solomon is admonishing us in this very matter today.  He is reminding us that the righteous man avoids being led astray by understanding that truth is <I>outside </I>himself, <I>in </I>Scriptures.  The Christian can investigate his path because he has something to investigate it <I>by</I>.</div> <div>     Now for the four-letter word:  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>work</B></FONT>.  Yup, you can't investigate, you can't be a thinking person, unless you sit down with your Scriptures and <I>work </I>to understand them.  Thanks be to God for learned, spiritual men, who in their teachings <I>give </I>us the reasons they came to this or that conclusion- give them so clearly that we can go back and repeat the same route of reasoning, give them so thoroughly that we can defend our position under cross-examination.  Good teachers produce more good teachers.  Good teachers are investigators who produce investigative Christians.  The spirit that they attain is one of caution:  <I>my </I>intuitions will lead me astray.  It's frighteningly easy to assign my own intuitions to the Holy Spirit's leading.  I'd better be <U>very sure</U> that my decisions are thoroughly in line with the written Word of God.</div> <div>     The path of righteousness also therefore necessitates sufficient time in prayer to investigate myself in God's presence and to return from any straying tendencies.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="jan_9"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="453" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 12:27</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The slothful man doesn't pursue his prey, </div> <div> But the possessions of diligent men are valued. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >The Hebrew for "pursue" is only used this once in Scriptures.  It can either mean to entangle, to set in motion / start, or to roast.</FONT></div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The lazy</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The industrious</div> <bR> <div> Their Defining Activities<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Doesn't catch / start after  his prey</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Values his possessions</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This is the pair we just studied in 12:24; the deceitful/ lazy  and the  incisive/ digger-man/ industrious fellow.  The first time we saw the shiftless and the diligent compared was in 10:4.  The first comparison was between their relative <I>accumulation </I>and <I>loss </I>of assets; the second was between their relation to authority, being more <I>in </I>authority versus <I>under </I>harsher rule.  Our verse today makes an interesting third to the triptych.  Today we consider their <I>attitudes </I>towards their possessions/ their acquisition of them.  In a way, this is a more basic description than the first two; it is more at the root of who each man really is.  </div> <div>     The two proverbs since 12:24 have indicated that a lazy man is a man who has abandoned hope (12:25), and that he doesn't bother with questions about the importance of life; he's satisfied with an animal existence (12:26).  Now we expand on this overall view of life by further showing his <I>detachment </I>from life as a creature made in God's image.  </div> <div>     The shiftless man's bottom line is avoiding the difficulties of responsibility, so he actually ends up defining himself as a lesser being.  It's not that he is humble- he is hopelessly vain.  He sees responsible people as stupid ants running around with all energy, no purpose.  He sees himself as a kind of king, more important than the masses.  Life's purpose is enjoyment, right?  I don't enjoy work, so I'd be denying life's purpose to get too caught up in it.  The lazy deceiver, of course, fails to see that man was meant to find enjoyment <I>in </I>his work, as in all aspects of life.</div> <div>     So the shiftless man's attitude towards the pursuit of sustenance is: if it's going to be too involved, I'd better not get started on something I probably can't finish.  If it's a rabbit that needs catching for dinner- well, you know how rascally those rabbits are.  I could sight one after another and have them all still slip my grasp.  I'm actually ahead of the game by just sitting here, you know, because at the end of the day, I'll at least still have some energy.  If I had fruitlessly sought rabbits, I'd be exhausted <I>and </I>hungry.</div> <div>     The diligent fellow is different.  He is not detached from life.  He has some real comprehension of the whole fabric of earthly existence and his part in it.  He sees that work is part of that whole.  He sees that what he <I>gains </I>by work is to be responsibly used; that is part of <I>its </I>purpose.  So the rabbit is appreciated for its part in my sustenance.  It is worth chasing, preparing, cooking well, enjoying, and cleaning up afterwards.  The lazy fellow might be inspired to go after the rabbit, but he could break off his pursuit at any point.  If he was lucky enough to bag a hare at first sighting, he might cut corners at any following stage, even failing to thoroughly clean or cook the beast.</div> <div>     So there are the two ends of a wide spectrum.  On the one end is the fellow who won't be bothered following through on the acquisition of food, shelter, and related possessions.  On the other end is the fellow who not only gets started, but sees things through to the acquiring, <I>valuing, </I>and therefore proper use<I> </I>of what he gains.  He has a house; he is going to keep it in good repair.  He has a car; he is going to maintain it so it can be dependable.  He has a job; he is going to do it well, for his own sake and the company's sake which provides for him.  </div> <bR> <div>     Oftentimes lazy people use Christianity as a cover, usually to elicit help from the Christian community.  Paul says not to feed them if they won't work (2 Thess. 3:10).</div> <div>     Then there are also those seek to amass wealth because they love money, but who use the Christian work ethic to justify their greed.  Paul warns them of the danger of having more than they, by God's specific grace in this area, can handle.  <I>Any </I>abundance is dangerous, not because of itself, but because of our natural avarice:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>1 Tim 6:9</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  But those purposing to be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="jan_10"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="403" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 12:28</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> In the <B>road </B>of righteousness <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Bell MT" ><I>is </I> </FONT>life, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" >And the <B>way </B>of </FONT><I>that </I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" ><B>path </B></FONT><I>is</I><I> </I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" >no death!</FONT></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Words of the Verse</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>    </B></FONT>There are three different Hebrew words for a path in this verse (in bold print above).  Any of them might be translated "road", "path", or "way" in a given verse.  The word in the first half of the verse may imply more of a highway or main thoroughfare.  The word translated "path" may imply more of a personal trail, one marked out because used.  When they are used together, their various shades of meaning are brought out, and each particular shading is dependent on the relation to the group.  We might translate the second half, "and the <U>manner</U> of that <U>course</U> is the negation of death."</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Described:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The road of righteousness</div> <bR> <div> Its Definitions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Holds life</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The way of its path excludes death</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is another of Solomon's wide, categorical statements.  He is commending the Christian way as highly as he can.  If he is overstating his case, he is, of course, a liar.  Because he is under Divine influence in his writing, though, we may be sure that he is not merely 'selling' his personal brand of religion.  He is a voice from God warning us that there is only one path of life; that it is so <I>full </I>of life, that those who neglect it are being most ignorant and stubborn.  He is also giving us another tell-tale mark of the hypocrite- someone who has a big pious act (even if it's just an easy-going persona), but whose habit of life includes death traits (unrighteousness).</div> <div>     "In the <B>road </B>of <B>righteousness </B>is <B>life</B>."  This is first of all <I>in</I>clusive; <I>all </I>on this road <I>have </I>this possession.  It is secondly <I>ex</I>clusionary; those not on this road are <I>absent </I>this possession- life.  </div> <div>     The primary reference of the verse is to Someone who is called all three things: <B>road </B>("I am the Way"), <B>righteousness </B>("who became for us ... Righteousness"), and <B>life </B>("I am ... the Life").  Therefore, those who have Jesus have righteousness; and those who have righteousness have life.  </div> <div>     This is first of all true with reference to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><U>justification</U></FONT>.  In justification, righteousness is a gift put on our account.  Since we had no righteousness (or, rather, had an anti-righteousness), Christ had to be a righteous man on our behalf.  His righteousness is the only one that is acceptable to God, which the Trinity <I>did </I>accept in order to <I>credit </I>it to Their chosen people.</div> <div>     This is second of all true with reference to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" ><U>sanctification</U></FONT>.  Those whom Jesus <I>declares </I>righteous (justifies), He also <I>makes </I>righteous (sanctifies).  Those who are justified are destined to be perfectly righteous in H<I>eaven</I>.  Part of the proof that they are on the way to Heaven is that the process has unmistakably begun <I>here </I>on earth.  Righteousness <I>will </I>be manifested in a child of God's life.</div> <div>     By the way, how did Solomon and all those before Christ's coming see Him as justifier?  They saw Him in types and shadows, mainly in the Tabernacle/ Temple service with its blood sacrifices for sin.  They were being clearly shown that the innocent must die in place of the guilty if the guilty are to be acquitted.  How wonderful an improvement/ fulfillment, then, when Christ finally came!</div> <div>     So much for the first half of the verse- the basic statement.  Now comes the rounding out of that statement.  How <I>much </I>life is in that righteous path, or what <I>kind </I>of life?  The one who travels that road will experience <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>no death</B></FONT>.</div> <div>     This, too, has a justification reference.  Those whom Christ counts righteous have had the righteous claims of death (imposed by God) released.  We were legally bound; now we are legally freed.  God's righteousness has been upheld, then, in <I>two </I>ways!  He proved that He would not change His standards just to save us, and He met the penalty of those standards in Christ's substitutionary death.  Christ tasted death for us, so He has removed death as far from us as the east is from the west.</div> <div>     Again, this necessarily carries a sanctification reference, too.  If we know what death looks like in a person's life, we can easily tell when a Christian has strayed from the path by his practice of death.</div> <bR> <div> <B> </B><B>Jam 1:15</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  Then when desire has conceived, </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>it </B><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>brings forth sin. And sin, when it is fully formed, brings forth death. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This is the unchanging pathway of death.  It starts as desire, gives birth to sin, and ends as death- separation from God.  Two New Testament phrases describing death in a Christian are 'grieving the Spirit' (Eph. 4:30) and 'quenching the Spirit' (1 Thess. 5:19).  When we separate ourselves from God's fellowship, we separate ourselves from life.  We may still have spiritual <I>life </I>in ourselves, but we can be thinking, acting, and dwelling in <I>death</I>.  A paradox?  More like a two-headed monstrosity!  An ugly paradox that is meant not to puzzle us, but to sicken us.</div> <div>     The Christian path itself has no death in it.  Therefore, if we are practicing death (unrighteousness), we have departed from the Christian path; we have taken a detour, or simply wandered off- aimlessly, or heading for some distant sight, or just to pick flowers in a field marked "No Trespassing."  ("But I didn't see the sign!")  When God brings us to repentance, the flow of life we had dammed up is released.</div> <div>     If someone wanders off and never comes back?</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Heb 12:8</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  But if you are without discipline, whereof all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     God <I>will bring</I> things into His children's lives which will make the presence of idols intolerable; either that, or He will even go so far as to take their <I>lives</I>:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>1 Cor 11:30, 31</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  For this cause a number of you are feeble and ill, and a number are dead.  But if we were true judges of ourselves, punishment would not come on us. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Death is an appropriate answer from God for those who stubbornly remain in the realms of death.</div> <bR> <div>     Let us judge ourselves, and keep to the path of Life!</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div> . <A NAME="jan_11"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="411" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:1</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> A wise son- the admonition of a father, </div> <div> But a scoffer- he has not heard rebuke. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div>                                                                                                                                                                                           </div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse:</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>   </B></FONT><B> "</B>Admonition" means discipline or punishment in Hebrew.</div> <div>     A "scoffer" is literally one who "makes mouths at".</div> <div>     There is no verb for the first part of the verse.  Normally in Hebrew, a "to be" verb is supplied when there is no verb; hence, "A wise son <I>is </I>his father's discipline."  Or, by extension, "... <I>is the result of</I> his father's admonition."  Or we could take it more starkly (as above), with the son and the father simply laid alongside one another to depict an association.  We might then supply "A wise son <I>is in the realm of</I> his father's admonition."  Most translations, though, borrow the verb from the second half of the verse "A wise son <I>hears </I>the.. admonition ..."</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The wise son</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The scoffer</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His father's discipline</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Does not hear / obey </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Teaching of the Verse</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Comparing 13:1 with 10:1, we might have a second major section begun here. 12:28 was certainly a fitting conclusion to a section.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >   </FONT>This is our first introduction to the Scoffer. He appeared in three passages in the Introduction (1:22, 3:12, 9:7 - 12).<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     There are only two real responses to a parent's authority: obedience or rejection. All responses are some kind and degree of one or the other. There is no way to avoid a response, because God created the relationship between parent and child as a binding one. </div> <div>     The same is basically true for all authority relationships. God created human authority relationships to hold a mirror to our autonomous souls. We say, "If it was good authority, I'd submit." God says, "<I><B>I</B></I><I> </I>am in authority; <I><B>I</B></I> placed them over you. Submit. Submit for you spirit's sake; bring you independent nature into subjection."<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     A wise son considers himself merely an extension of his father's discipline. Indeed, how wise this is! For what child can avoid being the product of his upbringing? He can either cooperate with it and receive whatever benefits are there, or he can fight it and try to set himself up as the only worthy authority in his life. The latter person our verse calls a scoffer.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Incredibly, those who reject authority do "make mouths" at parents, bosses, etc. When they repeat things authority figures said, they mouth them in a sarcastic way in order to characterize the authority as unworthy. This is insult and mockery and has no place on the Christian tongue or in the Christian heart.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Matt 21:28-31</B></I><B> "But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir,' but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?"</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Hopefully, if we have been arrogant toward God-ordained authority, <I>we </I>will regret it and do our heavenly Father's will from now on.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_2"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="497" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FF99FF HEIGHT= 97 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:2</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> From the fruit of the mouth a man ingests good, </div> <div> But the soul of the cunning- violence.<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The Hebrew for "ingests" is simply "eats".<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The "cunning" is the "covered one" of 11:3 & 6.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Ingests would seem to be supplied to the second half of the proverb; therefore, "the soul of the cunning <I>eats </I>violence."<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     "Violence" is an interesting word in Hebrew. It can carry more than the idea of violence, for Sarah used the word when she told Abraham, "My <I>wrong </I>be upon you."  Manipulation or extortion may be the root idea of the word.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The fruit of speech<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The soul of the cunning</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Causes good things to be ingested<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Eats coercion</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <div>  </div> <div>     The first half of 12:14 was quite similar:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Prov 12:14</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B> A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of the mouth, and the dealing of a man's hand shall be given back to him. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon is repeating for us the law of return. Both in the <I>design </I>of creation- the natural way things work by how God made them- and in God's <I>interaction </I>with His creatures, our own actions and intentions tend to return to us. So <I>out of the mouth</I> go good words, and <I>into the man's life</I> return good things.  This certainly shows how important words are. Words stand for our whole being.  In fact, "mouth" in the first half of the proverb corresponds to "soul" in the second half. </div> <div>     There should be a kind of compulsion in our mouths to fill certain voids around us.  Where someone is dejected, words of kindness should be <I>drawn </I>from our mouths, for instance.  There is a <I>natural </I>compulsion from human lips, and it is <I>not </I>kind. Most people operate on this base compulsion.  There should therefore be plenty of repair our tongues can do. People have been battered verbally. It is generally unlikely we would be spreading kind words <I>too </I>far, to someone who actually doesn't need them.  And even if we did, which side is it better to err on?  Too <I>much </I>kindness, or <I>withholding </I>of it?<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     There is a natural tendency for good things to return to someone who speaks healingly, helpfully.  There is also God's direct intervention, by which He sees to it that His servants are rewarded.  God sees when we speak good; He sees to it that good returns to us again.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The soul of the cunning, though- not a selfless bone in his body- he opens his mouth <I>trying </I>to get a return for himself, <I>extorting </I>it by bluster, self-pity, others' guilts or insecurities ...  But what does he eat in the end?  The same coercion he tried to force on others. Again, this happens both naturally <I>and </I>by direct Providence. Where he pushed beyond proper boundaries, those boundaries will tend to collapse back on him, forcing him into a cage. Where God is displeased with him, God will set a plate of coercion on his table that will choke into his mouth even while he is still trying to pry things to his advantage.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The best healing words we can speak, of course, are words of God's gospel. </div> <div>     It is only fitting that these gracious words should be spoken from a gracious heart graciously.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="471" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFF99 HEIGHT= 90 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:3</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> He who guards his mouth protects his life; </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" >he who opens his lips wide </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" >undone. </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who guards his mouth<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who opens wide his lips</div> <bR> <div> Their Two Outcomes<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Puts a fence about his life<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is dismantled</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Some consider the ability to speak one's mind candidly, completely, and continuously a great gift. Apparently, since there are those who have difficulty expressing themselves, and others who hold back speaking through insecurity, the 'shoot-from-the-hip', 'I-always-say-what's-on-my-mind' person is to be admired and emulated.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     If we were considering ability of expression, this might be so, but we are being taught today that there is much more to be considered in evaluating someone's speaking habits. People are not meant to be walking diaries. Neither is there such a bosom pal as can remain unharmed and unstained if we spill all the acid of our dislikes and complaints on them. Of course, such sessions are often gossip, so both parties agree together as to whom they hate and why: <I>twice </I>the volume and potency of spilled acid.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     This is what Solomon means by "opening wide the mouth"- someone who feels that self-expression is his birthright regardless of subject matter or audience.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     He is also telling us that even <I>one </I>slip of an otherwise guarded mouth can work much ruin. The only safety is in perpetual restraint of speech:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Jam 3:2</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  For we all stumble </B></FONT><I><B>in</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>many </B></FONT><I><B>ways</B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>. If any one does not stumble in word, this </B></FONT><I><B>one is</B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B> a mature man, able also to bridle the whole body. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     If love is our heart motive, speech can be rather free.  If by God's Spirit (and it can only be by God's Spirit) we are not seeking our own ends, but only desire to use our mouths as instruments of help and healing, the self-guarding process can be rather quick and spontaneous- indeed, beautiful:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 25:11</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  Apples of gold in a setting of silver, </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>the word spoken at its fit times. </B></FONT></div> <div>  </div> <div>     This is the kind of speech that develops with practice. Check my motives, consider the circumstances, consider my words, consider their likely impact ... All this can eventually be a rather automatic process, but- in this life- never as automatic as the unkind word, the self-protecting lie, the arrogant boast:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Jam 3:7, 8</B></I></FONT><B>  For every sort of beast and bird and every living thing on earth and in the sea has been controlled by man and is under his authority; but the tongue </B><B><U>may not be controlled by man</U></B><B>; it is an unresting evil, it is full of the poison of death. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Our tongue can never go without a guard. It is the unguarded moment that holds our downfall.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> If we have learned to speak well, kindly, considerately, and evangelically, we have learned it by restraint- by setting a guard at the door of our lips who will only allow certain speech.  We simply must remember that this guard can never go into retirement on this earth.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     For most people, the guard has yet to be hired. Some do not even know the name of his firm. Some have hired him and later bound and gagged the bothersome fellow while their unrestrained spirits flow freely forth to do their harm.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon says that the one who guards his lips is protecting his own life. Unchecked words always come back to do us damage. The worse damage, though, is the first damage of not being under the authority of the Holy Spirit, not speaking from His training and at His bidding.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_4"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="524" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 90 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:4</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> The soul of the lazy desires and there is nothing; </div> <div> but the soul of the industrious shall be made fat. </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Analysis of the Verse</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The soul of the lazy<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The soul of the 'digger'</div> <bR> <div> Their Two Identifiers<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Desires but there is nothing<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Shall be made fat</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Here two souls are being compared.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     One soul is desiring, the other soul is receiving.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Since their names characterize their activities, we can supply the following: The sluggard's soul has desires he will not do the necessary work to achieve; the soul of the diligent is intent on working and so receives more than enough compensation. </div> <div>     The industrious man's soul is not even characterized by its desires. He has them, no doubt, but they are not predominant. For him, the knowledge that he must work is predominant. This comes from an acceptance of the facts that work is necessary <I>and </I>that work is good. The fact that work can be wearisome becomes a reminder that our souls need 'pressure' to grow straight or to keep from growing crooked.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> The lazy man <I>can </I>be characterized by his desires. He is a self-centered, self-satisfying person. His pleasure-desiring personality keeps him from accepting the difficulties of work; he does not want to put himself to any unpleasantness. His hatred of work is, at its spiritual foundation, a rejection of God's design for man. Adam was given work in the Garden <I>before </I>sin entered the world. The lazy man is so attuned to his pleasure sensors that he cannot see the greater good of finding pleasure in a job well done, in a livelihood pursued.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     So the slothful man desires, and "it is not," in the Hebrew. Nothing materializes. His desires do not issue forth in realities.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Now everyone has a certain degree of laziness he has to contend with. All of us have pleasure sensors, and they all shout "Boring!" at some point, perhaps even often. It is the ability to live by the larger context, the design of God most importantly, that allows us to overcome the temptation to listen to our 'pleasures'.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     "Made fat," as noted in 11:25, means 'has more than enough.' In an agrarian society, it was the norm to have seasons of greater and lesser plenty. One tended to have more flesh on his bones when stores were more plentiful. With wise planting and storage, there can be food year-round, but this takes work. The lazy man is looking past work, towards what he really wants in life (which often is simply taking it easy). In bypassing work, he makes his dreams, based on an unreal world, impossible.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The lazy has big plans; the industrious has workable plans.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_5"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="529" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#CCFF99 HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:5</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> The righteous hates a false word, </div> <div> But the wicked trashes <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Century" ><I>reputations</I></FONT> and causes shame.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     "Word" can also be "matter".<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The Hebrew for "trashes" is literally "to cause to stink."  It could also be translated "stinks," meaning that the wicked man stinks.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The last half of the verse can be taken as two things the wicked <I>is </I>or two things he <I>does</I>.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The righteous<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The immoral</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hates a deceitful matter<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Causes disgust and brings shame</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Here is a comparison of men's attitudes towards giving information about others. The godless man is willing to "make people stink" by the report he gives of them. The righteous hates such reports.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Please note carefully: Solomon is calling a report "deceitful" or "lying" which brings reproach on others. <I>It does not matter whether the report is </I><I><B>factual </B></I><I>or not</I> !  If it causes harm to someone, the righteous man puts that in the category of deceitful information:  I would be using my tongue to injure, therefore, I would be transgressing a communication boundary set by God- hence, I would be lying.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     In fact, the word for "false" in 'false witness' in Deut. 5:20 (a Ten Commandments passage) is a word meaning "destructive". The whole notion of information is secondary. It is not a 'witness that misinforms', but a 'witness that harms' which is forbidden there. Of course, misinformation <I>is </I>a common way of causing harm, but j<I>ust as much harm can be caused with </I><I><B>correct </B></I><I>information</I>. The false witness can occur in the <I>way </I>the information is used- correct information <I>used </I><I><B>in</B></I>correctly. Much slander is excused by denial of this definition of false witness.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     And observe how far the transformation of man goes in the new birth. The righteous man not only avoids deceitful activity, he <I>hates </I>it. There is something in him which tells him that this is utterly wrong. He sees God's boundaries of protection clearly drawn around his neighbors, down to his neighbors' reputations. In a righteous man's eyes, his neighbor has a right to 'freedom from information'- negative information, that is. If I know something that needs correcting in his life, I'd better be telling <I>him</I>, not others. If he is an unrepentant injurious person himself, the proper place to take such a matter is the authorities. Whatever verdict comes of that will be community information. I don't need to add anything to it.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     At a heart level ask yourself: do you just <I>love </I>sharing negative information about others?  Does it bring a kind of thrill to you inwardly, the opportunity to slice someone up verbally?  The righteous person <I>hates </I>such communication. </div> <div>     "Oh, but they deserve it!"  No, they deserve a gossip-free zone around them, just as you do.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     "Oh, but I'm just sharing a prayer request." Have you shared it with the person himself?  And again, just look at your heart.  Is there a delight that occurs in the sharing of negative information? </div> <div>     Perhaps it is not even delight; perhaps you are simply driven by your sense of justice to bring this person's sins into the light.  Still, there is a driving force in your soul to share this negative information.  If either of these is true, you delight in or are driven to sharing negative information, you have good reason to question your conversion.  If the new birth took place, there would be a new man in you who <I>hates </I>harmful information.  Furthermore, this new man would have the power to overcome this injurious tendency.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     We see Solomon's purpose clearly. He is dividing humanity into its two spiritual parts and giving us identifying marks for each half, first so we can know which half we are in, then also, to be able to see through the disguises of those who claim to know God but have not inherited His righteous traits through the new birth.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_6"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="532" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#CCFFFF HEIGHT= 93 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:6</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> Righteousness protects the path of completeness, </div> <div> But immorality overthrows the sinner.<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Righteousness<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Immorality</div> <bR> <div> Their Activities<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Guards the road of maturity<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Subverts the errant</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Righteousness is seen as protecting a whole <I>path</I>, while unrighteousness concentrates on one <I>individual</I>, committing him to harm. </div> <div>     Righteousness, then, is like a canopy-enclosed road. All who 'pay the admission price' have a danger-free route before them; that is, anything righteousness allows on the path can do no ultimate harm to the traveler, only good. Righteousness (God's guard appointed for our protection) only allows adversaries or obstacles that will <I>further </I>our original qualification to be on the road. And what is that qualification or 'admission price'? Blamelessness, completeness, maturity; first, Christ's absolute blamelessness on our behalf, then the relative righteousness He works into us.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Righteousness guards the path of maturity because righteousness is the quality <I>defining </I>maturity. All complete, full-grown people are such because they are righteous. What we are being told is that the same righteousness which brought them <I>to </I>maturity will be their shield <I>in </I>their maturity. This is a great commendation for the path of righteousness: it is the gardener and fertilizer that brings a person to a state of ripeness; then it is the fence and insecticide that keeps its fruit from harm.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The opposite way of life also comes with a guarantee, but it is quite a different one. Unrighteousness is more like a virus working <I>inside </I>a person than a canopy spread out to protect them. The word for "overthrow" or "subvert" literally means "to wrench." Immorality rudely <I>pulls </I>its occupant down. Far from keeping the sinner from harm, immorality <I>puts </I>him to harm. What greater warning could we have against the path that strays from God's commands? Yet most men fail to attribute sin's damage to sin. <I>Or </I>they fail to define sin in terms of God; they define sin as men failing <I>themselves </I>rather than failing God's standards. But we have the truth here- that sin kills us because it attacks our very design, the very way <I>God </I>made us.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Of all men, Christians have the knowledge of what subverts them when they stray. It is totally senseless, then, for a believer to continue long in sin. He knows sin can only work harm. </div> <div>     Why would someone intentionally harm himself? Yet the "mystery of iniquity," in a very individualistic sense, proves its baffling power every day. We have become another lesson in the dispensations of time. Every era of God's working has shed new light on man's inability to save himself and has focused with ever greater clarity the truth that <I>only God can save sinners</I>. Give us every advantage in the world and still- how easily sin subverts us! With shame we admit that it is only when the last shred of personal dignity has been torn from our prideful grip that we bow and gratefully acknowledge the sole saving power of God's sovereign grace.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     May God decisively move us to that path of mature understanding today.  The path is a righteous one.  Righteousness stands guard at its every point.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_7"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="541" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#00FFFF HEIGHT= 91 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:7</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> There are <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Century" ><I>those </I></FONT>who act rich, yet have nothing at all; </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >and those who act poor, yet </FONT><I>have</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >great wealth. </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Those who have nothing at all<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Those who have great substance</div> <bR> <div> Their Ironic Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Make themselves <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Calisto MT" ><I>seem </I></FONT>rich<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Make themselves <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Calisto MT" ><I>seem </I></FONT>poor</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This proverb teaches the unreliability of appearances in determining a person's economic status.  It therefore gives a broader lesson about appearances in general. </div> <div>     But Solomon is mainly giving us valuable insight about wealth and how to handle it.  In connection with the previous proverb, he is telling us that the <I>protections </I>supplied by righteousness come in some peculiar packages, fitted to each situation, each need- in this case, riches.  Since riches have such a corrupting tendency (not the riches themselves, of course, but the power and independence they bring out in our nature), we need advice on how to overcome that tendency should we come into substance.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> Do riches tend to corrupt?<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>1 Tim 6:17 - 19</B></I></FONT><B>  </B><B><U>Charge the rich</U></B><B> in the present age </B><B><U>not</U></B><B> to be high-minded, nor to set hope on the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, the </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>One</B></I></FONT><B> offering to us richly all things for enjoyment; to do good, to be rich in good works, </B><B><U>to be ready to share</U></B><B>, generous, treasuring away for themselves a good foundation for the coming </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>age</B></I></FONT><B>, that they may lay hold on everlasting life. </B></div> <bR> <div>     What other group in the Church is singled out for such a particular admonition?  Other groups are given commands ("Husbands love your wives", etc.), but none with a presupposition of error. But this charge to the rich assumes error will arise unless certain steps are taken. This admonition is not reserved for a judgment call. Paul doesn't say. "If you see a rich person who is struggling because of his riches..." This admonition is to go to <I>all </I>rich within the church. It is assumed that riches <I>always </I>have a corrupting influence which will prevail if not deliberately overbalanced by certain attitudes and practices. The wise rich man knows this and appreciates such admonitions. The rich man who feels picked on to receive these admonitions does not know himself nor understand Scriptures.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Now for a bothersome question. How many of <I>us </I>are rich? If one is moving toward being "rich," once he is on the plus side of 'enough,' most Americans might well qualify for the Biblical category of Rich.  Most people throughout history have had to wait on how the crops turn out to know whether they were going to be comfortably set for a season.  Only the top of the human food chain would have been assured that the crops would go towards feeding them.  Once they got their desired portions, the 'little fishies' could scrabble over the rest.  This remains true today outside industrialized nations- where crop performance is not insured by technological advances.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Hence, you and I might need to heed the warnings to the rich.  Our country might define us as near the poverty mark by our income, but on a real human scale, we are in the 'consistently-have-way-more-than-enough' (i.e., rich) category.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Our proverb gives implied advice for the rich: Don't act it.  Be like Job.  He had riches, but he wasn't necessarily counting on them being there tomorrow:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Job 1:21</B></I></FONT><B>  And he said, I came naked out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there.  Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away.  Blessed </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>be</B></I></FONT><B> the name of Jehovah. </B></div> <bR> <div>     His attitude and behavior day by day were ones of dependence on God.  All his 'stuff' (and he had a <I>bunch</I>) didn't give him any confidence.  Only God was his confidence.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Paul tells us to have the same attitude:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>1 Cor 7:29 - 31</B></FONT><B>  But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none; and those who weep, as though they didn't weep; and those who rejoice, as though they didn't rejoice; and </B><B><U>those who buy</U></B><B>, </B><B><U>as though</U></B><B> they </B><B><U>didn't possess</U></B><B>; and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away. </B></div> <bR> <div>     The reality is that the end of all things has been set in motion by the Coming of Christ.  We are especially foolish in <I>this </I>era to be ruled by riches in any way.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Whatever riches we have should be played down, both in our hearts and in our appearances. <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> This would also apply to <I>any </I>area where we have a human or earthly abundance.  Are we smart?  This is riches in the area of intelligence.  We must count it for what it is: limited and dependent on God.  Are we good-looking?  We must count it for what it is: passing away.  So with riches of talent, etc.  Any human or earthly surplus must be viewed rightly by its owner, and then handled incognito before men.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_8"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="411" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 86 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:8</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >The ransom of a man's soul </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >his riches, </FONT></div> <div> but the poor does not hear rebuke. </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The Hebrew for "ransom" is literally "a cover", used in a variety of applications. </div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The rich (or the effect of riches)<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The poor (or the effects of poverty)</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The ransom of his soul/ life is his riches<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Does not hear scolding/ rebuke/ admonition</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Here is a follow-on verse comparing rich and poor.  This one is about the <I>leverage </I>riches have in a person's life. What you can <I>get someone to do</I> depends a lot on what they <I>stand to lose</I> in the process.  A rich person will generally lay it all on the line for his possessions.  The poor man has nothing to lose, therefore, there is no leverage that can be used against him.  The extremes of the two cases are seen in the difference between a <I>ransom </I>and an <I>admonition</I>. A ransom requires <I>everything </I>of a person- him<I>self</I>; whereas a scolding requires only a listening ear.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     One observation that follows from this is that the world has a relatively <I>light hold</I> on a poor man.  He is not as likely to be drawn deeply into the deception of the world's lie that earth offers a good reward.  Poor people tend to be a bit cynical about the world; after all, the world has tossed them out on their ears.  Of course, even with these 'advantages'- as we Christians would consider them- the poor still require the gracious intervention of God to break the world's spell.  However, there are many ways that they are automatically much closer to spiritual enlightenment than the rich:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Luke 6:20, 21</B></I><B> ...</B></FONT><B> Blessed </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>are</B></I></FONT><B> the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>are</B></I></FONT><B> you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Most of us are familiar with "Blessed are the poor in spirit", but Jesus could just as easily say, as He did above, "Blessed are the poor."  Those who have little are in a blessed, or advantageous, position.  Only the <I>thoroughly </I>poor will attain the kingdom of heaven- those who count all earthly things as nothing; but <I>all </I>poor men are at least in a very good position to see the emptiness of the promise the world makes to all who dance its dance.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     James makes it plain that the human category from which God calls most of His elect <I>is </I>the poor:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Jam 2:5</B></I></FONT><B>  Listen, my beloved brothers, has not </B><B><U>God chosen the poor</U></B><B> of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him? </B></div> <bR> <div>     So Solomon is telling us that if <I>we </I>are in possession of riches, <I>they </I>are likely in possession of <I>us </I>to some extent:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Eccl 5:12</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     What a terrible trick riches play on us!  They promise every ea<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>r</B></FONT>thly advantage; then they act the teasing hussy who chides that she will be gone the moment we cease paying her our every attention. </div> <div>     Riches weigh a man down.  The only way their drag is avoided is when their owner truly cares not whether they remain until tomorrow.  It is an amazingly unusual rich man who thinks of his riches thus.  But such were Abraham and Job.  In fact, this really qualified them to be poor in the truest sense, for their riches had no hold on them.  In terms of our proverb, they did not hear the world's rebuke for not treasuring the right things.  They did not count themselves as the possessors of their wealth: guardians perhaps, but not possessors; for it is only the Lord Most High who is possessor of Heaven, earth, and all earth's riches.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     How tight a hold do your possessions have on you? </div> <div>     It is a truly pitiful thing when someone who has little more than a servant's allotment holds on to his goods as though they were the treasures of a sultan.  Our American way teaches us to correspond riches to blessedness.  Much of Christianity follows suit.  Earthly goods <I>are </I>a gift from the Lord, but they do no good to the one who thinks them important.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_9"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="446" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#99FFCC HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:9</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> The light of the righteous burns joyously,<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> but the lamp of the godless goes out.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     There is a single Hebrew word translated "burns joyously" (after K&D), with a root meaning "to brighten," but which is always translated by some form of "be glad" or "rejoice" in the KJV (149 times).<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     "Goes out" can also be "is put out" or "extinguished".</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The righteous<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The immoral</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His light rejoices<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His lamp is snuffed out</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Both the righteous and the godless have a light.  A man's light is simply that which he <I>sees by</I> in this world.  Solomon makes the righteous his own light source, while he puts a lamp into the hand of the unrighteous.  Of course, the righteous man's light is supplied by God, either as Light itself, or as the fuel (oil = Holy Spirit) within the righteous man, feeding his flame/ light.  The unbeliever's light, on the other hand, can even be called darkness:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>    Matt 6:22, 23</B></FONT><B> The lamp of the body is the eye. Then if your eye is sound, all your body is light. But if your eye is evil, all your body is dark. If, then, the </B><B><U>light</U></B><B> in you is </B><B><U>darkness</U></B><B>, how great is the darkness! </B></div> <bR> <div>     Notice that Jesus makes the <I>eye </I>the lamp of the body (that is, of the person). This means that the light you have depends on your <I>vision</I>.  The bad man has bad vision, so all he can let in is darkness.  His light is 'light' in that it is what he sees by, but it is 'darkness' in that it does not show things for what they are.  Essentially, darkness rejects reality as portrayed in Scriptures.  The ungodly man's "eye is evil" in that it paints its own, the world's, and God's pictures in a skewed manner. </div> <div>     Jesus is telling us to correct our vision.  The previous verses are about our treasures being either in Heaven or on earth.  The verses that follow say that no man is able to serve two masters. Jesus, then, is teaching us that there are really <I>only two</I> focal points that any man's eye can see by.  If you 'see by' Heaven and submit to its rule, you walk the right path; but if you 'see by' the world and serve its dictates, you stray and eventually fall.  Every man born into the world naturally sees by the world's light, which is why Jesus says, "You must be born again."<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     "If your eye is sound", Jesus says, "your whole body is full of light."  Solomon expands on the nature of this person-filling light. He says that it is <I>joyous</I>.  It sparkles, you might say.  In other words, it is so much more than just a light.  Yet, really, it is simply everything that light is supposed to be.  In this way, Solomon has dug a grander-than-Grand Canyon between the believer and the unbeliever.  The believer has a light that never goes out and burns in style!  But the wicked carries his meager borrowed lamp around for a few years, and eventually reality overtakes his fantasy, he stands before God, and all his charade is extinguished in one everlasting moment.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The question, then, shouts to us: Is the light by which we walk a joyous one?  Or is our light merely adequate- a logic we accept as behind all things, but which we do not really live by? </div> <div>     Then, is our light really <I>the </I>light?  Does it pass every test for being according to God's Word, or are we satisfied to live with gusto and be inconsistent with Scriptures? </div> <bR> <div>     Solomon's test in this verse is a very telling one.  May our consciences 'tell on us' in God's presence wherever our light is either <I>not </I>light or wherever it does not <I>rejoice</I>.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_10"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="446" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#99FFFF HEIGHT= 85 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:10</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> Only by pride does a quarrel come, </div> <div> but wisdom is with those who take advice. </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pride<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Wisdom</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The sole source of contention<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Accompanies the one who takes advice</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>      There's only one way a quarrel can start. <I>Someone </I>has to be motivated by pride.  Pride is heart confidence in self.  When this confidence is challenged in any way, pride, unabated by humility, will take a stand.  Self will be asserted against challengers, and, if humility isn't manifested by the other party, a <I>quarrel </I>of some sort will result.  In fact, a pretty good quarrel can ensue with just <I>one </I>party wielding a weapon of verbal attack while the other merely holds up a shield of defense.  However, in terms of this verse, it is wiser to be aware of your role and stick to the shield.  Either that, or take the "sticks and stones" approach and just walk away.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The only way to put yourself in the non-quarrelsome category is to be a person who can <I>take advice</I>.  Those are Solomon's opposites.  The prideful person gets stuck in a <I>non-listening</I> mode. This stubbornness takes one of four forms: 1) I must be right; 2) You must be wrong; 3) I cannot be wrong; 4) You cannot be right. Or, rewording these four positions, the prideful person will either be 1) vaunting himself; 2) attacking another; 3) protecting himself (as he sees it); or 4) handling intimidation perceived as coming from another.  These four positions take many various forms, but they all come from a contentious <I>spirit</I>.  An inner spirit is the hardest thing to change in oneself.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Notice also that pride is put opposite <I>wisdom</I>.  Usually pride is put opposite humility.  Of course, pride and humility are opposites, but now we are learning that pride has another opposite- wisdom. James picks up on this in his letter:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Jam 3:13 - 18</B></I></FONT><B>   Who is </B><B><U>wise</U></B><B> and understanding among you? L et him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in </B><B><U>gentleness of wisdom</U></B><B>. But if you have </B><B><U>bitter jealousy</U></B><B> and selfish ambition in your heart, don't boast and don't lie against the truth.  This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.  For where jealousy and </B><B><U>selfish ambition</U></B><B> are, there is confusion and every evil deed.  But the </B><B><U>wisdom</U></B><B> that is from above is first pure, then </B><B><U>peaceful</U></B><B>, </B><B><U>gentle</U></B><B>, </B><B><U>reasonable</U></B><B>, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.  Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in </B><B><U>peace</U></B><B> by those who make peace. </B></div> <bR> <div>     So the peacemaker who Jesus says is blessed is the one who recognizes and quells his own selfish ambitions and who becomes a <I>listener</I>.  He is willing, in particular, to listen to his <I>own faults</I>. He is able to see the value in views expressed by others. The prideful, for one reason and another, will not tolerate such self-doubt.  He usually cannot even hear himself yelling or making words into sarcastic daggers.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> So the prideful, if he would learn wisdom, must change his perspective in the following ways: 1) I'm not so important; 2) my point of view is not that important; 3) you're not as bad as I've made out; 4) I have not been appointed as your judge.  Someone who quarrels has not learned one or more of these lessons. Nor are the lessons learned for the mere wishing.  There is a part of oneself that must be <I>put to death</I> in order to make room for humility.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Most <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>prideful </B></FONT>people do not count their combativeness as very destructive.  In their own minds, they are truly able to blame it on <I>others</I>.  "If you don't want me to attack, then don't act that way."  They cannot let go of their self-awarded policeman's badge.  They can't see how peacefulness can get anything accomplished. </div> <div>     Or they say, "See, I can get along with <I>other </I>people, just not <I>you</I>.  It <I>must </I>be <I>your </I>fault!"  In reality, they simply find it too unpleasant to deal with their <I>own </I>faults, even if only one other person is the mirror somehow being held up to them.  They are unteachable.  But the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>wise </B></FONT>take advice, meaning they know that <I>they </I>are the ones who need correcting when a contentious spirit rises in them.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The tell-tale sign here is quarrelling, bickering, nagging, it doesn't matter with whom. </div> <bR> <div>     Is that you?  It is a very common fault, but no less destructive for its commonness.  What is it worth to cease hurting others, even just certain others, or even just <I>one </I>certain scapegoat in your life?  </div> <div>     Maybe you're just 'shadow boxing,' arguing in your mind, rehearsing what you should tell him or her or them.  If you are prideful, it will probably <I>not </I>be worth giving up <I>you, </I>which is exactly what the prideful are required to relinquish.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_11"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="493" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 94 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:11</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> Wealth by means of vanity shall be diminished, </div> <div> but he who gathers by hand shall increase.<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     "Vanity" is the word so used throughout Ecclesiastes. It literally means "breath" or "vapor", but carries the ideas of "temporary, useless, counterproductive".  Here it probably means wealth gained "without effort (emptily)".  It could also mean wealth gotten "through shadiness" (counterproductive means).<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     "By hand" is a literal rendering, but "hand" in Hebrew is used in many figurative expressions. The figure which most readily suggests itself is " by means of labor".  It could also mean "by the handful", implying 'little by little'.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Capital gained without effort or by shady means<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who accumulates (substance) according to personal application</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Diminishes (the goods diminish)<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Increases (the gatherer himself increases)</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon has given us a very interesting opposite here: Vanity vs. 'by hand'.  Working for substance and gathering it gradually is a <I>productive </I>enterprise.  There are many means of enrichment which are <I>not </I>labor-originated or labor-sustained, though.  The perfect opposites here are wealth starting from zero and growing by daily wage on the one hand, and wealth that bypasses honest labor and comes to a laborless individual on the other hand. </div> <div>     What of someone who gains wealth by windfall?  A windfall itself is not vanity; an inheritance is a windfall, and an inheritance is ordinarily a good thing (Prov. 13:22).  A windfall would only be vanity if it came to a non-working person, or to a person who then stops being productive.  A windfall is really not even being considered by Solomon here, though.  He is only comparing wealth that has its <I>source </I>in vanity versus that which has its <I>source </I>in labor.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Solomon is essentially exhorting us to lay our lives out before us as an apportionment of working days (and resting days).  We are to expect <I>accumulation </I>of goods as we <I>put in the time working</I>. We are to expect it to develop gradually overall.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Solomon also wants us to be suspicious of money-gathering <I>not </I>associated with work.  It may be by some novel attempt to 'wire' the system to your advantage, not necessarily dishonestly.  It may be a means to gain wealth fraudulently.  Either of these is wealth by means of vanity, and Solomon tells us that any 'success story' that arises from such schemes needs to be revisited ten years down the line. </div> <div>     The person who simply and unambitiously kept on working will be closer to a state of comfort (not non-working comfort), and the schemer will be starting over from zero, or snatching at the last handfuls of his dollars as they wriggle from his arms like so many salmon.  At best he will be in a leaky boat with holes he can't patch or can't even find. </div> <div>     It's either one way or the other. </div> <bR> <div>     Americans dream of two things: retirement and early retirement.  Work is seen as an evil, even when it is accepted as a necessary evil. </div> <div>     Solomon's view is quite different.  The real path to 'financial independence' is plugging away and accumulating slowly.  Thoughts of getting rich quick (or any form of substance-acquisition without labor) come from discontent and lead to worse discontent.</div> <div>  </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_12"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="450" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#99CC66 HEIGHT= 93 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:12</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> Hope drawn out makes the heart sick, </div> <div> But when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life. </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hope that does not come to pass soon<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Longing that <B>does </B>come to pass</div> <bR> <div> Their Results:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Wearies the heart<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is a tree of life</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     How can we avoid thinking of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden when we read this verse?  Actually, our thoughts should also be drawn to the Tree of Life in Revelation.  In fact, the phrase "tree of life" occurs three times in Genesis, three times in Revelation, and four times in Proverbs.  That's it. </div> <div>    Rev. 22 assures us that Christians will be revisiting the Tree of Life in the future, after man had forfeited it in Genesis 3.  So the Bible's beginning and ending present a 'balanced equation' in terms of God's mercy and restoration of all things.  In between the beginning and ending , much is known about us by how we consider both ends.  Critical to our spiritual state is our answer to the question, "What did we lose in the Fall?"  Equally critical spiritually is our view of the future: "How much is God restoring?" </div> <div>     A minimized view of the <I>Fall </I>cripples our embrace on Jesus as Savior.  Why would anyone cast himself upon Christ if he felt no soul-threatening deficiency in himself? </div> <div>     A doubtful view of the <I>future </I>also hobbles our walk with Christ today, for how can I trust Him <I>this </I>day if I am unclear on His promises about a <I>future </I>meeting with me?<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     So Proverbs 'fills in the gap' between our beginning and ending with its teachings on the Tree of Life.  Solomon does not address <U>the</U> Tree of Life per se.  He is always presenting a tree of life, a <I>source </I>of life.  So we already saw earlier in Proverbs:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 11:30</B></I></FONT><B>  The fruit of the righteous is </B><B><U>a tree of life</U></B><B>. He who is wise wins souls. </B></div> <bR> <div>     We did not comment on the Genesis and Revelation Trees there, but the lesson is fairly easy to draw.  The Christian in his spiritual persuasiveness is showing his <I>own </I>inheritance to the Tree of Life, and his production of more trees shows that his persuasions teach <I>other </I>men what they had lost and what God restores.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Today's proverb, with its focus on hope and longing, also looks to a restored Tree of Life most naturally.  Solomon knew that the way was being guarded for a return <I><B>to </B></I>the Tree of Life from the beginning:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Gen 3:24</B></I></FONT><B>   So he drove out the man; and he placed Cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, </B><B><U>to guard the way </U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" ><B><U>to</U></B></FONT><B> </B><B><U>the tree of life</U></B><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon knew that the Tree of Life was somehow in Christians' <I>futures</I>.  So he knew that its fruit was <I>already </I>being offered to us in some way, in a sort of down-payment form.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Today's proverb certainly applies to <I>any </I>hope and <I>any </I>longing.  But for that reason, its greatest application is to the Christian's <I>greatest </I>hope and <I>greatest </I>longing:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Titus 2:13 </B></FONT><B> looking for the blessed hope and </B><B><U>appearing of</U></B><B> the glory of our great God and Savior, </B><B><U>Jesus</U></B><B> Christ </B></div> <bR> <div>     It is Jesus' purchase price on the cross that has qualified us for the Tree of Life again.  <I>He </I>will personally see us to it.  Here, then, is another test of our spiritual life.  Are we <I>longing </I>for our fullest connection to our source of Life, Jesus Christ?  Are we longing to be with Him?  If so, our proverb today indicates that we should be a little <I>heartsick </I>here, <I>away </I>from Him- sometimes perhaps a lot heartsick.  But this is a heartsickness Jesus anticipated and so deals with:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>John 14:26, 27 </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B> But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     All of our <I>other </I>hopes and longings in this life are only categories underneath this grand one.  They cannot be properly measured except in relation to our hope of being with Christ.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Do all your hopes and desires here on earth fall within your overall desire to be with Christ?  </div> <bR> <div>     Is any heart-weariness you suffer <I>softened </I>by the remembrance that no earthly hope is your final hope anyway?  Do you remember that, beyond all losses and defeats, you have Christ- a tree that will continually supply you with life and vitality? </div> <div>     Is the joy you experience when an earthly longing is granted <I>tempered </I>by the realization that your greatest longing is yet a way off?<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_13"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="548" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 82 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:13</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> Whoever despises the Word is <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Century" ><I>yet </I></FONT>a bound debtor to it,<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> But he who fears the Commandment receives his due.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>    "Is a bound debtor to it" is from a single Hebrew word which is often translated by other rather lengthy phrases, such as, "You have taken pledges from."  The word literally means "to wind tightly", but also carries the sense of "to twist / crush", which many versions render here "is destroyed".<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     "Receives his due" is from a word meaning "reciprocate". This makes a perfect complement to the indebtedness concept in the first half of the verse.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who disrespects the Word/ treats it lightly<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who fears the Commandment</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is held in debt to it<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is rewarded</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon's wisdom was certainly not a novelty in his own mind.  He was merely following leads suggested by and in keeping with God's Law and all Divinely inspired records.  He did not consider wisdom a more sophisticated approach to life than 'mere obedience.'  Rather, for him the Law was already infinitely wise and could yield infinite further wisdom if expounded properly.  </div> <div>     So everything comes down to whether or not we listen to God when He speaks.  Solomon could not conceive of a God with the wisdom to create but who would then have 'writer's block' when trying to communicate His directions for us.  Solomon, as his father David, saw God's world of ideas, words, and concepts as much more vast, beautiful, and orderly than the vast, beautiful, and orderly physical creation:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Psa 119:96</B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commands are boundless. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>    The entirety of a man's life comes down to simply this in the end: Did he listen to God?<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> Solomon pictures the typical human response to this:  ten thousand variations of, "Yeah, right, God is a big bully who's going to mug me because I overlooked some dumb nit-picking point!"; and ten thousand additional variations on, "I believe God knows my heart and that I sincerely tried to do right and not hurt anybody," which is only so much as to say, "I'm OK with me, and I'm sure God wouldn't lower Himself to look beyond my intentions to silly details." </div> <bR> <div>     Solomon is telling us that any approach to God which avoids or minimizes His express communications will be unsuccessful in creating an alternative approach to Him.  This was, in essence, Satan's tactic.  God created authority and accountability in one direction; Satan sought to manipulate this order to a hierarchy more in keeping with his own perceived self-worth:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Isa 14:13, 14 </B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B> You said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mountain of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Man, having 'signed on' with Satan's essential protest, carries the same approach in his heart.  Perhaps one in a thousand or one in a million realizes what he is saying when he states, "I'm sure God will accept me," but he is simply saying, "MY layout of right and wrong is completely adequate; at least God would be unreasonable to contradict it."  And so he fights with God's right to speak an authoritative word as Creator.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     All man's excuses and alternatives are only "despising" the Word.  We either accept what God said and take it seriously or not.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Accepting and taking God's communication seriously is "fearing" the Command.  God's Commands are His Do's and Don'ts. Broadly, all of God's communications imply Do and Don't, because they all put us in a position of either receiving or rejecting God's testimony.  To fear the Command is simply realizing that God is serious when He speaks.  He didn't communicate just to express Himself.  He <I>binds </I>His creatures when He commands.  Those who treat the Word lightly (that's every single unbeliever) are nevertheless bound by what they scoff, even if their scoffing is merely ignoring.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Fearing the Command is telling God that He is reasonable and righteous (not that <I>He </I>needs the confirmation, but <I>we </I>need to affirm it).  This approach to self and life will yield good results, because our soul's original creation had the same blueprint of commands inbuilt ("the work of the Law written in their hearts," Rom 2:15).  Man and commands were always meant to go together.  Furthermore, </div> <div> God Himself intervenes in the lives of those who listen to Him.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Ignorant (root word, "ignore") indebtedness which will come terribly due in the end or rewards for reverence: these are the only two paths before men.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_14"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="457" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FF6666 HEIGHT= 83 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:14</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >The instruction of the wise </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >a fountain of life, </FONT></div> <div> For detouring death's traps.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <div>   </div> <div>     "Instruction" is from the Hebrew "Torah", the word for "Law". Its root meaning carries the idea of directionality- flowing, shooting, pointing.  God's Law is merely His pointing of the way.  In our verse, it is a wise man pointing in the same direction as God.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Commended:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Wise men's instruction / direction</div> <bR> <div> Its Properties:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A fountain of Life </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A barrier to the traps laid by Death</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Unless we go with a rather watered down "living fountain" and "deadly snare", this verse is giving us the use of <B>wise teaching</B> in relation to the two forces directing all men: <B>Life </B>and <B>Death</B>.  Life is connection to God, Death is separation from Him.  There is no truly wise teaching that sidesteps this fundamental.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> Now that Solomon has included this verse, we have new insight on the previous two.  Verse twelve had a tree of life; this verse has a fountain of life.  Verse thirteen had God's Word and Command; this verse has the teachings of those who fear God's revelation.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The basic idea of this verse is that wise men's teachings give their students a constant connection to Life and things living, and, in so doing, alert them to the Anti-Life factors which boldly attack and subtly insinuate themselves into the disciple's path.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     A Christian is first a student. He is responsible to find and submit to teaching that arises from and promotes the fear of God. This will largely become his choice of eldership and church membership.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> The Christian is also a teacher. What he learns from wise instruction he should understand well enough to explain to others.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     We are here apprised of two vital aspects of Christian teaching: 1) It has "living" results. It is not merely concepts, it is concepts in crucial relation to my soul and my circumstances; 2) It points out dangers to the soul.  It shouts, "Not that direction, dummy!" (We can safely call ourselves or bosom friends dummies, can we not?)  It perceives real threats to spiritual health and relationship to God.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Are you partaking of wise teaching?  Is that teaching a refreshing drink from the wells of salvation?  By it are soul-destroying traps pointed out?  Solomon has given us good tests to evaluate the teaching we receive and how we receive it.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_15"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="457" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#00FFFF HEIGHT= 91 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:15</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> Good insight produces favor;<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> But the way of the cunning is always moving.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     "Favor" is also translated "grace".<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     "Always moving" is from a word used elsewhere of a "flowing" stream.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Proper understanding<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The path of the shifty</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposing dentifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Gives <B>grace</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Constantly changes / can't be tied down </div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Someone who has 'keen insight', who sees things as they are- beyond appearances, beyond bluster, beyond personal politicking, who sees the difference between people's posturing of attack and posturing of defense, but who sees the evil in both- this person procures the favor of God and man, because he is settled, and the consequences of his deliberations have time to settle into his life.  He is not insistent on the exact correctness of his insights, for the fallibility of his knowledge is one of the assumptions that causes his insights to generally move into alignment with reality.  So his freedom from arrogance procures him favor (grace)cin the eyes of God and man as well.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>      The cunning, on the other hand, who hides his true intentions, and does not want to be truly known, cannot have this favor.  He does have a kind of counterfeit brand of insight, but he only sees far enough into situations and personalities to manipulate them to his advantage.  He doesn't see things as they <I>are</I>; he can't afford to, because then he would see the ugliness of his own manipulations. He has no accurate vision, because he is always on the move, always shifting ground for a better advantage.  He has no real friends, for he is always 'remaking' himself, and only reveals what it is in his interest for others to know.  Any real friend he has is likely to be another con artist. Or his friend may simply have common enemies or shared insecurities.  This cunning person may be completely intuitive, doing no maneuvering deliberately per se.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>      In considering the crafty person just described, it <I>is </I>very tempting sometimes to 'remake' ourselves for different situations.  We can often see that representing ourselves a certain way would be to our advantage, whether it is quite an accurate portrayal or not.  This is the path of instability.  It indicates that we do not really know what is going on; we are willing to relate to life simply as a 'taker'- someone who plays for advantage and only relates to people as to pawns we position. </div> <div>     There is no <B>grace </B>in such posturing.  The supposed advantage of being hard to pin down is offset by the disadvantage of being untrustworthy.  All the advantage we need comes from seeing things from a Biblical perspective.  Seeing our own and others' faults is a good starting point for a compassionate approach to relationships.  Folk with these insights gain favor and lasting results.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     By the way, we see here a reflection of the New Testament dual idea of <B>grace </B>(or "favor")- of its justification and sanctification senses.  Grace is a passive element, you might say- unearned favor that God grants me in saving me (justification); but grace is also an active element- used to describe God's moment-by-moment production of holiness in my life (sanctification)- as it is used in our verse.  For this latter sense consider:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> Jam 4:6<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  But He gives more grace. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     God cannot give more of the justification kind of grace; it is complete. We must hope He is daily giving more of the sanctification kind of grace, the kind spoken of in our proverb today- the kind which sees reality as God describes it.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_16"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="453" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#00FFFF HEIGHT= 86 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:16</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> Every sharp <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Century" ><I>person </I></FONT>operates with knowledge, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >but a dullard rolls out </FONT><I>his</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >foolishness.</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Word of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>      The "sharp" fellow is described with the word used for the serpent in Eden, who was more "subtle" than any beast of the field.  Remember, though, that the serpent was like this <I>from its creation</I>, <I>before </I>sin had entered the world.  Lucifer chose the serpent as his instrument because of this, but the shrewdness itself was not evil.  Shrewdness can and should be used for righteousness.  Jesus said, "Be wise as serpents."</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The keen<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The dull-witted</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Always operates according to knowledge<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Rolls out his 'half-baked' <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Calisto MT" ><I>cookies</I></FONT><I> </I>(as though they were a king's feast)</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>      Solomon says that "all" keen-witted folk operate with <I>knowledge</I>.  In other words, this is a trait you can definitely count on in them. If someone bypasses knowledge, he may be other things, but he cannot be Solomon's 'sharpy'.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>      Knowledge is a very crucial concept with Solomon. It is not simply that someone 'knows a few things.' <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>Knowledge </B></FONT>is a<B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>basic grasp</B></FONT><B> </B>of the<B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><I><B>whole make-up</B></I></FONT><B> </B>of the<B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>world </B></FONT>and <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>life</B></FONT>. </div> <div> Is this saying <I>too much</I>? </div> <div>      Not if such knowledge has been revealed. And it has. </div> <div>     Since it has, it would be saying <I>too little</I> to put off the question of ultimate reality as unknowable. Solomon's theme statement for the book was given in terms of knowledge:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 1:7</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>   The fear of Jehovah </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>the beginning of knowledge </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>      Solomon <I>expects </I>us to track matters with knowledge.  He wants us to be sharp.  The real requirement for this keenness is to understand that God <I>has spoken</I>, that He has spoken <I>clearly</I>, and that He has told us <I>what we need to know</I>.  The inspiration, clarity, and sufficiency of Scriptures are indispensable to the man who would operate with knowledge. </div> <div>     If we were left wondering whether God had addressed this or that aspect of life, or whether He had addressed it clearly, we would be unable to proceed confidently in His fear.  We would have to just guess and hope for the best.  Unfortunately, by the doctrine of knowledge and the doctrine of Scripture that most have received, this guessing game is the most they can hope for from life.  They gather that God has done His best to communicate, but there are insurmountable barriers between us and Him, or between us and understanding Him, so we are left only to decide which are the critical issues we can confidently embrace, and the rest must be left to approximations. </div> <bR> <div>     Sad Church when this is the rule.  Sad Christian when this is his way.  Most Christians today actually operate by an 'anti-knowledge'.  The new position of piety is to say, "We don't know," whether Scriptures address the area or not.  At the very least, we should apply Scriptural generalities and say, "We at least know the answer will be within these boundaries."  It is amazing how satisfactory answers can be which merely seek to stay within known Scriptural boundaries, without even seeking the most specific answer or definition. </div> <bR> <div>     The Church has become a monastery of self-absorbed fools who are only interested in men's ideas about things.  God's knowledge is unapproachable, so let us dabble in matters infinitely trivial. </div> <div>     We have definitely characterized ourselves by the second half of today's proverb. We are fools who take our little bag of wares and roll them out to sell on the intellectual market (that is, the anti-intellectual market).  We are so proud of our maxims and -isms, confident that they are the best representation available (or possible) of God's viewpoint (be it ever so hazy).</div> <div>     By another analogy, we take out our scrolls of knowledge and lay them on the table with a Calvin, a Luther, an Augustine.  Our eyes are averted in embarrassment, not of the deficiency in <I>our </I>volume, but in the outdatedness of the <I>others </I>who were at one time laughingly thought of as smart.</div> <bR> <div>     It is a long way back to the love of knowledge. Sooner off the road of folly, sooner made up ground.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p13_17"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="390" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#99FFFF HEIGHT= 93 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:17</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> An immoral messenger falls into evil, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >but a trustworthy envoy </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >medicine. </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Analysis of the Verse</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An ungodly messenger<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A stable envoy</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Falls into bad <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Calisto MT" ><I>circumstances</I></FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is curative</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>      This proverb promotes the idea that a person's <I>character </I>is carried into his <I>work</I>, the effects of which will be <I>felt</I>.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     When an immoral man is entrusted with the task of delivering a message, his ungodliness travels with him.  Because his thinking and doing are against righteousness, he attracts trouble of one kind and another.  This trouble eventually <I>hinders </I>his message-taking.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The man whose character is 'built up' and 'supported' by righteousness (meanings of the Hebrew word for "faithful / trustworthy") will actually <I>reverse </I>the debilitating effects of <I>worry </I>in the one who sent him as representative.  The sender of the message will have all the more confidence in the message he sends, because the one delivering it will <I>himself </I>represent it well.  He will, in effect, <I>add </I>to the weight of the message, and hence add to the esteem in which the sender is held.  This all has a therapeutic tendency towards the sender.  Instead of fretting, he is healed.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     This is also, by the way, why the good messenger is described as an envoy, or ambassador, rather than as a simple messenger boy.  He carries a dignity with him, a problem-solving ability, an interest in his employer's/ authority's reputation, which make him far more than a set of wheels between point A and point B.  He actually <I>becomes </I>his senders thoughts and wishes.  He is a fit vehicle for relaying soul communications.  He can empty himself of self-interest, yet fill himself with all his savvy resources to accomplish the end for which he was sent.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     How much different can two kinds of people be?  One you can count on.  The other you can count on disappointing you.  You usually can't pin down how the mess-up happened, or if so, it seems excusable; but eventually, the repetition of errors proves that there is some connection between the carrier and his missteps.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Which are you, the faithful envoy, or the crooked messenger?<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> Most people's self-interest qualifies them only for the latter.  They'll do a job because they have to, but they won't go one toe outside the line of its job description, lest they be cheated out of their time, energy, or proper wage.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     A faithful envoy finds <I>his </I>fulfillment in a job well done.  He is free of self-importance and knows that his employers, fallible beings though they are, have enough troubles running the business without having to worry about some underling's constant mess-ups.  So he imbues with importance jobs that in themselves really aren't that important.  He is pleased when those over him notice his 'extra mile'.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Of course, the ultimate sender/ employer is God.  He has entrusted a message, a duty to His people.  Most are too absorbed in themselves one way and another to <I>simply </I>serve God's interests and His alone.  The trustworthy ambassador of the Gospel will do whatever menial tasks are before him in God's name and know that God is rewarder.</div> <div>     A trustworthy envoy is medicine.  When we converse solely as spokesmen for God, telling others about Him, we are bringing medicine to them.  We do this knowing that man's natural taste for that medicine makes him spit it out; but some few drops of the corrective may work into his system and inform him with that little voice we don't like that he indeed needs the whole bottle of medicine.  He may continue to deny it, but we are only faithful envoys if we tell it.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p_13_18"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="491" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFF99 HEIGHT= 86 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:18</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> He who dismisses chastisement- lack and disgrace; </div> <div> but he who garners correction will be honored.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Word of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The Hebrew root word for "correction" means "to be right," so the word itself means "to be righted."<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The Hebrew for "garner" is literally "to hedge about", so "to guard," "to keep." </div> <div>     "Honored" is the same word in Hebrew for God being "glorified."</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who dismisses rebuke<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who treasures realignment</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">(He will have) poverty and shame<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will be glorified</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Some of us would probably say that today's proverb commends the 'glutton for punishment' or masochism.  This would only be partly true.  The wise man doesn't like pain for its own sake. In fact, he doesn't intrinsically like any pain.  The wise man has learned to appreciate the good affects of pain directed to an area of his need, like a man who has to get frequent shots to treat some imbalance.  The pain itself is welcome <I>as </I>a necessary attendant to treatment.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Solomon, of course, sees man in basic need of treatment:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 14:12</B></I></FONT><I><B>  </B></I><B>There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end of it </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> the ways of death. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Our uncorrected spiritual vision is <I>negative </I>twenty / twenty.  We see and respond the <I>opposite </I>of how we need to.  Not only so, but this condition is <I>fatal; </I>it's "lack" is the eventual loss of even one's soul and its "disgrace" is the eternal preference of disease to treatment.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The Christian life is about <I>conviction</I>, beginning to end.  Again, not conviction for its own sake, but conviction as the necessary detection of spiritual cancer- <I>sin</I>.  It is an "honor" to be rid of it.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Our <I>normal </I>interaction with God involves conviction.  This is only so much as to say that our relationship with God is one of doctor treating patient:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>2 Tim 3:16 </B></FONT><B> All Scripture </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>is</B></FONT><B> God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness </B></div> <bR> <div>     The Bible is the Doctor talking to us.  His normal talk is going to <I>continue </I>to contain a regimen of conviction- telling us where we're wrong.  This implies we'll <I>always </I>have something wrong with us as long as we live.  This is why we are taught the daily prayer:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Matt 6:13</B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  And do not lead us into temptation</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This prayer is an admission of our inclination towards evil.  God would only lead someone into temptation who was <I>already </I>choosing some idol.  He is putting this prayer in the mouth of the wise man who will understand his need for daily correction.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Most often, our correction will come through circumstances or people.  Quite often, our correction will be sent through mean people and people who don't like us; they are the only ones who will straight-out tell us about our warts.  They don't usually mean to help us, of course, but the wise man, remember, is tuned in to correction, not necessarily <I>pleasant </I>correction:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>2 Sam 16:5 - 12</B></I><B>  </B></FONT><B>And King David came to Bahurim. And, behold, a man of the house of Saul came out from there, whose name </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>was</B></I><B> </B></FONT><B><U>Shimei</U></B><B>, the son of Gera. He came out, and he came </B><B><U>cursing</U></B><B>. And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David. And all the people and all the mighty men </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>were</B></I><B> </B></FONT><B>on his right hand, and on his left.  </B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>    And Shimei said this in his cursing, Go out, O man of blood, O man of Belial. Jehovah has returned on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. And Jehovah has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son.  And behold, you </B></FONT><I><B>are</B></I><B> </B><I><B>taken</B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B> in your mischief, because you </B></FONT><I><B>are</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>a man of blood! And Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head. </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>    And the king said, What have I to do with you, sons of Zeruiah? </B><B><U>Let him curse</U></B><B>, because Jehovah has said to him, Curse David. Who then shall say, Why have you done so? And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, Behold, my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeks my life; and surely now </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>this</B></I><B> </B></FONT><B>Benjamite? Let him alone and let him curse, for </B><B><U>Jehovah has spoken to him</U></B><B>. It may be that Jehovah will look on my affliction, and that Jehovah will </B><B><U>repay me with good</U></B><B> for his cursing this day. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Even our enemies' unjust accusations are useful to us.  We are so hesitant to look at our own X-rays. We don't want the bad news.  God is telling us in Scripture, but we have all developed very effective anti-heart-piercing armor.  Of course, it is wise to come to Scriptures <I>seeking </I>God's rebuke, but even then, we often need the additional shock of a ruffian's low blow to truly set the mirror in front of us.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Those who dismiss correction are avoiding temporary pain but asking for permanent damage.  Unless they learn to 'take their medicine', they will find themselves in situations where their ears, blocked against correction, will also refuse very sound advice for preservation of property and/or reputation.  They will have to 'go down with the ship' until they learn that there is a better Captain and learn to love His lovingly severe ship management.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>  </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p13_19"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="455" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#CCFF66 HEIGHT= 89 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:19</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> A desire accomplished is pleasant to the soul, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >But an abomination to fools </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >: Turn from evil.</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A desire brought to pass </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Turning away from evil</div> <bR> <div> Their Connections:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is harmonious to the soul<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An abomination to fools</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This is an unusual pairing of thoughts.  The first half has a more general meaning; therefore its specific focus must be derived from the second half. </div> <div>     Furthermore, there is a clue as to the connection of the halves in the words "soul" and "abomination".  The second part says that a fool finds it <I>abominable </I>to depart from evil; an abomination is a man's revulsion to something at a <I>soul </I>level.  He doesn't have to think about it; it is simply against his deepest nature.  Therefore, we are being told that, although there are features of departing from evil which are attractive to his soul, the fool's more basic instincts will eventually override such considerations and return him to his ungodliness.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     This would indicate a <I>specific </I>longing the fool might desire: giving up a bad habit, for instance.  More likely, that he would find it pleasant to escape from the whole <I>cycle </I>of bad consequences his foolishness has him entrapped in.  Finally, the fool is also able to perceive the simple and beautiful compatibility of his soul with the promises of the gospel, including escape from sin.  This is one of the main messages of the parable of the soils.  Here is Jesus' explanation of the second and third soil types:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Matt 13:20 - 22</B></I></FONT><B>  But that which was sown on the stony places is this: he who hears the </B><B><U>Word</U></B><B> and immediately </B><B><U>receives it with joy</U></B><B>.  But he has </B><B><U>no root in himself</U></B><B>, and </B><B><U>is temporary</U></B><B>. For when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the Word, he immediately stumbles. And that sown into the thorns is this: he who hears the Word; and the anxiety of this world, and the deceit of riches, choke the Word, and he becomes unfruitful. </B></div> <bR> <div>     The Word of God speaks reality to man on so many levels.  It is a very persuasive Book.  There are many, therefore, who accept the word of the gospel without taking Jesus' words to heart:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Luke 14:27 - 30</B></FONT><B>  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me, he cannot be My disciple.  or which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>and</B></I></FONT><I><B> </B></I><B><U>count the cost</U></B><B>, whether he may have </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>enough</B></I></FONT><I><B> </B></I><B>to finish it; lest perhaps, after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all those seeing begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. </B></div> <bR> <div>     So we hear of many who became 'big-time Christians' for a little while.  Eventually, that which takes "no root in himself" will prove easily removed.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Here we can see one of the greatest follies of modern evangelism.  The gospel is held out to men almost entirely as a desirable object, something fulfilling.  The gospel message has been reduced to a sales pitch.  The payoff is different, but the technique is the same.  Hence, we are asking fools to remain true to their foolishness and serve themselves ... just long enough for us to add to our body count of 'decisions for Christ.'<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The true gospel asks men to deny themselves and advises them <I>not </I>to follow Christ if they are not truly ready to do so:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Luke 9:57 </B></I></FONT><I><B> </B></I><B>And it happened as they were going in the way, one said to Him, Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.  And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>have</B></I></FONT><B> nests, but the Son of Man has </B><B><U>nowhere to lay </U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B><U>His</U></B></I></FONT><B><U> head</U></B><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div>     If we would follow the Master's example in evangelizing and discipling, we must, in a very definite way, <I>discourage </I>men from making a light-hearted decision. </div> <div>     "Don't come to Christ!" we must almost say, testing their resolve.  That is what Jesus did.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Though there will always be those who begin to follow the way of Christ only to halt later, there is a very good reason to keep fools from making premature entry into the kingdom of heaven:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>2 Pet 2:20, 21 </B></FONT><B> For if </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>they</B></I></FONT><I><B> </B></I><B>have escaped the pollutions of the world through the full knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and are again entangled, they have been overcome by these, </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>their</B></I></FONT><I><B> </B></I><B><U>last circumstances</U></B><B> are </B><B><U>worse </U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B><U>than</U></B></I></FONT><I><B><U> </U></B></I><B><U>the first</U></B><B>.  For it would have been better for them not to have fully known the way of righteousness, than fully knowing </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>it</B></I></FONT><B>, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. </B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p13_20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="440" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#66FFFF HEIGHT= 88 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:20</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> One who walks with wise men grows wise, </div> <div> But a companion of fools suffers harm. </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     "Grows wise" can also be translated "is wise".<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     "Companion" is literally a word for tending a flock or grazing, with the connotation of associating.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     "Suffers harm" is literally "is marred / split / broken".<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who walks with wise men<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The comrade of fools</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is / becomes wise<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will be marred</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This is the first time we have seen this teaching in the 'proverbs proper' (chapter 10 to the end), but it was really Solomon's first extended topic in the introductory chapters (1 - 9):<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 1:10 - 19</B></I></FONT><B>   My son, if sinners lure you, do not be willing.  If they say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, we will watch secretly for the innocent without cause; let us swallow them up alive as the grave, and whole, as those who go down into the pit; we shall find all precious goods; we shall fill our houses </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>with</B></I></FONT><B> plunder; cast in your lot among us, and let us have one purse. </B></div> <div> <B>    My son, </B><B><U>do not walk in the way with them</U></B><B>!  Keep back your foot from their path, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood.  Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, And they lie in wait for their </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>own</B></I></FONT><B> blood; they watch secretly for their own lives.  So </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>are</B></I></FONT><B> the ways of everyone who gains unjust gain; </B><B><U>it takes away its owners' life</U></B><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Christian parents must strongly insist on this with their children.  Our children may not be aware of the evil of certain companions, or, if aware, are not really attracted by the evil per se.  They may seek association with the companions for other reasons, some completely harmless.  However, we must draw a firm line on the friends of our children.  Once a parent perceives immorality in the life of his child's companion, he must restrict the child's association with him.  A child can rarely comprehend this correctly, so a parent will be left looking unreasonable.  So it must be. </div> <div>      Some children will be more offended by this parental choice than others, but any who begin thinking things through, which we want them to do, will still find it hard to see the <I>end </I>of a road that only <I>begins </I>with a seemingly harmless comradary.  Our wisest course is to share the actual verses from Scripture. </div> <div>  One of the pitfalls we have to avoid is painting questionable companions with one broad stroke.  We do not help our case when we seem to class the companion with outright Satan-worshipers (even if we wouldn't be surprised if he were one).  It is even a good idea to (swallow hard and) say something good about the prospective companion first ("Your friend showed great planning ability in that convenience store heist.").<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     This whole situation is even more difficult when we ourselves didn't know the moral state of our child's friend at first.  It may also be that he only turned bad along the way.  Of course, many parents fail to make room for one crucial observation: the possibility that their <I>own </I>child is as much or more the source of immorality.  In any case, disassociation from other immoral folk is still the right procedure.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     The power of friendship is quite awesome but largely underestimated.  "He who walks with the wise will become wise."  Just like that?  Pretty much, just like that.  You can't help picking up on the thought patterns of those you hang around.  If you choose wise companions, you will have a ringside seat to their handling of difficult decisions, everyday kindnesses, and everything in between. </div> <div>     If you hang around fools, your human soul cannot help being affected by <I>approving </I>of their actions.  This approval includes <I>failure to disapprove</I>.  Furthermore, this approval of immorality includes failure to <I>effectively </I>disapprove.  You see, it is not that we instantly become like them.  It is that whatever good morals we <I>had </I>are slowly broken down by having to, in effect, <I>defend </I>the bad deeds of our companion.  If we can't stop them from doing evil, how good a friend are we?  A child that has any wisdom left will depart such a companion on his own.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>      Let's go ahead and throw one in from left field.  Since TV, radio, and recorded media have allowed us to 'make friends' with celebrities or their fictional characters (they <I>are </I>affecting us, whether we affect them or not), what companions do we admire and 'hang with' on TV?  Whom do we laugh at?  Are his jokes really harmless?  At whose music do we bob our heads?  Is his the beat of a defaming drummer?<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="p13_21"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="508" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#99FFFF HEIGHT= 88 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:21</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> Evil pursues sinners, </div> <div> but the righteous shall be recompensed with good<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >. </FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Sinners </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The righteous</div> <bR> <div> Their Respective Attendants<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Chased down by bad <I>things</I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will be rewarded with good <I>things </I></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Who would ever make a statement like this who wished to be respected as a mature student of human life?  It would seem too easy to poke holes in a generality like this. </div> <div>     Solomon was obviously not unacquainted with the difficulties that come into righteous men's lives; nor was he unaware of the peaceful and prosperous lives of many sinners.  No, what might at first seem like a schoolboy's attempt at moralizing is actually, like the rest of the proverbs, a precisely worded statement of reality.  We simply have to resist reading it superficially or imprecisely.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     What happens to sinners according to this proverb?  They are always being tracked by the hunter 'evil'- misfortune in many forms, including the form of their own pleasures and prosperities turning against them.  They are not in a <I>constant </I>state of being overtaken, but they are always being <U>pursued</U>.  Neither are they pursued in vain; evil always gets his man. </div> <div>     Sometimes evil has the sinner in his sights but decides to track for a season without bagging his prey .  Next year the prey will be ripe for the catch.  As per other proverbs, we know the sinner is the one who has 'painted a target' on his back by his refusal to follow the path of right.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     Then we have the righteous.  He has undergone the Great Change.  He was just as much a sinner as the other.  His life was one big 'missing of the mark'- the mark of honesty and goodness set by God's good Law.  But God came and overcame.  His grace replaced the heart of stone with a heart responsive to Himself (Ezek. 36:26).  Now the righteous has listening ears and a heart desiring God's ways.  He pays heed to Scriptures.  He draws near God for help to walk uprightly day by day. </div> <div>     And what does he get for his troubles?  He is repaid with good.  Does Solomon say he is repaid with <I>only </I>good?  No, he knows that God will add misfortune to the mix of our lives.  Sometimes misfortune is the main ingredient.  But with God, misfortunes are still part of the overall good He is doing us.  Consider, how much better did Job know God <I>after </I>his trial compared to before?<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Job 42:5  </B></I></FONT><B> I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but </B><B><U>now</U></B><B> my eye has seen You. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Job's <I>previous </I>knowledge of God was like <I>hearsay </I>compared to his <I>new </I>view of God, post-loss.  It was as if he had finally met God for the first time!  There are some things we just can't really apprehend when things are going great.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     So, really, good things, and <I>only </I>good things, happen to the righteous, considering that even their worst trials work good in their lives.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>2 Thess 1:5</B></I></FONT><I><B>  </B></I><B>For </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>this is</B></I></FONT><B> a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be </B><B><U>counted worthy</U></B><B> of the kingdom of God </B><B><U>for which you also suffer</U></B><B> </B></div> <bR> <div>     Strange gospel we've mutated here in America.  We have a gospel <I>sans </I>suffering.  We have a God who is so good and kind that he would only allow bad things to happen to people who have been bad or who don't have enough faith.  Yes, when blessings are the norm, this is the kind of perverted gospel that arises.  This brand of Christian cannot glorify God in trial, as Paul can:<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>2 Cor 12:7 - 10</B></I><B>  </B></FONT><B>and by the surpassing revelations, lest I be made haughty, </B><B><U>a thorn in the flesh</U></B><B> was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, </B><B><U>lest I be made haughty</U></B><B>. For this thing I besought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. And He said to me, </B><B><U>My grace is sufficient</U></B><B> for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. </B></div> <div> <B>    Most gladly </B><B><U>therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses</U></B><B>, that the power of Christ may overshadow me. Therefore I am pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am powerful. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Please notice that this disability came upon Paul to <I>keep </I>him from pride, not because he had <I>been </I>prideful. </div> <div>     Paul saw <I>all </I>God's works towards him as works of goodness, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>including pain</B></FONT>.  He saw good in his life as a reward for his following of God's ways.  He did not regret following God.  He entrusted his soul to God and knew God would do what was best, that His refining fires are not ultimately to be feared.  He knew.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>     So should we.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>