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<tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 18:19</div> <div> <B>A betrayed brother </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Verdana" ><I><B>is like</B></I></FONT><B> a strong city; </B></div> <div> <B>and the contests </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Verdana" ><I><B>are</B></I></FONT><B> like the bars of a palace. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Betrayed" is from a word meaning "to break away."</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Considered<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A betrayed brother</div> <bR> <div> Description:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A strong city</div> <bR> <div> Difficulty<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The struggles <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>to be reconciled  with him</I></FONT> are like <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>getting by  </I></FONT>the bars <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>protecting</I></FONT> a palace</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This verse spins off of the former one by means of the word for "contest, struggle, quarrel" used in both verses.  The connection would seem to suggest that although casting of lots can be a powerful tool of reconciliation, don't expect miracles if you've dug yourself a deep hole.  You're going to reap what you sow if you've offended someone.</div> <div>     The offended party in our verse is a brother.  When we transgress a brother's confidence, we open a deep wound with a jagged-edged, rust-encrusted blade.  Everything about the situation makes the wound dangerous and painful and makes healing difficult.</div> <div>     Here we are not talking about a mean word slipping out or forgetting a meeting with him.  Here we are talking about stark betrayal.  As much trust and loyalty as <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>should </I></FONT>have been expected from us is replaced by the same degree of treachery.</div> <div>     On the other hand, there is a certain matter of degrees in the process.  If our sibling is treating us coldly, we may ask and discover that we had acted in a way perceived as disloyal, though in a less consequential matter.  Thoughtlessness or selfishness may have been the root of it, and a sincere apology is usually all that is necessary to make things right.  Our sibling will have to decide for himself whether we are worthy of the same amount of confidence in the future.  A string of such incidents, though, may eventually have the same effect as outright perfidy.</div> <div>     The fact that base betrayal destroys relations is evidenced by the all-too-common 'bad vibes' at holiday get-togethers.  Brothers who now have their own families can only treat one another cordially for mom and dad's sakes because of a bond ruptured in the past.  Other siblings have to take sides or play arbiter.  Year after year, more reasons surface to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>skip </I></FONT>the next holiday reunion with its unpleasant atmosphere.</div> <div>     In movie-land, these scenarios end with dramatic and satisfying reconciliations.  This is mirrored in real life sometimes.  At least as often, it is not.  The closer the relationship was before, the wider the breach afterwards (Charles Bridge's Proverbs commentary).  So the picture our proverb paints is very true-to-life.  Sally offended her sister Jane, and now Jane is like a fortified city.  A city has numerous guardians to man the walls in case of attack.  Any approach from an enemy is perceived as an attack.  How can Sally get close enought to make things right?  Arrows are poised and at the ready all round.  They fly before she can speak a word.  Most likely, she will soon barricade herself in her own martial stronghold in retaliation.</div> <div>     The "struggles" Solomon references are apparently the struggles of the offend<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>ing</I></FONT> sibling to break through the offend<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>ed</I></FONT> sibling's defenses.  These he likens to breaking through the innermost fortifications of a city, the <B>palace </B>with its bars.  Now Solomon has added another element to our negotiations.  Now there is the element of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>royalty</I></FONT>.  Ah!</div> <div>     Now that we are seeking to infringe on royalty, we are also negotiating as <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>inferior </I></FONT>to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>superior</I></FONT>.  And so it should be.  We had lowered ourselves to become a snake-in-the-grass.  It is arrogance to pretend we are now upright just by the passage of time.  Even if our character has completely changed, we will only <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>meet </I></FONT>our offended brother <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>back </I></FONT>at the point of transgression.  Any attempt to downplay our former duplicity will only aggravate the situation.  And so we come on our knees.  "I really did wrong, and I am truly sorry.  Please forgive me."</div> <div>     Ah, now we see why those icy holiday meetings rarely thaw out.  It's one thing to admit off-handedly that I shouldn't have acted such-and-such a way, but it is completely another to humble myself before this person who has been treating me like dirt for all these years!  Certainly <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>he </I></FONT>is the one who has over-reacted!  Plus we forget that the closeness of the former bond has dictated our present polar distance apart.  The Apology, then, has to be of the same vast proportions as the former bond.</div> <div>     A strong city?  The bars of a palace?  Solomon might well have said splitting an atom!  (Or putting a split one back together.  But no, it is only a war, and one we can win- if we will wage it like a Waterloo.)</div> <div>     How much more is all this the case when the offense is in the family of Christ!  Except there, we have the automatic rule of making things right and airing our differences peacefully and privately.  Still, an offended Christian brother takes as miraculous a resolution as a natural one.  We say we believe in miracles, but when they have to change the shape of an implacable heart within us, our faith wavers.</div> <div>     Or how about a really big monkey wrench thrown into the gears- how about the offending of our brother Christ?  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>Can </I></FONT>He be offended by our treachery?  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>Does </I></FONT>He just automatically forgive?  I think that's what most of us assume.  Check Ephesians 4:30, though.  Shame and humiliation should definitely accompany our confessions of betrayal to our brother Jesus.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ********************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_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="528" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 18:20</div> <div> <B>A man's belly shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth; </B></div> <div> <B>he shall be filled </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Verdana" ><I><B>with</B></I></FONT><B> the income of his lips. </B><B> </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Income" is from the root word "to go or come"; it can also mean produce, increase, or harvest.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The fruit of a man's mouth</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The income of his lips</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His stomach will be filled with it</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He will be filled with it</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    </FONT>Our mouths are here seen as produce-bearing apparatus.  They are not consumers here, as we know them to be, but producers.  Then, further, they do not produce for others- our <I>mouths </I>feed <I>us!</I>  That is different than saying that <I>by </I>our mouths we <I>eat</I>.  There is no eating apparatus mentioned in the verse, but it is assumed that what the mouth produces we can and do ingest.  That paradox makes this an intriguing proverb.</div> <div>     The proverb builds somewhat from the first half to the second.  In the first half, a man's <I>stomach </I>is specified as what is filled by the mouth's fruit.  Then in the second half, the <I>whole man</I> is who is filled by the mouth's "output."  So in the first half, Solomon is insuring that we don't take this too figuratively.  He literally means we get our 'daily bread' by what we speak.  Then he broadens the thought to say that the "wages" earned by the lips are what we, in our <I>soul </I>as well, shall indeed be full of.  </div> <div>     The idea of certainty is also a key one of the verse.  What the mouth produces <I>shall certainly</I> fill us.</div> <div>     The teaching of the proverb, then, is that what we speak is what we get.  Perhaps we should modify that a bit to this:  <B>everything we receive in life is a result of our speech</B>.  </div> <div>     A modern-day aberration of this is that we speak outcomes into reality, as though by conjuration (by creation, its proponents say).  Our proverb is <I>not </I>making the mouth a tool of creation, but a simple fruit-bearing tree, or a simple wage-earning tool.  It is simply the law of reaping what we sow.  The particular sowing we do is <I>everything we say</I>.  Trying to avoid talking about sickness, for instance, in order to make reality conform to our speech, is a dangerous heresy, either inanely superstitious or demonically arrogant.  Paul talks about sickness as quite an ordinary thing, 1 Tim. 5:23, 2 Tim. 4:20.  So much for the error.</div> <div>     So, first, how does our mouth fill our belly?  By determining our <B>livelihood</B>.  <I>What </I>we say, to <I>whom</I>, and <I>when </I>we say it determines the work we do in life.  Our speech also determines our longevity in an occupation.  At a most basic level, we come to a job by saying, "I'd like to work here."  We move on from that job by saying, "I don't want to work here anymore."  </div> <div>     This is not a show-stopping insight, but neither is it Solomon's main point.  He is moving into the nuances of both the job, our speech, and our lives.  The amount of income we can generate is determined by what we know; what we know is evidenced in what we speak.  Then, how we <I>employ </I>our knowledge on the job determines how far we will advance in the business.  That, too, is evidenced in our speech.  If someone is looking to upgrade his income, his speech about it will determine this as well, for instance, in asking after further education.</div> <div>     If someone is stuck in a certain position, such as a slave in an old Israelite household, then our proverb says that how he speaks in the carrying out of his duties and in his attitude toward his owners will determine his fortunes in that household.  He can either speak cooperatively and eat well or speak impudently and be denied bread.</div> <div>     So it's not just <I>us </I>who feeds our <I>mouths</I>- <I>they </I>feed <I>us </I>as well!</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon's second point, then, takes this further.  He says that how we fare in the <B>totality of life</B> is also determined by our speech.  And this indicates something further:  <I>How </I>we speak determines how we fare.  Our lives SHALL be filled according to what we say.</div> <div>     At this point, we have to address another heresy that has dogged the Church in our day, that of Positive Thinking (and positive speaking).  According to this teaching, if you want only good things in your life, then only talk about good things, only speak positively.</div> <div>     It is true that our speech needs to conform to our faith, and we should be basically positive, because the Gospel is "good news," but this does not rule out negative thoughts or speech.  MOST of the record of both thoughts and speech, in the Old Testament and the New, is NEGATIVE.  </div> <div>     Most of Israel's narrated <I>history </I>sees them failing and falling.  Biblical writers could have avoided or downplayed those incidents if negative thoughts were dangerous.  Most of the <I>prophets</I>' words were denunciations- negative in the extreme.  If good thoughts could have helped God's people, don't you think these would've been employed exclusively?  </div> <div>     Then <I>Jesus</I>' words are also weighted quite a bit on the negative side- warnings, denunciations, etc.  He never claimed to be reinventing prophecy.  He was just the culmination of the prophets in that sense.  </div> <div>     And finally the <I>epistles</I>.  Which epistle is not addressing some problem of doctrine or lifestyle or both?  Why didn't Peter, Paul, and John just remind the churches of all the good things and let the resulting positive thinking blot out the problems?</div> <div>     Again, heresy is always just truth out of balance, and it's especially hard to spot in the day when it's flourishing.  </div> <div>     We <I>are </I>to avoid negative speech, especially gossip.  But we <I>are </I>to address problems, just in a Biblical manner.  We are to talk of what is real, including all the results of sin in this fallen world- sickness, death, natural catastrophes.</div> <div>     We <I>will </I>be filled with the wages of our mouths.  We are paying ourselves a wage every time we open our mouths.  If our speech honors Christ, following the rule of love to Him first and love to our neighbor second, our paycheck will be good.  </div> <div>     The rule for us sinners is that our mouths pay us with poison.  Is God's grace sufficiently strong in your life to be the antidote?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_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="470" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCC99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 18:21</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>Death and life </B></FONT><I><B>are</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>in the hand of the tongue, </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>and those who love it shall eat its fruit. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Hand" is literal, though it is usually translated "power" here.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The tongue's power of death</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The tongue's power of life</div> <bR> <div> Description of Each:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Those who love it [death <B>or </B>life] will eat the fruit of it [death or life]</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <div>    <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div>     This is the first time Solomon has given us <I>multiple </I>subjects which then share only a <I>single </I>description or outcome.  Two powers of the tongue are given, but then both powers are described the same way:  whoever loves <I>that </I>power will eat <I>its </I>fruit.  In this way, Solomon communicates the unity of man's nature.  We are made for service, but for one service only.  We will either love and serve life <B>or </B>death.</div> <div>     This proverb is connected to the previous one.  One feature that keeps us from overlooking this connection is the repetition of the word "fruit" in the context of speech.</div> <div>     In brief, our proverb is saying this:  our human capacity for speech can work spiritual <I>death </I>or <I>life </I>by what we <I>speak </I>and how we speak it.  This, then, is connected to the previous proverb by telling us that all men <I>love </I>one or the other, death or life, and whichever one we love will determine what our mouths feed us.  So our tongue <I>deals out</I> life or death- that is the fruit coming from our 'tree'- but <I>we </I>are the primary consumers of the life or death we produce.</div> <div>     The element that is being added in this verse is Love.  We are being told that we all love one or the other, death or life.  This is a great insight for a Christian.  </div> <div>     Our normal observations would <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Footlight MT Light" >not </FONT>tell us that unbelievers love death, nor that their speech is a constant ingestion of that death.  It is not that they do not recognize or seek life in any form; it is that their quest is for a counterfeit life.  This is why men are impossible to convert without God's direct intervention; we are all satisfied with our own 'life' and are naturally offended at having a replacement life urged upon us.</div> <div>     Likewise, it is an important insight for the Christian to see that he is supposed to have a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" >natural (</FONT>by his new nature<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BwSymbol" >) love of life</FONT>.  Life is supposed to be what flows from our mouths and what feeds us.</div> <div>     Tongues, though, are naturally death-dealing:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Jam 3:8</FONT>  but no one of men is able to tame the tongue; <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>it is </I></FONT> an unrestrainable evil, full of death-dealing poison. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" > Jam 3:6</FONT>  And the tongue <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I> </FONT>a fire, a world of iniquity. So the tongue is set among our members, spotting all the body and inflaming the course of nature, and being <U>inflamed by hell</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     This is true for the Christian also.  The only way to rise above the tongue's murderous impulses is to consciously 'go' to the kingdom of God mentally and dwell there by thinking on the Word and praying.</div> <bR> <div>     18:21 is the fifth of five proverbs on Death and Life.  The Death & Life theme is begun in Deuteronomy and ended in Jeremiah in the Old Testament, but then carried on  in the New Testament, mainly in Romans.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Deut 30:15, 16</FONT>  Behold, I have set before you today <U>life</U> and good and <U>death</U> and evil, in that I <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>am</I></FONT> commanding you today to love Jehovah your God, to walk in His ways ...</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Deut 30:19</FONT>  I call Heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you <U>life </U>and <U>death</U>, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life, that you may live, you and your seed, </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Pro 11:19</FONT>  So righteousness <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>tends</I></FONT> to <U>life</U>; but one pursuing evil, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>it is</I></FONT> to his own <U>death</U>. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Pro 12:28</FONT>  In the way of righteousness <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I></FONT> <U>life</U>, and in that pathway <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>there is</I></FONT> no <U>death</U>. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Pro 13:14</FONT>  The law of the wise <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I></FONT> a fountain of <U>life</U>, to depart from the snares of <U>death</U>. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Pro 14:27</FONT>  The fear of Jehovah <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I></FONT> a fountain of <U>life</U>, to turn away from snares of <U>death</U>. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Pro 18:21</FONT>  <U>Death </U>and <U>life </U><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>are</I></FONT> in the hand of the tongue, and those who love it shall eat its fruit. </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Jer 21:8</FONT>  And you shall say to this people, So says Jehovah, Behold, I set before you the way of <U>life </U>and the way of <U>death</U>. </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 5:17</FONT>  For if by one man's offense <U>death</U> reigned by one, much more they who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in <U>life</U> by One, Jesus Christ.) </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 5:20, 21</FONT>  But the Law entered so that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, so that as sin has reigned to <U>death</U>, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal <U>life</U> by Jesus Christ our Lord. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 6:23</FONT>  For the wages of sin <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I></FONT> <U>death</U>, but the gift of God <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I></FONT> eternal <U>life</U> through Jesus Christ our Lord. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 8:2</FONT>  But the Law of the Spirit of <U>life</U> in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and <U>death</U>. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 8:6</FONT>  For to be carnally minded <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I></FONT> <U>death</U>, but to be spiritually minded <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I></FONT> <U>life</U> and peace </div> <bR> <bR> <div>     Life and Death are the two realms in which all men dwell.  They are kingdoms, and by their rule we walk.  Solomon is reminding us today to <I>love </I>the kingdom of life, preferring it, choosing it, dwelling in it.</div> <div>     We are given a test as to where we are dwelling.  <B>Is life sprouting</B> in our lives?  If not, we are not seeding it by speaking <B>living words</B>.  <I>Or </I>we are not watering it, weeding it, insect-proofing it, etc.  The way of life is a way of maintenance.  Reading this devotional is part of that maintenance.  Prayer based on the truths of these verses today is another part.  </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_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="362" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 18:22</div> <div> <I><B>He who</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>finds a wife finds good, </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>and obtains favor from Jehovah. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Wife" is from the Hebrew word for both wife and woman, the name Adam first gave Eve, "Ishah", feminine of man, "Ish".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Considered<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who finds a wife</div> <bR> <div> Description:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Finds good</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Obtains favor from Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is another proverb that is usually read incorrectly and therefore is thought to be a 'rule' with glaring exceptions.  There are obviously bad wives, so this proverb is thought to be restricted to good wives.  </div> <div>     Rather, good wives are the only wives who should be thought of as wives at all.  "Wife" is a title of honor, and a bad wife does not deserve it.  It's like the saying that making a baby doesn't make a man a father.  That's why Solomon talks about <I>finding </I>a wife.  A man is supposed <I>search </I>for a woman who will fit the description of "wife."  If he just marries a pretty face, he may well have married someone with no wifely qualities.</div> <div>     This proverb comments on the man who has found a wife, a woman truly befitting the title.  It says that he has obtained <I>God's favor</I>!  He is like Adam in the Garden.  He has been blessed with an aid in life who complements him.  God said it was <I>not good</I> for man to be alone.  Our proverb says of its happy man that he has <I>found good</I>.</div> <bR> <div>     So what does a man go looking for in a wife?</div> <div>     The simplest checklist would include the following.  In the <I>house where he finds her</I>:</div> <div>    1)  She is submissive to those in authority over her.  As such, she will then be submissive to him as a husband;</div> <div>    2)  She is peaceful in her present household.  If she is a source of strife there, she will no doubt generate strife in <I>his </I>household;*</div> <div>    3)  She sees herself as a future aid to her husband, not a seeker of personal ambitions; she thus finds <I>his </I>direction in life appealing or at least suitable;</div> <div>    4)  She wants to have her own 'church'- children to rear to God's glory;</div> <div>    5)  She lines up with him doctrinally and will acquiesce where there are differences.</div> <bR> <div>     Of course, this list says several things about the husband as well.</div> <div>     Nor does this cover the wife's list for her 'husband-shopping'.</div> <bR> <div>     Is it possible for a man to look for a real wife but still end up with a bad one?  If he allows the Lord to say "No" when a main qualification is not met, he probably won't go wrong.  Only when he lets his heart lead his head will he miss or discount obvious signs of 'un-wifeliness'.</div> <div>     The other question is, can a woman outright fool a man?  Probably only if her position in life makes it hard to judge some of her basic qualities.  If she is already living on her own, it might be hard to judge her relation to authority.  In that case, her <I>attitude </I>toward her parents, how she speaks about them and still relates to them, plays a vital role in a man's evaluations.</div> <div>     Also, he cannot afford to trust the evaluations of her friends.  He must trust his own evaluations as much as possible.  He should also have a ready and valuable evaluation from church officials that have worked with her in the past.  However, again, she may be a fairly recent convert with a limited track record.  But how likely is she to overcome bad habits from the past?  Family history is HARD to erase.</div> <bR> <div>     A man has to pray for guidance, especially if he likes a girl and she seems well-qualified to fill the designation 'wife'.  Before his heart can be cast committedly her way, he must ask God if there's something he's overlooking, some blindness in his assessment.</div> <div>     Sometimes a man makes a totally dumb decision and God blesses him with a good wife anyway (changes her, for instance).</div> <div>     And if a man <I>has </I>a bad wife, God can <I>still </I>make her into a good one.  But if the man ignored good sense in choosing her, his grading scale of life's values probably needs a long overhaul anyway.  What better way than through his own choice of mate?  He has connected himself to a rough sanctifying agent for as long as they both shall live!</div> <div>     Young man!  If you are a Christian, you have already made the most important initial decision you will ever make; but God overcame your ignorance on that one.  Now He has entrusted you with sufficient wisdom to make the next most important decision in life!**  Realizing the gravity of this is half the battle.</div> <bR> <div>     One might be truly cheeky and ask Solomon, in light of this proverb, whether he himself found <I>mulitplied </I>good, since he had multiple wives.  Actually, the proverb contains a rebuke of Solomon.  It says he who finds "a" wife.  And, yes, Solomon lived to regret it.  (Or, in light of the previous proverb, he 'died' in regret of it.)</div> <bR> <div> * <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > If the whole house is an unloving place, she may be permanently damage by this.</FONT></div> <div> ** <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > Actually, one might argue that choice of church is the second most important decision, because that is where one chooses the garden from which he will select his little 'cabbage-flower' (I don't know either; ask a French person)</FONT>.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_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="362" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCE4 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 18:23</div> <div> <B>The poor speaks humble requests, </B></div> <div> <B>but the rich answers sharply. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Humble requests" is from the Hebrew word for "supplications", usually used of prayer.</div> <div>     "Sharply" is from a Hebrew word for might or fierceness.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The poor</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The rich</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Utters entreaties</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Replies roughly</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is our fifth proverb contrasting the rich and poor.  The first one (10:4) put poverty in a bad light, saying it was the result of laziness.  This, of course, does not mean that all poor people are lazy, but that laziness is <I>one </I>path to poverty.  The last one (14:20) said that the rich have many friends, whereas the poor is despised even by his neighbor.  The worst thing said about the rich so far is that his wealth is his strong city (10:15), whereas, we know that God is supposed to be our refuge and strength.</div> <div>     One of the reasons Solomon is giving us these distinctions between the rich and the poor is so that- get ready for this- we will know <I>which one we are</I>.  He has already alluded to one going incognito as the other (13:7), so it is not a foregone conclusion that we will know which we are.  In America, in fact, there is <I>general confusion</I> on this matter.  Most Americans would definitely <I>not </I>place themselves in the category of the rich, because they think that the rich are those who buy whatever they like, whenever they like, and live a life of little toil and much leisure.  Is this, indeed, a true definition of the rich?*</div> <div>     Where do you think <I>you </I>stand by Solomon's definitions?  Solomon is giving another indicator today.  It is this:  the poor <I>speak pleadingly</I> while the rich <I>boss</I>.  There.  You probably know where you stand already.  In fact, you have probably identified yourself additionally by picturing a sniveling little beggar whining for some kind of help.  You have thereby become one of his neighbors who despise him.  That doesn't automatically categorize you as rich, but it certainly rules you out as a poor man.</div> <div>     Are you one who "replies roughly"?  How do you treat waitresses in a restaurant?  How do you talk to store representatives who aren't 'getting it'?  If you are insistent in your tones, departing from courtesy, you are identifying yourself as someone who <B>has way more than enough.  </B>And there we have given our basic definition of the rich.  He has plenty and to spare.  He has come to view the marketplace, whatever stores he shops and businesses he interacts with, as a place where he is to be <I>served</I>.</div> <div>     You may wish to speak in your defense just now and say, "But I'm just being a regular American!  That's how business runs in our land.  The customer is always right, and if I don't clasp my 'edge' tightly, someone will take advantage of me."</div> <div>     Really?  You don't think you can get a good deal by simply acting courteously and treating people behind the counter as human beings, worthy of the same respect you'd want in their place?  And don't you think your overall level of service declines rather than rises by rough retorts?</div> <div>     The poor uses entreaties.  "Could you please help me?"  He is then truly appreciative when he receives the help.</div> <div>     Did you know that part of the New Testament definition of the average Christian is that they were poor?  (Notice we said "average" Christian.  There were rich, but they were the exceptions.)</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>James 2:5</B></FONT><B>  Listen, my beloved brothers, </B><B><U>has not </U></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> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B> 1 Cor 1:26</B></FONT><B>  For you see your calling, brothers, that not many wise men according to the flesh </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>are called</B></FONT><B>, </B><B>not many mighty</B><B>, not many noble. </B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B> Luke 6:20</B></FONT><B>  And lifting up His eyes to His disciples, He said, </B><B>Blessed </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>are</B><B> </B></FONT><B>the poor</B>, <B>for yours is the kingdom of God</B>. </div> <bR> <div>     And this is complemented with warnings about the rich:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Matt 19:24</B></FONT><B>  And again I say to you, It is </B><B><U>easier</U></B><B> for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a </B><B><U>rich man</U></B><B> to </B><B><U>enter</U></B><B> into the kingdom of God. </B></div> <bR> <div>     By our definition, then, we should be mightily concerned about our amount of 'stuff'.  Because of our human nature (not because of the stuff itself), our possessions are more than enough to deny us God's kingdom.</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon is adding to his list of traits of the rich.  This he is doing for our benefit.  If we are excess possessors, we have to find a way to unload or else to relate to our 'stuff' in such a way as to be the poor whom Jesus says are blessed.  If it all truly belongs to God, we <I>do </I>deal with it differently and <I>not </I>as rich folk.  Walk a couple of days with a mirror alongside, and watch yourself.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> *  <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >We obviously cannot depend on a country's definition of its poverty line</FONT>.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *******************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_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="535" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 18:24</div> <div> <B>A man who has friends may be ruined, </B></div> <div> <B>but there is a loved one who sticks closer than a brother.</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "A man who has friends" is literally "a man of friends", perhaps meaning many friends.</div> <div>     "Loved one" is from the Hebrew word for "love", and could also mean lover.</div> <div>     Paraphrase:  'A well-liked man can still be left to rot; but there is one kind of friend who will not abandon you no matter what.' </div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A man <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>with plenty</I></FONT> of friends</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A particular loved one / lover</div> <bR> <div> Description<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">May come to harm</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Adheres more than a brother</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The focus of this proverb seems to be on the <I>loved one</I> who sticks closer than a brother.  Friends and brothers are <I>both </I>being compared to the <I>loved one</I> spoken of.</div> <div>     Friends and brothers were compared to each other in 17:17.  There a <I>brother </I>was the deeper of the two relationships, even though a <I>friend </I>was said to "love at all times."  In fact, the word for the "love" a friend was said to constantly render is the same word as the "loved one" in today's verse.</div> <div>     This need not be seen as a conundrum, though, because it is the <I>multiplicity </I>of friends that fails to provide adequate protection from harm according to our verse.  One true <I>friend</I>, then, <I><B>is </B></I>a <I>loved one</I>.</div> <div>     The lesson of our verse seems to be that the <B>quality of friendship</B> is all-important.  Quantity might <I>look </I>like quality at first glance, but as often as not, a friend who is one among many will tend to lack depth of commitment.  Two other proverbs on multiple friends reinforce this negative connotation:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 19:4</FONT>  Wealth makes <U>many friends</U>; but the poor is separated from his neighbor. </div> <div>        <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" >(This is almost the same as 14:20)</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 19:6</FONT>  Many will beg the favor of a ruler, and <U>all </U><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Eurostile" ><I><U>are</U></I><U> </U></FONT><U>friends</U> to a man who gives gifts. </div> <bR> <div>     The one friend who latches onto you like a kitten over water, then, is the true treasure.</div> <div>     This proverb also says something about Mr. or Miss Popular.  His or her many admirers are probably not that true blue.  Oh, they may espouse their undying devotion, but this is because they are not very deep people.  They're giving Mr. Popular all they've got, but it will run out rather quickly in a pinch.  And of course it is in a pinch that we really need a true friend.  It is therefore not wise to envy the popular.</div> <div>     Our proverb implies that friends are supposed to be a support network in times of trouble.  <I>Ruin </I>is looking me in the eye:  my friends step up to face my hazard with me.  So the 'man of friends' faces ruin because his friends <I>aren't</I> really friends.  They either disappear when trouble appears, or they turn out to be useless in a scrape.</div> <div>     So what Solomon is trying to do is point out for our unmistakable notice that person who is worthy of our greatest return devotion.  Who is it that doesn't back away when the going gets rough for me?  <I>That </I>person had better be recognized as my true friend.</div> <bR> <div>     Now we can see one of the best benefits of adversity.  <I>Troubled times reveal true friends</I>.  That is Solomon's lesson.</div> <div>     We should also ask ourselves whether <I>we </I>are true friends to others in <I>their </I>jeopardy.</div> <div>     Last but not least, probably the main application commonly drawn from this verse is that Jesus is the kind of friend who sticks closer than a brother, though He certainly is a brother to Christians, too.  Amen.  </div> <div>     Do we even appreciate Him as the faithful loved one?</div> <div>     Jesus is portrayed as the forsaken friend in the gospel accounts of His trial and execution.  We are the forsakers.  Don't make Peter's mistake of insisting that you wouldn't have been so base, that you'd have been Jesus' friend indeed.  The point that all us Peters have to learn is that Jesus must befriend us IN our disloyalty before we can be rescued <I><B>from </B></I>it.  <B>He </B>has to be the <U>only</U> true friend before <B>we </B>can by <U>any</U> kind of one.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_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="490" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:1</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>Better </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>the poor who walks in his completeness</B></FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>than he who </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>twisted in his lips, and is a fool. </B></FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Twisted" is from a root word meaning "to knot, distort."</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The morally solid poor person</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The fool who speaks misrepresentations</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Better </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Worse</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The poor who "walks in his completeness" HAS completeness of character to start with.  To "walk in" completeness means that moral maturity is a settled state of mind and life.  It denotes a tested and consistent person.</div> <div>     Let's face it, some people have 'put all the pieces together' theoretically, but they have not learned to "walk" accordingly.  Good lifestyle can only come from good doctrine, but good doctrine does not necessitate a good lifestyle.  Knowing it is the starting point, but many know the truth without living a lifestyle consistent with that truth.</div> <div>     So one who "walks in his completeness" is a very special person.  Unfortunately, he seems to be a very rare person throughout history.  </div> <div>     But one thing we know is that he can be a <I>poor </I>person.  As much as Solomon has celebrated the blessings of ample possessions in Proverbs, he does not count poverty as a sign of ungodliness in any way.  There is no question whether a man lacks faith when he lacks dollars.</div> <div>     Remember, James seems to think that God calls Christians pretty much only from among the poor, and that they stay poor:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >James 2:5</FONT>  Listen, my beloved brothers, has not <U>God chosen the poor</U> of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him? </div> <bR> <div>     Those "rich in faith" don't count on their earthly standing as a sign of God's favor.  He will give me enough and to spare, and I will be content.</div> <div>     But the world sees possessions as a major goal in life.  That is why our proverb speaks of the one who twists words.  He is willing to misrepresent himself, his work, the work of others in order to attain greater wealth.</div> <div>     The ability to say something sneaky that gains me a business advantage is seen as great marketplace acumen in America and other western countries.  Our ways have been emulated around the world, though many third world countries were already thoroughly corrupt.</div> <div>     Things apparently were exactly the same in the business world in Solomon's day.  Therefore, he says that Mr. Weasel Word won't get away with it.  He puts himself ahead, but Solomon says he is actually behind.  The straightforward poor man is better personally and therefore better off.</div> <bR> <div>     The choice between integrity and material advancement is a very real one every day of our lives.  One or the other is the predominating philosophy by which we live.  You may not think of yourself as especially dishonest or greedy, yet if integrity is not your sole guide, you have actually bought into the world's system of doing things.  You live for something other than God.  You are an idolator, and God calls every idolator a fool.</div> <div>     If you are not in a position free of monetary concerns, then your natural anxiety about making ends meet will certainly drive contentedness out of your life daily UNLESS you purposely prefer integrity as its opposite and as enough.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *******************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_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="490" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:2</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>Also, without knowledge the soul </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>not good, </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>and he who hurries with his feet sins. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Also" can be "surely".</div> <div>     The first line can also be, "It is not good for the soul to be without knowledge", but our rendering is more straightforward.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The soul (person) without knowledge</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who hastens with his feet</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Not good</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Sins / errs / missteps</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Out of 96 Old Testament uses of the word "knowledge," Proverbs dominates them with 39.  We have already considered 13 of them.  </div> <div>     The first item we notice is that there are souls lacking knowledge.  Closely following this observation, we surmise that such a state is "not good."  Such is the folly of our generation: to directly contradict this assertion!</div> <div>     Knowledge is an extremely important topic for us, because we live in a day when the ability to truly <I>know </I>anything is deeply doubted.  The Church has been dangerously infected with a skewed view of knowledge in which <I>ignorance </I>is viewed as inevitable and <B>objectivity </B>as impossible.  That is, emphasis is placed on what we <I>cannot know</I>, and what we even <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>seem </B></FONT>to know is minimized because, after all, it has to be understood and interpreted through each individual's personal <B>bias</B>.</div> <div>     So what is it we really <I>cannot know</I>?  If you recall, we've used Deuteronomy 29:29 to answer that question:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Deut 29:29</FONT>  The secret things <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>belong </I> </FONT>to Jehovah our God, but the revealed things <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>belong</I>  </FONT>to us and to our sons forever, so that we may do all the words of this Law. </div> <bR> <div>     You might also recall that this same verse tells us what we <I>can know</I>.  And what is that? <B> All the things in the Bible!</B>  Look at it:  "the revealed things belong to us."  Yet the philosophy of knowledge among Christians today is that there are many things in Scripture we <I>cannot know</I>, or practically cannot know.  These Christians have been completely subverted by the discouraging demon of ignorance.  </div> <div>     Ignorance has been placed on a pedestal and treated as reverence.  To say we cannot know is treated as though it means knowledge is reserved for God alone.  This is a very effective deception, because knowledge of the "secret things" <I>does </I>belong to God alone.  So for lack of differentiating the two types of knowledge, secret and revealed, Christians end up essentially saying that God wrote down many things <I>to befuddle us! </I> We are not meant to know them, so why else would they be in Scriptures?  God must want to confuse us.</div> <div>     SO, if you are abandoning the 'party line' and signing up with Solomon in the achievable quest for knowledge (in which he is in line with every other Scriptural author), what is the ingredient introduced today in that quest?</div> <div>     Today we are basically seeing this:  One must <I>not hurry</I> in the quest for knowledge.  A key in acquiring knowledge, then, is PATIENCE.</div> <div>     And here we have uncovered a key accomplice in the schemes of <B>Ignorance </B>to have our minds:  namely, <B>Impatience</B>.  Christians are all too willing to concede that we can't really know with certainty (unless it is emotional certainty) because they are too lazy to spend enough <I>time </I>to figure out what the Scriptures exactly <I>do </I>say on this or that matter.</div> <div>     And we must consider a second key accomplice while we are on the subject, and that is <B>False Doctrine</B>.  There are key false teachings entrenched as truth in the Church today which defy men's ability to consistently argue from Scriptures.  Therefore, since they 'know' that this false teaching is true, they assume the difficulty in proving it must lie in Scriptures.  So they accept the skewed view of knowledge.</div> <div>    Sad, sad, sad!  It is tragedy that a false doctrine such as God's attempting to save every man could have such a pernicious affect.  Because of the general belief that God is trying to save everyone, Christians have a hard time with very fundamental Scriptural truths like God's sovereignty:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Eph 1:11</FONT> ... being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who <U>works all things</U> <U>according to</U> the <U>counsel of His own will</U></div> <bR> <div>     If He works all things according to the counsel of His own will, then how can He <I>attempt </I>to save men and <I>fail </I>in the case of every person who goes to Hell?  To bolster this false teaching, the further false teaching of <I>man's free will</I> is invented, so that God determines all that comes to pass unless it violates the sanctity of man's supposed free will.  Yet what did Jesus say about man's will?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >John 8:34</FONT>  Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever practices sin is the <U>slave</U> of sin,</div> <bR> <div>     ... which is why Jesus said just a little earlier:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >John 6:44</FONT>  <U>No one can come</U> to Me unless the Father who has sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. </div> <bR> <div>     Therefore, God's decrees and our salvation are in the same category.</div> <div>     Yet this supposedly makes God unfair- to choose one person over another- so it cannot be.  Yet what can ever be unfair about having mercy, even on only one?  If we were all condemned sinners, then mercy shown on <I>any </I>can never be unfair.  But men's minds are so hopelessly entangled in distortions by this point that it is easier for them to say, "Well, after all, how can we really know?  You have your verses, and I have my verses.  You believe what you want, and I'll believe what I want."  And the unity of mind God commands of His people (Phil. 1:27, 2:2, 1 Pet. 3:8) is thrown right out the window.</div> <bR> <div>     "A soul without knowledge is not good."  And what is one sure way to be without knowledge?</div> <div>     "And he who hastens with his feet errs."  Hurrying past Scriptures that don't support your beliefs is a 100% sure way to be mistaken.</div> <bR> <div>     There is a way to hold all Scriptures together consistently.  Otherwise, God is the author of confusion.  Do you insist on having it all wrapped up in a neat little package <I>today</I>?  Then you won't have it at all.  </div> <div>     First of all, it's not a <I>little </I>package; it's a large collection of 66 books (or 49 books if we use the old Jewish arrangement of Old Testament books; same books, but some are lumped together into bigger 'books').  </div> <div>     Secondly, your first two or three times through these books will only <I>acquaint </I>you with the issues that need to be addressed, the problems in your thinking that will have to be reconciled.  </div> <div>     All who have come to a satisfying knowledge of Scriptures, in which they are not embarrassed of any Scripture or any doctrine of Scripture, have been willing to invest the time, to work through the initial discomforts.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_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="490" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#A6CAF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:3</div> <div> <B>The foolishness of man overturns his way, </B></div> <div> <B>and his heart rages against Jehovah. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Overturns" is literally "to wrench," and can mean either to pervert or to overthrow.</div> <div>     "Rages" is from a word meaning "to boil up," and is used of both anger and agitation.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Complements<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A man's foolishness</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His heart </div> <bR> <div> Consequences<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Subverts his way</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Boils up against Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     How many people know that they are <B>angry with God</B>?  It doesn't matter whether they know it or not, though; we are here assured that they <I>are</I>.</div> <div>     This is such a critically important doctrine in understanding the <I>nature of man</I> and his eternal destiny.  It is also a vital corrective to the sense of injustice we tend to perceive in God's <I>penalties </I>for man.  When we see that man naturally hates God- hates Him a bunch- everything is suddenly put in a totally different perspective.</div> <div>     The basic way men express their hatred for God is LAWLESSNESS.  </div> <div>     Many non-Christian men express gratefulness for God's providences in their lives.  They even seem to recognize God's goodness, and they speak it aloud:  "I know God has been very good to me.  Everything's not perfect, but I've got my health and my family."  Thus we seem to see a person who is <I>not </I>at odds with God ...  even though our proverb says he is.</div> <div>     When things are going well for a person, altogether or even on balance, his inbuilt knowledge of God tells him that 'Someone' is arranging his life agreeably.  Where, then, do we see this supposed hatred for God boiling up?  </div> <div>     When his conscience tells him that something he is doing is improper, he justifies doing it anyway with God's providence:  "God seems to generally favor me.  He'll understand if I have to cut a little corner here."  Then when his sin entangles him with unpleasantness, his anger is naturally directed towards God.  It would almost never come out in words, but if it did, he would say something like this:  "God knows that what I did was not really that bad.  I don't deserve this reaction.  God had better decide whether He's my buddy or not!  Why hasn't He gotten me out of this scrape yet?!"</div> <div>     He 'twists' his own path, then the crimped path cramps him, then he has to find someone to blame.  EVEN IF in one breath he regrets his wrongdoing (usually wrongdoing is not even acknowledged), in the next breath his only concern will be blaming someone for his dilemma.  More often than not, there are not enough people properly situated to saddle with blame.  The unspecified anger is directed against the situation in general, against providence, and therefore against God.</div> <bR> <div>     There is a natural hatred in man's heart against God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 8:7</FONT>  because the mind of the flesh is <U>hostile towards God</U>; for it is not subject to God's law, neither indeed can it be. </div> <bR> <div>     Rarely are men conscious of their hatred toward God.  This is because they are busy suppressing any true knowledge about God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 1:18, 19 </FONT>  For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who <U>suppress the truth</U> in unrighteousness,  because the thing which may be known of God is <U>clearly revealed within them</U>, for God revealed <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>it</I></FONT> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" > </FONT>to them. </div> <div>  </div> <div>     The God who is the 'Big Buddy in my corner' is really only an idol.  He bears some resemblance to the true God, but they are not one and the same, because when the true God makes certain demands, people rudely cut Him off by various pretexts separating Him from His Word.  "God tells me not to do <I>what</I>?  No, that's not my God.  My God is not so archaic."  Again, men's lawlessness is what shows their true feelings toward God.</div> <bR> <div>     A Christian is not beyond being mad at God.  In fact, when I'm frustrated, the 'sin that is in my members' will jump out and be angry <I>immediately </I>if I do not engage my faith faculties and praise God instead.</div> <div>     So man's neutrality toward God is not simply a facade, it is a wicked deceit.  It is a ploy to seemingly string God along and promise Him my allegiance in some form <I>if </I>things go my way.  Man's real attitude is seen when his rage seethes at untoward circumstances.  </div> <div>     This anger boils up from the same kind of cauldron in Satan's heart, which is why man will share the same fate.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ********************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_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="441" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#00FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:4</div> <div> <B>Wealth adds many friends, </B></div> <div> <B>But the poor is separated from his friend. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Friend(s)" is sometimes translated "neighbor," but it is the same Hebrew word both times in this verse.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Wealth</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The poor </div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Adds many friends</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Separated from his friend</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The poor is separated from his one and only friend (singular).</div> <div>     Wealth- not the wealthy this time, mind you, but wealth itself- adds many friends (plural).  Wealth is a de-personalizing factor.  The <I>wealth </I>takes over the personality factor; IT is what is desired, what creates friends.</div> <div>     But now we can clearly understand what Jesus said:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Luke 6:20</FONT>  And lifting up His eyes to His disciples, He said, <U>Blessed</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>are</I>  </FONT>the <U>poor</U>, for yours is the kingdom of God. </div> <bR> <div>     Why would the poor be automatically blessed?  The absolutely poor are those with NO EARTHLY ASSETS (not just money missing).  This, then, becomes their chief <I>spiritual </I>asset.  Most poor people do not want this asset, do not see it as an asset, and despise their poverty.  But when one has absolutely nothing earthly going for him, where can he look but <I>beyond the earth</I> and its resources?</div> <div>     The poor are in a greatly advantageous place to see the deception of riches.  Once they 'fall off the edge', they look up and see everyone else as a wriggling heap of rats scrambling for a crumb .  Yes, the 'rat-race' is finally seen for what it is.  </div> <div>     Once it is confirmed that I have nothing, that I have dropped between the cracks, that I am no longer part of the socio-economic grid, <I>then </I>I can finally take a look at the world as it truly is.  Now I can see the forest, because I'm no longer in among the trees.  </div> <div>     Well, it's a poison forest.  </div> <div>     The hard-luck poor, the ones who came on hard times through no laziness or fault of their own, are often very prophetic in their insights on mankind.  They are usually quite cynical.  The rest of us take their ravings as 'sour grapes', which indeed they may often be, but often they are simply an indictment of 'the system'.  They are warnings about being caught up in the system.  "Don't trust the System!" they cry in some words or others, and we avert our gaze and hurry by.  It simply wouldn't do to give credence to such pessimism.  I mean, look!  <I>We </I>are in the majority, not <I>them</I>.</div> <div>     But then a Depression comes along.  Now who's in the majority?  But most don't learn lasting lessons through temporary poverty.</div> <bR> <div>     We are reminded in this proverb how rare and precious a true friend is.  Even when you'd think that a poor man's friend didn't have many other choices for friend, he's still pictured as willing to move on.  And so his fellow poor man is left more desolate than before...  UNLESS his isolation turns into a cry to the One outside the system, outside his own personal system of creature-trust as well.</div> <bR> <div>     As Jesus said in the context of riches, it is impossible for man to be saved.  We all instinctively trust money, nullifying trust in God.  We all instinctively quarantine ourselves from poverty, thus denying our own spiritual bankruptcy, thus clinging to our own righteousness and denying God's.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_11"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> *</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="464" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:6</div> <div> <B>Many will entreat the favor of a ruler, </B></div> <div> <B>And everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> * Proverbs 19:5 will be dealt with along with 19:9</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Entreat the favor" is literally "stroke the face".  This is the only time the phrase is used negatively; all the others are of men seeking God's favor.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">General treatment of a ruler</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Universal treatment of a gift-giving man </div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His favor is sought</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Wishing to be his friend</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     More on the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'.</div> <div>     The question is:  If you're a Have, how do you know who really likes you for who you are?</div> <div>     Remember that James puts Haves and Have-nots in terms of ANY desirable earthly/ human quality.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Jam 1:9, 10</FONT>  But let <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>the</I>  </FONT><U>humble</U> brother rejoice in his exaltation; and the <U>rich</U> one <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>rejoice</I>  </FONT>in his humiliation</div> <bR> <div>     By contrasting the Rich to the Humble instead of the Rich to the Poor, James opens the categories of riches and poverty to ALL earthly assets.  Therefore, I can be a "humble brother" (literally "made-low" brother) in intelligence.  I can be a brother <I>low </I>on looks.  I can be <I>low </I>on talent.  And, of course, I can be <I>low </I>on money.  But James says these deprivations are all causes for rejoicing, because they put me <I>down</I>, and from there it's easy to look <I>Up</I>.</div> <div>     The Rich, on the other hand, has to learn to rejoice in <I>making </I>himself low, <I>counting </I>his plusses as nothing.  This is not easy to do.  That is why it is nearly impossible for a man of assets to enter God's kingdom.  He's already used to trusting something else.  The best the rich can usually do is, "... and I'd like to thank God" as he accepts the Oscar.</div> <bR> <div>     Many send their entreaties a <B>noble's</B> way.  He's in a position of influence.  His particular 'have' is power.  He can get things done.  Sometimes, he's the <I>only one</I> on earth who can get done for me something that I need.  Solomon merely observes that this is the case.</div> <div>     But then he moves on to the generous <B>rich</B>.  Everyone wants to be his friend; everyone acts like his friend, hoping to get in or stay in the circle of his beneficiaries.  His 'have' is money.</div> <div>     What is the common denominator between the two men?  They are both sought for something they can <I>give  </I>rather than for who they <I>are </I>themselves.</div> <bR> <div>     So we have Mr. Popular before us again.  We get another glimpse of Miss Envied.  Strange as it seems, we probably <I>wouldn't</I> like being in their places.  The initial thrill of a group of admirers around us would soon diminish into a realization that we were being <I>used </I>as much as we were being <I>admired</I>.  Our popularity would be a launch pad for the secondary popularity of our little group.  We would soon see that our opinions of things were distorted and made into what our admirers needed them to be for their own purposes.</div> <div>     Once again, hard times, or <I>lack </I>of automatic assets (looks, smarts, etc.) benefit us by letting us know who our true friends are.  Those who like us when we're down and out have no reason TO like us except for who we are.</div> <div>     It should be added that assets such as intelligence or talent are a natural part of a person.  A true friend doesn't have to discount these qualities to like us, he just doesn't like us because of those qualities <I>alone</I> or because of them <I>mainly</I>.</div> <div>     We may initially pick someone as a potential friend based on qualities we admire, but eventually, true friendship has to go beyond a list of assets, beyond the sum of the parts, and has to be the embracing of another <I>soul</I>.</div> <div>   </div> <div>     Poor rich man!  He may never know if anyone attached to him really treasures him as a person.  Of course, that's often just fine with him.  The ego stroking and kowtowing suit his superficial character smilingly.</div> <bR> <div>     So who are your friends?  Are they real friends- thick or thin, do or die?  </div> <div>     If you have doubts about the depth of others' friendships, though, remember- <I>you </I>may not have disclosed your soul that deeply to them yet.  A true friend loves you implicitly, without specific disclosure; but if you are insecure about love others have for you, disclose yourself further.  </div> <div>     And remember to ask yourself if YOU are a friend indeed.</div> <bR> <div>     I wonder if this proverb can be rightly applied to our relationship with <B>God</B>.  He's definitely the one with ultimate influence and resources.  How many of us like Him just because of His 'goodies'?  </div> <div>     Maybe this is why many Christians talk about loving God for who He is as opposed to loving Him for what we get from Him.  Perhaps it is nearly transparent that our type of Christianity treats God as a cosmic dispensing machine.  To be quite cynical about it, it would seem that this corrective is offered as a superficial counterbalance to our equally superficial approach to God as supreme blessing-giver.</div> <div>     The only way to love God is to spend <B>time </B>with Him- spend time <I>listening </I>(ear to Scripture) and time <I>talking </I>(prayer), same as we do with anyone else we learn to love.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_12"><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="606" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 119 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:7</div> <div> All the brothers of the poor man hate him; </div> <div> how much more do his friends distance themselves from him? </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="High Tower Text" >He pursues </FONT><I>them</I><I> </I><I>with </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="High Tower Text" >words ... they </FONT><I>are</I><I> </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="High Tower Text" >not. </FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Pursues <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Palatino Linotype" ><I>them with</I></FONT> words" is literally "pursues words."  </div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A poor man's treatment by his brothers</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A poor man's treatment by his friends</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions Respectively<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">They hate him</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">They separate themselves from him</div> <bR> <div> His Response:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He pursues words, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>but  </I></FONT>they [the words or his acquaintances] 'evaporate'</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is a final proverb on the poor ending a general paragraph that began in the latter part of chapter 18.</div> <div>     "Brother" is once again shown to be a naturally deeper relationship than "friend."  If even a poor man's <I>brothers </I>hate him, how can you expect mere <I>friends </I>to stay at his side?  (We remember, of course, that "there <U>is</U> a friend who sticks closer than a brother," 18:24) </div> <div>     Once again, we see that a poor man is almost instinctively treated as though <I><B>cursed</B></I>.  Why would this be?</div> <div>     Remember Job's friends, Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz?  After Job had nearly everything taken from him- children, possessions, and health- they had difficulty relating to him as the mature and upright individual they had known.  They only saw a broken shell, and one whose first response to his situation in <I>their </I>ears was, "I wish I had never been born."  </div> <div>     "Aha!" they think, "He has abandoned God who made him!  <I>He </I>must be abandoned <I>by </I>God !"  Of course, <I>this </I>could only be true if Job had sinned.  And so they begin trying to persuade him to confess his sin and be made right with God again.  </div> <div>     It was very easy for these three friends to assume the upper hand in the situation.  There was the proof right in front of them:  this man had no right to interpret his own situation.  He was obviously adrift morally or this would not have befallen him.  They instinctively treated him as <U>accursed</U>.</div> <div>     No doubt, in their own hearts they still felt like they were according him love.  Didn't they owe their old friend their most affectionate counsel?  Read their entreaties- they are certainly expressed compassionately.</div> <div>     So with many friends and relatives of the destitute.  "Poor old Max.  We love him so, but he's so defensive!  He never takes our heartfelt advice on how to dig himself out of the hole he's gotten himself into."  </div> <div>     But the assumption is never granted that Max might <I>not </I>be so guilty of neglect and incompetence as we perceive.  Or the factors which we <I>know </I>to stand against him are counted as representative of <I>unknown </I>factors.  So naturally Max is defensive.  No one treats him like a human.  No one grants him the benefit of the doubt.  And what leverage does he have to make them do so?  Their discomfort with the situation makes them "distance themselves from him," emotionally and eventually physically.</div> <div>     Now we comprehend good counsel for Christians.  Real compassion comes into play when we <I>could </I>justifiably use all our reasons <I>against </I>showing compassion.</div> <bR> <div>     Poor old Max.  He "pursues words," just like Job did with his friends, but- just as with Job's friends- "they are not":  the friends aren't really there, not really listening to him, not really relating to him.</div> <div>     This describes man's natural reaction.  Therefore, it must take a <I>super</I>natural act to be properly compassionate and human towards the destitute.  Thank God for His supernatural empowerment.  But we have to become as destitute as the destitute to be in a position to acquire it.  A Christian <I>should </I>already be there, right?  "Poor in spirit"?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_13"><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="437" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 90 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:8</div> <div> He who acquires heart loves his own soul; </div> <div> he who treasures intelligence finds good. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Acquires" is most often translated "purchases / buys".</div> <div>     "Heart" is literal, but is usually translated "wisdom", "understanding", "sense", "mind", or such in this verse.</div> <div>     "Treasures" is from a word meaning "to hedge about, to guard".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who buys heart</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who guards insight</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Loves his own soul</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Finds good</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Are we supposed to love ourselves?</div> <div>     This is not the main point of the text, but this is one of a handful of verses in Scriptures that directly addresses a key issue in modern Christian thinking.</div> <div>     It is commonly thought and taught in Christendom today that we are supposed to love ourselves.  In fact, it is usually taught that we are <I>commanded </I>to love ourselves.  "Love your neighbor as yourself" is taught as a command to love self, since, after all, how can we love our neighbor if we don't love ourselves?</div> <div>     But notice, the supposed command to love self must be inferred from the text, it is not there outright.  There are actually two basic ways this text may be read; both supply a certain thought between the words "as" and "yourself".</div> <div> A)  Love your neighbor as  <B>you</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Elephant" > ought <B>to</B> </FONT><B>love</B><B>  </B>yourself.</div> <div> B)  Love your neighbor as  <B>you </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Elephant" >already </FONT><B>love  </B>yourself.</div> <bR> <div>     Neither of these has a grammatical edge on the other, so the correct understanding must be arrived at by finding other Scriptures which address the same subject.</div> <div>     Are there any direct commands in Scripture to love ourselves?  Try a word search however you can devise, you won't find one.</div> <div>     But are there any verses that put self-love in a BAD light?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >2 Tim 3:1, 2</FONT>  Know this also, that in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>the</I></FONT> last days <U>grievous times</U> will be at hand.  For men will be <U>self-lovers</U>, money-lovers, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy ...</div> <bR> <div>     Self-love is put at the <I>head </I>of a list of grievous evils!</div> <div>     There is no question about the character of self-love here.  Therefore, we would assume that Jesus meant for us to love our neighbor as we <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Elephant" >already </FONT>love ourselves, meaning that self-love comes naturally to our sinfully selfish nature, but that we must tear our attentions and affections away from <I>ourselves </I>and apply them to <I>others</I>.</div> <div>     We can take this even further in the book of Job.  After God has spent four chapters chiding Job for arguing with His workings, Job finally understands God is right.  He confesses this, ending in these words:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Job 42:6</FONT>  Therefore I despise <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>myself</I></FONT>, and repent in dust and ashes. </div> <bR> <div>     Self-love obviously cannot be a cornerstone of a healthy self-awareness, for it would always compete with any true confession of sin.  We might make a case against a type of self-hatred that is unbalanced and unhealthy, but at a fundamental level, how can we really confess sin without self-hate?  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Elephant" >I</FONT> did the sin.  <B>I </B><I>hate </I>the sin.  <B>I</B>, therefore, must despise <I>my</I><I><U>self</U></I><I>  </I>for having chosen it, loved it, and brought it into existence.</div> <bR> <div>     Now we come to our verse today.  "He who acquires heart <U>loves his own soul</U>."  This is certainly a form of self-love.  But with our knowledge on self-love from the above verses, we ask <I>in what sense</I> this self-love is being commended.</div> <div>     The answer is this.  It is an <B>indirect </B>self-love.  Look at it.  Self is not being loved directly.  Self is only being loved by <I>another </I>action.  The primary action, the one actually being commended, is acquiring heart.  When we have done <I>that</I>, then a <I>consequence </I>of it is that we have <I>also </I>shown love to ourselves.</div> <div>     This is the same as a similar commendation is the New Testament, this one containing a direct command:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Eph 5:25</FONT>  Husbands, <U>love your wives</U>, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it ...</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Eph 5:28</FONT>  So men ought to love their wives as their <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>own</I> </FONT>bodies. He who loves his wife <U>loves himself</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Once again it is plain that self-love is <I>secondary</I>, a <I>consequence </I>of a love that is actually commanded.  </div> <div>     The right kind of self-love, then, basically amounts to <B>doing oneself good</B>.</div> <div>     Therefore, we can say that Job was actually loving himself when he hated himself!  It was doing himself good to hate his own evil; therefore, it was the right kind of self-love.  He was not <I>directly </I>loving himself, but he <I>was </I>doing himself good by <I>direct </I>self-hatred, realigning his actions with righteousness; so this was commendable.</div> <div>     </div> <div>     In our verse today, one who "acquires heart" is doing good to his own soul.  The human heart has been frightfully fractured by the Fall.  Therefore, putting its pieces back together, making it a complete, mature human heart again is an act of mercy to oneself.  With an incomplete, hobbling heart, how can we act in our own true best interests?  Everything we do will find its way back to hurting us.</div> <div>     He who "guards incisive thinking" is also doing himself good in the right way.  He is practicing, you might say, a good kind of selfishness.  He is merely arming himself with wisdom in order to <I>avoid </I>destructive thoughts and acts while <I>pursuing </I>proper thoughts and acts.  By making himself a lifelong student in the school of godly intelligence, he is assured that he will "find good".  This, too, is an indirect acquisition.  He doesn't go about looking for good, he goes about looking for spiritual savvy.  But when he attains Biblical acumen, he has also gained in the process all the benefits, blessings, and boons God has for man, both inwardly and outwardly.</div> <div>     One last comment.  Notice that attaining heart and maintaining intelligence are parallel pursuits.  When you do one, you do the other.  One cannot be heart without head or head without heart.  Neither of these makes a whole man.  A wise head feeds a loving heart, and a wholesome heart seeks knowledge by which to operate beneficently.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **********************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_14"><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="437" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCE4 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:9</div> <div> A false witness shall not be innocent; </div> <div> and he who breathes lies shall perish. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="437" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:5</div> <div> A false witness shall not be innocent; </div> <div> and he who breathes lies shall not escape. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> *</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     As you can see, the only difference between these two verses is the last phrase, "perish" versus "not escape".</div> <div>     "Innocent" is literally "clean".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A false witness</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who breathes lies</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Shall not be clean</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Shall not escape / shall perish</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <div>     </div> <div>     This is the fifth (or fifth and sixth) time(s) Solomon has taught on the concept of witness or testimony, true or false.  Each one has been a commentary on the Ninth Commandment.  Solomon is most obviously a Decalogue commentator in his Ninth Commandment comments.  The reason for this seems to be that he sees in the Ninth Commandment an easily overlooked subtlety.  For <I>lack </I>of picking up on Solomon's blatant flag saying, "Look here for Divinely inspired commentary on lying," the Church has cast about for centuries with inept attempts at explaining the Hebrew midwives and Rahab the harlot (not to mention a number of other such examples).</div> <div>     Solomon gave his most crucial comment on false witness last time, back at 14:25,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 14:25</FONT>  A <U>true witness</U> delivers souls, but a deceitful witness speaks lies. </div> <bR> <div>     There, Solomon fairly shouted, "The Hebrew midwives saved lives (delivered souls):  they were the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>opposite </I></FONT>of <B>false </B>witnesses!  They were <B>true </B>witnesses!"</div> <div>     Notice, he also pinpointed what the false kind of witness does:  'speak lies'.  So a lie is just a kind of false witness.  The midwives gave false information, yet they did not bear false witness, so they therefore neither lied.</div> <div>     Does this justify giving false information generally?  Of course not.  But most Christians seem unwilling to concede that this could be God's definition of the matter, because too many people would supposedly misuse the principle and justify their lies.  On this logic, wine would also be outlawed altogether.</div> <bR> <div>     So today Solomon adds his second strongest testimony to the Hebrew midwives' complete uprightness:  Bad things happen to liars; they don't get away with it.  Yet what does God say happened to the midwives?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Exodus 1:20, 21</FONT>  God <U>dealt well</U> with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.  It happened, <U>because</U> the midwives feared God, that he <U>gave them families</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     How can anyone continue to argue that the midwives lied?  Lying brings bad consequences:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 19:5</FONT>  A false witness <U>shall not be acquitted</U>; yea, a breather of lies <U>shall not escape</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Did God just <I>forget </I>to tell us how He was just setting the midwives up for a big fall later?  Some Christians will no doubt continue to assume that something bad <I>did </I>happen to them.</div> <bR> <div>     Now let us move on.  As to the further ramifications of today's proverbs, consider these:</div> <div>   1)  Reality is what really happens in the world in spite of my ignorance or misperception of it.  I must always remember that 'what really happened' is in God's domain.  I cannot alter <I>it</I>, so I'd better be careful not to alter the <I>report </I>of it.</div> <div>   2)  We ought not worry about cads who lie.  God deals with cads for their lies.</div> <div>   3)  "Breathing lies"; how natural it is!  Lies generally accepted as fact become part of the fabric of society.  This gives us insight into our society.  <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Isa 6:5</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of <U>a people of unclean lips</U>", </FONT>as well as insight into ourselves ("<B>I </B>am a man of unclean lips").    </div> <div>   4)  Liars are described as habitual.  Their habit sows a lifestyle which sows an eternity (they will "perish," literally, "be lost").</div> <div>   5)  A liar's heart is as it is because of <I>disguises</I>.  He disguises things to make advantages for himself, but he ends up disguising reality <I>from himself</I>.  He becomes locked in to lies.</div> <bR> <div> * <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" >These two proverbs are being considered together because we skipped 19:5 when we were there.  We were working one ahead before going on a trip.  Sorry about the error.  Interesting outcome though, eh?</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_15"><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="448" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCC99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:10</div> <div> Delicate living is not appropriate for a fool, </div> <div> Much less for a servant to have rule over princes. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Delicate living" is from a root word meaning "soft, pliable".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A fool in the easy life</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A slave ruling over leaders</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Inappropriate</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Even less appropriate</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     If we had been asked to construct a proverb on the comparative propriety of a well-off fool and a ruling slave we might well have turned them the opposite way from Solomon.  Our instruction so far has mainly been on the deficiencies of the fool; certainly a slave who has stumbled into a position of power is not as unfitting a thing as a fool rewarded with the good life.  Yet this is exactly what Solomon says.</div> <div>     The reasons that Solomon's order is the right one are these:</div> <div>   1)  Propriety is not as vital a measure as, say, morality.  Solomon is not comparing circumstances that break commandments, but simply those that are not truly suitable;</div> <div>   2)  The fool's situation in this proverb directly affects only himself; the slave becoming a ruler affects many people.</div> <bR> <div>     We are reminded how important the whole subject of authority is to Solomon and to Scriptures in general.  No man learns who he truly is until he has seen himself in proper relationship to those over him.  The fifth commandment is a lesson most people go their whole lives missing because of basic arrogance.</div> <bR> <div>     So why is it inappropriate for a fool to have a cushy existence?  Because it will be taken, by himself and others, as an endorsement of his way of life.  Also, a harder life would be more likely to crack open his thick skull to let some wisdom in.  This he needs.</div> <div>     Now for the key question:  Why is it even <I>more </I>inappropriate for a servant to rule over a ruler?</div> <div>     The whole topic of authority is so embedded in Scriptures and in our daily existence that we can easily overlook some obvious facts in our desire to avoid the authority over <I>us</I>.</div> <bR> <div>     Here is the main truth we probably ignore on authority:  There are those who are <B>groomed for leadership</B>, while most are not.  As Americans, we prefer to think that just anyone with some smarts could step into a position of leadership and do a good job.  But consider this.  Someone who has had no experience telling others what to do, making sure it gets done, and doling out reprimands when it is not done properly, is certainly <I>not </I>ready to sit in a higher government office.</div> <div>     Most new candidates for public office tell us of their experience in the business world or other realms that have prepared them for management of a city, a state, or a nation.  We rightly give much weight to these prior qualifications.  Even with them, many fail to handle their affairs in government correctly.</div> <div>     In America, many are prepared from birth for government responsibilities.  We are no different from ancient dominions except in the titles we prepare for our leaders:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Eccl 10:16, 17</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Woe to you, O land, when your king </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >a child and your leaders eat in the morning.  Blessed </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >you, O land, when your king </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >the son of nobles, and your leaders eat in </FONT><I>due</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >time, for strength, and not for drunkenness! </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The "son of nobles"- one who truly reflects an upbringing to handle the lonely life 'at the top'.  The ruler is <I><B>more </B></I><I>constrained</I> by his position than the common man.  The common man can do his job and then rest from it at night, even make light of it.  Not so the ruler.  His responsibility to make sure that <I>everyone else's job</I> is there for them in the morning never goes away.  If he missteps, everyone pays.</div> <div>     Leaders 'eating in the morning' [i.e., feasting] speaks of those who put self-interest first.  They begin to enjoy the benefits of wealth before beginning the day's work.</div> <div>     <I>And this is how a servant looks at leadership!</I>  He sees privilege, not responsibility.  He would be too busy adjusting to the <I>excess </I>now available to him to learn how to pull the strings that move out from his desk to every sub-leader in the land, down to every worker in the field.  This is why it is <I>most </I>unbecoming for a slave to rule.  It is especially loathsome for a slave to be over a true ruler, one who sees how things should be done, yet who must give heed to an unqualified ape.</div> <bR> <div>     Here we must make this comment.  Not every slave is truly a slave.  Some are in the <I>position </I>of a slave, while in their mind, spirit, and manner, they are leaders.  Some are so because they have been deposed from a previous leadership.  Some simply learned from youth that man was created to be nobility, ruling over earth, but that that meant being a <I>servant </I>to all that was under him.</div> <bR> <div>     In the realm of romance, there is the relatively pure spirit who assumes that her partner is similarly motivated by love, but who ends up being subjugated by a servile dictator (one who rules, but is not ruled by love).</div> <bR> <div>     There is also such a thing as spiritual nobility:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Acts 17:10, 11</FONT>  And the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. They, when they arrived, went into the synagogue of the Jews.  And these were <U>more noble</U> than those of Thessalonica, in that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>they received</I></FONT> the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>to see</I></FONT> if those things <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>were so</I></FONT>. </div> <bR> <div>     Note!  The concept of nobility is so engrained in Luke's mind that he comments on the Bereans' spiritual superiority without even explaining what being spiritually 'noble' is.  Noble means 'well-bred' (the literal meaning of the Greek word).  The Bereans apprehended their <I>calling in Christ</I> better than the Thessalonicans did.  They knew their Father was a king.  They knew they were born to have dominion under Him.  They knew that the treasury of spiritual dominion was in the vault of Scriptures, the key to which was simply intensive attention.  By paying that attention, they showed that they were <I>closer </I>to the Divine image, <I>better </I>prepared for the responsibilities God would give them.</div> <div>     Oh for the day when Bereans will again be recognized as the nobility of the Church!  Who rules in their stead meanwhile?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_16"><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="498" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:11</div> <div> The intelligence of a man defers his anger; </div> <div> and to pass over a transgression<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I> is</I></FONT> an honor to him.  </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Honor" is from a Hebrew word meaning "ornament".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A human's intelligence</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A human's boast / beauty / glory</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">"Lengthens" <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>the onset of</I></FONT>  his anger</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">To move beyond another's trespass</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Anger should almost never come out at its first impulse.</div> <div>     Anger <I>should </I>come out:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Eph 4:26</FONT>  <U>Be angry</U>, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath </div> <bR> <div>     But anger must be manifested under our control.   It cannot be a 'runaway train'.</div> <div>     Jesus, the perfect man, was angry:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Mar 3:5</FONT>  And looking around on them <U>with anger</U>, being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts, He said ...</div> <bR> <div>     For this to be a righteous manifestation of anger, though, it had to be measured.  God's anger has always been measured:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Jer 16:18</FONT>  And first I will <U>repay double</U> their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the bodies of their hateful things. </div> <bR> <div>     When they had paid the established double restitution, God restored them (Isa 40:2).   </div> <div>     God's anger will always <I>be </I>measured:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Luke 12:47, 48</FONT>  And that servant who knew his lord's will and did not prepare, nor did according to His will, shall be <U>beaten with many </U><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I><U>stripes</U></I></FONT>.  But he not knowing, and doing <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>things</I> </FONT>worthy of stripes, shall be <U>beaten with few </U><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I><U>stripes</U></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>.</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Yet even those worthy of few stripes  will endure their lesser punishment in the Lake of Fire for <I>all eternity</I>:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Rev 14:11</FONT>  And the smoke of their torment goes up <U>forever and ever</U>. And they have no rest day or night </div> <bR> <div>     Now on to human anger.  <I>Our </I>anger can never reach this limit, for three reasons:</div> <bR> <div>   1)  We are not infinite, so offenses against us are not of infinite weight;</div> <div>   2)  We <I>created </I>no laws, therefore no offense against us creates an offense against our righteousness;</div> <div>   3)  We have not provided lifelong refuge and mercies to those who wrong us, thus aggravating their offenses.</div> <bR> <div>     God IS infinite.  He HAS created the laws men break.  And He HAS provided them with good despite their hatred.</div> <div>     Nevertheless, God, who has the right to be immediately angry, is 'long' on getting angry:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 103:8</FONT>  Jehovah <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>merciful and gracious, <U>slow to anger</U>, and rich in mercy. </div> <bR> <div>     Part of God's righteousness, though, includes the fact that, once He is angry, He wastes no time hesitating over what to do:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 2:12</FONT>  Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>from</I> </FONT>the way, when His wrath is <U>kindled in but a little time</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Once God sets the fire to the hearth, it does not smolder indecisively.</div> <bR> <div>     Again, concerning human anger, we have already learned from other proverbs that we are to be slow to anger too:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 15:18</FONT>  A wrathful man stirs up fighting, but one <U>slow to anger</U> calms fighting. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Prov 16:32</FONT>  He who is <U>slow to anger</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit is better than he who takes a city. </div> <bR> <div>     Today we learn that the God-like <I>quality </I>that will help us fight uncontrolled anger is <B>intelligence</B>.  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BRADDON" ><B>Reason</B></FONT> is one of our greatest tools in fending off angry outbursts and anger in general.  Any time we merely <I>think through</I> what we are doing, we will be able to make the proper response.  If we reason things out and our passions still rule, it will be because we foolishly decided to <I>let </I>them rule.</div> <div>     We also learn a <B>practice </B>that evidences God's image restored to us.  Our intelligence builds a bridge by which we "pass over" another's insensitive remark or deed.  Notice that a transgression is not denied.  We are not to say, "They did me no wrong" when, in fact, they did.  The Holy Spirit within us, though, will train us to take the offense and think through our wisest response.  Even self-interest teaches us that the best course of action is 'no reprisal':</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Rom 12:19, 20</FONT>  <U>not avenging yourselves</U>, beloved, but giving place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I></FONT> Mine, I will repay, says <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>the</I></FONT> Lord."  Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>in so</I></FONT> doing you shall <U>heap</U> <U>coals of fire</U> <U>on his head</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Even if the coals of fire are meant to burn through and let the sun shine into his brain, it is a remuneration I could not have improved on.</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon tells us that it is an honor, an "ornament" to us, to be able to transcend our anger.  It is like a medal, an insignia of rank, and a fine decoration all at once.  </div> <div>     Justice cries out, "Do something!  He can't just get away with it!"  But intelligence answers, "No, he can't and won't get away with it.  The Lord who avenges all wrongs is strong."  <I>Some </I>course of action in answer to the offense may be arranged, but it will <I>not </I>be to the end of paying someone back.  If we humbly go to discuss another's fault with him, we must leave it to God to wound his conscience.  If his conscience will not be wounded, he is setting himself up for a much bigger and more painful fall in the future than I could ever plot.</div> <bR> <div>     Are you a 'ranking official' among God's hosts?  Do you wear the insignia of Patience?</div> <div>     The ugly anger you feel at another's slight only intensifies the beauty of your medal when you reasonably set the anger in its place.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_17"><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="421" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFF99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:12</div> <div> A king's anger <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>a snarl- like a lion's, </div> <div> but his favor <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>like dew on the vegetation.  </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Anger" is from the same Hebrew word meaning "boiling up" from 19:3.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A king's anger</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A king's favor</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Like a growl, that of a young lion</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Like dew on the herbage</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Having just considered anger in the previous proverb, we now move on to a particular application, that  of a king's anger.  We cannot take the general lesson on taming our anger and apply it to a king.  Yes, it is the king's responsibility before God to tame his own anger, but we are not to base our relationship to a king on his personal self-control.</div> <div>     Remember that the last time we considered a king's wrath and favor was in chapter 16 in the context of God's sovereignty.  There Solomon's comments explored the interplay between God's sovereignty over a people as administered by their leader and the citizens' responsibility in responding to a leader's oversight:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:13, 14</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Righteous lips </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >the delight of kings, and they love him who speaks right.  The wrath of a king </FONT><I>is as</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > messengers of death, but a wise man will quiet it. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     A king 'does as he pleases' as far as his subjects are concerned.  Elsewhere Solomon says this:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Eccl 8:2 - 5</FONT>   I say, "Keep the king's command!" because of the oath to God.  Don't be hasty to go out of his presence. Don't persist in an evil thing, for <U>he does whatever pleases him</U>, for the king's word is supreme. Who can say to him, "What are you doing?"  Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure. </div> <bR> <div>     So one angle on today's proverb is this:  Don't be angry at the king yourself !  Just consider him an instrument of God's providence, somewhat like the weather.  He, too, is a 'sub-dispenser' of providence, except that he has a mind of his own.</div> <div>     We are not to meddle in the space between a leader and God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 21:1</FONT>  The king's heart <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>in the hand of <U>Jehovah</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>as</I> </FONT>the rivers of water; He <U>turns it</U> wherever He will. </div> <bR> <div>     The king's decisions are God's prerogative, not ours.  All we need to be concerned with is responding correctly to the king, much like responding to <I>nature </I>around us.  If a lion is roaring in the forest, we will probably not plan a trip through the woods today.  If the dew is on the leaves, we will take the opportunity to pursue pleasure or business, or just enjoy the calm.  So the king creates the <I>political </I>atmosphere in which we move.</div> <bR> <div>     Whereas Solomon's main point is to guide us towards wise citizenry, he is also making an observation as a king for fellow monarchs.  Since their anger disposes so many peoples' fortunes, they should be careful to curb their anger just as anyone else should, per the previous proverb.</div> <bR> <div>     A related point should be made towards anyone in a position of authority.  A boss or manager at work, a teacher in the classroom- anyone who wields authority creates an atmosphere for those under him.  Bosses and teachers should not allow themselves to be moody individuals.  At least they should contain their moods and allow the working or learning environment to be neutral if it cannot be pleasant.  </div> <div>     Bosses and teachers should realize, though, that, like kings, it goes better for <I>them </I>if those <I>under them</I> operate in a morning calm rather that in trepidation of a lion's rumblings. </div> <div>     Parents:  create a calm atmosphere for your children to thrive in.  They should not grow up with mommy or daddy's anger like a thundercloud overhead, always threatening to spoil everything.</div> <div>     Children, students, and employees:  accept your authority's dispositions as divinely appointed.  You may be surprised, though, at how far your <I>supportive </I>submission will go in changing a curled lip into a dewy tulip.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ****************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_18"><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="446" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:13</div> <div> A foolish son is the calamity of his father. </div> <div> A wife's quarrels are a continual dripping. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Calamity" is plural in the Hebrew, implying multiplied injury.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A foolish son</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The disputings of a wife</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Multiplied ruin for a father</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A constant dropping <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>of water</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here we find a man between a rock and a hard place.</div> <div>     On the one side is his son, a fool, acting heedlessly of wisdom.</div> <div>     On the other side is his wife, an arguer, making every situation of life a dispute.</div> <div>     Of course, it need not be one and the same man whom Solomon has pinned in this dual melodrama, but it well could be.  These are simply descriptions of the two worst situations that can befall a householder.  They are the worst because he is tied to them and cannot escape them.  The word for "son" can be used of a child in general, so half of this dreadful equation could be a daughter.  </div> <div>     A bad child and/or spouse: a hangman's noose that sees a man's real life come to an end.</div> <div>     The foolish son is called the "ruins" of his father.  He has many ways to bring his father down.  He can bring him down <I>emotionally </I>through worrying him.  He can bring him down <I>financially </I>by affecting his ability to perform well at work or by being a waster of the family's substance.  He can bring him down <I>socially  </I>by the reputation his father gains as the man who cannot control that reckless boy.  The father's emotional anxiety is a series of inner calamities all its own.</div> <div>     The wife is not designated in the same way as the son.  The son is described by the adjective "foolish".  The wife is described by a noun, "arguments".  You get the idea that that's all the husband knows of her.  She's not a real person any more; she's only an amplifier that gets turned on and up frequently to assail his ears with noise.  She can contend about anything or about nothing.  She will complain about the condition of their possessions or the husband's own character.  She will take up a lament about their lack of finances or pursue an irate rhetoric about her lonely role as the only responsible person in the house.  </div> <div>     Everything she says falls into one category though- wranglings; disputes in which she must press her point of view, as against an adversary.   And all her debates fall into one descriptive category too- a constant drip, drip, drip of liquid.  The other place Solomon uses the same phrase to describe her fills in a little detail:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 27:15</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  A continual dropping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike </FONT></div> <bR> <div>      It seems that Solomon is describing a leaky roof, for what else could distinguish itself by its dropping sound on a rainy day?  And on a rainy day, what can be done to patch the leaky roof?  Nothing.  So with the contentious woman.</div> <div>     Ever heard of the Chinese water torture?  Probably not rightly attributed to the Chinese, but a real method of torture, it describes something of the affects of a nagging woman.  The victim is tied down so he cannot move his head (the husband is a 'prisoner' in his home), a container of water is situated such that a steady drip falls on the victim's forehead (the husband receives a regular bombardment of his wife's harassment), and within several hours, the effect is unpleasant enough to cause the victim to offer whatever compliance was demanded (voila! the vapid, hen-pecked husband).  Enough time, not even a full day, and a person can go completely mad.  </div> <div>     Similar destructive affects of a tormenting woman have already been described:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 12:4</FONT>  A woman of virtue <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>a crown to her husband, but she who causes shame <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>like <U>rottenness in his bones</U>.</div> <bR> <div>     A rottenness which sounds like cancer.</div> <div>  </div> <div>     Since a man can bring such destructive effects into his life by his choice of marriage partner and method of child-rearing, how careful ought he to be in making such choices!  If he made these choices badly too long ago, perhaps his only remedy is to take on God as a 24-7 on-call doctor, calling on Him for healing, receiving it, receiving more wounds from his family, calling on God again, etc.  Believe it or not, there is a blessedness to being <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><B>driven </B></FONT>to God which cannot be equaled by pleasant circumstances.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ****************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_19"><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="505" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:14</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >A house and substance </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >an inheritance from fathers, </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >but a discerning wife </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >from Jehovah. </FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Discerning" can also mean "intelligent".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A house and/or goods</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A discerning wife</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An inheritance from forbears</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A product of Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     In the shadow of the previous verse, the bane of a husband and father, we have the remedy of both in one blow.</div> <div>     A smart wife is the answer to all a man's problems.</div> <div>     What is a smart wife?  A woman who knows what it takes to <I>be </I>a wife and who <I>wants </I>to be that person.  She is described in Proverbs 31.</div> <div>     Her point of reference is God.  As far as her husband is concerned though, <I>he </I>might be her point of reference.  That is how a godly woman operates.  She realizes that she is the quintessential servant on earth.  Her whole life is bondage to husband, children, and home: a prison to the modern woman, a temple of glory to the godly woman.</div> <div>     Where does she come from?  How can I order one?  Our verse makes it plain that she is the direct product of God.  So how does God make such a woman?</div> <bR> <div>   1)  He puts her under another such woman as mother, and she is trained and exampled;</div> <div>   2)  He puts her under a howling banshee of a mother (see previous proverb) and she pities her poor father and dedicates her life to a proper wifeliness;</div> <div>   3)  She only discovers her role later in life, humbles herself, and learns from God what it is to be an able-bodied housewife.</div> <bR> <div>     There aren't many of these gals.  Remember King Lemuel's mother's question?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 31:10</FONT>  <U>Who can find</U> a worthy woman? For her price is far above rubies. </div> <bR> <div>     Why are these women in such short supply?</div> <div>     A godly wife is automatically one of those eccentric people who doesn't see the present earth as a permanent home:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Heb 11:13 - 16</FONT>  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were <U>strangers</U> and <U>pilgrims </U>on the earth.  For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking after a country of their own.  <U>If</U> indeed they had been <U>thinking of</U> that <U>country from which they went out</U>, they would have had enough time to <U>return</U>.  But now they <U>desire</U> a <U>better country</U>, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. </div> <bR> <div>     Yes, the woman of "valor" (Prov 31:10) is an oddball.  She sees in poopy diapers the gold in eternal hillsides.  Her swept-up household dust is the clouds of the new heavens.  She is satisfied because she is not working for an earthly reward.  Will she receive an earthly reward?  Ironically, yes:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 31:28</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     By fearing the Lord, she receives commendation from those she serves on earth.  The reason most women cannot be the woman of valor is that they turn the order around:  "Give me my praise first, <I>then </I>I'll see about serving you."  "Husband, child, treat me worthily and I'll return the favor."  But this, of course, is not service to God, but service to self.  So a discerning wife, one who knows what is what, is truly a gift from God, and a rare one.</div> <div>     Fathers and grandfathers can give earthly inheritance.  This is good.  But only God can give the most valuable prize a man can have in life.</div> <bR> <div>     Men must be honest, though.  Most of them don't want the woman described in Proverbs 31.  They perhaps wouldn't mind all those qualities, but they're really after an <I>ornament </I>in a wife.  The man wise enough to seek a wife based on Proverbs 31 is seeking an <I>asset</I>, not an ornament.  </div> <div>     So we also see why most women aren't awarded the Proverbs 31 medal:  they want to be <I>treated </I>as an ornament, not an asset.  </div> <div>     Now having said that, we must also add that a woman who contributes so much to her husband's success <I>will be treated as a treasure </I>!  Again, it's a matter of getting things turned around, the cart before the horse.  If he or she measures things by the <I>treasure </I>angle <I>first</I>, they will both find that there is no substance to the treasure.  What seemed to be treasure will turn out to be trinkets.  If they both focused on <I>value first</I>, appearance after, then the true treasure will grow in price and beauty before their eyes.</div> <bR> <div>     Husband, if you don't have a Proverbs 31 woman, a discerning wife, you must ask yourself if that is truly what you want anyway.  If you could change your wife, what would you change first?  Your honest answer will betray whether you are even seeking the kind of wife God gives as a gift.  </div> <div>     But give He does, and your honest prayers for the right kind of wife may be answered, even if you did not choose wisely to begin with.  God is in the transformation business.  Just be prepared for your own perceptions to change.  You have to be looking for the right thing to know whether or not you've gotten it.  Furthermore, you have to be the right man (intelligent also) to know what an upright woman is.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ****************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_20"><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="445" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:15</div> <div> Laziness makes one fall into a deep sleep, </div> <div> and a shiftless soul shall be hungry. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Deep sleep" is the trance-like sleep God brought on Adam when He was going to make Eve.  The word is used a total of seven times, all of an unusual sleep, three times directly attributed to God, three others of an occasion God specifically uses.  Our verse is the only one without mention of God's involvement in the sleep.</div> <div>     "Shall be hungry" can also be "is hungry".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Laziness</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A shiftless soul</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Casts into a deep sleep</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is hungry</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Proverbs may be the most 'school'-oriented book in the Bible, since Solomon addresses his children as a sort of classroom in all the opening chapters.  He has said several things that show he intends his words to be studied.  Therefore, he probably expects that we have observed the word he chose for sleep.  It is not the usual word for sleep, but a word whose root means to stun or stupefy.  Since God is specifically working through the sleep in all the other verses with this word, Solomon might be hinting at a supernatural connection in this verse too.</div> <div>     So what would God be doing casting a lazy person into a deep sleep?</div> <div>     The same thing He is doing when He delivers a prideful man to a harlot:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 22:14</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  The mouth of strange women </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >a deep pit; those despised </FONT><I>by</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >Jehovah shall fall there. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     And, interestingly, both victims <I>fall </I>to their fates and are stuck there.</div> <div>     Holding back from reading too much into the lazy man's daze, we might see his doom as self-inflicted.  God just lets the 'disease' of laziness take its course.  But we know that, even in general terms, when God just 'lets' a sin take its course, that in itself is a direct punishment from God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Rom 1:24</FONT>  Therefore God also <U>gave them up</U> to uncleanness </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Rom 1:26</FONT>  For this cause, God <U>gave them up</U> to dishonorable affections. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Rom 1:28</FONT>  And even as they did not think fit to have God in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>their</I></FONT> knowledge, God <U>gave them over</U> to a reprobate mind, to do the things not right</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon has thus far treated laziness as a wickedness far beyond a mere character flaw.  This verse is in keeping with that assessment.  Indolence puts someone in a virtual trance.  This means that he is not operating in a fully conscious capacity.  There are certain aspects of his soul that are shut down.  He is very difficult to awaken in those areas.  It is as a later proverb says:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 26:16</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  The sluggard </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can give a reason. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     There the sluggard's general capacity for judging wisdom has gone to sleep.  In his dream world, his is the proper perspective.  Anyone thinking otherwise is assumed to be deficient.  Hence, laziness and arrogance work perfectly hand-in-hand.  I won't put forth the effort to really examine any other position, so, by default, mine is the best.  </div> <div>     Who has the magic powder to awaken such a dreamer?  His nostrils are lined with a self-replenishing supply of his own dream powder.  Probably only God can resuscitate him.</div> <bR> <div>     The "shiftless soul" is the other name given to the lazy man here.  The Hebrew word for "shiftless" means "remiss" and is often used of outright treachery and deceit.</div> <div>     Notice that the whole <I>soul </I>is pictured as colored by this shadiness.  This is in keeping with his overall comatose status in the first half of the verse.</div> <div>     Is Solomon's warning here that the lazy skunk will suffer hunger because of his laziness, or is it that one way you will know him is that he is a hungry fellow?  The latter is in keeping with other proverbs:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 13:4</FONT>  The soul of the sluggard <U>desires</U> and <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>has</I> </FONT>nothing; </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Prov 26:15</FONT>  The sluggard buries <U>his hand in the dish</U>. He is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. </div> <bR> <div>     However, the warning of impending hunger is in keeping with other proverbs too:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 10:4</FONT>  He who deals <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>with</I> </FONT>a lazy hand <U>becomes poor</U>; but </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Prov 21:25, 26</FONT>  The desire of the lazy man <U>kills him</U>, for his hands have refused to work.  He covets greedily all the day long</div> <bR> <div>     Perhaps Solomon is cleverly saying both things at once.  That is, the lazy man shall be hungry- he shall selfishly desire, but he shall <I>go on being hungry </I>!</div> <bR> <div>     No one is immune from the laziness bug.  What needful duties are <I>you </I>putting off?</div> <bR> <div>     Spiritual laziness is the worst kind, as it reaps the most dangerous harvest of poisoned fruit.  Yet who makes us accountable to be spiritually diligent?  We are all ultimately beholden to our own selves to be a hard task master seeing ourselves to prayer and Scriptures.  </div> <div>     Oh, the benefit of a loving friend with whom we can be mutually accountable!  Even an ornery parent is a blessing in disguise.  </div> <div>     Nathy, have you had your devotions today?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_21"><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="480" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:16</div> <div> He who keeps the Commandment keeps his own soul, </div> <div> he who despises His ways shall die. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Despises" means "disesteems, holds in contempt" in Hebrew.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who keeps the Commandment</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who despises His ways</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Keeps his own soul</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Shall die</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The first two questions that must be answered to understand this verse are whether "Commandment" refers to God's commandments or instructors' commandments, and whether "His ways" refers to God's ways or one's own ways.</div> <div>     The Hebrew words themselves give us no help, as there are no capital versus small case letters in Biblical Hebrew.  Biblical writers would have used the same letters and spelling if "commandment" or "his" were referring to God or man.</div> <div>     Theologically a case can be made for either rendering of either word.  Let us consider the possibilities.</div> <bR> <div>     "He who keeps the Commandment [standing for God's commandments in general] keeps his own soul."  In this case, a person's solemn regard for God's do's and don't's puts his own soul in safekeeping.</div> <div>     But Solomon has also used "commandment" of his own commandments to his children:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 6:20</FONT>  My son, keep your <U>father's commandments</U>, and do not forsake the law of your mother </div> <bR> <div>     And then in the same context he adds:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 6:23</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  For <U>the commandment</U> </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >a lamp; and the law </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >light; and reproofs of instruction </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >the way of life </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     So "the commandment" can apparently apply to human commands too.</div> <div>     In the proverbs proper, Solomon has already used "commandment" in both senses:  the human-</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 10:8</FONT>  The wise in heart will receive <U>commandments</U>; but a babbling fool shall fall. </div> <bR> <div>     and Divine-</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 13:13</FONT>  Whoever despises <U>the Word</U> shall be destroyed, but he who fears <U>the Commandment</U> shall be rewarded. </div> <bR> <div>     Perhaps this is bit polemic, but it would almost seem that we are being tested as to which kind of commandment we understand here.</div> <div>     In one sense neither choice will rule the other one out, because Solomon's fatherly commands were certainly based squarely on the Ten Commandments, etc.; reciprocally, the Decalogue contains the command to obey parents.  But one or the other is primarily meant.</div> <bR> <div>     The issue comes into sharper contrast when we move to the second choice.</div> <div>     "He who despises <B>His </B>ways [God's ways] shall die."  In this rendering, showing contempt for God's paths confirms spiritual death and leads to eternal death.</div> <div>     However, if it is "He who despises [is careless of] <B>his </B>ways [his own paths] shall die", then we are being told that sloppy attention to <I>our lifestyle</I> confirms and ends in death.</div> <div>     Interestingly, the combination of "his ways" and "despises" has already been used in Proverbs:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 14:2</FONT>  He who walks in his uprightness fears Jehovah, but <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>he who is</I></FONT> perverse in <U>his ways</U> <U>despises</U> Him. </div> <bR> <div>     If we wanted to decide the case strictly, we might site that "despise" is never used of oneself or one's own ways unless it is here (the Hebrew word occurs 43 times; not a bad sampling pool).  We might also site the similarity between today's verse and 13:13 quoted above.  By using "commandment" and "ways" in parallel, Solomon is following a similar parallel to "Word" and "Commandment" in 13:13.</div> <div>     I have already tipped my hand as to my conclusion by rendering Commandment and His in capital letters (per the Literal Version), denoting God's commands and ways.  Now on to further comments.</div> <div>     </div> <div>     By using the same word for "keep" twice, Solomon emphasizes the SECONDARY nature of self-help (not 'second nature', but <I>secondary </I>nature).  He who <U>keeps</U> the Commandment <U>keeps</U> his own soul.  That is, in order to keep oneself, one does not attend <I>directly </I>to oneself, one attends to God's commands.  By giving our attention to God's commands, we are <I>automatically </I>covering the protection of ourselves. (This does not rule out a proper kind of attention to ourselves and our ways, especially regarding self-critique)</div> <bR> <div>     And how can a person show <I>contempt </I>for God's ways?  How about by saying, "Well, we really can't be sure what that Bible verse means," throwing whatever issue was being addressed to the wind?  This kind of attitude is promised to always work death.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_22"><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="600" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#DDDDDD > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:17</div> <div> He who shows compassion to the poor makes a loan  to Jehovah, </div> <div> and He will repay his dealing to him. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Shows compassion" is from a Hebrew word meaning "to bend or stoop" as in kindness toward another.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Compassion toward the poor</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Jehovah's response to this compassion</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A loan to Jehovah</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He repays the loan to the do-gooder</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     An evangelist must be a philanthropist.  "Philanthropy" simply means "love of man".  </div> <div>     Jesus said the second greatest command is to love our neighbor.  Jesus <I>defined </I>neighbor in the parable of the compassionate Samaritan.  For the Christian, <I>everyone </I>is his neighbor, for everyone <U>needs help</U>.  </div> <div>     Our giving <I>earthly </I>help runs parallel to Jesus' doing of miracles- it shows the <I>deeper </I>help we have to offer <I>spiritually </I>AND it shows how earnest and free we are to give that deeper help.  </div> <div>     The earthly help itself, of course, is no non-factor.  It is deeply meaningful, firstly to the recipient.  Healed people were greatly affected.  The needy ministered to today are still greatly affected.</div> <div>     Today's proverb gives us an <B>incentive </B>to help the needy.  Shouldn't we help the needy without an incentive?  Well, if God gives an incentive, apparently, we do need one and should be grateful for it.</div> <bR> <div>     There are a handful of Scriptures that generate true marvel when understood.  One of them is when Jesus marveled at men's unbelief:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Mark 6:6</FONT>  And <U>He marveled</U> because of their unbelief. </div> <bR> <div>     The marvelous thing is- how can the Son of God marvel at anything?  That's like saying it took Him by surprise!  This verse helps us to understand the depth of our creation in the image of God.  We are truly complex creatures if our Creator Himself could marvel at some aspect of us.  Unfortunately, it happens to be a deficient aspect.  On the brighter side, Jesus did also marvel at one man's level of faith:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Luke 7:9</FONT>  And hearing these things, <U>Jesus marveled</U> at him.  And turning to the crowd following Him, He said, I say to you, I have not found such faith, no, not in Israel. </div> <bR> <div>     Again, <I>we </I>should marvel at <I>Jesus </I>marveling.</div> <bR> <div>     We should also marvel at God OWING man something, especially in the specific terms of a debt.  And this is exactly what our proverb today says:  God 'takes out a loan' from man!  How can <I>we </I>become <B>creditor </B>and <I>God </I><B>debtor</B>?  This is a marvelous thing!  </div> <div>     Perhaps the real marvel, though, is that most Christians today would <B>not </B>consider this marvelous.  </div> <div>     Why not?  Because we have been trained to think about everything in the God-man relationship as a kind of debt from God to man.  God made man?  Ah, it was because of His loneliness- He <I>needed </I>us for our company.  God provides for man?  Well, that is part of His designing us as fuel-fed creatures.  Jesus came to save men?  Of course He did!  We're God's most special creation!  He's not going to leave us out in the cold if He can help it!</div> <div>     Once more, Jesus must be marveling at our unbelief, that we could be so entrenched in foolishness that any of this viewpoint would make sense to us.  If you believe any of the assertions above, you are at stark odds with Scriptures and the very nature of the gospel (Acts 17:25, Luke 17:10, Rom. 4:4)</div> <div>     No, it should astound us greatly that God could take out a loan from us.  </div> <bR> <div>     And what is this loan?  It is that if we help the vulnerable, our help will be specifically repaid by God from His own treasuries.</div> <div>     The terms of this loan tell us a lot about God.  He sees the needy of the earth as a peculiar responsibility.  His compassion draws Him towards helping them.  When <I>we </I>step in and help, God says, "You have done what I pledged Myself to do.  I am indebted to you, and I will repay."  Once again, simply remarkable.</div> <div>     Our response to this debt/loan dynamic also says a lot about ourselves.  Do we rejoin, "Yeah, God repays us- with extra portions of air and daily bread.  Whoopee"?  If so, we are indeed cynical and do not believe the verse.</div> <div>     If we believe the verse, on the other hand, we are immediately doubly motivated to help the poor.  Firstly, we say, "I want to be like my God, drawn with compassion towards the less fortunate."  Secondly, we say, "I want to have this wondrous, specific interaction with God and see what repayment He will give me, adding to His present abundant supply."</div> <bR> <div>     Jesus laid out three basic Christian duties in Matthew 6:  helping the poor, prayer, and fasting.  In our day, we are only concerned with 'accepting the gospel', not learning to live as children of God.  Our dualistic philosophy (spirit = good, matter = bad) has hidden from us that Christ is redeeming ALL things to Himself (Col 1:20).  His miracles performed upon unbelievers are ample testimony to that.     </div> <div>     Our logic is not "I'm a Christian; therefore, hands <I>off </I>the world around me."  Our logic is "I'm a Christian; therefore, hands <I>on </I>the world around me.  <I>Soul's</I> hands off the sin <I>in </I>the world."</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Gal 6:10</FONT>  So then, as we have opportunity, let us <U>do good</U> toward <U>all men</U>, especially toward those who are of the household of the faith. </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_23"><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="496" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCB2 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:18</div> <div> Chasten your son while there is hope, </div> <div> and not <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>for </I></FONT>his death- do not lift your soul <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>to that</I></FONT>!</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     There is a "not" (a negative) at the beginning of each of the two phrases in the second half of the verse.  The effect seems to be that of an exclamation point.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Disciplining your child</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Bringing about his death</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposing Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Urged while there is still hope</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Failure to chastise = setting your soul on his death</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     An almost grotesquely simplified version of this verse would give this meaning: "Chastise your child while there is hope, but don't go so far as to kill him."  This, however, is thoroughly incongruous.  The first half of the verse puts chastisement in the category of an effective means of warding off a bad future.  To follow that up with a warning not to go overboard in discipline completely departs from the optimistic prognosis of the first half of the verse.  Besides that, the translation really doesn't bear out that meaning.  "Do not set your soul on his death" reinforces the hopeful tone of the first half of the verse by saying, "And if you <I>don't</I> chastise your child while there is still opportunity, you will actually be giving hearty assent to his death!"  This is Solomon's meaning.</div> <div>     It is not in proper human nature to harm someone we love.  There is a natural 'brake' within us that stops us from bringing pain to our child.  When that brake wears away, we have a bad situation on our hands:  we have abuse.  </div> <div>     But the presence of the braking system is not to deter discipline, it is to remind us that discipline is only a means to an end.  The pain has to be applied because sin has been manifested.  The pain does not answer the end of satisfying us.  Again, if our child's pain satisfies us, we have an ugly deformity of soul.  We should truly be able to say, "this hurts me more than it does you."</div> <bR> <div>     The pain of spanking is the lesser of two evils.  Disobedience in a child's life is destructive to the child.  A spanking addresses this destructive force with some pain.  A parent must make the deliberate choice to confront the sin.  It is easier to call it something else or deal with it some other way.  Children often do not seem moldable, especially hard-headed ones, so we think we are wasting effort or actually making things worse.  Solomon says, "No, stick to your guns and your game plan.  You may <I>seem </I>to be perpetually down two or three scores too many to make up in your remaining time with the child, but while chastisement is available, there IS hope."</div> <div>     What are you doing if you retire your sheriff's badge and give up?  Solomon calls out with horror, "No, not that!  Don't you see?  Black Bart has been waiting just outside town for you to leave!  He has a career in crime planned for your child.  Will you abandon him so easily to a certain doom?"</div> <div>     The first use of the Hebrew word for "death" is God's warning to Adam that in the day he ate the forbidden fruit he would "die".  This spiritual kind of death is the kind warned about in our verse.  When we withhold punishment for sin, we are letting sin have its way.  Sin running its course always brings about death.  We could not have brought about our child's separation from God more effectively if we had outright preached rebellion to him.</div> <bR> <div>     This proverb is a word of encouragement AND a word of warning simultaneously.  You <U>can do</U> something about the way your child turns out.  It takes being hard-nosed, doubtless seeming downright severe at times.  The consequence for shying away from the 'bad guy' image, though, is that you are letting the real bad guy in.  Your inactivity IS definite activity.  You are dialing "E" for Executioner.  Forego discipline- invite ruin.  Your child will be a stinker.  He will carry the stench of death.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ********************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_24"><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="496" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:19</div> <div> A <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#333333" FACE="Georgia" ><I>man </I></FONT>of harsh fury will bear the fine, </div> <div> for if you deliver <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#333333" FACE="Georgia" ><I>him</I></FONT>, then you must do it again. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Harsh" is from a Hebrew word that apparently involves a little guesswork because of a question mark the manuscripts raise on its identity.  In the margin of the Hebrew text is "great", one letter different in Hebrew than the word for "harsh".</div> <div>     "Then you must do it again" is literally, "Still you must add."</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Considered<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A rough hot-head</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will bear a punishment</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">If you rescue <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>him from his trouble</I></FONT>, you'll still have more <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>work ahead of you</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     We first met the wrathful man by this name back in 15:18,</div> <bR> <div> Pro 15:18<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  A furious man stirs up quarreling</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     So a man whose inner being prominently features a smoldering volcano is going to start ruckuses.</div> <div>     Now we learn that he is going to <I>land in trouble</I> for his violence (remember, violence is <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >force used for unrighteous ends</FONT>.  By far the majority of violence that occurs in the world is non-physical).  The only other time the Hebrew word for the hot-head's punishment is used is of a king putting another land under "tribute", and it specifies the amount they had to pay.  Solomon therefore seems to be thinking about a rather specific consequence for Mr. Hot-head.  </div> <div>     Perhaps it is the "rough" hot-head Solomon has in mind for an itemized sentence.  This man has displayed his rude tendency openly; he will be 'put in the stocks' where he committed his outburst, for everyone to see.</div> <div>     Whatever fine he has to pay, the idea is that a compassionate person might be tempted to intervene.  Either he didn't see the offense, or he has forgotten it now that he can only see the man's misery.  And indeed he may be quite miserable.  Once a hot-head has erupted, the overflow of lava is gone, and he might appear for some time as a dormant crater.  While his magma stockpile rebuilds, he may actually manifest quite a meek persona.  But until his inner rage is dealt with, the <I>pressure will again build</I>, and <I>there will be more outbursts</I>.</div> <div>     Hereby Solomon is telling us that anger tends to be HABITUAL in a person's life.</div> <bR> <div>     What is his advice?</div> <div>     He actually has advice for this.  DON'T rescue him from the fine Providence sets on him, whatever it is.  He is likely someone who as a child received insufficient discipline, and now the much larger rod of life's afflictions must come across his backside to convince him of the need to relinquish his anger.  Or he is someone who was treated hatefully or neglectfully as a child, and his built-up wound now causes him to howl in fury whenever it is set off.</div> <div>     How sorrowful that some women marry angry men because they see a cause they can dedicate themselves to!  They love the vulnerable fellow between outbursts and refuse to believe that the hot-head is their real husband.  Their compassion actually perpetuates his problem!  Eventually he may have to go to prison to separate him from those who intervene, thus impeding the lessons in pain he has always needed.</div> <bR> <div>     A nice side lesson here is the general benefit of affliction.  We are told not to chafe under afflictions in life- they are merely God's fatherly training.  We need to learn patience, and we <I>can't</I> unless our inner resources are stretched to the limit.    </div> <div>     Every man has a natural antagonism towards God.  Life's trials tend to cause this antagonism to surface.  Glean the double benefit of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >humbling yourself</FONT> for your anger AND <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >learning the resources in Scriptures</FONT> God has for you in trial instead of surfacing the anger.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_25"><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="448" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:20</div> <div> Hear advice and receive reproof, </div> <div> for the purpose that, in the end, you may be wise. <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#330033" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Reproof" is the basic meaning but can also mean "instruction."</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Counsel<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Listen to counsel and grant admittance to correction</div> <bR> <div> Reason<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Your outcome will be attaining wisdom</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The attainment of wisdom is a process.  There is no sudden arrival thereat.</div> <div>     Solomon focuses on one 'organ', as it were, in this process.  The organ is the ear.  "Hear counsel".  Have your ears open.  Learn to keep them open.  Learn to hear good advice in all kinds of words, even those not intended as advice.  Be an advice-assimilating machine.  But especially, hear advice when it hurts.  That's when advice will probably do the most good.</div> <div>     And that brings us to the second act of the ear mentioned:  "Receive correction."  Admit the visitor Pain.  Whether it is advice given or not, even if it's being cursed out, receive correction.  Whenever someone says something that hurts, don't concentrate on the injustice in the saying of it or the hypocrisy of the one accusing; think of the <I>benefit </I>you should make of it.  Think of the truthfulness of it.  Yes, lies may have to be dealt with, and your integrity may need to be defended, but be sure you take advantage of what your enemy will give you that your friend often won't- a candid opinion.</div> <div>     Solomon has only used the word "for the purpose that" (a Hebrew word with a prepositional prefix) once so far in the 'proverbs proper', and only one more time before that.  Proverbs is all about cause and affect, so when Solomon actually <I>specifies </I>a cause and an effect, we had better perk up our ears.  </div> <div>     He is trying to make sure that we CONNECT listening to advice and rebuke WITH the latter part of the proverb.  There is a wide time <I>dis</I>connect between them, so it will take mental 'muscle' to pull the two things together.  </div> <div>     What that we might tend to lose track of are the advice and rebuke leading to?  The attainment of wisdom.  "To the purpose that you may be wise."  This is easy to lose track of, because, in the meantime, we tend to exhibit our reigning blockheadedness.  How long til we attain?</div> <div>     The latter part of the proverb takes us all the way to the other side of our lives:  "in the end", or "in your future" ("your" is definitely part of the Hebrew construction).  This is what tells us that wisdom is a process.  All of our intake of advice will only work wisdom in us 'in our outcome.'  Not now, later.  Not the part of our live we're in now; a time far enough future that we can't just hum a tune awaiting its arrival.  We can't wait around to be wise; it'll have to come in its own time.  <I>We </I>have to worry about gathering needed corrections.</div> <bR> <div>     There is a very encouraging aspect of this teaching.  It tells us that we can afford to be ever so patient with the process of Christian maturity in our lives.  Though we should certainly grow beyond 'baby-<I>hood</I>' as Christians, we should never grow beyond tolerating baby <I>steps </I>in Christian growth.  And if I am discouraged with my present <I>lack </I>of wisdom, I probably already have more than I realize.</div> <bR> <div>     So we must have a long-term perspective in attaining wisdom.  Notice that Solomon is essentially saying that wisdom comes to the humble.  Those who LISTEN, who don't think they know it all, will <B>eventually </B>gain enough wisdom to actually be called wise.</div> <div>     </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_26"><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="410" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:21</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >Many schemes </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >in a man's heart, </FONT></div> <div> but the counsel of Jehovah- that shall stand. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Schemes" is from a word meaning "contrivance".  Its root word literally means "to weave".</div> <div>     "Stand" is from a root word literally meaning "to arise".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The machinations of a man's heart</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The purpose of Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Many</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is established</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>      This proverb is connected to the previous one by the word "counsel".  In 19:20 we were told to hear counsel.  Now in 19:21 we are being told that Jehovah's counsel is the only one that will "arise" amidst the many plans put forth.  Solomon seems to be checking our utilization of human advice with this word about the ULTIMATE advice.  Everything man says or advises must be tested against  God's Word.</div> <bR> <div>     Many plans are in a man's heart.  Or we could translate this, "Many plans are in the heart of man," speaking of man generally.</div> <div>     The first contrast we see is between man's <I>many </I>plans and God's <I>one </I>plan.</div> <div>     Even if we could categorize all of man's plans under one big heading, like "The Plan to Glorify Man," yet men's designs to reach this end would be so short-sighted and diverse that the plans would actually fight against each other.  One plan would step on another's toes, and the next plan would crowd that one out.</div> <div>     Yet God's plan is <B>one</B>.  It is unified, and all the elements that must meet together to accomplish it do so harmoniously.  This is amazing, since we know that God has made creatures who have used their inbuilt potential for sin to try to disrupt His plan.</div> <div>     Therefore, when we say that God's plan is one, we are also saying two other things:</div> <div>   1)  God included the rebellion of demons and men in His original plan, and;</div> <div>   2)  God had an <I>end </I>worked out from the beginning that included His response to these rebellions.</div> <bR> <div>     The two important principles for us to glean are that: </div> <div>   1)  God's ends are accomplished in our lives no matter what, and;</div> <div>   2)  There are bad consequences for going against His ways.</div> <bR> <div>     The whole idea of this proverb is for us to line up <I>our </I>plans with <I>God's</I> plan, to exit our <I>schemes </I>and enter His <I>advice</I>.  The only way to do that is to align our <I>lives </I>with His <I>Word</I>.</div> <div>     This also suggests a good way to catalog our anxieties in prayer.  Did you know that anxieties are supposed to be acknowledged, then transformed into prayer requests?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Phil 4:6</FONT>  Do not be <U>anxious</U> about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your <U>requests</U> be made known to God. </div> <bR> <div>     Anxieties are to become prayer requests.  "God, <I>this </I>is bugging me."  "God, I'm worried about <I>that</I>."  "God, it's hard for me to even vocalize in your presence <I>the other thing</I>."  These are all the natural starting points for their related prayer requests.</div> <div>     Using our proverb today, we could say, "Lord, these are <I>schemes my heart</I> is trying to wrap itself around, or which have already entangled my mind.  Let your One Way show me the way out."</div> <div>     As there is <U>One Plan</U> with God, so there is <U>One Direction</U> He gives His people to walk in harmony with that Plan.</div> <bR> <div>     When there is frustration in my life, this is a sure sign that my <I>plans </I>have been frustrated.  Such plans are the ones cited in our proverb.  This frustration is really a wonderful sign from God that I am <I>fighting </I>His One Path and that it is time to get back on track.  Trouble is, when we get 'wrapped around the axle' in consternation, we can't think clearly enough to realize this.</div> <bR> <div>     We must try to stay aware of the vicissitudes of life, since they are ultimately the providences of God (Vicissitudes?  What are those?  That's the point!  Who knows with vicissitudes!?).  But this openness is only one aspect of the clear mind we must keep.  The most important preventative and cure for worry is <B>single-mindedness</B>:  realizing that God's Word has all the direction I need or want, and losing myself in that Word (not losing my humanity or personality therein; rather <I>gaining </I>both).</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_27"><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="502" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCC99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:22</div> <div> That which makes a man to be desired is his kindness. </div> <div> And a poor man is better than a liar. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "That which makes a man to be desired" is literally "the desire of a man."</div> <div>     "Kindness" is also the common Old Testament word for "mercy."</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">That which is desirable in a man</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A poor man</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His mercy</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Better than a liar</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     In the first half of this proverb, we see that "what is desired in a man is his kindness."  The real attractive quality of a human being is kindness/ understanding.  This quality is what acts like a magnet towards other people.  Those who seem forbidding, unapproachable, it is because they are missing this quality.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Are you a kind person?</div> <div>     Or do you find that you are not that attractive to others?  If not, guess what?</div> <bR> <div>     The second half of the proverb tells us that "a poor man is better than a liar."  This is telling us that it is  better to maintain our integrity and stay poor rather than compromise honesty to increase wealth or better our situation.  It is also insinuating that the most common path to riches involves deception, a 'little' moral shortcut here or there.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Are you an honest person?</div> <div>     Or are you willing to 'fudge' a bit to maintain your present economic status?</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon forces us to stretch a bit for the connection between the first and second halves of the verse, but it is there.  Both halves of the verse focus on an <I>inner quality</I> of man:  the first half on <I>kindness</I>, the second half on <I>integrity</I>.  Solomon is making an overall statement on <B>meekness</B>.  When a man operates on the principle of mercy, he is seeking to be <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BRADDON" >harmless</FONT>.  When a man refuses to compromise honesty and character, he is willingly taking a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BRADDON" >back seat</FONT> in the ride of life. He is willing to humbly bypass the promotions dishonesty offers.  Both harmlessness and humility are characteristics of meekness.</div> <div>     Another connection between the first and second half is this:  The desirable quality in a man is his mercy on others, yet he is not to exploit this quality for its own sake.  That is, having everyone like you is NOT the goal of developing a kind spirit.  You must still know WHOM to befriend as a kind person.  You must know whom <I>not </I>to befriend, too.  There are people of <I>moral integrity</I>, and there are others who are fun and fascinating people, but they are not exactly honest.  There are advantages to being their friend perhaps, but we must not play the game of 'look who likes me; what can I get out of it?'  </div> <div>     Furthermore, someone who hates God by an outright dishonest lifestyle should not be extended an undue amount of kindness from us.  There are even times when seeming <I>unkindness </I>is what is called for, as when John the baptist  accused Herod of taking the wrong marriage partner.</div> <bR> <div>     Because God is merciful, <I>we </I>should develop compassion as a trait.  We should be understanding.  This means that we use insight into the lives of others to <I>excuse </I>them when they have rough edges.  We simply must beware not to take this ability/ grace overboard by excusing inexcusable behavior.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_28"><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="530" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:23</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >The fear of Jehovah </FONT><I>tends</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >to life, </FONT></div> <div> and he shall rest satisfied, he shall not be visited with evil. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "To life" is also the Hebrew way to express possession; therefore, we could translate, "The fear of Jehovah belongs to life," or "is in the realm of life".  </div> <div>     If we adopted this rendering, we could also take the rest of the verse as a comment on the fear of Jehovah itself rather than of the man possessing it; so "And it (the fear of Jehovah) shall lodge (in its possessor) fully; it (the fear of Jehovah) does not visit evil."</div> <div>     "Visit" is also translated "appoint"; so we could also have "it (the fear of Jehovah) does not appoint evil (to its possessors)".</div> <div>     "Rest" is literally "to lodge (stay the night)".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Considered<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The fear of Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is unto life </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He (having it) lodges satisfied  </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He (having it) shall not be visited by evil  </div> <bR> <div> OR</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Belongs to / Is in the realm of life</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">It lodges contentedly (in its possessors)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">It shall not visit evil/shall not appoint evil (for its possessors)</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Either way you take this verse yields a true meaning.  Perhaps Solomon intended a double connotation.</div> <div>     Remember that "the fear of Jehovah" is the theme for the whole book.  After giving us seven purposes for the book, Solomon says:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 1:7</FONT>  The <U>fear of Jehovah</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. </div> <bR> <div>     This is now the twelfth time the "fear of Jehovah" has been cited.  We have dealt with six of them in our study of the 'proverbs proper' (chapters 10 - 31).</div> <bR> <div>     Today we are basically looking at THREE BENEFITS of the fear of God:</div> <bR> <div>   1)  It leads to life;</div> <div>   2)  Its possessors lodge with satisfaction; and,</div> <div>   3)  Its possessors are not visited with evil.</div> <bR> <div>     As to the <B>first benefit</B>, we specifically see God's fear as the <I>contrast to death</I>.  With God's fear we are moving towards life; without it, we are remaining in the realm of death.  If we defined life as an opposite of death, we might say that life means being <I>connected</I>, since death is basically <I>separation</I>.  True life is being connected to God.  "Life" being experienced fully on earth means being connected, in all parts of our being, to God's design for our being and activity.</div> <div>     Solomon, then, is telling us that isolation and withdrawal are bad things.  He is also telling us that it is the fear of God that causes us to live life to the fullest!  The fear of God, as it were, 'plugs us in' to all the good things God created for us, earthly, soulically (personally/introspectively), socially (in our relations with others), and spiritually (in our relation with Him).</div> <div>     Therefore, the fear of God is not just a bunch of "Don'ts".  It certainly includes "don'ts", just as a therapist advising his patient to 'live more fully' would keep harmful practices off his list.  Fearing God means understanding self and life from His perspective.  Why would He have put me here with all these pleasure sensors in my five senses if He didn't want me to enjoy?  The Christian reaction to these pleasure sensors has often been one of suspicion.  "God is just testing me.  I'd better withhold from enjoying anything too much."  But as long as we are within God's established boundaries, we can't enjoy anything too much.  </div> <div>     It's like a dad bringing his child to the playground.  Stay in the playground, don't run out into the street, and everything's OK.  Run, play, scream, let loose!  Don't jump off the slide, though; slide down the slide.  Use the apparatus as it was designed and you're safe.</div> <div>     Of course, God designed us to grow up and have grown-up enjoyment; a little tamer than the youthful kind generally.  Spiritually, He designed us to rejoice in truth, including the study and reception of it.  Fearing God makes us listen to Him and revel in what He says.</div> <bR> <div>     The <B>second benefit</B> is <I>lodging contentedly</I>.  This extends very naturally from the first benefit.  When we fear God, we understand what life is for and what life is like.  We are not afraid to hang around here.  We continue in our enjoyment of life by approaching each day as a discovery and/or reinforcement of those things our loving Father has already taught us.  We are not in a hurry.  God doesn't get ahead of Himself, and neither should we.</div> <bR> <div>     The <B>third benefit</B> is <I>not being visited by evil</I>.</div> <div>     Solomon commented on this before:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 12:21</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  No trouble at all shall be sent to the just, but the wicked shall be filled with evil. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     "Evil" is the same in both verses.</div> <div>     However, "evil" is also the same in Job 42,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Job 42:11</FONT>  And came to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had known him before. And they ate bread with him in his house, and consoled him and comforted him over all the <U>evil</U> that <U>Jehovah</U> had <U>brought on him</U>. Each one also gave him a piece of money, and each one a ring of gold. </div> <bR> <div>     We are specifically told that Job feared God.  Why would God bring evil on him?  Job certainly seems to have received a truckload of "trouble", per Proverbs 12:21 above.  This question separates much chaff from wheat in Christian thinking, as Job's three friends' responses prove.</div> <div>     What we are actually being told here is well expressed in Romans,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Rom 8:28</FONT>  And we know that <U>all things</U> <U>work together</U> <U>for good</U> to those who love God, to those who are called according to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>His</I> </FONT>purpose. </div> <bR> <div>     This is the same author who has just told us that difficulties are a part of the Christian life:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Rom 5:3</FONT>  And not only <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>this</I></FONT>, but we <U>glory in afflictions</U> also, knowing that afflictions work out patience </div> <bR> <div>     So the evil that came upon Job was 'earthly evil', we might say- real trouble, but it could work <B>no real harm</B> in Job's life as long as he feared God.  God could even erase the scars from his hideous boils.  So it was not really Evil at Job's doorstep, it was the Providence of God.  Evil was the deliveryman, you might say, but the sender was God, and the purpose was Job's <B>good</B>.</div> <div>     Job did lose his fear of God for a while (Job 40:8).  Elihu and then God had to correct him.</div> <bR> <div>     How do you respond to life's trials?</div> <div>     The fear of God will keep you on track.  You will see your "satisfaction" disturbed, but you will see it like the disturbance of the ground by a plow, necessary to the sowing of good seed in your life.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_29"><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="530" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:24</div> <div> The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <div> he will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Sluggard" is from a Hebrew root word that means "to lean idly". </div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Considered<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The lazy </div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Buries his hand in a dish </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He does not even return it (his hand) to his mouth</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     There are about nineteen proverbs on laziness using three different Hebrew words for sloth.  Our proverb today uses the main word for the slothful, which is used fourteen times, all in Proverbs.</div> <div>     Today's proverb might seem a little odd and cryptic at first, but it is easier to understand in the light of other proverbs on laziness.  If we combine the lazy man's <I>self-indulgence</I>,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 13:4</FONT>  The soul of the sluggard <U>desires</U> and <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>has</I> </FONT>nothing</div> <bR> <div> with his <I>sleepiness</I>,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 26:14</FONT>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>As</I> </FONT>the door turns upon its hinges, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>so does</I></FONT> the lazy man turn upon his <U>bed</U> </div> <bR> <div> and with his <I>self-defeating</I> tendencies,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 21:25</FONT>  The desire of the lazy man <U>kills him</U>, for his hands have refused to work </div> <bR> <div> we can more easily picture someone who would try to possess the whole bowl and yet partake of none of it.</div> <div>     The picture is hyperbolic; that is, it is exaggerated to make a point.  We would not expect to see a lazy man with his hand actually hidden in a bowl of food, but we <I>do</I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>  </I></FONT>find him coming into possession of coveted items only to squander them through laziness.  So they are of as much use to him as uneaten food in a bowl. </div> <bR> <div>     There is a new aspect of laziness that we are being shown here.  This new aspect has two faces, one fearful, and one greedy. </div> <bR> <div>     The <B>fearful </B>side of laziness causes us to hold on to a useful possession for fear of losing it.  However, the grasping of the possession cancels out its usefulness!  We can't use the food in the bowl if we are merely hovering over it and protecting it.</div> <div>     What is the particular laziness of this?  The lazy man <I>does not want to repeat his effort</I> in obtaining a thing, so he holds on to it.  This is obviously self-defeating, but it does not appear so to the eyes of laziness.  Solomon uses an example we are never likely to see in order for us to see the absurdity of lesser examples in the same category:  foregoing homework or housework or yard work because it is a recurring cycle and I'll just have to repeat.</div> <bR> <div>     The <B>greedy </B>side of laziness simply holds on to a possession because the lazy one desires it.  The <I>having </I>of the thing is the prize, so the <I>use </I>of it will not be countenanced.  Again, Solomon wants us to think of situations in which this is self-defeating:  the man who won't answer the oil light in his car with a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" >quart </FONT>of oil because it will be wasted with his soon-intended oil <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bell MT" >change</FONT>.  Laziness eventually works against its possessor.</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon, of course, is not discouraging all conserving of items.  He is simply telling us that one tell-tale sign of laziness is <I>accumulating </I>or <I>protecting </I>items which <U>should</U> be <I>used;</I> foregoing tasks which <U>need</U> to be done.</div> <bR> <div>     HOARDING is a definite example of this.  The 'pack rat' hoards possessions, fearful that he will regret throwing them away.  "What if I need that again?"  Yet hoarding sends the item into oblivion.  It molders and becomes useless, or, more likely, it is soon buried under new debris and will never be seen again.  Hoarding is self-defeating.  It is a manifestation of LAZINESS.  It is actually saying this:  "I don't want to be bothered with acquiring this item AGAIN, since I have it NOW; therefore, I will save it."  Laziness is a dodging of responsibility.  Hoarding refuses to exercise the responsibility of disposing of useless items.</div> <bR> <div>     How might we apply all this spiritually?</div> <bR> <div>     When we learn the Truth for the purpose of merely hoarding it in our heads, we are showing laziness.  So many truths of Scripture are absolutely useless apart from their application.  Knowing them but not doing them is actually counterproductive:  it works <I>against </I>the man possessing the knowledge.</div> <bR> <div>     How many Scriptural 'do's' and 'don'ts' do <I>you </I>know which put you in the ridiculous posture of guarding a bowl of food never to be eaten?</div> <bR> <div>     Visiting the sick?  Fasting?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_30"><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="530" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#33FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:25</div> <div> Strike a scorner and the naive will be shrewd; </div> <div> reprove a discerner, and he will discern knowledge. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Reprove" is from a Hebrew word whose basic meaning is "to be correct". </div> <div>     "Naive" is from a Hebrew word meaning "open".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Considered<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A learning method of the naive</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A learning method of the <B>discerning</B></div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions Respectively<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Flog the scorner and the naive becomes sharp</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Correct <B>him </B>and he discerns (even more) knowledge</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is only the third proverb we've considered on the <B>naive </B>(usually translated the "simple").  The naive is a follower.  He's a bit vacant and tends to do as others do or as he's led:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 14:15</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  The simple believes every word</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon believes the naive to be teachable, though:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 1:2 - 4</FONT>  to know wisdom and instruction; to recognize the words of understanding;  to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and uprightness; <U>to give</U> <U>sense to the simple</U></div> <bR> <div>     This, Solomon's fourth stated purpose for the book is to guide these vacant ones into thoughtfulness.</div> <div>     Today's proverb gives the first indication of how the naive can be taught.  It is by the punishment of the scorner.</div> <div>     We have seen the <B>scorner </B>three times before this (chapters 10 - 19) out of a total of nine uses of the term thus far (chapters 1 - 19).  He's the fellow who seems to be <I>un</I>teachable.</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 14:6</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  A scorner seeks wisdom, but finds it not.</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     He has such a cynical spirit that he cannot move far in the direction of godliness.  Therefore he is in line for numerous hard lessons over the course of his life.  These will not fundamentally change him (unless God grants him the thoroughgoing change of conversion), but they can be a lesson to simpletons.     </div> <div>     The simple may have admired the scorner for his bravado.  He seems to be an example of 'getting away with it'.  Then the ceiling caves in, and the naive watches in horror as his hero becomes the center of a pile of debris.  "By Jiminy!  Maybe I don't want to emulate his lifestyle after all!"</div> <div>     This is a perfectly fine school for the naive, since the scorner is going to invite pain no matter what.  Someone may as well profit from it.</div> <bR> <div>     But the <B>discerning </B>does not need such a lesson.  Of course, the discerning man also gains wisdom when he sees the scorner thumped.  He is not a follower, though, as in a follower of just anybody.  He makes up his own mind based on definite standards of right and wrong.  From these he cannot be dissuaded.</div> <div>     What does it take to teach him?  He is <I>very </I>teachable.  That is what Solomon is telling us about him.  Whereas the average Joe will shrug off a criticism, the discerning man uses critique, even insults, as an opportunity for improvement.  </div> <bR> <div>     How do <I>you </I>learn?</div> <div>     Do you have to see someone else struck down or beat up before the moral picture becomes clear for you?</div> <div>     Or are you so attuned to knowledge that anything and everything becomes 'school' for you?  You can pray to be the discerning rather than the naive.  That would be a good prayer today.</div> <div>     Hopefully you're not the scorner who <I>never </I>learns.  Watch out for falling ceilings in your vicinity.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ****************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="july_31"><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="530" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#00FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:26</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >He who plunders </FONT><I>his</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >father </FONT><I>and</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >chases </FONT><I>his </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >mother away, </FONT></div> <div> he <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>a son who causes shame and brings reproach. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Plunders" is from a Hebrew root word that means "to be burly".  </div> <div>     Notice that "and" is in italics, indicating its inclusion for our understanding despite its absence from the Hebrew text.  Therefore, the first half could read, "He who assaults a father, chases a mother away," the first act causing the second.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Considered<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A son/child who plunders his dad and causes his mom to flee</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Causes shame</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Brings reproach</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This may be intended as a dividing line for a fourth section in the 'proverbs proper' (chapters 10 - 31).  Section one began with 10:1,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 10:1</FONT>  The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad <U>father</U>; but a foolish son <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I></FONT> the sorrow of his <U>mother</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Section two began with 15:20,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 15:20</FONT>  A wise son makes a glad <U>father</U>, but a foolish man despises his <U>mother</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Section three began at 17:25,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 17:25</FONT>  A foolish son <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I></FONT> a grief to his <U>father</U>, and bitterness to <U>her who bore him</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     And now today's proverb begins a fourth section.</div> <bR> <div>     Our considerations of relation to parents has gotten much more serious today.  Now we are entering the realm of behavior that can actually result in capital punishment.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Exod 21:15</FONT>  And he that strikes his <U>father</U> or his <U>mother</U> shall surely be <U>put to death</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     If the 'mugging' of dad in our verse today included roughing him up, God's decree was to end that child's life.  One did not need to go to the extreme of taking a parent's life or even of bringing serious injury on him.  The escalating factor in hitting a parent is the parent's <B>authority</B>.  </div> <div>     Hitting a parent is not essentially different from committing treason against a king or country.  We cannot simply claim our independence.  The authority over us is the one we must obey.</div> <div>     Our proverb does not necessarily describe physical abuse, though.  The "plundering" in many other passages where the word is used only means robbing.  There is a another proverb on robbing parents, too:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 28:24</FONT>  Whoever <U>robs</U> his father or his mother and says, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>It is</I></FONT> no sin; he <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>shall be</I></FONT> a companion to a destroyer. </div> <bR> <div>     In other words, this is the approach to parents that looks at them as a source of provision, that sees their responsibility to provide for <I>me </I>as my excuse to take from <I>them</I>.  Again, God sees in this a battering ram being taken to His institution of parenthood.  He sees a destructive person in action.</div> <bR> <div>     There is an exact scenario that seems to answer to what is described in today's proverb.  It is that of a child seeking to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>come prematurely into his inheritance</B></FONT>.  He would first be taking that which was properly in his father's domain and thus effectively chasing his mother out of the picture as well.</div> <div>     Remember, there can be seemingly blurry lines in the scenario just described.  Say the father has had a protracted illness.  The son has already been handling family affairs for years.  At this point, no one might blame him for wanting to come into his inheritance early.  There might even be situations that seem to demand it, involving power of attorney and such.</div> <div>     Our proverb is addressing, first the <I>spirit </I>of the son who makes such a move, and then the <I>way </I>in which he does it.</div> <bR> <div>     If the son thinks, "I've been caretaker long enough.  These things will be mine soon anyway.  These assets are going to waste while we wait for dad to pass on.  I could dearly use my inheritance now.  After all, I've been official caretaker a long time with no pay," he has fallen into an improper spirit.</div> <div>     If he then makes legal moves to wrest control of his father's estate, he has completed the portrait of a shame-causing and disgracing son.</div> <bR> <div>     There are times when the dad, or the mom if her husband was incapacitated, would willingly <I>sign things over</I> to their son, knowing that he would only act in their best interests and not abandon them.  </div> <div>     Our proverb is talking about the son who sees 'what is his' and muscles his way in.  Solomon merely makes the equation that this muscling in also involves a muscling out- of his parents.</div> <bR> <div>     A question confronts us here.  Your parents raised you from your helplessness on.</div> <div>     When they are helpless, how will you treat them?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *******************************************************************************</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>