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<div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="699" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="133"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="133" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="555"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="555" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=365 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_1"><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=#33FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:29</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >The excellence of young men </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >their vigor, </FONT></div> <div> and the splendor of old men <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>the gray head. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Young men" is from a Hebrew word meaning "select, choice".</div> <bR> <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">Youth</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Old age</div> <bR> <div> Given for Each<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">Has a beauty</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Has a majesty</div> <bR> <div> Further Descriptions in Order<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"> Their vitality is this radiance</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Their gray head is this majesty </div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Presumably, gray hair is a result of the Fall.  Our hair turns gray because we are aging, and aging is a sign of approaching death.  Death is the result of sin.  Therefore, we would presumably have no gray hair if sin had not entered the world.  Of course, many, many other things would also be different if there were no sin.</div> <div>     Solomon has already given us one word on the gray head:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:31</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  The gray head </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >a crown of glory; it is found in the way of righteousness. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     As we said concerning that proverb, Americans act allergic to gray hair.  This aversion denies us a degree of honor which Solomon says is associated with gray hair.  It also tells us that we have a disproportionate respect for youth.  In our proverb today, we see that youth <I>is </I>to be respected, just not at the expense of honoring old age.</div> <div>     Let us consider a tendency in Christian thinking today.  Under the influence of pietism, many Christians unconsciously measure everyone else's holiness by a list of current "don't's" they themselves follow.  The list is perfectly clear in their own minds, requiring no translation from Biblical text (such as "love not the world") to modern implementation (such as not going to movies, certain movies, etc. etc.).  They simply assume that anyone who does not follow their modern list is also uninterested in obeying the Biblical command.</div> <div>     This philosophy causes its adherents to tend towards <I>seclusion</I>.  The world is 'out there', so we better hunker down 'in here' and let all the missiles fly over us.  A general attitude towards life is adopted that roughly translates into 'better safe than sorry', and casts a suspicious eye on any fun activity.</div> <div>     In this view, youth itself is suspect.  It is more or less assumed that youth is a super dangerous time which young people are lucky to live through spiritually.  Of course, it <I>is </I>true that there are unusual temptations confronting young Christians.  But is youth just a time bomb waiting to explode unless we can just remove the fuse altogether?  Our only hope is to remove fun altogether, or nearly so?</div> <div>     There <I>is </I>a tightrope to be walked.  Look how Solomon addresses it elsewhere:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Eccl 11:9, 10; 12:1</FONT>  Rejoice, <U>in your youth</U>, young man; and let your heart cheer you <U>in the days of your youth</U>, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>things</I> </FONT>God will bring you into judgment.  Therefore remove vexation from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for childhood and prime of life <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT>vanity.  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Eccl 12:1</FONT>  Remember now your Creator <U>in the days of your youth</U>, while the evil days do not come, nor the years draw near, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them. </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >    The above passage is hard to understand without an appreciation of the outline of Ecclesiastes.  Eccl. 11:9 is the seventh of seven Intermediate Conclusions Solomon has used to show us their insufficiency until we can reach the Final Conclusion in Eccl. 12:13, "Fear God and keep His commandments."  He is therefore not actually commending enjoyment for its own sake to the youth.  Notice his proviso that in following the 'ways of his own heart', God will 'bring him into judgment'.  Solomon is being sarcastic.  DON'T follow your own appetites, he is saying.  Rather, "remember your Creator."  </FONT>The proper exertion of the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>vigor of youth</B></FONT> is in serving God.</div> <div>     In that exertion, there should be full joy- full inner joy and full outward enjoyment of God's creation.  Just be very careful that neither joy becomes mere self-indulgence.  We 'let ourselves out', but we hold ourselves 'on a leash'.</div> <div>     So youth has its proper beauty- vigor, and age has its appropriate splendor- gray hair.  Blessed is the person who can travel seamlessly from one glory to the other.</div> <div>     A Christian in his <I>youth </I>(or at least his younger days compared to the older ones) should be like a king <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BRADDON" >fighting battles </FONT>and securing his borders for God's possession, so that as an <I>aged </I>Christian, he will be like a king <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BRADDON" >sitting down </FONT>to maintain (having learned economy of effort in battle) and enjoy the fruits of his conquest.  It is reminiscent of the 'graduation' Paul commends to deacons:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 Tim  3:13</B></FONT>  For those who have <U>served well</U> as deacons <U>obtain</U> a <U>standing</U> for themselves <U>and</U> much <U>boldness</U> in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ****************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="503" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:30</div> <div> The cut of a wound scours away evil, </div> <div> and blows <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>scour </I></FONT>the 'chambers of the belly'.  </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Scour away" is from a Hebrew word meaning "rub".</div> <bR> <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 cut of a wound</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Blows</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"> Sandpapers evil</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Scrub out the room of the inner parts</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is our same "chambers of the stomach" that Jehovah searched from three verses ago.  It is the same place the words of a gossip get stuck in from 18:8 and 26:22.</div> <div>     Now we learn that it is a location that can be modified.  It consists of rooms that can be remodeled.  According to our verse, they <I>need </I>to be remodeled.</div> <div>     Apparently evil dwells in the innermost parts of our being.  Wounds are said to scour away <I>evil</I>; then blows are said to do the same to our <I>innermost being</I>.  Hence, our innermost being must be the residing place of our evil.  This is not surprising.  Any time Scriptures comments on our evil, they indicate its deep-seated nature.</div> <div>     The question our verse raises is:  How do physical wounds and blows affect the invisible, inward part of man?</div> <div>     The answer to this critically important question is that God has created man as an organic unity, inside to out.  We are not merely a spiritual being with a clumsy 'bag' of a body thrown over top as a vehicle.  Though our invisible soul is our essential self, it is not meant to function without a body:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Eccl 8:1</FONT>  Who <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>as the wise? And who knows the meaning of a thing? A man's <U>wisdom</U> <U>makes</U> his <U>face</U> to <U>shine</U>, and the boldness of his <U>face</U> shall be <U>changed</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Bodies are not awkward appendages, but beautiful and apt communicators of man's inward life.  So God has designed us.  We will not be complete even after death until we have new bodies, 2 Cor. 5:2, 3.</div> <div>     Therefore, God is the one who designed the pain the physical body feels.  He is also the one who has connected these pain sensors to the proper places in our inner being.  When strokes are applied for punishment or discipline, we are receiving a lesson that <B>could not be understood any other way</B>.  </div> <div>      This is why spanking is so important to child training.  To deny a child his needed spankings is to communicate one of two things:</div> <div>   1)  We do not believe evil dwells within him; or</div> <div>   2)  We do not believe God sufficiently connected the body to the soul to reach that part of him through  </div> <div>         spanking.</div> <div>     Perhaps our verse is primarily addressing spankings.  It would also apply, though, to criminals who are flogged, etc.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 10:13</FONT>  Wisdom is found in the lips of him who has understanding, but <U>a rod</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is waiting</I></FONT> <U>for the back</U> of him who lacks heart. </div> <bR> <div>     Our proverb today provides the philosophical basis for spankings.  Spankings actually reach a part of us otherwise unreachable.  </div> <div>     Thus modern psychological methods seek to alter children by mental and emotional coercion instead.  This is why so many children are warped by this approach.  Mind games and mental cruelty are the only approximate replacements for simple spankings.  But replacements cannot reach the spot God's well-designed tool does.</div> <div>     A public (or private) flogging would do ten times more and ten times better than incarceration.  Most prison residents will readily concede this.  Our 'civilized' approach does more emotional brutality in a month than twenty lashes with a whip would have done at all.  </div> <div>     God has also wisely designed bodies to heal.  Their healing accompanies the inner remediation that the offender expends time reflecting on.  This provides its own sort of 'incarceration' in miniature.  But the actual locking away of a man only locks him away <I>with </I>his problems <I>and </I>with a horde of other fellows likewise frustrated.  Oh that we could see the barbarism of this 'civilized' approach!</div> <div>     The best time to reach people, of course, is when they are children.  Perhaps our society is too far gone to ever return to the wisdom of spanking, but that is the direction we need to point:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 13:24</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him chastens him vigilantly. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     On another level, the principle that our souls are reached through our skins goes a lot farther in explaining our daily pains, discomforts, and illnesses than we'd probably like to acknowledge.  We should do all that we reasonably can to remain as healthy as we can, but having done so, our discomforts- ever increasing with age- are reminders to our souls that sin was the problem we came into this world needing to address and it will be our proper focus until we require the scouring of ailments no longer.</div> <div>     Prayer for healing of maladies- absolutely commended by God- should be prefaced by thanks for them and the good they do ("in everything give thanks").</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="578" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:1</div> <div> The king's heart <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is as</I> </FONT>water channels in the hand of Jehovah; </div> <div> He turns it wherever He will. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Water channels" is from two Hebrew words, one meaning "water" and the other coming from a root word for "split".  It is not the ordinary word for a river or stream but denotes an irrigation channel, purposely routed to bring water where desired.</div> <div>     "Turns" is from a word meaning "to stretch", hence also, "to bend".</div> <div>     "Wherever" is literally, "upon all which".</div> <bR> <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 king's heart</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"> An irrigation trench in Jehovah's hand</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> He extends it "unto every <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>place </I></FONT>where" He "delights"</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     God ultimately moves the lives of political leaders where He desires, in tandem with His plans for individuals, peoples, and nations.  This God does on a <I>personal </I>level in the life of a king so as to dispose the king's <I>political </I>decisions in certain directions, both for national and international policies.</div> <div>     Consider first God's work in king Solomon's life as an <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >individual</FONT>.</div> <div>     Solomon uses a word for "turning" in our verse which is later used to describe <I>himself</I>.  The writer of Kings used the word at a time in Solomon's life when he had probably forgotten his own use of it:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Kings 11:1 - 13</FONT>  And King Solomon loved many foreign women, even the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites;  of the nations which Jehovah had said to the sons of Israel, You shall not go in to them, and they shall not go in to you; surely they will <U>turn away</U> your heart after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love.   And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. And his wives <U>turned away</U> his heart.  For it happened when Solomon was old, his wives <U>turned away</U> his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>was</I> </FONT>the heart of David his father.  For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites;  and Solomon did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and did not <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>go</I> </FONT>fully after Jehovah like his father David.  Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill which <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the sons of Ammon.  And likewise he did for all his foreign wives, and burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.  And Jehovah <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>was</I> </FONT>angry with Solomon because his heart was <U>turned</U> from Jehovah, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; and he did not keep that which Jehovah commanded.   And Jehovah said to Solomon, Since this is done by you, and since you have not kept My covenant and My statutes which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.   But I will not do it in your days, for David your father's sake, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>but</I> </FONT>I will tear it out of the hand of your son.   Only, I will not tear away all the kingdom, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>but</I> </FONT>I will give one tribe to your son for David My servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen. </div> <bR> <div>     This is very frightening.  Solomon, a king, testified that God "turns" kings' hearts like irrigation conduits.  Then, in his twilight years, his foreign wives "turned" his own heart away from God!  Guess what this ultimately means.  That's right.  God was "turning" Solomon's heart <I>through the agency</I> of these pagan ladies!</div> <div>     And what affect did this have on the kingdom of Israel?  What was the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >political </FONT>upshot?</div> <bR> <div> 1 Kings 11:11  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >I will surely tear the kingdom from you </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Now is this whole process something strange?  Is it exceptional?  No, this is merely one aspect of God's normal workings.  God always works justly; therefore, when men are already disposed in a certain direction, He simply 'channels' <I>their </I>decisions to accomplish <I>His </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT>righteous ends.  For instance:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Isa 10:5</FONT>  Woe to Assyria, the <U>rod of</U> <U>My</U> anger! And the staff in <U>their</U> hand is <U>My</U> fury. </div> <bR> <div>     Assyria was not aware of God using her; she was only aware of her desire for conquest.  God used Assyria to punish wicked Israel but then was going to punish Assyria for iniquities she committed in the pillaging of Israel.</div> <div>     Now if God used the army of another nation against Israel, couldn't He use ladies of another nation in the life of an Israelite king?</div> <div>     Our proverb provides an important insight into the interplay between God's sovereignty and man's accountability.  Solomon compares hearts to water which God merely channels.  God does not change the composition of the water.  By this analogy, neither does He change the essential composition of the human heart.  He merely directs hearts like a farmer would direct irrigation waters.  The water is going to water something:  God just ultimately decides what.</div> <div>     Now to the more important issue.  <I>Why </I>did God orchestrate events as He did for Solomon?  Did God have a reason?  Did God need a reason?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 22:14</FONT>  The mouth of alien women <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>a deep pit; those <U>despised </U><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I><U>by</U></I><U> </U></FONT><U>Jehovah</U> shall fall there. </div> <bR> <div>     God moved Solomon's heart to write <I>this </I>Proverbs testimony against his own later life as well!  Look at the dreadful sentence upon Solomon's final spiritual condition.  The only reason Solomon was vulnerable to the women's attacks was the decay his spirit had suffered.  What decay?  What happened in his soul that caused God to despise him?  The most obvious was his rejection of a specific statute from Moses about Hebrew Monarchs:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Deut 17:17</FONT>  <U>Nor</U> shall he <U>multiply</U> <U>wives</U> to himself, <U>so</U> that his <U>heart</U> does <U>not turn</U> away. Nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold to himself. </div> <bR> <div>     Solomon could not have had a plainer warning.  But he is no different than any of us.  Our sins always come with a fully operational rationale.  Notice that God records no prophets correcting Solomon.  The whole kingdom had apparently been lulled to sleep in this matter.  Notwithstanding, it was a grave insult to God's face:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 6:16, 17</FONT>  These six <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>things </I></FONT><U>Jehovah hates</U>; yea, seven <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT>hateful to his soul:  <U>a proud look</U>, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood ...</div> <bR> <div>    Connecting this proverb to 22:14 above, we see that Solomon had become something Jehovah hated.  Among other faults, he certainly flattered himself with many, many wives.  This <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>pride </B></FONT>invited Jehovah's loathing.  Jehovah chose as a consequence an appropriate 'jail' to hold Solomon in his stubbornness, the exotic women themselves- women foreign to the Spirit of holiness.  This dilemma God put Solomon in was designed to cause him either to cry out to God for help or to confirm himself in his ungodliness.</div> <div>     That's the last we hear from Solomon spiritually.  There's no happy ending, no turn to God.  A man who once wrote God's exact thoughts was still subject to the most common human weaknesses.</div> <bR> <div>     All this has exposited much of the meaning of the verse.  Our proverb is definitely a sovereignty of God verse.</div> <div>     And God has all human hearts, not just kings', in His hands:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 33:15</FONT>  <U>He forms their hearts individually</U>; He understands all their works. </div> <bR> <div>     This verse goes even further than our proverb.  This would indicate that God <I>creates </I>the composition of the heart, not just that He channels it.  But God's forming of a heart is simply His forming of our individual personalities.  He doesn't interfere with the transmission of sin to us; Adam transferred his spiritual nature to his children, which process continues in all human procreation.  God allows the spiritual <I>and </I>physical genetics He created to take their own courses.  He simply chooses the mixture of factors that will make me me.  The only 'exception' to this is when He <I>remakes </I>a heart in His own image; that's major interference.  Even then, He is the one "forming the heart individually."  Having remade a heart, He then allows it, again, to bear its own load before Him.</div> <div>     God's ultimate control over hearts is seen in the phrase "in Jehovah's hands."  This could either picture God digging irrigation channels which the heart then follows, OR it could picture God's hands, as it were, underneath the whole countryside:  God tilts His hand; the channels run in a certain direction.</div> <div>     Consider another set of kings whose hearts God put into His watering can to pour out where He wished:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Rev 17:17</FONT>  For God has <U>put in their hearts</U> to do what He has in mind, and to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the Beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. </div> <bR> <div>     Did God create anything in the hearts of these kings foreign to their own desires?  No, He merely directed the sinful desires <I>already in</I> their hearts to a unified purpose.  They all saw their own advantage in the Beast becoming world leader.  God merely erased any doubts.  Therefore, God even orchestrates His <I>enemies'</I> assaults against Himself and His people!</div> <div>     When God "turned" Solomon's heart, He likewise used sinful means.  The foreign wives were already idolaters; God simply used their idolatry to test Solomon's soul.  Solomon turned out to be an idolater too.  He did not successfully pray, "Do not lead me into temptation."</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Application</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     God's enemies are many in government positions across the world.  Our proverb especially incites us as <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>citizens </B></FONT>to prayer for our <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>leaders</B></FONT>.  Through them, God affects our lives on a very practical level.  Many of our brothers and sisters have never known a day's tranquility in which to serve God calmly, because their countries are given over to the will of antiChristian leaders.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Tim 2:1, 2</FONT>  I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, <U>prayers</U>, intercessions, and givings of thanks, be made for all men:  <U>for kings</U> and all who are in high places; <U>that we may lead</U> a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence. </div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >God is 'irrigating' our land through the direction of our leaders' hearts</FONT>.  In some lands, He has responded to prevailing ungodliness by holding life-giving waters to a trickle.  In others, He is testing His faithful people by sending them bitter waters through raging tyrants- this to further purify their appetites for heavenly springs.</div> <div>     Anyone who feels 'enclosed', as though God was too much in control, see here that He invites our prayers, even <I>directing </I><I><B>them </B></I>to turn <I>His own</I> decrees to our benefit, to turn leaders' hearts to favorable decisions.</div> <div>     Man is not a machine, because God, in whose image we are made, is not a machine.  Everything about God's creation is quite personal because <I>He</I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>  </I></FONT>is personal.  By definition, God cannot 'let go' of the Universe or any part thereof.  How can it run without His oversight?  <I>Of course</I> He has ultimate control.  Our only concern is whether He will be able to justly judge us for decisions we freely make.  </div> <div>     The answer for Solomon was Yes.  Solomon chose pride, so God chose a female jail for him.  His kingdom was adversely affected.  God's saints in Israel were eventually severely tested.  Such is the relationship of a king and his people.  </div> <div>     The answer for us is Yes also.  God channels our hearts according to what He sees in them too.  Let us avoid pride at all costs.  "Please search me out, not leading me into the temptations I'm prone to."</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="466" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:2</div> <div> Every way of a man is upright in his own eyes, </div> <div> but Jehovah measures the hearts. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Measures" is from a Hebrew word meaning "to balance". </div> <bR> <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's view of each of his own ways</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Jehovah's measurement of the man</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposite 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"> Straight in his own eyes</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> An accurate measurement of the man's heart</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is the companion verse of 16:2,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:2</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  All the ways of a man </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >pure in his own eyes, but Jehovah weighs the spirits. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The only differences between the two verses in the Hebrew are:</div> <div>  1)  Singular versus plural "way";</div> <div>  2)  "Pure" versus "upright";</div> <div>  3)  "Spirits" versus "hearts".</div> <div>     These differences do not greatly affect the overall teaching of the saying, but they do carry variations of thought we will consider as we proceed.</div> <bR> <div>     "Every way of a man" is right in his own eyes- <I>every single one of them!</I>  This has an even more categorical connotation than the "All the way<I>s</I> of a man" in 16:2.  "Every way of a man" means that you could march each individual tendency of a man in front of him, and they would <I>all pass his inspection</I> with flying colors!  Each of his idiosyncrasies, each of his eccentricities, each of his uncouth little habits- all receive the same summary judgment:  not just acceptable, but the very <I>standard </I>of decency!</div> <div>     What do you think?  Is Solomon going too far here?  Certainly I'm self-critical about <I>some </I>of my traits!  Well, Solomon is not denying that.  He is simply saying that whenever you have cast a disapproving glance at some trait of yours (probably because it made you look bad), you're still going to come out the other side of the evaluation approving of yourself on the whole and accepting the naughty little trait back into the fold of your grand total self.  Any aspects of our personalities we end up rejecting will only be refused in preference to a trait we favor.</div> <div>     The word "upright" implies that we have a standard in mind when we evaluate things.  Our proverb tells us that our standard is OURSELVES.  What <B>we </B>do is what is upright!  </div> <div>     This is one of the main reasons conversion to Christ can so easily be fake.  When a man comes to Christ, he is very likely to do so as a means of self-approval.  Or he finds that Christ's moral code is superior to any model already drawn up, so he will OK that model and thereby give credibility to himself.  Sadly, any insecurities he felt which drove him to Christ for shelter will soon be replaced by his natural self-approving philosophy, and Jesus will be little more than a household idol decorating an honored slot on the shelf.  The human heart must be <I>replaced </I>(Ezek. 36:26), not affirmed.</div> <div>     When Solomon says that Jehovah measures or weighs our "hearts", he is saying that God attains an accurate reading of <B>our true selves</B>.  March out all those little habits and traits of ours again.  God has measuring gauges perfectly suited to each one.  He doesn't just get the weight, he gets the volume.  He doesn't just note the color, he figures in the texture.  He looks from all angles.  He looks down to the molecular level.  He misses nothing.  Where our evaluation had been a lick and a prayer, God's is as complete and complex as our very composition- every layer, every level.</div> <div>     The implication is that <I>we </I>are not acquainted with our own hearts.  When we are looking at ourselves, it is our heart that is the real viewing <I>engine</I>.  Therefore, to expect it to look at itself is unrealistic.  It is because we love ourselves that we look at ourselves in a good light rather than in a true light.  We must overcome self-love to arrive at truth.</div> <div>     Our proverb makes no direct comment on this potential, but the ability to see ourselves as we truly are is not ruled out.  Obviously, to view ourselves accurately the help of God would be absolutely required.  This verse is actually a step in that direction.  By truly listening to the wisdom of this verse, we are thus inclined to distrust our own self-evaluation.  Surely this is the beginning of wisdom!  This is the first step in transitioning from man's approval as the standard to the fear of God as the standard!</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Mark 2:17</FONT>  When Jesus heard, He said to them, They who are strong have <U>no need of a physician</U>, but the ones who have illness. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. </div> <bR> <div>     Are you ready to depart the self-justification train and board the airlines of self-critique?</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="487" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCE4 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:3</div> <div> To practice righteousness and judgment</div> <div> is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Acceptable" is from a Hebrew word meaning "to try; hence, to select". </div> <div>     Another fairly good rendering of the proverb is:  "Jehovah prefers the practice of righteousness and judgment above sacrifice", although this overlooks the infinitive of "to practice".</div> <bR> <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 practice of righteousness and justice</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Sacrifice</div> <bR> <div> Their Comparative 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"> More acceptable to Jehovah</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Less acceptable to Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is a crucially important factor that tends to be overlooked in the consideration of this verse:  Sacrifice is not optional with God.  This kind of verse tends to present to the human mind something like permission to bypass the less acceptable of two options being presented.  There is no such permission granted in the verse.  </div> <div>     The Israelite was not to take this verse and say concerning sacrifices required of him per the book of Leviticus: "I choose to concentrate on my spiritual state at this time, which is more important; therefore, I'll be foregoing my sacrifice this time around."  And then he might quote a verse like our proverb, or the one where Samuel told disobedient king Saul:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Sam 15:22</FONT>  And Samuel said, <U>Does Jehovah delight</U> in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold! Obeying <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>better than sacrifice; to give attention <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>better than the fat of rams. </div> <bR> <div>     Or an independent-minded Israelite might quote from David's famous confession of sin:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Psa 51:16</FONT>  For You <U>do not desire</U> sacrifice; or else I would give <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>it</I></FONT>; You do not delight in burnt offering. </div> <bR> <div>     But was David boycotting sacrifice when he wrote this?  Hardly.  Three verses later he declares:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 51:19</FONT>  Then <U>shall You be pleased</U> <U>with</U> the sacrifices of righteousness, with <U>burnt offering</U> and whole burnt offering; then they shall offer bulls on Your altar. </div> <bR> <div>     This is a good time to make a hermeneutical (Bible interpretation) note.  Notice that we must supply the word "alone" after "sacrifice" in our minds to correctly interpret Psa. 51:16 above.  If we take it <I>without </I>that connotation, we will interpret it incorrectly.</div> <div>     So we see that our proverb is not discouraging sacrifice.  It is not even saying that sacrifice is second-rate worship.  It is only saying that sacrifice without the proper heart in a worshiper is unacceptable.</div> <div>     So our proverb also carries the connotation that sacrifice 'by itself', without the heart of a worshiper, is less acceptable to God than righteousness.</div> <div>     Now notice something else.  Solomon is not comparing the <I>practice </I>of sacrifice to the <I>attitude </I>of righteousness.  He is comparing the practice of sacrifice to the <I>practice </I>of righteousness.  The first word in the verse in Hebrew is "To do / to practice".  He is acknowledging that a true worshiper of God will DO certain things.  The worshiper's belief will certainly entail more than theory.</div> <div>     So our verse is a RANKING of spiritual priorities.  Righteousness and judgment must be attended to <I>first </I>to make the <I>secondary </I>activity of sacrifice truly acceptable.</div> <div>     However, sacrifice is <I>one of</I> the acts of righteousness God requires.  Therefore, again, it is not a matter of leaving off with 'external religion' so we can concentrate on important core matters.  As Jesus told the Pharisees:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Matt 23:23</FONT>  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and you have left undone the <U>weightier </U><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I><U>matters</U></I> </FONT>of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith. You <U>ought to have done</U> these and <U>not to leave</U> the <U>other undone</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     This is a bit of a complicated sentence, but Jesus is clearly saying that the Pharisees SHOULD have tithed!  Again, on first impression, we might gather that Jesus is condemning their act of tithing.  Rather, he affirms that they 'ought not to have left' tithing 'undone'.  They simply needed to put judgment, mercy, and faith <I>first</I>.</div> <div>     In the New Covenant, righteousness and sacrifice have come closer to converging.  In the New Heavens and Earth, they will be one.  We can see the converging of righteousness and sacrifice now in such words as these:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Heb 13:16</FONT>  But do not forget to <U>do good</U> and to <U>share</U>, for with <U>such sacrifices</U> God is well pleased. </div> <bR> <div>     But the verse right before this one lets us know that there is still a danger in letting the ceremonial side of our relationship with God interfere with the true practice of what is right:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Heb 13:15</FONT>  By Him, then, let us offer the <U>sacrifice of</U> <U>praise</U> to God continually, that is, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>the</I> </FONT>fruit of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>our</I> </FONT>lips, confessing His name. </div> <bR> <div>    <I> SOME PEOPLE ARE REALLY GOOD AT 'DOING' CHURCH</I>.  They are in the same boat as the Israelite who leaned too heavily on his sacrifices for his relationship with God.  They are so impressed with their own religious feelings and practice of ceremony [be it wild or be it tame], they barely give a thought to the way they speak or act outside of church.  They are satisfied that their delivery of worship has fulfilled their religious requirements for the week.  OR they carry this self-approved worship into the week; it really doesn't matter.</div> <div>     Praise is a sacrifice.  But the wise will never offer it to God <I>in place of</I> fundamental righteousness of lifestyle.  In fact, they will consider praise clearly a <I>byproduct </I>and righteous deeds <I>foundational</I>.  Both, of course, are only acceptable when built upon the <I>essential foundation</I> of Christ.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="386" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:4</div> <div> A high look, a proud heart- </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >the untilled ground of the wicked- </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >sin. </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 high look" is literally "raised eyes". </div> <div>     "Proud" is literally "roomy", from a root word meaning "to broaden".</div> <div>     "Untilled ground" is from a word meaning "to plow", whose root word means "to glisten", perhaps from the gleam of a newly plowed furrow.  Because of the root word, many take the meaning "lamp" instead of "plowing".</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Equated<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 lofty gaze</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An oversized heart</div> <bR> <div> Equated To:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The fallow ground of the immoral man</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"> Sin</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The word for "untilled ground" is used three other times, each time with the meaning of "fallow or untilled ground".  This would be the only time it is used when it takes on its primary meaning of the "plowing" itself, as some versions take it.</div> <div>     Let us consider the meaning of "fallow ground" in our verse.  How would "fallow ground" be equated to lofty looks and arrogant hearts?  Fallow ground has not been sown with seed yet.  It is waiting to 'sit on the egg' it will later hatch. </div> <div>     With this meaning, Solomon's point would be that no matter what sort of seed a man plants in the 'field' of his life, it can only be sown in the soil of arrogance.  His fallow ground, his field in the off season, only waits to grow some plant nourished, stalk to tip, roots to fruit, with haughtiness.  The potting soil of any man's life is that of superiority.  Choose any garden to plant you like, it will end, Jack-in-the-beanstalk-like, in the clouds, looking down on all mortals, on all gods, on God.</div> <div>     Plant a religious garden?  Man's religious varieties are perhaps his most luscious legumes.  They yield some of his tastiest fare.  So rich, so deep, so satisfying.  Yet the plot nests aloft, right next-door to Heaven itself!  We simply reach across to give God His tithe, thanking Him for the rest.</div> <div>     Solomon the theologian has given us here, perhaps, his most expansive layout of anthropology (the study of man).  By equating man to a field with no seed, he shows us what man is at his most basic.  We all see others and ourselves as fields <I>with </I>crops.  In fact, we see <I>only </I>the crops themselves.  It is assumed that the crops define the field.  We don't think we're eating dirt, we think we're eating watermelon.  But everything the watermelon is, has come from that ground.  That ground, then, is man's true nature.  Man's nature, according to Solomon, is an elevated perspective ("high look") and a magnificently bloated self-opinion ("proud heart").</div> <div>     Furthermore, Solomon is giving us a built-in paradox:  a double paradox:</div> <div>     First, a field is ground level.  It pretty much <I>defines </I>ground level.  Yet man with his "high look" is <I>above </I>ground level.  Man, then, is almost mythical.  He almost does not exist, per se, except in dream.  He is a field that is not a field.  He is a field that tries to be a cloud.  More like he is a field that <I>imagines </I>itself a cloud.</div> <div>     Second, a fallow field is empty.  It typifies barrenness.  Yet man with his "proud heart" has already furnished not just his empty field, but a whole plantation; not just a plantation, but its adjoining houses and barns.  Again, in your opening sentence, you nearly describe man as make-believe.  He BEGINS as a boast, an assertion, but one opposing reality.</div> <div>     Doesn't this describe Adam's sin to a "T"?  He ate the fruit in order to be "like Elohim," which is the word for God Himself; and God is, after all, the one whom Satan was suggesting "knew/ determined" good and evil.  Man was encouraged, almost exactly, to pull up a cloud alongside God, pull out his pen, and write his own version of 'The Rules'.  And so man has done.  But Solomon is reminding us that even though you write down your rules- no matter how well they make sense, how many people agree, how fully they seem to succeed- OUR rules don't shape or define reality.</div> <div>     Oh, our rules can <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >reflect </FONT>reality, they can <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >parallel </FONT>reality; in fact, they only have reality as a starting point from which to work- but our rules, unlike God's, do not <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >create </FONT>reality; or perhaps more precisely, they are not part of the whole fabric of reality, which certainly can only be spun from the womb of the Creator.</div> <div>     Ah, but that's the whole trick of it, isn't it?  Man, made in God's image, can already conceive of matters from a God-like angle.  And once we could imagine ourselves up there alongside God- not as vice-regent, but as fellow-regent- we had a choice to make.  And we made the wrong choice.  We chose a fiction, for, after all, by writing some rules, we do not actually gain the power to make a world in which they will operate.  Nor did we give ourselves the vision to see everything about everything- every possible angle and subtlety.  And therefore our rules could only have the wisdom of a worm concerning its hole.  He's digesting the very earth to make his hole, and it is so very much his own hole; yet still, in the end, how much does he even know about that?</div> <div>     The worm thinks himself owner of all the inner parts of the earth.  Where is it he cannot go?  And as ruler of Subterranea, all that lies above him rests on his foundation!  Mighty worm!  Who is like me?</div> <div>     Or if our worm heard of a bird (for his vision does not even reach far enough to see one), he simply says, "I am a bird.   I fly through the ground or wherever I please.  Let none contest me."</div> <div>     And so man NATURALLY thinks himself a god, naturally equates himself to God in so many ways.</div> <div>     Now plant something in his garden.  It will grow a pompous fruit.  "But I planted the seed of humility!  I see the folly of my arrogance.  I am correcting it!"</div> <div>     Even in such a pursuit, man ascends.  He will certainly benefit from pouring growth limiter on his field, but he will also more fully overlook that he has only limited a few little flowers, showpieces.  His main crop, it turns out, has fed on growth <I>enhancer,</I> the main, though hidden, component of his watering can!<I>  </I>Yes, now he is prouder than ever!  Now he is proud of his humility!  But he will never know this; he will never see it.  His soil <I>itself </I>is pride.  It only knows how to grow a  self-righteous field.</div> <div>     And this field, all the way from its driest clod to its richest patch, Solomon says is <B>sin: </B> it "misses."  As we have seen, it even misses reality.  It certainly misses measuring up to any standard of true righteousness.</div> <bR> <div>      Having said all this, remember that God can still get through.  God can still take man from his cloud back to the earth.  God can still grant man to erase all  his own rule book.  Having done this, God does tell us to plant and nurture seeds of humility.  But now these seeds can flourish.  The new man, the new heart, the new spirit- they <I>can </I>support real humility; <I>they </I>can avoid (through continual struggle) the dominance of arrogance.  They can once again comprehend and follow the real rule book.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" >Matthew 13:23</FONT>  But that sown on the good ground is this: the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>one</I></FONT> hearing the Word, and understanding it, who indeed bears and yields fruit, one truly a hundredfold, and one sixty, and one thirty. </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *******************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="472" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCC99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:5</div> <div> The purposes of the diligent <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>lead </I></FONT>only to advantage, </div> <div> But <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>the purposes</I></FONT> of every hasty one, only to lack.</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Hasty" is from a word meaning literally "to press".</div> <div>     The word "only", used in both halves of the verse, can also mean "surely". </div> <bR> <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 plans of the diligent</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The plans of the impulsive</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposing Outcomes:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Surely towards excess</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Surely towards shortage</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Our word here for the "diligent" was used four times in chapters 10 through 13, so it has been a while since we have visited Mr. Diligent.  </div> <div>     We have met Mr. Hasty by this name only once:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 19:2</FONT>  Also, without knowledge the soul <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>not good, and he who <U>hurries</U> with his feet sins. </div> <div>  </div> <div>     The same pairing of "advantage" and "lack" in our proverb occurred in 14:32,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 14:23</FONT>  In all labor there is <U>advantage</U>, but a matter of the lips <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>leads </I></FONT>only to <U>lack</U>.</div> <bR> <div>     But the basic comparison in our proverb is between two kinds of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>plans </B></FONT>and where they lead.  </div> <div>     This is obviously the first time that <I>diligence </I>is being compared to <I>haste</I>.  It may seem like an odd comparison.  Actually, the hasty is a sort of <I>counterfeit </I>of the diligent.  He <I>looks like</I> he has the same energy.  He <I>looks like</I> he has a driving purpose.  In fact, he is almost worse than the slothful.  Because he <I>looks like</I> he can be trusted with an assignment, his haste is allowed to turn it to ruin.</div> <div>     The tell-tale sign of the lazy was his excuse-making.  The hasty will not have excuses, per se, because he does attack the job.  What he has are explanations.  He can't understand why his approach didn't work out, so he tries to explain it from a different angle.</div> <div>     The hasty man helps us to appreciate another side of diligence.  Diligence approaches a job <I>according to its nature</I>.  The hasty man mentally <I>resizes </I>the task to finish it more quickly.  The diligent sees how big the job really is and adjusts himself and his work to the job.</div> <div>     The hasty man wants to get to the <I>end </I>of the job.  The diligent wants to see the job done <I>right</I>.</div> <div>     Notice that Solomon tells us the <I>end </I>of diligence.  It has an "advantage", or "excess", or "plenty".  God designed work to be <I>beneficial</I>.  He designed it to feed us.  But he designed work to be purposeful, too.  The hasty tries to short-circuit that purpose by redesigning projects according to his own mold.  Because he doesn't let jobs take their natural course, he ends up doing them wrong and short-circuiting the <I>advantage </I>belonging to work.  His haste leads to "lack" instead.  His impatient attempt to speed things up leads to a slowdown in his own returns!</div> <div>     This would seem to be Solomon's prime illustration of the fruit man's arrogant field produces (previous proverb).  Man is arrogant; therefore he is hasty to achieve the goal.  And because his haste is from arrogance, the main work man needs to attend- self-renovation- is always done only by halves.</div> <div>     The hasty person is no different than the lazy in that he <I>doesn't like work</I>.  He thinks he can take the work before him and make it disappear quicker by his shortcuts.  Instead, he just ends up doing a bad job.</div> <div>     According to the verse, both the diligent and the hasty have <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>plans</B></FONT>.  As we have seen, the diligent plans things according to their natural order.  The hasty, if he sees the natural order, is frustrated by it.  Certainly there is a better way!  So he comes up with a plan.  His plan may actually commend itself over the diligent man's plan in a head to head comparison.  Before actually road testing the plan, the hasty man's strategy may look like it is efficient and economical.  The diligent can see or at least sense the inherent flaws, but often he must consent to give the hasty fellow's plan a try.</div> <div>     The big lesson is that to be a good worker, you must UNDERSTAND THE WORK.  Diligence is not merely plugging away at a task.  It is approaching a job intelligently and thoroughly.  It would seem that the saying "Work smarter, not harder" was made to combat haste.  "Harder" in our case would imply "faster", pressing to accomplish a goal too hurriedly.</div> <div>     Notice the guarantee in the verse.  The word "only" or "surely" guarantees that diligent plans will net us gain and hasty plans will effect loss.  The important proviso is that there is always a Plan <I>outside </I>my plan, a bigger plan, one that may include testing me with loss <I>in spite of</I> my diligence.  This does not change the fact that my blueprint for diligence <I>does </I>continue to direct me towards benefit, just as the proverb says.</div> <div>     Another proviso:  The best plan is not always going to be the <I>slowest </I>one.  A diligent worker <I>is </I>going to devise the most efficient plan, and its efficiency is likely to finish the job quicker than Mr. Hasty, who has gotten tangled in unforeseen complications.</div> <bR> <div>     Spiritually, the same things apply.</div> <div>     On a <B>personal </B>level, there is no <I>quick </I>way to do the necessary renovations in your soul.  Bible study and prayer are hard work.  All the "Ten Easy Steps" plans in the world will <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >leave you with a net <I>loss</I></FONT>, because you will never have seen what your soul <I>is </I>and what it <I>needs</I>.</div> <div>     On a <B>church</B>-wide level, we must look at building <I>depth </I>into our congregations, not <I>size</I>.  Size, in its haste, can constantly reproduce shallowness, but depth will not worry about numbers.  Depth will concern itself with the true job at hand: building a mature, pure body of believers who have learned to function together for the glory of God.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="472" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:6</div> <div> The feat of amassing wealth, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>but </I></FONT>by a lying tongue, </div> <div> <I>Is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >the windswept vanity of those seeking death.</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>     "Amassing wealth" is from a word meaning "depository" and is nearly always translated "treasures".</div> <div>     "Windswept" is from a Hebrew word meaning "to drive (away)". </div> <bR> <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">Accumulating treasures by a lying tongue</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A "vapor" driven <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>by the wind</I></FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Schemed by those seeking death</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Sins almost always come in combination packages.  In principle they <I>always </I>do (Jms. 2:10, 11).  Here we have two sins in a package deal.  The 'up front' sin is <I>lying</I>.  Its partner is <I>theft</I>, for if lying was used to accumulate wealth, then the wealth was gained dishonestly- hence, stolen.</div> <div>     The noteworthy feature of this proverb is the contrast between the <I>seeming reality</I> of the rich liar's estate and the <I>future real certainty</I> of its disappearance.  Solomon's description of the vanishing of the liar's wealth is very vivid.  He is purposely placing this description in stark contrast to what we can see with our own eyes-  the fat cat sitting on his hoard.  When Solomon uses "windswept vapor" to describe the substantial assets of the perjurer, he is seeking to crowbar our eyes' vision <I>out </I>and wedge a faith-vision <I>in</I>.</div> <div>     Notice that faith does not just believe good things.  It is only by faith that we know that the unrighteous will burn in the Lake of Fire.  So in our verse, faith tells us that the liar's stash will go up like burned trash.  Faith simply latches on to a <I>possible </I>occurrence- one which God promises- and <I>counts </I>it as so.  In this case it is a seemingly unlikely occurrence by which Solomon tests our faith.  </div> <div>     When we look, we can't really imagine someone like Bill Gates going down (using him only as an example of riches, though he would be an actual example of our verse if he lied to burgeon).  His holdings simply seem too huge to be upended.  It would be like asking one storm to level a whole forest.  A tree here or there we can picture, but God says that the whole stash is as good as gone- and easily!  Like an insubstantial vapor driven before a strapping wind!</div> <div>     The final emblem of Solomon's garish painting of the dishonest rich is a skull and crossbones.  Where we see a jolly pirate laughing over his treasure chest, Solomon shows us a knave betrayed by his riches, buried neck-deep before an incoming tide.  He calls the treasure hunters "seekers of death".  To appearance- indeed to their own minds- they are seeking wealth.  In reality, Solomon says they are only seeking death.</div> <div>     Isn't it amazing how many tales of sought-after treasure reflect this pattern?  The whole plot of these stories entails the pursuit of some legendary jackpot; but when it is finally attained, it destroys the bad guy or must be abandoned by the good guy to avoid his own destruction.  This plot line resonates to our inner selves, but does it register in our day-by-day conscience?  No.  We still go about wishing for an enfabled hoard (in any available form) to tide us into the land of comfort and pleasure.</div> <div>     Again, wealth in itself is not evil.  Our proverb specifies the evil of lying to attain wealth.  It is amazing, though, how consistently men are willing to compromise the truth once a considerable payday is in sight.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="472" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:7</div> <div> The oppression of the wicked drags them away, </div> <div> because they refuse to do justice. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Oppression" is from a root word meaning "to swell", and is often used in tandem with "violence" to connote plunder. </div> <bR> <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 ravaging done by the immoral</div> <bR> <div> Outcome:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will drag them away</div> <bR> <div> Reason:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">They refuse to do judgment</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This proverb teaches us a matter of universal BALANCE.  Because a lawless person refuses to do things by <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bauhaus 93" >justice</FONT>- by what is right- he is left only with the choice of doing them by <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bauhaus 93" >coercion-</FONT> by violence, by encroaching on others' rights and possessions.  </div> <div>     A cosmic equation is involved.  There is give and take, but things always even out in the end.  You reap what you sow.  Therefore, since the violent man <I>imbalances </I>the equation by refusing what is equitable, the only way the situation can be re-balanced is by the violent man <I>himself </I>being aggressively dragged away.</div> <div>     Note this implication in the verse:  Immorality always carries violence with it.  It has to.  It will not abide by the absolute standard given by God, therefore, it must <I>create </I>and <I>impose </I>its <U>own</U> standard on situations and people.  This <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bradley Hand ITC" ><B>refusal </B></FONT>to do justice = an <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bradley Hand ITC" ><B>insistence </B></FONT>on <I>in</I>justice.  And all injustice is is doing things <I>my own way</I>.</div> <div>     Let us focus on a specific type of oppression and violence for a moment.  It runs in about half the population of the world, but it goes largely unrecognized for what it is.  It is the 'reach-<I>into</I>-you-and-manipulate-you' type of violence exercised by women upon men.</div> <div>     Men generally do not recognize this form of oppression because of their own pride.  They assume that attentions paid to them by females are always sincere, basing their assumption on their estimate of their own attractiveness.  </div> <div>     Of course, the ones who <I>do </I>recognize this type of coercion are other women.  But even they do not usually call this intimidation what it is.  A woman's competitive instinct immediately turns her recognition of other women's manipulation into a <I>challenge </I>to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BRADDON" ><I>better </I></FONT>it or else <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BRADDON" ><I>snipe </I></FONT>at the perpetrator.  Women don't see other women's manipulations for what they are because the same impulse occurs automatically to their own minds.  They only feel the urge to compete, plot revenge out of envy, or perhaps just watch in amusement (maybe gaining a few pointers).  </div> <div>     A rare female sees this power as the danger that it is and just stays out of the game.  Most women who stay out of the game, though, do so for another reason.  They are too insecure to consider themselves players.  Once they sense their own prowess, though, they will be in the hunt for male scalps like the rest.</div> <div>     One significant reason this whole dynamic is not consciously recognized is that the world tends to run on the games <I>men </I>play.  Women's manipulations and counter-maneuvers are an <I>undercurrent </I>in the 'real' flow of most societies- men's business and interactions.  Men are busy with their own style of oppression:  dishonest financial dealings, for instance.  In the sexual arena, men also seek their conquests oppressively.  This is not to say that women are unwilling, but men use their own kind of mind games to insure the pleasing of their appetites.</div> <div>     There are usually understood ground rules for the game, depending on the situation.  Sexual intimacy is not always the end result of male or female manipulation.  Even when sex is involved, it becomes a tool for personal manipulation, so sex itself is not the total endgame.</div> <div>     Remember, our proverb is talking about the violence of the immoral.  The immoral are simply unbelievers by definition and violent when they simply disobey God.  We are not to picture pirates or gangsters as the only or main embodiment of our verse.  Every disobedient person exercises violence by definition.  And we are only focusing on gender-related coercion at this point.</div> <div>     Gender manipulation moves to a different plane in marriage.  There is still coercion and manipulation, but it is no longer part of a transient culture.  It turns into lifelong trench warfare.  Each side has standard ways to achieve its objectives, but the bottom line is:  neither side is taking No for an answer.  That means that they "refuse to do justice".  They refuse to be guided by what is right and rather substitute the pursuit of personal interest.</div> <div>     This lets us know that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>meekness </B></FONT>is probably the exact opposite of violence.  Meekness submits itself to a rule outside itself; therefore, it is automatically NOT seeking its own way.  </div> <div>     A meek person "<I>insists </I>on doing justice", meaning, not MY justice, but justice evenly held over you <I>and </I>me.  As long as MY OWN WAY is being <U>insisted</U> on, meekness is out of the picture- even when MY OWN WAY can be demonstrated to be Scriptural.  Meekness knows that there are Scriptural standards, but there are also Scriptural <I>means </I>for bringing them about.  Stubborn insistence is never the way to achieve righteousness in a marriage partner.</div> <div>     This goes for all interpersonal relationships.*</div> <div>     Our proverb talks about being "dragged away".     </div> <div>     Are you unpleasantly taken to situations in your life you'd rather not be in?  Perhaps it is merely remuneration for violence you have imposed on others.  </div> <div>     Remember, violence can be imposed very quietly and 'good-naturedly'.  Do you have a big stubborn streak?  Then you are oppressive, to be sure.</div> <bR> <div> *      <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Parents, or course, must use force on their children.  That's what a spanking is, for instance.  But that force is not unrighteous force (if the spanking is correctly administered), therefore it is not violence.  Same thing for a government executing murderers.</FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="454" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:8</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >The path of a guilt-laden man </FONT><I>is</I> <I>a </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >tortured </FONT><I>one</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >; </FONT></div> <div> but the pure, his work is upright. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     The spelling of "guilt-laden" in Hebrew could be broken apart into the words "and" and "strange".  Hence, "The path of man is tortured and strange."  However, "man" is not ordinarily compared to a specific contrasting character type, such as the "pure".</div> <div>     "Tortured" is a one-time word, doubling a word meaning "to turn over".</div> <bR> <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 guilt-laden man</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The pure</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 path is a convoluted one</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His work is straight</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Part of the reason that righteousness is superior to disobedience is its comparative <I>effect </I>on our lives.  That is to say, we can partly judge the value of a way of life by its relative <I>pleasantness</I>.  Obviously, we have spent a great deal of time warning <I>against </I>choosing a path based solely on selfish factors, such as the desire for pleasure.  Therefore it is something of a surprise to see purity of life commended because its opposite puts us on a confusing, twisted road- that is, causes unpleasantness for us.</div> <div>     On the other hand, we have also already studied a great many proverbs which compare the good <I>outcomes </I>of righteousness to the bad <I>outcomes </I>of sin.  In a way, today's proverb is no different than those.  This is because it speaks of a "guilt-laden" person.  A guilt-laden man is someone who has already experienced the <I>outcome </I>of sin in his life.  He is already a future result, as it were.  He is already the latter of a before and after picture.</div> <div>     A guilt-burdened man has gone against his conscience time and time again.  He <I>continues </I>to do things he knows are wrong and he knows are harming him.  He has a very uneasy relationship with himself.</div> <div>     The 'packages' in which we might find a self-condemned person are rather surprising, though.  The person weighted with guilt may be the most flippant person you know.  You would never think he was the kind to give a serious thought to anything, especially any dark consequences for his chosen path.</div> <div>     He is being contrasted to the "pure", someone who is unmixed with contaminating elements.  The pure is his real opposite, because the pure said No to himself when the guilty man said Yes.</div> <div>     There were times when the pure man's saying No put him in as deep a valley as the guilt-laden man lives in now.  The man of defiled conscience made the <I>easier </I>choice at that point in his life.  He avoided the valley of the shadow of death which self-denial treads, but <I>now </I>he lives in the valley of the shadow of separation from God- the truest form of death.</div> <div>     The pure person continues to have to make difficult choices to maintain his purity, but he knows that nothing is worth the loss of a good conscience.  He sees men who have made the wrong choices, and he knows that their inner lives are not to be envied.</div> <div>     The "work" of the pure is "upright".  That is its commendation.</div> <div>     Notice also that the upright man is examined in the present.  We get to see him 'at work.'  The past hasn't clung to him.  That is, whatever he is today, he was essentially that yesterday.  His purity allows him to start each day anew.  But the wicked man's yesterdays become layers of barnacles that encrust and encumber him, suffocating and sinking him in the sea of life.</div> <div>     The whole analogy of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" ><B>posture </B></FONT>is suggested by the English word "upright", and it is a fitting comparison.  There is a certain amount of continuous effort we must exert to maintain good posture.  It is easy to slouch; it takes less effort in the short run.  But a stooped back later in life is a terrible price to pay for the pleasure of just 'letting go' and sitting and standing how we please.</div> <div>     Posture uprightness, then, is its own reward.  I expend the energy <I>now </I>to hold my shoulders up and back SO THAT my shoulders and back will <I>stay </I>like that!  The consequence of failure is that my back will 'ride' up to my shoulders, eventually conquering them, as it were.  </div> <div>     A man's guilt likewise 'rides' up and sits on his shoulders, like a pirate's parrot, except in this case it is a parrot in the lizard family- one that can gain almost unlimited size and weight.  Some men are smothered by their lizard-parrots, which must wrap themselves around the men's necks to support their eventual ponderous weight.</div> <div>     A person thus weighted with a 'domesticated' pterodactyl has many reflections on his former unburdened state.  It may only be a distant dream, but he wishes he could start over, unencumbered by the weight of his own foolish decisions.  This regret will either make him exceedingly depressed, exceedingly cynical, or both.  Some terribly mean people are merely the victims of their own rotted consciences.</div> <div>     They themselves are truly enough incentive for the pure man to stick to his purity.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_11"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="538" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:9</div> <div> <I>It is</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > better to live on an angle on a roof, </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >than </FONT><I>with</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >a disputing woman and a house full of people. </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>     "House full of people" is literally a "house of society", or a "shared house".  The translation "wide house" is based on transposing two Hebrew consonants and is unjustified.</div> <bR> <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">Living on a roof at an angled location</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Enjoying the company of family in a household that contains a contentious woman</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions Respectively:</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>     Here is a case where the better in a better-worse comparison is obviously not good.  Nobody would want to have to settle into living quarters out of doors, on a roof- especially not on an angled spot.  That would clearly be unpleasant.  A whole new relationship with gravity would have to be developed!  It is a comical picture, but part of a very depressing lesson.  The precarious 'upstairs' existence is said to be preferable to dry indoors life, living with family, but sharing the space with a bickering female.</div> <div>     Note that the status of the female is not specified.  We would usually think of a wife and the roof-dweller as her husband.  This would probably be the most common scenario.  However, the same unfavorable comparison would apply where any disputive female was nesting:  a live-in mother-in-law, an extended household with an aunt or two present, etc.</div> <div>     Some (especially in our equality-mad generation) would assume that Solomon's lack of  comment on a <I>male </I>household complainer is plain indication of his (or his generation's) biased gender philosophy.  Some, even Christians, would not think it too bold to say that Solomon was a plain old garden variety male chauvinist (with nearly unlimited opportunities to exercise his nasty proclivity).</div> <div>     Any way in which Solomon might have been a chauvinist, we do know that his writings contained no unrighteous bias of gender variety or any other variety.  All Scripture writers were sinners.  The question is whether God's power extended to excluding any but His own teaching in their writings.  The doctrine of Inspiration says exactly that.</div> <div>     Still, if there is no verse about men naggers, is <I>God's</I> view of gender weaknesses unbalanced?</div> <div>     No.  Solomon is actually reflecting a <I>greater </I>respect for the feminine gender as a whole by laying this ugly description at the doorstep of its worst representatives.  </div> <div>     He is saying that a woman's <I>domain </I>is the home.  They are the ones who <I>determine </I>the atmosphere in a household.  Their nagging is enough to wreck a home's peace.  A male nagger would be more along the lines of a mere nuisance.  He is gone during the day, and an otherwise peaceful household can maintain a real continuity of harmony and love while he is away.  A fuming female, though, cannot be escaped.</div> <div>     Solomon definitely balances his seeming gender inequities with statements such as:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 19:14</FONT>  Houses and riches <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT>the inheritance of fathers, and a prudent wife <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>from Jehovah. </div> <bR> <div>     If we were worried about inequities, where is the verse saying that a <I>woman </I>is favored by God in finding a good <I>husband</I>?  Obviously, Solomon has an <I>exalted </I>view of womanhood.  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Berlin Sans FB" >This is why the <I>perversion </I>of womanhood is especially repugnant</FONT>.</div> <div>     One human causing another to be better off living outdoors is a pitiful situation.  Many, many people live scarred lives because of the verbal whippings constantly inflicted by negative moms.  The abusive moms are often just passing on scars inflicted on their own souls by <I>their </I>moms.</div> <div>     Solomon is definitely saying that it is <B>damaging </B>to live under constant criticism and negativity.  </div> <div>     Will children thus hobbled tend to seek out a destructive mate when they become adults?  It is almost terrifying to consider it.  Certainly the tragedy some people choose as a married life seems fated.  The seeds of warped values may certainly have been planted in early years.  "I'm supposed to love mom, but she always hurts me."  The cycle of discouragement to anger to guilt and back to discouragement is perhaps the worst legacy on earth.  It is a legacy left by a mom's lacerating lectures. </div> <div>     There is no Scriptural guarantee that a contentious woman can be changed.</div> <div>     Related to God, she may be someone who is "given over to" "maliciousness" (Rom. 1:28, 29).  She is incurable by man's power.</div> <div>     Her best hope for a <I>less lethal</I> affect on others is a God-fearing husband, but there is no guarantee that his loving oversight may not cause even <I>greater </I>vileness in her manner, since her nitpicking is basically scoffing at God in the first place.</div> <div>     A direct appeal to mothers:  Realize the great power of your tongue.  If it cannot be turned to healing uses, at least restrain it from being a whip that opens wounds, from being a bottle of poison that funnels death into your family's ears as they are tied down and at your mercy.</div> <div>     Other household members:  The implied advice Solomon gives is absence.  This does <I>not </I>necessarily mean leaving altogether.  We are bound to our families (except when fornication or desertion dissolves them).  But he <I>does </I>imply that <I>absence </I>from the quarrelsome space is preferable as often as possible.  Long walks actually implement part of Solomon's picture of outdoor residence.  </div> <div>     Don't fail to heal yourself out of a miscalculated sense of loyalty to a loved one who is sadly wedded to destruction.  Do what is necessary to be well, including recognizing the source of the toxin.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ********************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="415" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:10</div> <div> The soul of the immoral desires evil; </div> <div> his neighbor finds no pity in his eyes. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     The second half of the verse can be "no neighbor finds compassion in his eyes".</div> <bR> <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 soul of the immoral</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Craves evil</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon is here giving us an anthropological/ sociological truth.  Anthropological- concerning man himself; sociological- concerning man relating to other men.  </div> <div>     Anthropologically, each of us naturally "desires evil."  Being separate from God, we cannot image His love of good.  We, like Satan, have chosen a self-oriented, anti-God model of good.  We can hardly deny good in all its ramifications; we simply turn its orientation upon ourselves.  This we do naturally, not consciously opposing God.</div> <div>     Solomon uses this proverb mainly to tell us that BECAUSE we thus desire evil, we therefore have no room for real mercy towards our neighbor.  Solomon is showing us that there isn't room in our souls for true compassion <I>while </I>our souls are dominated by our fallen moral orientation.  Our souls are full of <I>one </I>thing; therefore, the <I>other </I>is left out.</div> <div>     Of course, Solomon knows that we all have empathy or sympathy for someone, sometime, somewhere.  Some people are <I>generally </I>sympathetic- but IN terms of their own selfish orientations.  That's what he's showing us:  when you see sympathy or feel it yourself, realize its limitations.  It will go NO FURTHER than the sympathizer's own selfish morality will allow it.</div> <bR> <div>     This is very practical on two counts:</div> <div>  1)  It causes us to hold back from banking totally on anyone continuing to be as kind as they seem to be or <I>are actually being</I>.  When their kindness runs up against a conflicting immorality stuck in their character, the kindness will eventually lose out.  They may indeed feel and regret the compromise they are committing, but they cannot deny their own character.  To save face, they may go through with any promised good, but not with the goodwill originally intentioned.</div> <div>  2)  It causes us to hold back from promising good <I>further than we know we can perform</I>.  In a flush of goodwill, we feel we can give quite a bit; in fact, we truly want the person to receive the good and feel privileged to give it.  But then reality sets in.  Factors begin to arise that our goodwill did not take into account.  Suddenly, our goodwill is gone, and we are left with our bare promise.  Suddenly, our neighbor is a burden.  Why would they really need what I promised anyway?  Why can't they just do without it?  I really can't afford to follow through.  Can't they see that?  Why did they make me promise that?</div> <div>     Sound familiar?  We do it all the time.  Our neighbor, lately someone greatly loved, is now actually a villain who has tricked us into an impossible contribution.</div> <bR> <div>     Indeed, Solomon is telling us quite a lot about ourselves in this.  He is showing us how easily we fantasize our own goodness.  It's not that man doesn't know what it good; it's that our HIGHEST good is self.  I know and agree with all manner of good things UNTIL they cross my own desires.</div> <div>     THEREFORE, no man has true compassion on his neighbor.  "There is no pity in his view of his neighbor."  Temporary or conditional pity is not pity at all.</div> <bR> <div>     This further goes to show us how wonderful God's pity is.  Jesus had an opportunity to back out in the Garden of Gethsemene.  He asked if the cup of fury due us could pass from Him for the time being.  It was never going to be convenient or easy, and He never committed to it lightly- from His departure from Heaven to His first realization as a child that He was the Messiah.  But now He was to it.  Jesus had a chance to be just like us and put Himself first.</div> <div>     But that's exactly why a substitute had to take the cup.  An unselfish person had to break <I>through </I>where WE had only broken <I>down </I>again and again.</div> <bR> <div>     And now Jesus empowers us to do the same as He did: to be unselfish, to act consistently with love.</div> <div>     By our proverb, this can only be because He gives us a new nature.  Our old nature only knew how to be selfish.  But the new heart and new spirit He gives (Ezek. 36:26) have the capacity for love.</div> <div>     Let us employ it.  Especially when we have promised more than we realized:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>Psalm 15:4</B></FONT>  ... <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>he</I></FONT> has sworn to his hurt, and does not change it </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************</div> <div>     </div> <div> [Original devotion for Proverbs 21:10]</div> <bR> <div>     No man can have true wisdom who does not know human nature- his <I>own </I>nature.</div> <div>     Here is a verse about man's natural selfishness and lack of consideration for others.  Our <I>neighbor </I>is a good test for what we are made of.  Even an immoral man may treat a <I>friend </I>kindly (Matt. 5:46).  But a neighbor in whom we have no personal investment of time or emotion is a good trial of our basic principles.  Our proverb says that man's natural response is to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >draw the line</FONT> on compassion toward a neighbor <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >when push comes to shove</FONT>.  </div> <div>     Anyone can give a person a break when it's 'no skin off his nose'.  But when a fellow human being really deserves no particular kindness, do we have reserves of sympathy from which we can bless him anyway?</div> <div>     Solomon makes this a case for our naturally indwelling evil.  He says that whatever show we have made of thoughtfulness in the past, when the chips are down, we <I>cannot be counted on</I> to do kindly.</div> <div>     But he goes further.  He says we <I><B>can </B></I><I>be counted on</I>, therefore, to do evil!  He does not make evil merely resident within us.  He makes it an <I>aggressive force</I> emanating from us.  He says we "desire evil".  We are not depicted as mere victims of Adam's sin.  We are painted as individual devils, each with an inner furnace burning for wickedness.</div> <div>     The "soul" of the immoral craves evil.  It is a part of his whole makeup.  It is not that he thinks about it and then decides to do evil.  He may make up his mind about this or that particular act, but his range of choices always included only evil.  He never thought, "perhaps I ought to glorify God in this situation and do what is pleasing to Him."  He never really thought of doing good to his neighbor unless it was in the light of making himself look good in the act.  His soul could not be simply good.</div> <div>     Of course, the human devil Solomon portrays always wants to <I>look </I>good.  If he denies his neighbor needed mercy, he will cover his tracks with reasons, either of his own unfortunate helplessness to do more or the neighbor's unfortunate obstacles to receiving aid.</div> <div>     The religious wicked are perhaps the most Satanic of men in one sense.  They coat their evil desires with a righteous view of their inner selves, even as Satan is convinced of <I>his </I>right to greater honor.  Unlike Satan, though, the religious wicked pursue their ends in the name of God.  Beware of them, especially when they seek to make alliances.</div> <bR> <div>     The opposite of the wickedness Solomon describes is a sincere desire from the heart for the good of your neighbor.  This is a sign of regeneration.</div> <div>     Do you have it?  Not in ordinary circumstances only, but also when you might have real justification to <I>deny </I>compassion, to overlook your neighbor's need- <I>then </I>do you extend the hand of aid?</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="540" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#000066 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:11</div> <div> The simple is made wise when the scorner is punished, </div> <div> and when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge. <FONT SIZE="4" 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>     "He" in the second half of the verse can refer either to "the wise" just mentioned, or "the simple" from the first half of the verse. </div> <bR> <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 simple</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The wise</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is made wise when the mocker is penalized</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">When he is educated, he receives knowledge</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     We had a teaching complementary to this in 19:25:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 19:25</FONT>  Strike a scorner and <U>the simple</U> will be shrewd; reprove a discerner, and he will discern knowledge. </div> <bR> <div>     The question is, is today's verse likewise a contrast showing the inferior means by which the simple must learn?  The first half of both verses are similar enough.</div> <div>     It seems that Solomon today is furthering the lesson of 19:25 by saying that the wise man will learn by <I>any </I>means, whereas, the simple can only learn by limited means until he rises out of his simplicity.</div> <div>     In 19:25, the wise man learned by his own <I>pain</I>, whereas, the simple only learned by pain inflicted on another.  Now in 21:11, the wise man learns by being <I>taught</I>; the simple is still limited to gaining wisdom by 'brute force' being imposed on his thinking- again, by someone else's punishment.</div> <bR> <div>     All of us show ourselves to be something of the simpleton by the comparative <I>quickness </I>of our learning when someone <I>else </I>gets a clobbering for his foolishness.  Of course, even for the truly wise person who understood the lesson <I>without </I>seeing another's thrashing, it is still a vivid highlighting of the truth to witness recompense occurring in the flesh.</div> <div>     Part of the justification (not the main part) for corporal punishment in the judicial system is that it gives an otherwise inaccessible lesson to a certain segment of the population.  Some people only learn when they see the bad consequences for folly falling upon a fool's head.</div> <bR> <div>     A final challenge:  What is <I>your </I>main mode of learning?</div> <div>     We all learn through pain.  Only a wise man assimilates chastisement mainly as a <I>reinforcement </I>of lessons he has already learned.</div> <div>     Do you truly hear Biblical warnings the <I>first </I>time you hear them?</div> <div>     Are you tuned in when God <I>threatens </I>a bad consequence for certain behaviors or attitudes?</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="626" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#660000 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:12</div> <div> One that is righteous wisely considers the house of the transgressor: </div> <div> he overthrows transgressors to <I>their</I> ruin.<FONT SIZE="4" 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>     "One that is righteous" is taken by most versions to be God; but He is nowhere else referred to as "A Righteous One".</div> <div>     Most of those versions that take "a righteous one" correctly to be a man, then turn around and supply the word "God" in the second half of the verse, since they can't imagine a righteous person overturning anybody's house. </div> <div>     Out of all the versions examined, only Darby got it completely right.  </div> <div>     "To their ruin" can also be "for their evil".</div> <bR> <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 righteous one</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Discerns the house of the transgressor</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Overthrows transgressors for their rottenness</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Presumably, the Bible versions that cannot conceive of Christians pulling others down are picturing the act as a normal daily occurrence.  Certainly, though, they know that part of the meek's inheritance of the earth is the subjugation of the unrighteous:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 149:5 - 9</FONT>  Let <U>the saints</U> be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds.   <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>Let</I> </FONT>the high praises of God <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>be</I> </FONT>in their mouth, and a two-edged <U>sword in their hand</U>,  to <U>carry out vengeance</U> on the nations <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>and</I> </FONT><U>punishments on the peoples</U>,  to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with iron-bands,  to <U>carry out</U> on them <U>the judgment written</U>; this <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is an</I></FONT> honor for all His saints. Praise Jehovah! </div> <bR> <div>     Surely we're all terrified at the thought of that unbalanced religious nut who will take these verses wrongly and go forth chopping up all his non-Christian neighbors in the name of the Lord.  </div> <div>     Usually we resort to, "Well, that's the Old Testament, anyway."</div> <div>     Really?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Rev 2:26 - 27</FONT>  And <U>he who overcomes</U> and keeps My works to the end, to him I will give power over the nations.   And he <U>will rule</U> them <U>with a rod of iron</U>, as the vessels <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>of a potter</I></FONT> they will be <U>broken to pieces</U>, even as I received from My Father. </div> <bR> <div>     Not so loud, Jesus!  Don't You know You're encouraging the lunatic fringe!</div> <div>     The above promise made to the churches was originally promised by the Father to Jesus Himself in Psalm 2,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 2:8, 9</FONT>  Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>for</I> </FONT>Your inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession.  <U>You shall break</U> them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. </div> <bR> <div>     So Jesus is just partially sharing one of His own responsibilities with His people.  Again, it's like Paul said:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Cor 6:2</FONT>  Do you not know that the <U>saints</U> shall <U>judge the world</U>? </div> <bR> <div>     We may not feel worthy of this task presently, but Jesus qualified us for its eventual fulfillment when He united us to Himself- the One who is the supreme Judge.</div> <div>     Without even consciously entering into it, the Christian, in his normal duties, goes about deposing the wicked in various ways.  For one thing, he prays this:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Matt 6:10</FONT>  Let Your kingdom come.   </div> <bR> <div>     Guess what?  If we are praying for God's kingdom to come, what are we also asking be done to man's kingdoms which oppose God's?  It is as expressed in Psalm 2 again:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 2:2 - 4</FONT>  <U>The kings</U> of the earth set themselves, and the rulers plot together, against Jehovah and against His anointed, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>saying</I></FONT>,   Let us break their bands in two and cast away their cords from us.  He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; <U>Jehovah shall mock</U> at them. </div> <bR> <div>     Obviously, there's not a friendly relation between God and the nations.  This means the nations are doomed.  Those whom God calls <I>out </I>of the nations, then, are joining their former enemy- God- <I>against </I>their old comrades- the world.</div> <div>     Military terminology is quite common in the New Testament:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > 2 Cor 10:4</FONT>  For the <U>weapons</U> of our <U>warfare</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT>not fleshly, but mighty through God <U>to</U> the <U>pulling down</U> of strongholds,  pulling down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and <U>bringing into captivity</U> every thought into the obedience of Christ</div> <bR> <div>     We are called into the direct subversion of non-Christian spiritual bastions.  The world is the world because of its unbelief.  Unbelievers disbelieve because they are in opposition to God.  We have become those who <I>oppose </I>that opposition.  We seek to destroy the <I>ideas </I>behind their rebellion.  Later, this will result in open warfare:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Rev 19:13, 14</FONT>  And He had been clothed <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>in</I> </FONT>a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.   And the <U>armies</U> in Heaven <U>followed Him</U> on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. </div> <bR> <div>     For now, we merely ask:  Are the words of our proverb true?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 21:12</FONT>  A righteous <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>man </I></FONT>wisely considers the house of the transgressor: he overthrows transgressors to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>their</I> </FONT>ruin.</div> <bR> <div>     We have seen that both our prayers and our arguments are toward their overthrow.  Certainly, then, we <I>are presently involved</I> in the overthrow of all those transgressors who will eventually be deposed.*</div> <div>     Our work towards unbelievers' overthrow begins with insight into their <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>houses</B></FONT>.  This means that we see deeply into who they really are.  We see what legacy they are passing on.  We see that if <I>they </I>cannot "break God's bonds in two", then they will pass the task on to their <I>children</I>.  This is what we see when we look discerningly at the unbeliever's house.  The only response a believer can give is opposition to this wickedness:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 139:21, 22</FONT>  O Jehovah, do I not hate those who hate You? And am I <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>not</I> </FONT>grieved with those who rise up against You?  <U>I hate them</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>with</I> </FONT>perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. </div> <bR> <div>     The command for us to love our enemies is certainly not a command to have a warm regard for their rebellion.  Nor is it a command to warmly regard <I>them </I>IN their rebellion.  It is merely a command to behave lovingly towards them, even though our basic attitude towards their unbelief is one of deep antipathy:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Psa 15:4</FONT>  in whose eyes the reprobate is <U>despised </U></div> <bR> <div>     This is all perfectly in keeping with Solomon's basic treatment of mankind, dividing it into two perfectly opposite camps.</div> <bR> <div>     For many who claim to be believers, this is the surest sign that they have never left the camp of God's enemies.  They simply cannot, in their hearts, oppose unbelief or unbelievers.  </div> <div>     Others turn this spiritual enmity into fleshly hostility, which Scriptures expressly rule out.  Mean or bigoted Christians are not real Christians.  We are in fact (and should be in heart) doing an unbeliever the kindest turn possible in imploring him to fold his own house (overthrow it) and call on God to erect a new one for/in him.  </div> <div>     A true Christian sees the conflict between the world and God.  He knows where he <I>used to be</I> in this combat, and he knows where he is <I>now </I>in relation to those still opposing God.  He knows that every stroke of every tool he wields in righteousness is ultimately a chipping away at all ungodly edifices.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> * <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Sometimes the overthrow of the wicked is seen in terms of their possible subsequent conversion, Ps. 83:16.</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="568" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#003333 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:13</div> <div> <B>Whoever closes his ears at the outcry of the poor, </B></div> <div> <B>he himself shall also call out, and shall not be heeded.</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>     "Outcry" is from a Hebrew word for "shriek".</div> <bR> <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">Whoever closes his ears to the outcry of the poor</div> <bR> <div> Consequences:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He himself will also call out</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He will not be paid attention to</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     It is amazing how God can tie deeds in our present lives to consequences we will receive later.  "What goes around comes around" is merely an observation among men of this law God has incorporated into His universe.  If there were no God with complete control over all factors in life, there would be no way to connect consequences happening to us now with deeds we did earlier.  But such connections are undeniable.  </div> <div>     Strangely, unbelieving men are forced to attribute intelligence and morality to supposedly impersonal forces in the Universe.  An American or European might come to believe <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BRADDON" >karma </FONT>is as certain a law of nature as gravity.  But how can this be?  Gravity is a deaf and dumb force, applying equal pressure at all times to all objects.  Karma is a force that <I>tailors </I>outcomes in peoples' lives to good or bad they have done.  There is no way for this to be an impersonal force.  </div> <div>     Strangely as well, polytheistic Hindus practically treat karma as an impersonal force.  Having a <I>million </I>gods does not have much practical difference than having <I>no </I>God.</div> <div>     So God's manifest oversight of things forces unbelieving men to develop inconsistent philosophies to explain His dealings using other terms and definitions- terms that avoid accountability to Him.  But such avoidance is fruitless.  The accountability to God we experience in this life is merely a promise that He will bring about a full accounting later.</div> <bR> <div>     A Christian is in a position to make very scientific predictions about the kinds of outcomes men will receive for their actions.  We have the information by which the personal God tabulates consequences for certain actions.  The consequences are all according to God's own character.  He has compassion on the poor, therefore He commands us to care for them.  He has made us beings who live among fellow creatures; therefore, we are accountable for how we treat one another.</div> <div>     A Christian can say with great certainty that someone who refuses to help a truly needy person applying to him for help will come to a place later on where <I>he </I>will be in need, will reach out for help from others, but will likewise be denied!   </div> <div>      Even unbelievers will often make such predictions intuitively, by the "work of the Law written in their hearts" (Rom. 2:14), by knowing that someone causing harm now is doing wrong and thus inviting harm upon <I>himself </I>later.</div> <bR> <div>     The big question for us is:  are <I>we </I>hearing the cries of the poor and ignoring them?  Can it be that even sappy television ads are sufficiently informing us of their plight to doom us to our <I>own </I>later abandonment for not responding?  Do the pitiful eyes on the screen "cry out", eliciting a response despite the maudlin format?  (Maybe not a response through that particular agency)</div> <div>     Or can it be that we regularly give to some charitable institution to appease our conscience?  Do we then use this as our excuse not to listen to the cry of a particular needy person we meet?  You see, by <I>whatever means</I> we close our ears to their cries, we doom ourselves by our insensitivity to the needy.  Strange that actually <I>giving </I>to the poor can be a means of shutting our doors, but so it is.  </div> <div>     More often, we don't even make this pretense.  We just categorize all the needy as irresponsible and expect them to fend for themselves like we do.  We <I>are </I>told not to further a lazy man's sloth, but this cannot be used as a blanket release from interaction with the needy.</div> <bR> <div>     We might add that there are many <I>emotionally </I>needy folk who may be even less tolerable to deal with than the penniless, but who are nonetheless our charges under God.  We obviously can give only according to our means, whether of money or time; but God is warning us today that our <I>first response</I> to the intrusion of another's need upon us is probably going to require some fine tuning to avoid being a <I>negligent response</I> in His eyes.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="452" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#333300 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:14</div> <div> A confidential gift subdues anger; </div> <div> and a contribution in secret <I>quiets</I> great fury. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "In secret" is from a Hebrew word for "enclosed", usually translated "bosom".</div> <div>     "Quiets" is a synonym for "subdues", supplied by ellipsis from the first half of the verse.</div> <bR> <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 private gift</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A concealed present </div> <bR> <div> Outcomes:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Calms anger</div> <div> <I><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Mollifies </I>strong fury</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The terms for "gift" or "present" (the two Hebrew words are synonyms) are both used in a good sense.  The second term sometimes means "bribe" in a bad sense, but not necessarily so here.  If so, the first term would be a synonym for "bribe", and so would be taken here in a bad sense too.  That does not seem to be Solomon's meaning, though.</div> <div>     Solomon is here making an <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>observation</B></FONT>, but he is also giving a valuable lesson.</div> <div>     The observation is that giving a gift to someone who is angry at us is a way of calming his anger.  A very simple observation.</div> <div>     But this simple observation is also a valuable <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>lesson</B></FONT>.  Most of us don't think of giving a gift to someone who is angry at us.  Solomon is saying, "Surprise- New good idea!"</div> <div>     Before you think this sounds too odd, consider what Jesus said:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Matt 5:25</FONT>  Be <U>well intentioned</U> toward your <U>opponent</U> quickly, while you are in the way with him, that the opponent not deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. </div> <bR> <div>     Jesus doesn't say who is in the right in the dispute, nor does it matter.  His point is that if you are at odds with another, forces beyond your control in the judicial system can sweep <I>you </I>away as the guilty party, even if you are not.  Jesus tells us to find a peaceable solution <I>privately </I>when a matter is not a criminal one.</div> <div>     That's what Solomon is essentially saying.  Why be at odds when you can be at peace?</div> <div>     There is a suggestion in our proverb that Solomon is picturing <I>us </I>as the <I>offending </I>party.  Again, perhaps the other person had no <I>real </I>reason to be all that angry at us, but Solomon is just helping us deal with reality.  They're angry:  here's what we should do about it.  </div> <div>     Even if they had no reason to be angry, Jesus' ethic seems to be- Rule #1: Reconcile.  Rule #2:  Try harder.</div> <div>     Perhaps <I>we're</I> the ones who should be angry in the situation, and the other party is <I>unjustly </I>angry.  Now Jesus' ethic really kicks in.  His 'extra mile' teaching still says <I><B>I</B></I> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT>should take the initiative in being reconciled.</div> <div>     Solomon is just giving us a dandy way to do that.</div> <div>   </div> <div>     Why a <I>secret </I>gift?  Well, a gift given publicly would seem to be only for show.  A present given privately (not anonymously) would communicate sincerity of effort in the rift between <I>you </I>and <I>me </I>being resolved.</div> <div>     A gift, in a way, is a simple communication that I believe that the other party is a real human being with real feelings which I care about.  Whether or not I am the one who has caused him consternation, I should have the wish that he be healed of his irritation.  A gift is just a token of this.</div> <div>     Solomon already tells us what the effect should be.  The other party will probably be taken by surprise.  He will realize that I, at least, have no rancor in the situation.  </div> <div>     This is usually all it takes for my opponent to let down his guard.  He realizes that most of his anger was a garrison raised against <I>my </I>supposed antagonism.  Now that that image has vanished, he will probably feel a little silly.  At any rate, he will realize that he doesn't have to put up a blustering front anymore.  There's no one on the other side to contest it.</div> <bR> <div>     Oh, how many of Jesus' 'friends' only learn the lesson of his <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >justice</FONT>!  They get their definitions of right and wrong from Him, then use them to condemn anyone who crosses them!</div> <div>     Jesus' <I>true </I>friends learn the lesson of His <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >mercy</FONT>.  They learn His definition of humans- that we are a testy and argumentative bunch, and it will take all that Jesus' ambassadors can do to maintain a little peace amidst continually erupting disputes.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="482" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#660000 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:15</div> <div> The doing of justice <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFBF0" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I></FONT> a joy to the righteous, </div> <div> but<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFBF0" FACE="Georgia" ><I> it is</I></FONT> ruin to the workers of iniquity. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Ruin" is from a Hebrew word meaning "dissolution, undoing". </div> <div>     The second half of the verse can be translated, "But ruin <I>shall come</I> to the workers of iniquity."  This sense, however, which many translations adopt, seems less connected to the first half of the verse than the translation above.</div> <bR> <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 doing of justice</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A joy to the righteous</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The undoing of those who work iniquity</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The second half of our proverb in Hebrew is identical with the second half of 10:29, which runs thus:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Prov 10:29</FONT>  The path of Jehovah is a stronghold to the upright, but <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>it is</I></FONT> a destruction to the workers of iniquity. </div> <bR> <div>     There we considered the teaching, reinforced by Hosea 14:9, that <I>God's path</I> brings ruin to evil men while providing protection for good men.</div> <div>     Now Solomon seems to be cluing us in on <I>another</I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>  </I></FONT>item that is an asset to the righteous but a detriment to the unrighteous- this time:  the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>performance of justice</B></FONT>.</div> <div>     The performance of justice is a <I>joy </I>to righteous men.  They love to do it.  They love to see it done.</div> <div>     But the performance of justice is the <I>undoing </I>of ungodly men.  That is why they hate it and resist it.  They intuitively know that justice undermines everything they stand for as unbelievers.</div> <div>     Sadly, unbelievers <I>agree </I>with the ways of justice to a point.  Yes, most unbelievers agree with true justice in some ways and to some degrees, perhaps to a seemingly great degree.  They therefore assume that <I>their </I>version of justice is the true one.  </div> <div>     Our proverb, however, is telling us that the path of the unbeliever does not truly converge with true justice.  In every way in which it does not, it is working <I>against </I>him.  True justice is therefore <I>always </I>working against the unbeliever.  He just doesn't realize it until some particular circumstance arises that betrays his innate hatred of justice.</div> <div>     If we wanted to <I>uncover </I>the injustice of the unbeliever, we could move his thinking straight to an area where God's justice is likely to be unpalatable to him.  For instance, we could recount God's orders to wipe out whole populations- men, women, and children.  Most unbelievers balk at that.  (Many believers balk at that.)</div> <div>     Of course, this Divine genocide is no different than God pouring fire on Sodom and Gomorrah.</div> <bR> <div>     The unbeliever actually spends his <I>life </I>indicting God for injustice.  He is 'in God's face' in a general way by lack of submission to the way of the Gospel.  He takes God's command to repent as a <I>suggestion</I>:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Acts 17:30</FONT>  Truly, then, God overlooking the times of ignorance, now He strictly <U>commands</U> <U>all men</U> everywhere <U>to repent</U></div> <bR> <div>     But it is no suggestion.</div> <div>     On <I>many </I>levels, therefore, the unbeliever demonstrates his defiance of justice.</div> <bR> <div>     Particularly, the <I>Christian's</I> performance of justice becomes the undoing of the unbeliever.</div> <div>     How is that?  One way is when the unbeliever upholds his counterfeit justice in opposition to Christian testimony.  Ultimately, unbelievers turn against Christians.  <I>This </I>becomes their undoing.  Paul tells the Thessalonians concerning persecution they were undergoing:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >2 Thess 1:6</FONT>  since<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" > <I>it is</I></FONT> a righteous thing with <U>God</U> to <U>repay</U> tribulation to those who trouble you</div> <bR> <div>     When unbelievers despise and mistreat believers, they are maligning the <I>justice </I>which the believers uphold and perform.  Since this persecution becomes part of God's case against the unbelievers, the Christians' justice that they scorned <I>does </I>become their undoing.</div> <bR> <div>     Some people wouldn't want to be a Christian if it meant someone else's hurt.  But this is beyond our control.  The unrighteous call judgment on themselves whether on our account or not.</div> <bR> <div>     A more important question is whether <B>we </B>give evidence of being men made righteous by God.</div> <div>     Do we rejoice in the performance of justice?  </div> <div>     Be careful at your answer.  Your displeasure at the good fortune of another may be irritation at God rewarding him for a faithfulness in some area unbeknownst to you.  That would be annoyance at the performance of justice.</div> <div>     Whenever we have the opportunity to do justice, we should rejoice.  Every act of integrity is an occasion of imaging the righteous God.  God rejoices in justice, and so should we.  </div> <div>     Words that we might commonly hear from those who are geared towards equitable dealings are, "It's only right," even when it is to their own disadvantage.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *********************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="537" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#003333 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 21:16</B></div> <div> <B>The man who wanders out of the way of discretion</B></div> <div> <B>shall rest in the congregation of the dead. </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>     "Congregation" is from the Hebrew word used most often for the "assembly" of the Israelites.</div> <bR> <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 man who wanders from the path of intelligence</div> <bR> <div> Consequence:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Shall rest in assembly of the dead</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     <B>It is </B><I><B>not </B></I><B>those who </B><I><B>deliberately </B></I><B>set out to depart from God's paths who end up caged with the spiritually dead.  Of course they will be there too; but Solomon is directing our attention to the people who </B><I><B>accidentally</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" ><B> </B></FONT><B>depart from God's road.  </B><I><B>They </B></I><B>are the ones he says will surely end in the company of men cut off from God.</B></div> <div> <B>    This is a sobering thought.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    The "way" or "path" in our verse is a regular road or pathway.  There is an </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Demi ITC" >edge </FONT><B>to every road.  What makes it a road is that it is a channel separated from the surrounding landscape.  Where the landscape ends and the road begins is the road's edge.  Our proverb is fixing our attention on that all-important  border.</B></div> <div> <B>    When a man </B><I><B>loses focus</B></I><B> on the road's edge, it is only a matter of time before he wanders off into the surrounding countryside.</B></div> <div> <B>    Notice that the whole idea of God's way being a corridor cut into neighboring hostile territory is still used by Jesus when He speaks of the "narrow road".</B></div> <div> <B>    Again, our proverb is not so much discussing the man who deliberately follows attractive enticements beside the road or off in the distance.  Yes, he departs the path of life too, but his departure is not so much a wandering.  Our proverb portrays the fellow who </B><I><B>grows so accustomed</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" ><B> </B></FONT><B>to the road that he gradually ceases to pay close attention to it.  He loses the whole concept of the road's demarcation.  This is all too easy to do.</B></div> <div> <B>    Of course, many a road has much in common with its immediately surrounding environment.  The path may be dirt and the same kind of dirt may be prevalent to either side of the path.  But the road is a road because it is </B><I><B>marked out</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" ><B> </B></FONT><B>as the route from some point A to some point B.  It may be that feet constantly tramping the path has simply given it a different texture.  The point is that someone who wanders from a path </B><I><B>forgets</B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" ><I><B>  </B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" ><B>what </B></FONT><B>the path was, </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" ><B>where </B></FONT><B>it was going, or </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" ><B>why </B></FONT><B>he was on it.  Yes, it may be that he was initially distracted by something off the road, but the fact that he did not intend to depart the path permanently means that he </B><I><B>wandered</B></I><B>.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    When the path is Christianity, then, it becomes supremely important to define the edges of the path.  </B></div> <div> <B>    This is what </B><I><B>doctrine </B></I><B>does.  Doctrine, simply defined as the teaching God has imparted, makes very clear where the edges of the path are for the Christian.  The path's edge is defined by God's commands (His do's and don't's), His explanations about the origins and destiny of the world, His testimony concerning man, His revelation about who He is, etc.</B></div> <div> <B>    Therefore, there are two kinds of people in particular who are in special danger of losing focus and wandering beyond the rims of the road never to return.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    One is the person who doesn't take Christianity and its doctrine seriously enough.  If Christianity is a life-and-death struggle against the power of Satan, then any idle attitude towards the soul's state is a dreadful miscalculation.  The </B><I><B>negligent</B></I><B> </B><I><B>Christian </B></I><B>only knows the edges of the road at the beginning of his journey because they are new to him.  In his presumption, the edges of the road, never carefully defined, soon blend in with the surrounding scenery, and he ambles off amiably into the lovely, deadly forest.</B></div> <div> <B>    The other person who is likely to thoughtlessly transgress the road is the </B><I><B>long-time</B></I><B> </B><I><B>Christian</B></I><B>.  He's been on the road so long, it is now his normal existence and he takes it for granted.  His investigations into the surrounding environment are yielding some surprising results!  The world is apparently not as dangerous a place as he had thought.  His own hybrid blend of Christianity with personal preference are remarkably satisfying.  He is leagues away from the path and oblivious.</B></div> <div> <B>    Of course, both or these wandering Christians are only nominal Christians.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    Where do the wanderers wander to?</B></div> <div> <B>    The imagery is consistent with the wandering motif.  They "come to rest" somewhere.  They wander like a little shell dropped into the sea.  They have an intriguing journey of many turns and swirls, but always downward.  Finally, they settle on the only shelf they could ever have ended on.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    The 'shelf' of the spiritual wanderer, though, turns out to be crowded.  There are shells next to shells next to more shells.  Soon, little wander-shell realizes that he is only part of the topmost layer of a thousand tiers of generations of wander-shells who strolled leisurely down.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    He is in the congregation of the dead.  His 'unique' journey ended in a vastly monotonous strata.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    Staying on the path was not as exciting for his committed Christian cousin, but neither did his wearying attention to the edges of the path lead him to Death.</B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>****************************************************</B></div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_19"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="515" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#330066 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 88 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 21:17</B></div> <div> <B>He who loves bliss </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#CCFFFF" FACE="Georgia" ><I><B>shall be</B></I></FONT><B> a man in want; </B></div> <div> <B>he who loves wine and oil shall not accrue </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#CCFFFF" FACE="Georgia" ><I><B>assets</B></I></FONT><B>.</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#CCFFFF" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><B> </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B>"Bliss" is from the Hebrew word used most often for "joy" in a good sense, including spiritual joy.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Analysis of the Verse</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" ><B>:</B></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">One who loves joy</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">One who loves wine and oil</div> <bR> <div> Their Consequences:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Shall be a man in lack</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Shall not accumulate</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" >Ever heard of a young lady who was "in love with being in love"?  She wanted romance in her life, and of course a boy was necessary for the transaction to be completed, so, though she found a lad she was awfully fond of, it really wasn't according to plan to get too serious about him.  He would find himself on the curb with some coming morning's trash when she thought it inconsiderate to string him along any further.</FONT></div> <div>     God didn't make romance to be a roller coaster ride with which to amuse ourselves.  Romance is part of a whole experience of joining with a life partner.  It is exciting, but if the excitement itself becomes primary, more important factors are going to get mislaid to the lovers' detriments.  Unfortunately, the romance game in our culture plays into the hands of this very kind of abuse.</div> <div>     Our proverb today says something very similar about joy.  Joy is a good thing too.  We can go further than that and say that joy is a necessary thing:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" >Phil 4:4</FONT>  Rejoice in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" >the </FONT>Lord always. Again I say, Rejoice! </div> <bR> <div>     But according to our proverb, we must add this caveat.  Joy in the Lord can turn into <I>joy for its own sake</I>.  In fact, sin is so deceptive that any aspect of our relationship with God can turn into empty form with no spiritual life:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" >2 Tim 3:5</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" >  having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     And it is plain that some people seek a relationship with God for the <I>sensation </I>they receive from it:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" >Rev 3:1</FONT>  And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says these things. I know your works, that you have <U>a name that you live</U>, and are dead. </div> <bR> <div>     Yes, they had lively churches in the first century too.  </div> <div>     The gift of tongues was an example of a pleasurable spiritual gift with which a believer could "edify himself", as Paul told the Corinthians.  But his whole message to them in 1 Corinthians 12 - 14 was that the spiritual gifts' primary purpose was not personal pleasure, but edifying the rest of the body of Christ with intelligible messages from God.  Therefore, prophecy, a gift for teaching, was superior to tongues.</div> <div>     The Corinthians apparently had a similar type of lively worship service as those in Sardis.  Paul came pretty close to telling them, like Jesus told Sardis, that their worship was dead.  If they themselves were spiritually alive, their worship had degenerated into selfish pleasure-seeking and showmanship.  Paul walked a judicious line in admonishing them, because he did not want to imply that anything was wrong with the gift of tongues or that he begrudged them the pleasure it gave.  At the same time, he left no alternatives to his new worship guidelines, which were very strict compared with the Corinthians' existing free-for-all.  No one could object, "But the Spirit told me to do it this way," because the Spirit had just given His final word through an Apostle.</div> <bR> <div>     Apparently, loving any thing or any sensation <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" > </FONT>is dangerous.  "The love of money" is the starting place for any other kind of sin ( 1 Tim 6:10).  Money is necessary and good in itself, but once we love it, we commit idolatry.  So with the love of any thing.</div> <div>     We are certainly supposed to love people, though even that <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" > </FONT>love can easily lapse into idolatry.</div> <div>     The principle behind today's proverb is that the love of God must be our truly supreme love and pleasure, or any other love will by definition be idolatry.  We are shown how easily we slip into idolatry in that even an emotion we are commanded to continually experience- joy- can become its own god and rule us to our hurt.</div> <div>     Solomon is obviously not restricting the idea of joy to religious joy.  Anything that gives man elation would be similar.  The love of it is idolatry.  </div> <div>     Are we supposed to tone down our joy?  No.  As long as our joy is exclusively IN the Lord, there is no danger of an excess.  In fact:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" >1 Pet 1:8</FONT>  whom [Jesus Christ] not having known you love; in whom, though now you don't see him, yet believing, you <U>rejoice greatly</U> with <U>joy unspeakable</U> and full of glory -- </div> <bR> <div>     But notice that even here Peter puts our inexpressible joy UNDER the greater heading of love for Christ.</div> <bR> <div>     In the second half of the proverb, Solomon transitions from love of an emotion experienced to love of luxury items.  Wine and oil are good gifts from God, but loving them is an improper use of them.</div> <bR> <div>     And what are the consequences for this improper love?  It impoverishes us and keeps us from accumulating resources we need.</div> <div>     Anyone who tunes life to his pleasure sensors is never going to get enough.  He will end up in a fruitless chase to match or exceed his previous experiences of gratification.  Everything that comes into his hands will only be consumed as part of a constant pursuit of enjoyment.</div> <div>     Spiritually, the shortage is most serious:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" >2 Tim 3:4, 5</FONT>  traitors, reckless, puffed up, <U>lovers of pleasure</U> rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it; even turn away from these. </div> <bR> <div>     Because pleasure was their true love, they had a shortage of the love of God.  They could only possess a <I>sham </I>love for God (not sham in their own eyes, of course).  Paul says these professing Christians are to be denied our fellowship.</div> <bR> <div>     Most of modern Christianity is in need of self-examination according to today's proverb.  </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Excitement and enjoyment <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" > </FONT>are key elements in most modern worship.  Many people would not come if they were denied the entertaining aspects.  God's OK to them IF He's entertaining.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Much of the ceremonial type of worship is also pleasure-seeking, but its pleasure derives from atmosphere:  candles, uniforms, solemn gestures, etc.  </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Much of the Bible-studying segment of the Church derives pleasure from gaining inspiring insights- without any transformation of life.  </div> <bR> <div>     All told, our <B>plenty </B>as Americans has bled over into our worship and made us lovers of things and sensations masquerading as love of God.  </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>************************************************************** </B></div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="468" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#003333 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 21:18</B></div> <div> The immoral <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#CCCC99" FACE="Georgia" ><I>shall be</I></FONT> a ransom for the righteous, </div> <div> and the cunning in the place of the upright. <B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#EEEEEE" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </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>     "Ransom" is from a Hebrew word whose root is the word for "atonement".</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Contrasted<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 immoral with the righteous  (on the one hand)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The cunning with the upright       (on the other hand)</div> <bR> <div> Relationships<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The immoral becomes a ransom for the just</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The cunning becomes a ransom in place of the upright</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This proverb is similar to 11:8,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 11:8</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the immoral comes </FONT><I>in</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >his place. </FONT></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div>     The unrighteous man steps into the trouble that bypassed the righteous.  As we noted in 11:8, this is merely saying two things.  One is that because of our sin natures, there is constant temptation to sin in the world.  The righteous are constantly avoiding it, and the unrighteous are constantly succumbing to it.  The other is that God's blueprint for <I>each </I>man overlapping with His overall grid for <I>all </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" ><I> </I></FONT>men determines <I>which </I>temptation a righteous man will escape which will then entrap his unrighteous neighbor.</div> <div>     This is part of the complex and weighty teaching of the interplay between God's ultimate sovereignty over man on the one hand and man's complete responsibility for his own decisions on the other.</div> <div>     Our verse today is perhaps weightier still.</div> <div>     Now we are adding the element of God specifically <I>offering</I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" ><I>  </I></FONT>the unrighteous up as a sort of payment to deliver the righteous.  That's what a ransom is.</div> <div>     Previously, we were only talking about each of mankind's two natures taking their inevitable courses in relation to sin and the difficulties sin causes.  God merely oversaw the specifics, as He oversees all specifics within His general plan.  Now we are portraying God, as it were, <I>laying hold</I> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" > </FONT>of the unbeliever first<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" >  </FONT>and <I>placing</I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" ><I>  </I></FONT>him in the trouble the believer was bound for- this to keep the believer <I>out </I>of the trouble.</div> <div>     But is this really saying anything different than the previous verse?</div> <div>     Consider God's testimony through Isaiah:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Isa 43:3, 4</FONT>  For I <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>am</I> </FONT>Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I <U>gave Egypt</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>for</I> </FONT>your <U>ransom</U>, Ethiopia and Seba for you.  Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you; therefore I <U>will </U><U>give</U><U> men</U> for you, and people <U>for your life</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     This is the same word for ransom as in our verse.  Therefore, whatever God did with Egypt is an illustration of the ransom principle.  And what did he do with Egypt?  He visited plagues on her from which the Israelites remained free.  Did the Egyptians actually 'buy' Israel's deliverance by some kind of 'payment'?  Yes, it was the destruction of Egypt that actually birthed Israel as her own nation.</div> <div>     CRITICAL QUESTION:  Were the Israelites any better people than the Egyptians?  In terms of what they 'owed God' as sinful humans, the answer is No.  The Egyptians only got whacked 'in place of' the Israelites because the Israelites were beloved of God.  God's saving love is in spite of<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" > </FONT>the lack of merit.  This is what He says in the Isaiah passage above.  The Israelites were "precious in His sight."  They were not <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Medium ITC" > </FONT>precious in themselves.  Their value was an imputed one.</div> <div>     In fact, the Israelites still 'owed' God on account of the Passover from then on.  In recounting the Passover, the household elder was to teach this:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Exod 13:15</FONT>  And it happened when Pharaoh hardened himself against sending us away, <U>Jehovah killed</U> every first-born one in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of men even to the first-born of animals. <U>On account of this</U> <U>I sacrifice</U> to Jehovah every one <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>of</I> </FONT>the males opening the womb, and <U>I redeem</U> every first-born of my sons. </div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" ><B>  </B></FONT>  The Israelites realized that Egypt had 'stepped into' death where they themselves deserved it as well.  They therefore considered themselves and their descendants <I>purchased possessions</I> from then on:  ransomed.</div> <div>     The only difficulty that remains in understanding our verse is how Solomon could imply that the Israelites were "righteous" or "upright".  In answer, we have seen from the beginning of our Proverbs study that Solomon uses the designation "righteous" in both the Justification and Sanctification sense.  Obviously, the primary meaning of "righteous" in today's proverb is the legal, "declared righteous" meaning:  justified.  </div> <div>     Notwithstanding, we remind ourselves again that all who are justified <I>are </I>sanctified and vice-versa.  Those who are declared righteous (justification) at the bar of God's justice- a transaction only possible through Christ's sacrifice- are always those having righteousness worked in their lives (sanctification).</div> <div>     So the righteous, those declared righteous by God's grace, are spared the judgment that comes to unbelievers on various occasions of God's reckoning.  The judgments take place, and God must have a just reason to spare us when He is sentencing the non-Christian.  Justification is the main reason, sanctification (our personal degree of righteousness) the subsidiary one.</div> <div>     Since Christ's sacrifice has moved us into the last days, the redemptive process we've been describing seems to have progressed, at least in part, to God dealing with <I>us first</I>:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Pet 4:17</FONT>  For the time has come for <U>judgment</U> to <U>begin</U> at the house of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don't obey the gospel of God? </div> <bR> <div>     Like the Lamb of God in Isaiah 53:4, His people today seem "plagued, smitten by God, and afflicted."  God's subsequent judgment on the wicked therefore seems <B>compounded</B>, according to Peter in the above verse.</div> <bR> <div>     Moving on to the Last Day, the final of God's reckonings (Rev 20:11-15), the ransom offered up by unbelievers will be pictured in the books that are opened.  Their deeds will be surveyed, and that will be enough to condemn them.  Should our books be reviewed, we would end up the same.  God's wrath will stand, as it were, smoking against all men's sins; but for the believer He will see the wrath paid-in-full in another book opened, the Lamb's book of Life.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>************************************************</B></div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="540" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#000033 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 21:19</B></div> <div> <I><B>It is</B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#CCFFFF" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><B>better to live in a land of wilderness </B></div> <div> <B>than</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#CCFFFF" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><I><B>with</B></I><B> a</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#CCFFFF" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><B>woman of quarrels and bitterness.</B> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#EEEEEE" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </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>     "Bitterness" is from a Hebrew word which connotes wrath in some places and grief in others.</div> <bR> <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">Living in a desert land</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Living with an overbearing and vexed woman</div> <bR> <div> Comparative Descriptions:</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 particular word Solomon uses for "quarrelsome / overbearing" is his own trademark word used only in Proverbs.  Of the nine times he uses it, five describe a contentious woman, of which our proverb is the third.</div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Elephant" ><I>Why </I></FONT>is the imperious woman so angry?</div> <div>     What did someone do to her to make her this unremitting badger?  She comes close to being a robot, programmed for bitterness, she is so consistently full of rage.</div> <div>     This is how Solomon pictures the domestic plague of the contentious woman.  She is not her husband's fault.  There is nothing, including perfection, in him that would change her.  Her disappointment with family responsibilities is deep-seated and incomprehensible, probably more mysterious to herself than anyone else.</div> <div>     Is it simply her high opinion of herself that fills her with hatred for a world that has shackled her to such a lowly occupation?</div> <div>     Is her married life the terrible reverse of her carefree childhood and courting days- days in which she reigned as queen of her own fantasies, now answered only by her reign as despotic murderer of spirits?</div> <div>     Perhaps she <I>was </I>told that home life would entail burden and sorrow, but her pre-marriage existence simply would not admit the truth of it.  Now she has silently vowed revenge deep in her spirit, that such a ruse could have been foisted on her.  If she was not tricked, she was certainly signed up with all duplicitous smiles.</div> <div>     Where is the fulfillment that children were supposed to bring her?  Weren't they supposed to be courteous, adoring little attendants, giving her plenty of room to continue to pamper herself?  Fate must have confused her with some unworthy matron to have chained these bawling brats to her ankles.</div> <div>     Where is the chivalry of her husband's courtship?  Why isn't she the center of constant attention any more?  Why must her worth be measured by his tired day-ending grunts in exchange for her hours of futile cleaning and care-taking?</div> <div>     It is no secret that this was what was in store all along.  All the worse.  If her youth was a spectral prologue- a fattening of the sacrificial beast before its gutting- then let the revelers that feast upon her drink the poison of her bile!  There is no way she can pay life back for its mean trick, but she will never give up trying.</div> <bR> <div>     The contentious woman is a big question with no answer.</div> <bR> <div>     What of her husband?  Sometimes he is a saint who has learned piety at her hands.  No better trial for his sanctification could have been devised than her.  To love her, as he is commanded to do, is perhaps the most Christ-like love on earth.</div> <div>     Still, as far as his own well-being, he is better off out in the desert.</div> <div>     There are people who live in a wilderness.  There is an existence to be had there.  But most of one's time is spent on survival.  Solomon is saying that even <I>more </I>time is spent on survival in a home with our battleship of censure constantly shelling the unhappy islands that surround her.</div> <bR> <div>     What of the little islands of her children?  Unless their father can protect them, they are crippled little dwarf souls who grow up wondering if they have caused the pain in their mother's life (as she constantly insinuates).  They will perhaps feel they have no other recourse, after years of cruelty, than to tear their <I>own </I>families down to their own inhuman stature.  Tragedy beyond tragedy.</div> <bR> <div>     Notice that Solomon offers no cure nor hope for the woman of bitter spirit.  There is no reason to feel guilty for her sake, children.  There is no blame in loving her to no discernable improvement, husband.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#660000 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:20</div> <div> <B>Desirable stores and oil </B><I><B>are</B></I><B> in the home of the wise; </B></div> <div> <B>but a foolish man swallows it up. </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFCC" 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>     "Stores" is from a Hebrew word meaning "depository". </div> <bR> <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 wise</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The stubborn man</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposing Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pleasant goods and oil are in his house</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Consumes such commodities</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Today's proverb is a statement answering the one in 21:17,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 21:17</FONT>  A man who loves pleasure <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>shall be</I></FONT> poor, he who loves wine and oil shall not be rich. </div> <bR> <div>     In fact, the second half of today's proverb basically restates this idea.  One attribute of a fool is that he is a self-indulgent consumer.  Today we see that the wise, on the contrary, is someone who can <B>conserve</B>.</div> <div>     There are good things in a wise man's house.  Oil, which, depending on its use, can be a luxury item (as in 21:17 above), is also nearly a necessity for cooking.  It is simply being viewed as a valuable commodity, whether necessity or luxury, in our verse today.</div> <div>     Why are there quality goods in a wise man's house?  Because his wisdom guides him in two purchasing principles:  1)  Spend the necessary money (not necessarily the <I>most </I>money) to buy a quality item in the first place.  A shoddy item is not worth a lower price;  2)  Save useful items.</div> <div>     That's pretty simple and self-explanatory.  One proviso must be inserted here, though.  A savvy shopper is not necessarily wise in the Biblical sense.  He possesses an <I>aspect </I>of wisdom and should be commended, but prudent use of goods without generosity, for instance, will eventually prove a deficit to his stores.</div> <bR> <div>     How important IS the use of earthly goods for the truly wise man?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Luke 16:9 - 13</FONT>  "And I say to you, <U>make friends</U> for yourselves by means of the <U>worldly wealth</U> of unrighteousness, so that whenever you fail, they shall welcome you into the eternal tabernacles.  The one faithful in a very little <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>thing</I> <I>is</I></FONT> also faithful in much, and the one unrighteous in a very little <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>thing</I> </FONT>is also unrighteous in much.  Therefore, if you were <U>not faithful</U> in the unrighteous <U>worldly wealth</U>, <U>who will entrust</U> to you <U>the true</U>?  And if you were not faithful in the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>thing</I> </FONT>belonging to another, who will give to you your own property?  No household servant is able to be serving as a slave to two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You are not able to be serving as a slave to God and to worldly wealth." </div> <div>   </div> <div>     There is only one master, only one dictating principle that can direct the correct use of earthly goods.  Notice that Jesus associates earthly goods with the "unrighteous" worldly system in which they must be exchanged.  We are righteous agents using money righteously in an unrighteous world.  Money CAN be spent righteously according to Jesus.  More importantly, if it is NOT, we cannot be wise in any sense.  We cannot 'exchange' in the commerce of <I>spiritual </I>things if we cannot wisely use <I>earthly </I>things.</div> <div>     This comes as a low blow and a shock to many Christians today.  This reveals their pietistic tendencies.  They assume that spirituality is separated from commerce (or politics, or the arts, etc.) as an area that has simply been consigned to the devil.</div> <bR> <div>     So one sign of a wise man, a Christian, is that he has made right use of 'stuff', and has some of it in his house.  </div> <div>     One sign of an entrenched fool, an unbeliever, is that items of true value that  he has today are likely to be gone tomorrow, because he tends to consume rather than conserve.</div> <div>     The Christian sees 'things' as useful commodities, both for <I>earthly </I>life as God wisely designed it, and for <I>spiritual </I>uses such as giving and as teaching tools.</div> <bR> <div>     What do the contents of your home reveal about you?</div> <div>     Do you appreciate the commodities of life as a gift from God?  Do you thankfully use them in your household without lapsing into idolatry?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="449" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#660000 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:21</div> <div> <B>He who pursues righteousness and mercy </B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#C0DCC0" FACE="Georgia" ><B>finds life, righteousness and honor.</B></FONT><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>     "Pursues" is from a Hebrew word meaning "to chase". </div> <bR> <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">One who tracks down righteousness and compassion</div> <bR> <div> Outcome:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Obtains life, righteousness, and glory</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The first thing we notice is that the pursuit of <I>two </I>objectives yields <I>three </I>fruits.</div> <div>     The next thing we notice is that one of the fruits is merely one of the objectives repeated.</div> <bR> <div>     So what is Solomon saying?</div> <div>     He is telling his student something more about the pursuit of godliness.  As he emphasized throughout the first nine chapters,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 3:1 - 4</FONT>  My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart <U>keep my commands</U>, for <U>they</U> shall <U>add</U> length of <U>days</U> and long <U>life</U> and <U>peace</U> to you.  <U>Mercy and truth</U> will not forsake you, tie them on your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and you shall <U>find</U> <U>favor</U> and good <U>understanding</U> in the sight of God and man. </div> <bR> <div>     This is a common formulation in the first nine chapters.  Now Solomon is revisiting the theme.</div> <bR> <div>     So, first, as to what we are to pursue, or chase, or hunt:</div> <div>     Righteousness and mercy/compassion/kindness are paired eight times in the Old Testament.  Most of them speak of God's righteousness and mercy <I>towards us</I>.  Only one other passage uses the two qualities, as our proverb, of human characteristics:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Hos 10:12</FONT>  Sow to yourselves in <U>righteousness</U>, Reap according to <U>mercy</U>.  Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek Yahweh, until he comes and rains righteousness on you. </div> <bR> <div>     As Solomon uses a word for arduous pursuit, so Hosea makes this the back-breaking, protracted labor of a farmer.  So we're not talking about waving a spiritual magic wand and getting what we want.  </div> <div>     That's one problem with much of Christianity today.  We are led to believe that if we experience some special encounter with the Lord (the 'baptism of the Spirit' is a popular suggestion), we will automatically attain to an advanced level of spirituality.  </div> <div>     Not to say that the Lord can't grant a growth-spurt in our souls, but His ordinary means of enhancing us is the gardener's method:  planting in the right spot, fertilization, weeding, watering ...  nothing spectacular, and generally involving struggle for us- oh, and we forgot to mention His <I>pruning</I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT>:  the regular cutting back of present growth to promote better future growth.  Pruning- you know:  "Ouch"; and "Hey, where'd my arm go?"</div> <div>     Anyway, Hosea, besides putting our attaining of righteousness and mercy in terms of gardening, also puts a certain <I>order </I>to the two.  Righteousness is the target attainment; mercy is the fruit that arises from it.  (And notice that when it is righteousness we are initially plugging <B>in</B> [reaping], we must be careful not to forget mercy in what comes <B>out </B>of it [sowing], as our human tendency would be.)</div> <div>     Solomon comes closer to putting the two qualities in one package we are to pursue.  Righteousness must be stalked <I>along with</I> mercy.  In saying this, Solomon is seeking to insure that we do not adopt a brand of righteousness that is all <I>standard </I>and no <I>understanding</I>.</div> <div>     Righteousness in one sense is inflexible.  It doesn't bend.  But a man cannot be truly righteous who does not render to another man the same latitude he knows that he himself needs from time to time ( ... all the time?).  Solomon is just making sure that our definition of righteousness is the generous kind.</div> <div>     We are to specifically seek mercy.  We cannot merely temper our righteousness with it.  Quite often, perhaps most often, mercy does not naturally occur to us.  We usually take people in a 'what you see is what you get' manner, so we allow them to disappoint us if their behavior ever dips below a desirable level.  God is telling us to automatically adjust for other peoples' foibles.  Deal in true kindness despite warts that show up in others' characters.  True kindness, of course, does not forbid wart removal from others when the occasion and our attitude are right.</div> <bR> <div>     What do we achieve when we seek righteousness and mercy like trappers who do not break off the pursuit until the game is bagged?</div> <bR> <div>   1)  Life.  Real life.  What life was meant to be.  Life that God offers.  This, naturally, is an enhancement to our earthly life, but in itself,  it is life to the spirit.  The context in which we need this is well illustrated by Hosea's continued instruction following the above quoted passage:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Hos 10:13</FONT>  You <U>have plowed</U> wickedness; you <U>have reaped</U> iniquity. You <U>have eaten</U> the fruit of lies because you trusted in your way ...</div> <bR> <div>     When God's life comes to us, it must always challenge and replace the sitting guests at our table:  lawlessness, selfishness, lies, independence.  It's never a pretty scene.  They are such stubborn guests, and they never go far away.  They always just <I>know  </I>we'll invite them back.</div> <bR> <div>   2)  Righteousness.  Pursue righteousness and you gain righteousness for your efforts.  Sound too simple?  It's not.  Righteousness as a goal is different than righteousness as an attainment.  When we attain righteousness, it has become a settled part of our lives.  This is better than the hunter who only has a few meals or a stuffed head to mount on his wall for his troubles.</div> <div>     Imagine it.  Righteousness comfortably situated in your life.  It says a lot about us if this is <I>not </I>an exciting prospect to us.</div> <bR> <div>   3)  Honor.  </div> <div>     Should we <I>seek </I>honor?  Isn't that prideful?</div> <div>     Of course, there is a wrong way to seek honor, but there is also a right way:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Heb 11:6</FONT>  ... he who comes to God <U>must believe</U> that He exists, and that <U>He is</U> a <U>rewarder</U> of those who seek him. </div> <bR> <div>     A Platonic approach to God, where I seek the ideal but no reward, has nothing to do with Christianity.  Yet we are thoroughly tainted with Platonism.  We are certainly and definitely to seek God's reward, and this makes all the difference in our daily attitude.  </div> <div>     "Oh Lord, I am looking forward to the Rest that you promise, the Joy, the freedom from sin and its anguish!"  This is nothing more than a child-like attitude.  And it is nothing more than faith to count on God's promised outcomes:</div> <bR> <div> Psalm 25:20<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div>     Our goal per today's proverb:  Develop a trapper's mentality.  Our game:  Righteousness and Mercy have been spotted migrating together;  if we track through the winter, we will be ready for planting come spring.</div> <bR> <bR> <div>     (Sorry about the dreadful mixed metaphor, but it <I>does </I>work in an old pioneer setting, where the same man had to be both hunter <I>and </I>farmer)</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="489" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#663333 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:22</div> <div> <B>The wise scales the city of the mighty </B></div> <div> <B>and topples the strength </B><I><B>in which</B></I><B> it trusts.</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#66FFCC" FACE="Georgia" ><B> </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>     "Scales" is from a Hebrew word meaning "to ascend". </div> <div>     "Topples" is from a Hebrew word meaning "to descend".</div> <bR> <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 wise person</div> <bR> <div> Abilities:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Climbs <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>into </I></FONT>the warrior's city</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Brings down the strength in which his city took refuge</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is a proverb on Christian military tactics.</div> <div>     Why would we need military tactics?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >2 Cor 10:4</FONT>  for the weapons of our <U>warfare</U> ... </div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">We are in a war.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Our war is fought on two fronts.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The main front is <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>invisible</B></FONT>:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Eph 6:12</FONT>  For we do <U>not wrestle</U> against <U>flesh and blood</U>, but against principalities, against powers, against the world's rulers, of the darkness of this age, against <U>spiritual wickedness</U> in high <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>places</I></FONT>. </div> <bR> <div>     The other front is the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>human </B></FONT>manifestation of the spiritual wickedness:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >2 Cor 10:4, 5</FONT>  For the weapons of our warfare <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT>not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,  <U>pulling down</U> <U>arguments</U> and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every <U>thought</U> into the obedience of Christ</div> <bR> <div>     Humanly expressed ideas and philosophies are the objects of our attack.  We are under Satan's assault through them, and we must both defend ourselves <I>and </I>counterattack.</div> <div>     Our proverb today describes our counterattack.</div> <div>     Let us make seven observations about the Christian warrior and his warfare:</div> <bR> <div> 1)  We are <I>not </I>simply building an <I>alternate city</I> and inviting the enemy over (though we are doing that too).  We are seeking to 'violently' bring down the anti-God arguments in which he trusts, so that he will never trust them again.  Of course, our actual manner will be very gentle; but this belies our intention, for the unbeliever's own good, to demolish his trusted citadel of independence from God.</div> <bR> <div> 2)  The city is <I>not easily entered</I>.  It must be 'ascended'.  Unbelief is a whole, integral system that nurtures itself and knits itself into an impregnable bastion, unless God grants us the wisdom to overcome it.</div> <bR> <div> 3)  The city is <I>defended by a warrior</I>.  The mildest unbeliever instinctively knows how to defend his unbelief.  In fact, some of the weakest objections they raise are actually designed as vast, camouflaged bulwarks that thwart us <I>by </I>their seeming ease of defeat.</div> <bR> <div> 4)  We <I>endanger ourselves </I>seeking to enter this city.  First there is the 'ascent' of the city walls, a climb whose failure could plunge us to our death.  Then we are facing a warrior defending his home ground.  Surely he will fight like a madman!  We take the encounter lightly to our grave peril!</div> <bR> <div> 5)  A 'city' implies a <I>complex </I>of defenses.  The metaphor pictures the <I>numerous </I>facets of human personality and activity innate in every man.  All of these capabilities will be used against you, in crafty and spontaneous coordination, if you seek to lower his flag of human dominion.</div> <bR> <div> 6)  The Christian warrior's manual of warfare is basically WISDOM.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Col 4:5, 6</FONT>  Walk in <U>wisdom</U> toward those on the <U>outside</U>, redeeming the time.  Let your speech <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>be</I> </FONT>always with grace, having been seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. </div> <bR> <div>     A <I>belligerent </I>Christian will bluster and accuse to no advantage.  A <I>friendly </I>Christian may just advise with no encroachment.  But a <I>wise </I>Christian will actually strategize a way INTO the dark citadel to lay siege to its strongest inner point until it crumbles, freeing the occupant from its imprisonment (should God 'give increase' to his efforts).</div> <bR> <div> 7)  The wise man KNOWS the city of unbelief.  He lived there.  Its breached walls still remain within his own heart, mounting attack after attack on him from behind his own lines.  So the Christian soldier enters the infidel's domain with very personal experience of the unbeliever's war plan, for he waged it once himself, and his old man wages it still.</div> <bR> <div>     Our every contact with an unbeliever is part of our probing of his defenses, readying our grappling hooks for the commencement of our ascent, surprising his offensive battery with the sincerity of our love for him.</div> <bR> <div>     Of course, when we have effectively wrecked all that he foolishly trusts in, the final assault must be made by God himself.  That core heart of unbelief needs <I>no defenses</I> to hold true to its creed.  In fact, left defenseless, it may shine in its brightest vindication, simply refusing to yield JUST BECAUSE.</div> <div>     For the wise man, the battle always "belonged to the Lord."  In the end, the destruction of anti-God arguments is as far as we can go.  The unbeliever's blood will no longer be on our <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >heads</FONT>.</div> <div>     Hopefully, his tragic condition will burden our <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >hearts</FONT>.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *****************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="489" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#663333 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:23</div> <div> <B>Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue </B></div> <div> <B>guards his soul from distresses. </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>     "Guards" is from the same Hebrew word both times, meaning "to hedge about". </div> <div>     "Distresses" is from a Hebrew word meaning "tightness", picturing a 'tight spot'.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Equated<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">Two guardianships</div> <bR> <div> The Two Guardianships:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Of one's mouth and tongue</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Of one's soul from difficulties</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     It's our mouth that gets us into trouble.</div> <div>     That's pretty much the message of today's proverb.</div> <div>     It does not say that the <I>only </I>trouble we invite is by our tongues, but that there are definite troubles that would <I>not </I>come our way if we would but control our speech.  This proposition should be worth serious consideration to anyone with half a brain.  </div> <div>     But something happened to us in the Fall.  It's as though we 'falled' on our heads and lost <I>more </I>than half the contents!  We feel a burning urge to emit a cutting remark.  We know that such urges have paid bitter dividends in the past, but our pride induces us to defend our honor at any cost.  No past dilemma is enough to impede us.  The part of our brain that has the brakes for our tongue must have been one of the casualties of the 'Crash'.</div> <div>     Our proverb today gives our brain a new <U>job description</U> for the repair of our damaged thinking:  <B>Prison Warden</B> over our tongues.  Yes, we can't let our tongues roam like free men.  They have to be treated with the caution exercised around hardened criminals.  We have to <I>assume </I>our tongues will <I>mis</I>speak unless we thwart them.  This is certainly James' view:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >James 3:7, 8</FONT>  For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of sea-animals, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind.  But <U>no one</U> can <U>tame</U> the tongue, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>it is</I></FONT> an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. </div> <bR> <div>     As we have seen from earlier proverbs, our <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>tongue </B></FONT>is pretty much <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>us</B></FONT>.  We don't have to plan what we're going to say, it just automatically comes out.  This is because speech is a product of our souls.  It is not a byproduct; it is a direct expression of our <I>selves</I>.</div> <div>     Therefore, to appoint ourselves prison warden over our own tongues is to become 'schizophrenic'; at least, it is to 'schism' (split) ourselves.  We are, of course, wonderfully enabled to do this without any damage to our psyche (Greek for "soul").  That is, we can be gum-chewing, jump-roping, tune-humming, head-nodding-to-someone's-question supermen by simple virtue of the mighty versatility God built into us.  It's just that most of us never activate an extra function of <B>Guardian </B>over our tongues.  Solomon is definitely telling us to do that today.</div> <div>     Otherwise, we will live a criminal's troubled life.  Solomon is describing a parallel 'society' that only the wise can see.  It parallels the larger society we all know and live in.  This smaller society is one in which we see tongues commit 'crimes' of arrogant speech, hurtful words, lies, etc., which are 'sentenced' to 'prison time' in various pits (the 'tight spots').  Ironically, we're all spending time in such pits all the time, but few of us will trace our troubles back to dumb or injurious things we said.  Few of us even recognize the <I>troubles </I>for what they are.</div> <div>     It is specifically our "souls" that are in tight spots, Solomon says.  Words cause trouble <I>within </I>ourselves and cause trouble to be invited on our souls from <I>without</I>.  </div> <div>     How many of the depression prescriptions that people take to numb their souls would be unnecessary if they only learned the causes and effects of mischievous speech?  But it's easier to blame others for our problems.</div> <div>     So we can protect an <I>inner </I>part of us by attention to a more <I>outward/ </I><I>interaction-with-the-world</I><I> </I>part.  A sentry over the tongue is a sentry over the soul.  Trials will still arrive from other sources, but how much of our lives would be uncomplicated if we simply kept conscious track of what we were saying, aware of how easily our tongues slip over into forbidden communications?!  </div> <div>     The dangers and difficulty of our task are reflected in Solomon telling us to guard both mouth <I>and </I>tongue.  He could have said one or the other, but with both he evokes an image of an initial defensive wall we man and then a secondary wall we are ready to retreat to- our adversary having overrun us so many times!</div> <bR> <div>     How likely is it that someone without a Prison Warden appointed- nay, invented!- over his tongue <I>yesterday </I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT>will gain one <I>today</I>?  Because we are creatures of habit, and our speech patterns, again, are automatic, it is very unlikely that we will feel the need to monitor ourselves.  We are used to ourselves, and we are not used to any extra 'employees' of the soul taking up our precious attention as they learn the ropes.  So, being realistic, if we had no warden yesterday, or if he only slept in his chair all day as usual, it is thoroughly unlikely that he will be newly enlisted or energized today.</div> <div>     If you want a warden- and you, of course, <I>are </I>the warden- you're just going to have to do the hard work of playing his part, doing his job.  You will be paid:  more than amply repaid for your efforts.</div> <div>     To be a bit more consistent with the warden analogy, the Christian sees his tongue as an inveterate criminal; he cries out to God the Holy Spirit to be prison warden over it, and he accepts direct guard duty from/ in the name of Jesus. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Psalm 141:3</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Set a watch, O Jehovah, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     If we do guard duty in the power of the Spirit (exercising His fruit, self-control), our habitual exercise leads us to the <I>opposite </I>of a tight place- to a "broad place" instead, where those walk who trust God and distrust self:</div> <bR> <div> <B>Psalm 31:8</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  and have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a broad place. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     When we <I>haven't</I> done our guard duty, at least we might think back the next time we're in a pickle:  "Was it something I said?"</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="412" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#660033 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:24</div> <div> <B>Proud, haughty scorner </B><I><B>is</B></I><B> his name, </B></div> <div> <B>he who deals in proud wrath. </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>     Both occurrences of "proud" are from a Hebrew root word meaning "to seethe". </div> <div>     The root of "haughty" is connected to the Hebrew word for "mountain".</div> <div>     Both of these words are used only here in Proverbs ("haughty" only one other time at all; "proud" mainly also in Psalm 119 of the enemies of the Word).</div> <bR> <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 scoffer</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Brazen, conceited mocker is his name</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Acts in seething anger</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     We have already seen the scoffer on seven occasions.  Now Solomon confirms the fixedness of this bad fellow's character by giving him a "name".  "Name" is not a common word for Solomon.  The scoffer is a guy with such a developed 'attitude' that he really stands out as a definite character type.  Here scorner/scoffer is his main name, with proud and haughty as further descriptions.</div> <bR> <div>     How does this kind of character develop in a man?  However it does, he eventually can't help thinking of himself as better than others.  Life has become a series of proofs at how inept everyone else is.  </div> <div>     He is naturally angry.  The incompetence of others angers him.  Their lack of cooperation with him angers him.  The cruelty of fate angers him when things don't go smashingly his own way.  He is a truly conceited fellow.  Having said all this, we have not discounted the very real possibility that he is a very 'nice guy'.  Also, he may not have a clue as to his own anger.</div> <div>     He is a cynic.  He is prone to sarcasm because nearly everything and everyone is an object of his scorn.</div> <div>     He is, of course, independent to an extreme.  The "fool" is the independent man in proverbs.  The scoffer is the <I>worst kind</I> of fool in that direction.</div> <div>     He is self-confident.  Again, this confidence is based mostly on his disdain for others.  He is not so concerned with his own actual productivity.  He only needs to remind himself that his <I>ideas </I>are better than everyone else's.  His ability to dub everyone else's work and ideas as dim-witted is proof aplenty to him that he is the superior one.  He is angry that no one recognizes that.  He is angry that he is forced to have to remind them of it from time to time.</div> <div>     He loves himself.  Another source of his anger, though, is that he is pretty much stuck with himself as meaningful company.  He might carry a pathetic toady in tow to laud and affirm him, but the shallowness of this person is yet another source for his anger.</div> <bR> <div>     How do we know this fellow?  He "deals in proud anger."  This anger may take the form of sulking.  It may take the form of derogatory remarks, seemingly in jest.  It may just take the form of refusal to change his mind.  </div> <div>     It may take the form of smiles.  This is perhaps his most dangerous manifestation.  In this mode, the angry scoffer may just be in camouflage, even to himself.  He also may be insinuating himself into a social setting for his later advantage.  Others have position, money, admiration.  He deserves it.  He'll get it or make those look bad who have it.  </div> <div>     He may want to befriend you just because he doesn't like you.  How better to take you down than at close quarters?  And, again, this may be totally intuitive on his part- no premeditation.  He may even really like you (and so be conflicted as well).</div> <bR> <div>     Doesn't he have anything better to do?  No.  Acts of malice are at once a repaying of 'life' for dealing him a lower hand than he deserved <I>and </I>a means of affirming his own superiority.  He can pull this off because he <I>is </I>better.  An indulgent parent may have taught him he is better.  A cruel parent may have wounded him into it.  He may simply have come to it mainly on his own.  However he got there, he's stuck there.</div> <div>     He has a name.  He has earned it.  He will in all likelihood die with it, as most men do with their names.</div> <div>     He <I>needs </I>to be named.  With a name, <I>we </I>are better able to uncover his covert misdeeds.  When we see someone impatient and self-important/self-absorbed, we might well begin to consider the presence of  pride, arrogance, and derision.</div> <bR> <div>     Hopefully by this man's description we can see why a Christian should never be characterized as angry.  A Christian, by definition, has come to terms with his shortcomings.  They are part of what God has mercifully covered.  </div> <div>     Our angry inability to deal with our shortcomings in relation to others and <I>their </I>shortcomings is a telling sign that we have never comprehended or come in contact with the covering and cleansing of Christ's blood.  Our inability to deal with all men kindly unto their edification is likewise such a sign.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="412" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#663333 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 126 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:25, 26</div> <div> The longing of the slothful kills him, </div> <div> for his hands have refused to work. </div> <div> He craves longingly all day; </div> <div> but the righteous gives and does not spare. <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>     "Longing" and "longingly" are from the same Hebrew word.  "Craves" is from the root word based on "longing" and "longingly".</div> <bR> <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 indolent</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The righteous</div> <bR> <div> The Descriptions of the One and the Other:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His yearning kills him  /  He desires longingly all day</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Gives and does not spare</div> <bR> <div> Reason the  indolent's yearning kills him:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His hands refuse to work</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     We have reached our first two-verse proverb.  Multiple-verse proverbs become quite common before too long.</div> <div>     We have run into the sluggard by this Hebrew tag five times before.</div> <div>     Solomon is treating the indolent as he did the scorner in the previous verse.  He is <I>piling descriptions</I> on him.  It is as though he deems us ready to make a really categorical assessment of him.  If we have identified him by now through his previous portrayals, we should relinquish a certain amount of diffidence in our thoughts and indulge some godly despite for him (Ps. 15:4).</div> <div>     Furthermore, Solomon wishes to tie the lazy man <I>to </I>the scorner because of their similarity.  The lazy man also is full of <B>pride</B>.  The conspicuous characteristic that is driving him is desire.  But why is his desire counterproductive?  Because it rules him.  He is totally geared to WANTING, <I>because </I>he thinks so highly of himself.  This arrogance is not really alongside his desire, it is almost <I>one with</I> his desire.  The two are nearly indistinguishable.</div> <div>     Yearning is certainly the quality Solomon wishes to emphasize in the lazy man.  He uses a term for longing three times.  Again, this yearning is simply a form of pride.  It is simply a way of saying, "I deserve", coupled with "and so I deserve <I>not </I>to work."  This is double pride!  </div> <div>     The apathy of the lazy man will usually not invite our pigeonholing him this way, for he often seems free of ambition- hence, free of pride.  But his apparent freedom from ambition is no indicator of the amount of desire within him.  He is <I>bursting </I>with desire, to the point that he has actually short-circuited himself by it (it "kills him").  </div> <div>     He is really a dangerous fellow given the right set of circumstances, because his constantly raging battle with himself can practically turn him into a warrior in his thoughts.  Coupled with his avarice, this could cause him to target those from whom he thinks he could steal, for instance, with little effort.</div> <div>     He <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >yearns longingly</FONT> all day, but the <B>same pride</B> feeding his longing feeds his stubborn <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >refusal to work</FONT>.  Why should he put himself to the same trouble as other people?  They're obviously ordinary compared to him.  He has his sights on higher objectives.  So this stubbon craver yearns but sits.  He is at war with himself.  He "kills" himself.</div> <div>     When someone like this shows up at work- and as often as not they <I>are </I>compelled into the work force-  they are a true bother.  They, of course, do not want to be <I>called </I>lazy or <I>thought of</I> as lazy, so they will have fits of energetic output.  But their basic nature will eventually allow <I>others </I>to do the tasks they feel they can sidestep without notice.  In fact, their calculating nature makes them good at leaving messes that will likely be laid at someone <I>else's </I>doorstep.</div> <bR> <div>     So the lazy man's double pride- "I deserve" (longing), and "I deserve rest" (refusal to work)- <B>kills </B>him.  He simply works against himself.  </div> <div>     He is killing himself <I>spiritually</I>, as his pride separates him far from God.  </div> <div>     He is killing himself <I>personally</I>, because, in his war against himself, he must always be at least partial loser.  </div> <div>     He is killing himself <I>socially</I>, because he has no interpersonal skills except those that manipulate others to his desires.  </div> <div>     He is killing himself <I>monetarily</I>, because he will always cut corners at work, and, crafty as he is, this will always catch up to him.</div> <bR> <div>     The Christian who is lathered up into a spiritual frenzy of desire for 'more of God' is, then, a prime candidate for a lazy man's sales pitch.  </div> <div>     "Here's your 1-2-3 method for getting more of God!"  In our day, he will likely be 'instructed' in how to obtain a certain spiritual gift.  Once he has received this exciting experience, he will no longer dwell on a plane with the lowly Christian mortals who toil along 'on their own power'.</div> <div>     Actually, the Christian running on Holy Spirit power is the one who is "diligent" to show himself approved to God, a "worker" whose work is "correctly cutting" the Word of Truth- taking the time to 'listen' to God by paying detailed attention to His revelation, the Scriptures (2 Tim. 2:15).</div> <div>     The diligent Christian is out of DESIRE mode, and into GIVING mode.  He doesn't measure his spiritual progress so much by his felt level of desire.  Rather, he measures his <B>desire </B>by how readily he <B>takes in</B> God's Word.  He then becomes a GIVER, sharing <I>what </I>he learns, and sharing his resources <I>because </I>he knows he has been recreated a servant.</div> <div>     So much of modern Christianity plays right into the hands of spiritual laziness.  It is assumed that if someone can just attain a flaming passion for God, this is the highest level of spirituality.  Rather, we should suspect this as 'all desire and no fulfillment'.  The boring activity of Bible study becomes an insurmountable hurdle to the newly impassioned Christian.  Or his passion flavors his Bible study for a few days, <I>then </I>it becomes humdrum, and he assumes he needs another shot of passion.</div> <div>     Every Christian eventually finds a gear in which he does most of life's driving.  The 'passionate' Christian simply forsakes the lower plain on the assumption that that <I>can't be</I> the real experience of God.  <I>He </I>didn't find God that way.  So his moments of passion eventually become his proof that he doesn't have to go back to 'boring-ville'.  He then categorizes Bible-studying Christians as 'lower-tier'.  This prideful allegation is just a 'Christian' manifestation of the laziness our verse exposes.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ****************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="497" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#663300 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:27</div> <div> The sacrifice of the immoral <I>is</I> abominable, </div> <div> how much more <I>when</I> he brings it with an evil intent! </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Evil intent" is from a Hebrew word usually used in contexts where something beyond the normal categorization of evil is being described.</div> <bR> <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 sacrifice of the unrighteous</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Abominable</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">More so when offered as part of some scheme</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is the second time Solomon has told us this.  The first was in chapter 15,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 15:8</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  The sacrifice of the immoral </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >a hateful thing to Jehovah, but the prayer of the upright </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >His delight. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This time, the sacrifice is just plain hateful.  Its refusal by God is assumed.</div> <div>     Obviously, Solomon's purpose this time is to take the thought one step further.   There is an even <I>greater </I>abomination this time- for the lawless to bring worship to God with <I>ulterior motives</I>.</div> <bR> <div>     Let us settle it in our minds once more:  the wicked <I>do </I>bring worship to God.  They- the ones under consideration- <I>choose </I>to bring worship.  And they assume that their worship is acceptable.</div> <div>     Consider the immoral fellows of the last two proverbs.  The scorner and the lazy are as likely to offer worship as anyone.  They are certainly examples of those whose worship is unacceptable to God.  They are also good examples of those who could bring worship with impious motives.</div> <bR> <div>     Cain is probably the definitive example of presumptuous offering.</div> <div>     Notice this.  Cain knew God.  God talked to him.  Cain had definite interaction with God.  Yet he was not a child of God.  Therefore, children of the devil can frequent God's sanctuary.  God doesn't bar them at the door.  But their freedom to enter does not imply the approval of their presence.</div> <div>     It is not so clear that Cain is the definitive example of bringing an offering with fraudulent intent.  Cain does not appear to have been playing some particular angle in bringing his offering.  He was bringing it self-righteously, with the assumption that he would be accepted.  But all hypocrites do that.  </div> <div>     Perhaps Cain harbored debauched motives in bringing less than his best.  But it seems that hypocrites <I>generally </I>do that as well.  Cain merely failed to offer his best.  Some hypocrites go even further than that:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Mal 1:8</FONT>  And if you offer the blind for sacrifice, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is it</I></FONT> not evil? And if you offer the lame and the sick, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is it</I></FONT> not evil? Bring it now to your governor. Will he accept you, or lift up your face, says Jehovah of Hosts? </div> <bR> <div>     Here God specifically indicts the Israelites in general for the trespass described in our proverb.</div> <div>     How about the Scribes' long prayers?  Long prayers in themselves are not sinful.  Check out Jesus' prayer in John 17.  But the Scribes had a particular intent when they prayed:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Mark 12:40</FONT>  who devour widows' houses, and <U>as a pretense</U> make long prayers. These shall receive greater condemnation. </div> <bR> <div>     The word for "pretense" literally means "outward showing".  This kind of religious worship, done to impress onlookers, is certainly worship brought with wicked intent- not wicked by the worshiper's count!- but wicked in God's eyes.  </div> <div>     What if they had a warm feeling in their heart when they prayed?  What if they humbly wept?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Mal 2:13</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  And this </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >a second </FONT><I>thing</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >you have done, covering the altar of Jehovah </FONT><I>with</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >tears, weeping, and groaning</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     In the worshiper's estimate, his greatest personal sincerity towards God may be offered; yet God can still see it for the most vile offense:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 78:35 - 37</FONT>  And they remembered that God <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>was</I> </FONT>their rock, and the Most High God was their redeemer.  But they <U>flattered Him</U> with their mouths, and they lied to Him with their tongues.  For their heart was not right with Him, neither were they faithful in His covenant. </div> <bR> <div>     God merely has to look at the terms of the covenant.  "I said <I>do </I>this.  If you loved Me as much as you say, you'd do it.  I said <I>don't</I> do this.  If you were as 'on fire' for Me as you pretend, you wouldn't be doing it."</div> <bR> <div>     And so God abominates- hates and rejects- them, their motives, and their religious offerings.</div> <bR> <div>     Could we all not find some outright trespass we commit before God's face in worship if we merely thought on it? Should not the very possibility make us tremble?</div> <div>     Can we see what devils we carry in our hearts into worship?  Secret delights or fast-lodged grudges that we lay aside momentarily with every intent of resuming them when coming out the other end of worship?</div> <div>     Think of your best attributes as a servant and worshiper of God.  Will not these chief qualities be turned to dung by your proud admiration of them?  And could not this admiration be a sin oh-so-subtle!  </div> <div>     Might we not turn on the quietest of hinges from true worshipper to false?</div> <bR> <div>     Ironically, it is the man whose sacrifice is acceptable, not abominable- who brings it with sincere, not evil intent- who will actually inventory himself for trespasses, devilish motives, lusts, grudges, and self-righteousness.  God's acceptance of him coincides with God's intrusion into his conscience.  Confrontations like this devotion are such intrusions.  The immoral have no love for them.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ****************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="443" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66334C > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:28</div> <div> A lying witness will disappear, </div> <div> But the listening man speaks definitively. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Definitively" is from a Hebrew word and prefix meaning "to the goal", usually rendered "forever" in this verse.  One paraphrase says the listening man "has the last word."</div> <div>     The "listening man" is "the man who hears."  "Hears" and "obeys" are the same in Hebrew.</div> <div>     This is the only time Solomon calls the false witness a "lying" witness.</div> <bR> <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 lying witness</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The man who obeys</div> <bR> <div> Their Differing Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will be wiped out</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will speak <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>so as</I></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" > </FONT>to endure</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>      Solomon's concern for the ninth commandment in general and man's testimony in particular continues in this proverb.  This is the eighth proverb on 'witness' that we will have dealt with.</div> <div>     The contrast today helps to form a very broad picture of the <I>false witness</I>, as it contrasts him, not to another kind of speaker, but to a <I>listener</I>.</div> <bR> <div>     The "man who hears" is an opposite of a lying witness.  He is first of all opposite in that he "hears / obeys" God.  Once we have said someone is a lying witness, we know he does not hear or obey God.</div> <div>     A lying witness, like any other kind of transgressor, is basically <I>deaf</I>.  He does not heed any sounds outside himself.  The only voice of authority he hears is <I>his own</I>.  He may affirm some other creature as an object of worship, but that is only an extension of his <I>self</I>-worship.  He approves of the idol, and he approves it because a creature like himself is being worshipped in place of the Creator.</div> <div>     The man who hears has finally had the healer pass his way.  Like the deaf-mute Mark records, he can finally both hear and speak:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Mark 7:32 - 35</FONT>  And they brought a deaf one to Him, hardly speaking. And they begged Him to put <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>His</I> </FONT>hand on him.  And He took him aside from the crowd and put His fingers into his ears. And He spat and touched his tongue.  And looking up to Heaven, He sighed and said to him, Ephphatha! (that is, <U>Be opened</U>!)  And instantly his <U>ears</U> were opened and the bond of his <U>tongue</U> was loosened, and he spoke plainly. </div> <bR> <div>     This is a strangely complicated case.  Jesus obviously intended to signify some particular truths by the steps He went through in this healing.  </div> <div>     One noteworthy factor is the very personal way Jesus dealt with the man.  It seems to be picturing the great depth of isolation deafness imposes.  Jesus had to 'go into' the man's ear.  He had to craft the man a new tongue (give it new ability) with saliva from His own mouth.</div> <div>     So each of us is spiritually deaf from birth, from conception.  Because of this, we cannot hear God speaking.  Consequently, we are all liars, rejecting His command that we must testify only truth.</div> <div>     When Jesus comes to us, healing us, He grants to us for the first time listening ears.  These are our primary connection to our Creator.  Now we can hear Him.  Now we can know Him.  Now what <I>we speak</I> can be the truth.  </div> <bR> <div>     The lying witness can only perish.  He opposes His Maker and Judge.  The listening witness speaks "to victory", as the Hebrew word is sometimes translated.  The liar is always trying to gain a personal advantage through his speech.  The listening man seeks no advantage, only the privilege of repeating the truth; yet he will end up victorious, with every personal advantage there is!</div> <bR> <div>     Concerning the other nuance of the hearing man's speech being "toward the goal", not only will his speech <I>not </I>be cut off as the liar's will, but his words are <I>not devious</I> as the liar's are.</div> <div>     The hearing man speaks "definitively".  He does not have to craft his words to make himself look good; he already acknowledges he's a sinner.  He doesn't have to shape his sentences to lean a situation toward his benefit; he just speaks the truth and lets God take care of the rewarding.  </div> <div>     He speaks definitively in that he finally knows what words are all about.  He knows how men, including himself, naturally speak, and he has risen above that by God's grace.  So he uses words to mirror reality:  the reality of God's existence, of our requirement to glorify Him; the reality of our sinfulness- so our retreat from flattery; the reality of men's sorrows- so our need to build them up with life-giving encouragements.</div> <bR> <div>     Are your words spoken "so as to endure"?</div> <div>     Or do you simply shape your speech to your own benefit?</div> <div>     Even religious speech can be used for personal advantage.  This is probably the worst form of lying.</div> <div>     Let us cut off deceitful, self-serving testimony; for if we do not, it will surely cut us off.  Every lie insures some kind of death.  How sad when a living man consigns some part of his life to perish because he speaks from his old deaf tongue.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *******************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="sept_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="443" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66334C > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 21:29</div> <div> The lawless man is stern of countenance; </div> <div> But as for the upright, he establishes his ways.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Stern of countenance" is from a Hebrew phrase literally meaning "strengthens in face."  Most translations have "hardens his face."</div> <bR> <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 transgressor</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The upright</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions Respectively:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is bold of face</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Directs his way</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is a proverb contrasting <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>appearance </B></FONT>with <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>reality</B></FONT>.  The contrast is heightened in that the appearance looks like it <I>is </I>the reality, and the reality is hardly, if at all, noticeable to men.</div> <div>     The <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>appearance </B></FONT>is in the transgressor's resolute expression.  Remember, the transgressor is not someone who calls <I>himself </I>that.  He is known as transgressor only to those who acknowledge God's law.  So he may be a very moral man in his own mind and in the mind of the community.  Pharisees were moralists who were transgressors.</div> <div>     The <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>reality </B></FONT>is in the upright man's manner of life.</div> <bR> <div>     So the transgressor <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><I><B>looks </B></I></FONT>settled, but the upright <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><I><B>is </B></I></FONT>settled.</div> <div>     The transgressor not only appears settled and firm, but this is his goal.  He wants to display his confidence.  So we see that in this life and to those belonging to this world, appearance is everything.  The ability to look good to others is really the whole game.  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calisto MT" ><B>Appearance passes for reality</B></FONT>.  This is why Paul can use the phraseology:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Cor 7:31</FONT>  ... the <U>appearance of this world</U> is passing away. </div> <bR> <div>     Here Paul is giving instructions on the proper use of the world around us.  It cannot be used properly if it is treated as permanent.  It must be held lightly.  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >The whole world system is based on an agreed illusion</FONT>.  Everyone joins together in treating the world as a permanent fixture, as the reality with which we all exclusively have to do.  </div> <div>     Christians are never in an apparent position to disagree, because <I>our </I>world is not here yet.  We await the real world in faith.  We live in this world of appearance <I>as </I>our homes like everyone else.  That's why the unbelievers can smugly tell us that reality is what's here and now; religion only deals with things that <I>might </I>be.</div> <div>     Solomon joins Paul in admonishing us to understand which world is real.  He uses as his proof of the world's transience the godless man's need for pretense.  The ungodly emboldens his look because in his universe you can get by on facade.</div> <div>     This is not to say that everything in the transgressor's possession is pretend.  He may have real wealth to aid his facade, but his money is still only part of the world's <I>imaginarily </I>permanent setting.  Money is assumed to be permanent like everything else.  The self-assured man will certainly add to his confident expression with lots of money in the bank because of the esteem he and everyone else have for money.</div> <div>     But Solomon is reminding us and instructing our faith that the only real permanence, the only real solidity, is in respecting God's law.  That is uprightness.</div> <div>     The ungodly can only strengthen his appearance; the godly man can strengthen his whole way of life: "He erects his roads."</div> <div>     The mature Christian directs his entire existence as he walks God's path.  The worldly man can only direct his facial features and body language as he struts in view of the barnyard.</div> <div>     Truly, the Christian has a fine balancing act in his attitude toward things.  He must think of the world as something like a barnyard, thus making its chief celebrities ridiculous roosters jutting their necks out like serpent's strikes.  Yet he must treat the roosters with respect and bow to minister the gospel to them as their servant.</div> <bR> <div>     The unbeliever has no choice but to harden his face.  This is the only resolve he has.  He has no other assurance that things will turn out well.  The world system promises to back him up if he plays the game by its rules, but frankly, he's seen the world leave its devotees empty and broken.  Still, what are his alternatives?</div> <div>     Therefore, on an individual level, we can afford to be quite compassionate, even to the most pretentious and rude of them.  Yes, they freely choose to walk the world's path.  It <I>is </I>the world's fraudulent glory they seek.  But in the meantime, somewhere down in there is a very insecure bit of poultry that can plainly see that even the family dog rules more of the barnyard than he does.</div> <bR> <div>     As to our own resolve:  We have every right to be confident.  But ours is the confidence of a servant.  It is not <I>we </I>who have everything under control, it is our <I>Master  </I>who does.  But if He does control all, and we are under His guidance, our way is as established as eternity itself.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>