An Interesting Breakdown Of Solomon's Wisdom In The Proverbs

An Interesting Breakdown Of Solomon's Wisdom In The Proverbs
 

Everyone who reads the Bible cover to cover goes through the proverbs and assumes Solomon was the author of this Old Testament book, but in actuality, Solomon was the author of most, but the latter was written selectios by a committee designated by decree of king Hezekiah, and Agur wrote chapter 30, while Lemuel wrote chapter 31. Nonetheless, flawless wisdom in 24 areas of behavior of man is contained in this work, and in alphabetic order, the proverbs address: Adultery, anger, borrowing and usury, bribes, chastening, death and Sheol, discipline, drunkeness, enemies, family life, fear, food, fools, gossip, love, being poor, pride, riches, sin, sleep, sluggardness, paths of behavior followed, wives, and wisdom. Let's look at some that should really be addressed in today's economy, shall we?

Adultery is rampant in today's society, and the television's soap operas have fueled the homebound housewife's boredom to believe that it is permissable, and that getting caught and divorce are not that big of a deal. Divorce is made out to look as though it isn't even as difficult and a bother as it truly is, and proverbs is timeless in its advice. "My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts." (Prov. 6:20 - 35) While the woman is not the one being given advice to, yet the men are! Solomon apparently holds it that a man needs bear the brunt of moral fiber and keep his pants on, and resist the seduction in wisdom, and he also mentions how the husband will feel when he finds out!

Borrowing - "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." (Prov. 22:7) People appear to have lost their senses in this age. When a person borrows money, particularly from a loan shark operation out of a business front that one can find in every city, they refuse to see that they are willingly ensnaring themselves and making themselves appear desperate to the point they will enslave themselves to the lender, and the more money they borrow, the worse it is, starting with the high rate of interest! One puts themselve into servitude in that they must agree to the terms put forth in the borrowing, and the lender has the upper hand. They command the borrower on what interest they will pay, what day they must pay it, and it is normal to collect collateral, even their car's title! It is also typical that the borrower feel themselves required to borrow again, and a larger amount the next time, and the cycle eventually gets out of control to the point they bankrupt themselves! Borrowing only leads to more severe poverty than the day it starts!

"Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die." (Prov. 23:12 - 13) - Child protective services is probably the greatest function of spoilage of the American child in this age. The bible says here to whip that child's bottom with a rod, not to merely spank them with your hand. And the heathen public school system has been known to have a number of teachers tell the children that if their parents do the biblically correct thing regarding disciplining them for bad behavior, they should call this agency, as though responders to a phone call will guarantee further spoilage of them. And this to the teacher's hurt, because the children will learn they can rebel against the parents, and the teachers, too, as the parent sue the teachers for what the parents believe is wrongful interaction with their "wonderful child". No country is using wisdom when it contradicts what the bible says.

"Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again." (Prov. 23:31 - 35) Drunkeness is at somewhat of a low now, particularly the drivers getting taken off the road in America, but now they're passing laws about marijuana, so there's a new inebriation problem police will have to figure out. In any case, intoxication of any kind is unwise, because judgment is perverted and impaired by imbibing in the practice, and on top of that, one who gets drunk or stoned is polluting the temple of the Holy Ghost! "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. 6:19 - 20)

While Solomon didn't greatly expound on what he meant in this next verse, it certainly makes one want to read the whole Bible to discover every way that pleases the Lord. "When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." (Prov. 16:7) I could write a long Bible study on ways to please the Lord, don't you think? Basically, loving your neighbor as yourself, even if your neighbor is your enemy, would certainly be a key component to gaining peace with those who make themselves your enemies at the beginning.

Prov. 31:10 - 31 says much concerning how a "trophy wife" is like in her daily behavior. Rather than give a long reading, I'll just say a good wife is industrious toward the good of her family's welfare, she is charitable toward those in need, she guards what comes off her tongue, raises her children rightly, and her husband praises her for the way she is. If the husband behave in like manner, a long joyful marriage is surely in store for such a match!

You know, some proverbs do double duty in a single verse! Take this one; it speaks on fear and fools simultaneously! "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Prov. 1:7) Every believer has a reverent fear of the Lord and what He can do, and they are a fool who does not fear Him, demonstrating in being so blind to salvation and their need of it. An unbeliever is a fool, and stiffnecked against all His witnesses, unless the Holy Spirit remove their blindness! Jesus said this about when to wisely be afraid with fear: "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28)

Gossip has got to be the clearest example of man's poor use of the tongue. "An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire. A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends." (Prov. 16:27 - 28) It is next to impossible to do damage control once the tongue has let loose its poison. One might as well have been bitten by a Japanese habu, known as a one-stepper. They are reputed to be able to bite a person, they take one step, and die from envenomization! If I say the wrong thing to someone, even a friend, they can take offense and I may never see them again! Gossip with any negative attributes to what is being said will always be damaging to those being spoken of when it finally gets recited back to them, and whatever reaction comes about is unknown to they who spread the gossip until they who are spoken of hear it! When thinking on this, doesn't it seem foolish and foolhardy to be a gossip?

"Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich." (Prov. 28:6) One could expound on the meaning of this single verse with many words! The poor man who earns an honest meager living has peace in his life compared to the rich man who got his wealth in a perverse or corrupt manner. The poor man will sleep well each night, while the rich man will toss and turn on occasion in worry of what he has done to achieve his wealth backfiring and bringing him to ruin for his ill-getting of gain. Who do you suppose sleeps better, an embezzler or a ditch digger?

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud." (Prov. 16:18 - 19) A proud person will cut off their nose to spite their face is the clich`e I have heard since I was young. A proud old woman might let her house get dirty rather than admit to friends she needs help getting it clean, and then get sick more often because of allergens in the dust of the house. How rare is it that a scam artist be proud of their haul at the expense of their victims? And if they should brag on themselves to the wrong person in their pridefulness, they will surely come to destruction from the loosening of their tongue! Righteous godly living should always include the absence of prideful boasting.

"Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death." (Prov. 11:4) "The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit." (Prov. 18:11) The rich imagine that their wealth can protect them throughout life, but then, when their life is near its end, who's wealth does it become, for they can't take it with them, nor does it save them from the wrath they deserve for unrighteous living, even the unrighteous manner in which they acquired their wealth! Nobody can buy God. Even if one found a way to bring it with them, it all belongs to God to start with; did not He create it? True riches is the wisdom found in the scriptures, and obeying God's commandments and statutes as best as one can, now these are TRUE RICHES!

Solomon went to various aspects of sin when he gave forth his wisdom surrounding it. "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." (Prov. 14:34) "The LORD hath made all things for Himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." (Prov. 16:4) "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" (Prov. 20:9) He wrote of localized sin, as attributed to a nation of people, whether they be righteous or sinful. Other nations, let alone God, see a people for how they are. For example, even now peoples in the Middle East look at America with disdain for their perverse entanglement with homosexuality and gay marriage, and they think the entire nation involved in the sin, and the minority righteous must often defend their personal reputation against their nation. Solomon also addressed sin on a cosmopolitan level, because every sinner, regardless of where they live and commit endless sinfulness, God will judge every one of them on His day set aside for such purpose. The last example from Proverbs I gave was an inward inspection in that Solomon provokes us to look at our lives introspectly even on a monthly basis, we will never find ourselves sinless, provided we are being honest with ourselves.

"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man." (Prov. 6:6 - 11) What wisdom Solomon used, in that we could take to heart the clich`e "early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise", just as the ant indeed rises early to work at first light, and is found no more, except in her nest at the setting of the sun. Even more covert wisdom is here in that Solomon gives the gender of the ant "her", and indeed, worker and soldier ants are modified females - ask another entomologist if you don't believe me, as this was my job for 20 years in the military. Solomon also addresses sleep, as one who seeks it much too often misses out on important things, like keeping their job! Sluggardly living is for someone who is able to find enjoyment in poverty!

As one gets old enough, one notices that the majority are without wisdom, and in many areas where one can display wisdom, many have no facet of it. Wisdom is not only in the experiences of the elderly, nor is it only resulting in success and wealth. Wisdom is found throughout the Bible, and wise are they who heed and apply it! It is true that we should seek it early, because if we apply it from the beginning of our lives, we may be rich in more than the material sense toward our latter days! "Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, 'How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." (Prov. 1:20 - 31)

Then finally there's the wife; As this is lengthy already, I will just give the chapter and verses; Prov. 31:10 - 31 describes the "trophy wife", a wife whose daily life is full of wise behavior and this to her credit. She behaves with honor and dignity, and for her reward is this description!

Finally, we have covered most of facets of wise versus foolish living that can be found in this wonderful Old Testament book. One who heeds this displays much wisdom, wouldn't you say?