Day #159

Sermon - Audio
Proverbs 13-15 - Audio
Proverbs 13-15- Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

• 13.1: Heeds his father’s instruction The introduction to chapter 13 reminds us of the prologue (chapters 1-9) in which the father instructs his son in the ways of wisdom. The wise son is the one who listens to and learns the ways of wisdom. 13.1 and the prologue highlight the responsibilities of parents and children within a covenant community. The parent’s responsibility is to teach while the youth’s responsibility is to heed the parent’s teaching (see Deut. 6.4-8)
• 13.4: Craves and gets nothing The life of a lazy person is one filled with unrealized dreams and unrecognized responsibility. The consequence of this type of life is the inability to find joy/satisfaction in life.
• 13.11: Dishonest Money The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about our money. One of the things it warns against is gaining money dishonestly. Wealth and interaction within the economic realm is not banned nor looked down upon within proverbs, but the writer makes it clear that ones wealth/interaction in the economic realm must be done with wisdom.
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• 14.1: This verse in the NIV speaks of the “wise woman”, in reality the word “woman” is a plural and so should read, “The wisest of women build her house”. The idea is that women are following the ways of Lady Wisdom as they build their houses. Such building is not literal house construction, but building of families and communities (even as Lady Wisdom’s house is the cosmos). While wise women build houses of wisdom, folly seeks to destroy those houses.
• 14.3: Our words can bring about their own punishment.
• 14.5: This verse seems to tell us the obvious, but in doing so it is a call for us to be discerning in whose words we trust. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (a book by C.S. Lewis) the professor asks Peter and Susan who is most likely to tell the truth--Edmund or Lucy. Lucy has told about entering a land called Narnia but that there is another land that one enters through the wardrobe seems outrageous. This proverb would ask, “Whose word do you trust?”, follow that word.
• 14.10: We can’t really know another person’s pain. Again, knowing this allows those who are seeking to offer comfort to not give trite phrases or say that they know how the person is feeling. The proper response is to listen and discern the person’s heart as best possible and then remain silent or speak only the most carefully chosen words.
• 14.12: This proverbs warns about self-deception. Even the wise can become self-deceived-which is why it is important to have wise counselors.
• 14.20-21: These two proverbs form a pair. The writer tells the reality that people despise the poor and seek to get close to the rich. The writer, then, tells us how it should be telling us that such behavior is sinful and what God desires is for us to be generous to the poor. The first proverb reflects the way of the fool, the second the way of one who fears the LORD.
• 14.34: Moral character is not just for individuals it is also to be the reality of nations. God’s word to Israel that as they lived faithfully before him they would be lifted up. However, when a nation lacks righteousness God will bring it down. The book of Hosea speaks of “making idols for our own destruction” meaning that when nations follow after idols (power, nationalism, etc.) that they will be destroyed.
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• Proverbs 15 concludes the first part of Solomon’s collection of wisdom sayings. The next section of Proverbs will look at the reality that at times the righteous do not do well and following God does not make things go perfectly.
• 15.6: Treasure is a word that indicate resources saved over time. Income reflects “the next paycheck”. A wise person stores up treasure to weather the difficult days. A fool lives paycheck to paycheck. An interesting contrast to this picture is that of Jesus who because of his call has no place to lay his head. Likewise, Paul often goes hungry as he pursues the work of God.
• 15.11: The idea that we might be able to hide our actions and our hearts from God is just plain silly.
• 15.25: While a widow, one of the weakest members of that society, should be the one who is most in danger of losing what is hers (having someone move her boundaries is a way of saying that her land is being stolen) she is in fact protected while the wicked will be brought down.