Posted by Jeff Short on July 7, 2016 · 1 Comment
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
– Proverbs 3:6
Acknowledge means to know or be aware of but also has a relational aspect to it that conveys fellowship. We are to acknowledge the Lord from verse 5 and do so in all of our ways. If we are to have fellowship with God in all our ways, then we must be walking in wisdom and not leaning on our own understanding. We must be in agreement with him in our ways. When we do this, he directs our paths. To direct is to make plain and the intention is that the Lord will make plain the way we should go. When we trust in the Lord, lean not on our own understanding, and acknowledge him in all our ways, then he makes the way plain before us. Making straight, or making plain, the way is contrasted with the crooked and perverse ways of the wicked also presented in Proverbs.
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 6, 2016 · 1 Comment
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
– Proverbs 3:5
Trust and lean both point to being fully supported. It indicates a full reliance and not just a little help or aid. Our full reliance and full confidence is to be in the Lord and his wisdom. Solomon warns that we have a natural inclination and tendency (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25), but we are to abandon that for the heavenly wisdom. Paul speaks similarly that the natural mind has a bent and needs to be renewed (Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 3:10; Romans 12:2).
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 5, 2016 · 1 Comment
So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
– Proverbs 3:4
Solomon gives the result of binding mercy and truth about your neck and writing them on your heart or mind. Favor is grace and understanding is discretion, some say success. This verse reinforces that mercy and truth have to do with personal relations. The qualities of wisdom make a man well received in general. The sight of God and man teaches that no one needs to advertise they have wisdom. It will be apparent to others. Solomon elsewhere reminds us that the wise don’t always find lasting favor (Ecclesiastes 9:15).
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 4, 2016 · 1 Comment
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
– Proverbs 3:3
Mercy and truth are often paired together and expressed of God’s faithfulness to his promises. In a sense the terms have to do with relation to man. Here they stand for uprightness in relation to our fellow man. Mercy is a selfless love and faithfulness. It is sometimes translated as steadfast love. Truth is opposed to falsehood and hypocrisy. It is for what is right. These are expressive of the integrity brought to one’s life by wisdom.
Solomon exhorts to not let them forsake or fail. In order to this, he commands them bound about your neck and written upon the table of your heart. The intent is not a literal writing or binding of the words on one’s body, but that they become a part of you through wisdom. Let them enter through wisdom and ever be a part of your character.
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 3, 2016 · 1 Comment
For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
– Proverbs 3:2
These are blessings of wisdom. This is a general truism. It doesn’t guarantee that every individual who is wise lives a long life on the earth. Solomon reminds in Ecclesiastes that advantage and prosperity are not always to the wise (Ecclesiastes 9:11). However, this is the general trend of wisdom. One who walks in wisdom generally avoids the pitfalls of folly that end life early for those who walk that way. Beside this, the days, whatever number, of the wise are generally in peace, which points to safety and a contented happiness. The one who dwells in wisdom is generally at peace with neighbors and family and not dwelling in a continual state of agitation and strife.
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 2, 2016 · 1 Comment
Chapter 3 exhorts us in the study of truth. Unquestionably, God gives wisdom and is the source of it, but that is not a shortcut. Study is not excluded because we ask wisdom from God. He has given us means of obtaining wisdom and we are to seek wisdom through those. This chapter teaches us some of the practical means of obtaining wisdom and some of the practical effects of wisdom. We learn here that walking in wisdom is walking with God. The chapter ends with the contrasted destinies of the righteous and the wicked.
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
– Proverbs 3:1
Verses 1-10 urge a full and joyful commitment to wisdom so that we do not lean on our own understanding but trust fully in the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6). The latter verses of this section illustrate the evidence of such a commitment to wisdom and the fruit produced by it. It gives us the picture of a happy and quiet life.
Verse 1 continues the fatherly directions to his son. He admonishes his son to “forget not” and to “keep”. The word for forget means to mislay something. It has the idea of losing something through lack of attention and care. The word for keep means to guard and to watch so as to preserve. In a sense the words are opposites of one another. Solomon tells his son to commit to this and be deliberate about guarding it so you don’t lose it.
The son is to guard the “law” and “commandments” of his father. The word for law means a teaching or instruction. It commonly refers to the law given to Moses or even the Pentateuch as a whole. Here it is the law of the father, or the wisdom he teaches through inspiration of the Spirit that applies the law to the individual. Commandments are commands and, taken with law, encompasses the whole of divine instruction. This brings us back to the Word of God and that there is no obtaining and keeping of wisdom apart from God’s Word.
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 1, 2016 · 1 Comment
But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
– Proverbs 2:22
Chapter 2 closes with drawing attention to the two ways. One way is a way of wisdom and of life. The other is the way of folly and of death. This verse continues the reference to Israel and the law. Just as the righteous will inherit the promises, the wicked will be cut off from the inheritance of Israel. More generally here, it is that the wicked and transgressors will be cut off from the blessings and promises of wisdom. They will not enter into life. Wicked means a guilty person and is sometimes translated ungodly. Transgressor means someone unfaithful or treacherous. It relates to interpersonal relations and points to a person who deals deceitfully. The result is the same for both—no part in the life to come.
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Posted by Jeff Short on June 30, 2016 · 1 Comment
For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
– Proverbs 2:21
Wisdom literature is the application of God’s law on a personal and individual level. Dwelling in the land and remaining in the land hearken back to the blessings for Israel (Deuteronomy 11:8). Passages such as Leviticus 26 enumerate blessings and cursings for Israel. If they walk in God’s way, they inherit the blessings. If they forsake God’s way, they inherit the curses. It is here more generally for the obtaining of the blessings through wisdom. Of course, wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7), includes repentance (Proverbs 1:23), and continues in God’s way (Proverbs 1:33). This verse gives consequence for walking in “the way of good men” and keeping “the paths of the righteous.”
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Posted by Jeff Short on June 29, 2016 · 1 Comment
That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
– Proverbs 2:20
Verses 20-22 provide a summary conclusion of what has gone before. This verse ties back to the earlier verses about seeking wisdom and the rewards when we find it. Beginning in verse 12, we are told what wisdom keeps us from and here what wisdom keeps us to. Rather than going in the various ways of evil men and strange women, wisdom puts us in the way of good men and the paths of the righteous. Solomon will have more to say about companions explicitly, but we have already seen enough to know who our companions are is important.
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Proverbs 3:6
Posted by Jeff Short on July 7, 2016 · 1 Comment
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Acknowledge means to know or be aware of but also has a relational aspect to it that conveys fellowship. We are to acknowledge the Lord from verse 5 and do so in all of our ways. If we are to have fellowship with God in all our ways, then we must be walking in wisdom and not leaning on our own understanding. We must be in agreement with him in our ways. When we do this, he directs our paths. To direct is to make plain and the intention is that the Lord will make plain the way we should go. When we trust in the Lord, lean not on our own understanding, and acknowledge him in all our ways, then he makes the way plain before us. Making straight, or making plain, the way is contrasted with the crooked and perverse ways of the wicked also presented in Proverbs.– Proverbs 3:6
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