Posted by Jeff Short on June 6, 2016 · 1 Comment
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
– Proverbs 1:30
Wisdom reiterates the reproof from verse 25 and provides explanation for the judgment to come in the next verse. It highlights the active refusal of wisdom by the fools who go their own way. This is a display of man’s depravity that he will only of himself choose sin and folly.
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Posted by Jeff Short on June 5, 2016 · 1 Comment
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
– Proverbs 1:29
Fools actively reject wisdom. It is foolishness to them. This is in explanation of the previous two verses. Though wisdom cries long, there comes a time when she cannot be found. This verse describes the hardened, obstinate sinner who hated knowledge and refused to fear God. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and no one starts in wisdom but they start there (Proverbs 1:7). By refusing the fear of the Lord, they show they try to come some other way, but none is found.
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Posted by Jeff Short on June 4, 2016 · 1 Comment
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
– Proverbs 1:28
Though wisdom cries in the streets and bids the wayward turn at reproof, there is a time when it is too late. Fools were pictured as refusing wisdom and now are pictured as seeking for it early. Seeking it early conveys the thought of earnestness or diligence. This is not repentance but a desire to be delivered from the consequences of their own folly. No amount of seeking or calling will avail when it is too late.
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Posted by Jeff Short on June 3, 2016 · 1 Comment
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
– Proverbs 1:27
Fear expresses alarm. Desolation, destruction, whirlwind, distress, and anguish point to suddenness and confusion. A part of the suddenness of a fool’s calamity is that it comes unlooked for. A fool thinks not too far ahead and doesn’t think they will come to ruin. It’s beyond question these will come upon the fool. It’s only a matter of time.
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Posted by Jeff Short on June 2, 2016 · 1 Comment
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
– Proverbs 1:26
This verse continues from the previous one. God laughing at their calamity is an expression of just judgment (Psalm 2:1-4; 37:12-13). The picture is clear. Wisdom has long cried to the simple and the fools to turn at her reproof. Wisdom has long warned of the destruction that waits at the end of folly’s road. Yet, the fools, the simple, the scorners have refused wise counsel and went on their own way. When they come to the end of that way, they will want to escape the dread consequences but God will not hear their cries then. The call to forsake folly and embrace wisdom is an urgent one.
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Posted by Jeff Short on June 1, 2016 · 1 Comment
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
– Proverbs 1:25
To “set at nought” is to dismiss or to refuse as worthless. “Would none of” means not willing. The picture is once again drawn of fools who lack wisdom because they do not want it. They despise wisdom and count it foolishness. This must be kept in mind when the proceeding verses spell out the calamities that come on the fools. They are reaping what they have sown.
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Posted by Jeff Short on May 30, 2016 · 1 Comment
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
– Proverbs 1:24
Wisdom has called and, from verse 22, has long called. Wisdom has stretched out the hand, which is a token of sincerity. But this has been refused and gone without regard. These last few verses set up the verses to the end of the chapter, which make plain the consequences upon the simple, scorners, and fools is deserved. They have refused and deliberately ignored wisdom to their own destruction.
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Posted by Jeff Short on May 29, 2016 · 1 Comment
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
– Proverbs 1:23
Reproof is a correction and a refutation. Wisdom is ever present to refute the reason of folly. The urging to turn is to turn back from the way of folly and embrace wisdom. Wisdom is not natural to man but can be had. The repenters receive the Spirit of God and thereby the spiritual faculty to understand wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:14). This is where the difficulty comes in for foolish men. God is not stingy to distribute wisdom (Jame 1:5), but men are stingy with their repentance.
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Posted by Jeff Short on May 28, 2016 · 1 Comment
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
– Proverbs 1:22
Wisdom not only cries out about the good way but also in warning for those who refuse it. God’s wisdom is not practical advice that we may take, discard, or amend at our pleasure. It is the way of life and the way of folly is the way of death. To refuse wisdom is to go to destruction, which is repeatedly made plain in Proverbs.
Simple ones are ignorant, naïve, and gullible. They are easily persuaded and led this way or that. They come to trouble through a lack of knowledge and discernment. They plunge headlong and do not consider the end of the way they’re going.
Scorners are mockers and cynics. They simultaneously reject and despise wisdom. They are skeptics, “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). They will not receive wisdom. They do not err for any lack of intelligence but for a love of their own intelligence.
Fools are the most commonly met in Proverbs. The word points to stupidity and stubbornness. It is not however a commentary on their mental faculty or ability. A fool is one who takes in all counsels without discernment and just as freely pours them forth. A fool is impatient to learn wisdom and prefers what intuitively appeals at the moment. They lay nothing by true wisdom and will not receive correction.
In verse 22, wisdom confronts these three common characters directly. Their problem is that they “love simplicity,” “delight in their scorning,” and “hate knowledge.” Self-willfulness is prominent in all three. They reject wisdom because they prefer their own way.
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Proverbs 1:30
Posted by Jeff Short on June 6, 2016 · 1 Comment
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Wisdom reiterates the reproof from verse 25 and provides explanation for the judgment to come in the next verse. It highlights the active refusal of wisdom by the fools who go their own way. This is a display of man’s depravity that he will only of himself choose sin and folly.– Proverbs 1:30
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