Tag: Devotion

Stretch or Starve is a humorous, but practical, motto around the dinner table of a large family. It also expresses the truth in our proverb today. Palestine, a small country, was carved into little strips of land for cultivation by each family. The establishment of the Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25) was intended to prevent the acquiring of larger holdings by any one Israelite. Thus all could share its wealth more equitably. “This text is a message to ordinary, mediocre people, without much ability or influence” (Maclaren).

1. Evil Expectation: Verse 21a is a familiar theme. The deceit of this evil expectation is found in thinking sin can be concealed. The reality is that evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him (Ps. 140:11). Do not miss this awful truth, that momentary pleasures, purchased at the cost of Heaven, is too great a price to pay. These momentary pleasures will become perpetual horrors in that eternal doom. But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment (Eccl. 11:9b). Evil men never look back to see the Avenger following hard at their heels, and for whom there is no city of refuge to hide in. It is this sinful blindness that makes his overthrow all the more tragic and certain (Deut. 29:19, 20; 1 Thes. 5:3).

A companion of fools shall be destroyed, shall smart for it (as in 11:15). The margin suggests be broken. It comes from a root meaning to be made wicked, and all who become wicked will suffer the consequences of that choice.

While there are plenty of fools everywhere, thank God there are wise guides to be found on the path of life. Find them now! Please read prayerfully Psalm 101. It has been called The Psalm of Wills (9) and Shalls (5). It presents a series of resolutions and reservations, things he is resolved to do, and things to be handled with reservation. It is a beautiful testimony to the perfection, that is, to the uprightness and maturity of the Psalmist’s walk. It begins by singing of God’s mercy to him, and ends with sad judgment to be visited on the wicked. This Psalm is a fitting introduction to our Proverb today.

We might also title this: Wanting but Unwilling. This verse (19) may refer to the man who regards reproof or good advice (v.18), and who, as a result, finds his desire accomplished with sweetness to his soul. The fool, on the other hand, refuses instruction (v.18) because it is abomination to fools to depart from evil. “Hatred of holiness is meetness for hell” (Bridges), and “hell is truth seen too late!”

Here two great evils, poverty and shame are now set before us. The first brings want, the second means having to hang our heads. There is a type of poverty born of necessity that is no cause for shame. There is a poverty from sacrificial giving that is a virtue. The poverty referred to here has its roots in stubborn pride that results from refusing criticism. Honest criticism may be a bitter pill to swallow, and most tonics are unpleasant, but we are usually the better for taking them.

What are we to make of the fact that many entrusted messengers no longer tremble at God’s Word, but mock and deny it openly? They have, as someone put it, transmuted God’s Word into theological bubble-gum! R. A. Torrey once remarked: “Loose theology leads to loose morality.” We could phrase it: “Lost theology leads to lost morality!”

How much knowledge Christians frivolously cast aside! Do not members of deadly cults and Christ-denying religions often put us to shame by their eagerness to spread their pernicious beliefs? Are we prudently handling the precious Word of God for the building up of Christ’s Kingdom? Let us not be like this fool whose folly appears for all to see and mock. Are we seizing the opportunities for using and spreading this knowledge? Are we the ambassadors for Christ we ought to be?

Transgressors, as we have noted before, are Jews who literally take the shirt off the backs of their fellow Jews (Ex. 22:26; Deut. 24:10-13). Hence, in the eyes of God, they are wicked, treacherous deceivers. They are traitors, who for greed, would sell the needy for a pair of shoes (Amos 8:4). These are heartless exploiters of their poorer brethren. They fall into that despised category of publicans (tax-collectors), but for all their money-grubbing, their way is hard. It is hard in the sense of an awful permanence. It describes the rolling down of the waters as a mighty stream (Amos 5:24). It never ceases. It is also a harsh and forbidding way, like a rough valley (Deut. 21:4), suggesting the hardened behaviour of the wicked. We are to understand that transgressor is but another name for sinner. In other words, the way of the transgressor is:

Good understanding gives favour. Understanding here means good sense, good success, insight, or discretion. It applies to those who act prudently, and always behave in a manner pleasing to God. Greatness is the fairest object to the eye of the world; goodness, to the eye of heaven. It also follows that graciousness is better than greatness, and more than goodness, for have we not all more knowledge of goodness than we ever use!