Chapter 1
Introduction
The entire book of Proverbs is the collection of Solomon. They are not all necessarily his. The Hebrew word for Proverb is taken from mashal which is the Hebrew word to rule. A proverb is a doctrine which rules and governs the life of a believer. It is doctrine especially prepared for young people because a proverb basically is two lines of a poem. As we study these two lines we find that this is not only the basis for the communication of doctrine to young people but, of course, what is good for the young people is also good for the adults.
Authorship: These are called the proverbs of Solomon. Actually, there are three sections which David actually said to Solomon. When David recovered from thew Absolom rebellion and his son Absolom was dead he realised that he must now concentrate on teaching Bible doctrine to his surviving children. His surviving son who would succeed him was Solomon, the second son of Bathsheba, the first having died at birth. Therefore David began to do what every parent should do for his children. No matter what parents fail to do there is one that in which they must not fail and this is to communicate Bible doctrine to their children. In Proverbs chapter one, verse seven, and going through verse nine, Proverbs chapter nineteen, verses twenty through twenty-four, and in Proverbs twenty-seven through twenty-nine, we have three sections in which David actually taught Solomon. Solomon wrote them down and kept them. We have Solomon’s notes from his father’s teaching. In other words, David taught doctrine to Solomon. And those sections are designed for teenagers, and the key in each case is, “My son.” Cf. Proverbs 1:8, 10, 15. The section section of Proverbs, beginning at 10:1 and going through 19:19, is the actual proverbs which Solomon prepared himself. Not only does this include a few of the instructions he received from his father but all of the doctrine which he collected in his lifetime. Then in chapter 30 we have Agur’s wisdom, and Argur is probably a pseudonym for Solomon, or else he was an actual king who taught Solomon. Then in Proverbs 31 we have two Lemuels’ wisdom, and Lemuel was either a friend of Solomon who taught Solomon or another pseudonym for Solomon.
Basically, in the history of the human race the greatest ability on the part of a literary person is the ability to present deep thought, lucid thought, in poetical form. A proverb is actually two lines of poetry. The sad thing about the translation of Proverbs is not only the poor translation but the fact that it is not arranged in poetical verse. This is Hebrew poetry, and Hebrew poetry designed in two lines. The reason is because it is very simple to teach teenagers in two lines. If teenagers can learn that way then obviously adults can learn that way, and in this sense Proverbs is a work of literary genius as well as an integral part of the Word of God.
A distich comes from two German words—di, meaning two, and stichos, meaning two lines. We will use the word distich as the basic concept of a proverb. There are many kinds of distich, so we will take six different types of distich and give representative proverbs in this book.
To begin with we have what is known as a synonymous distich. This means the line which contains the doctrine is given, and the next line repeats the doctrine in different words. The second line simply repeats the thought of the first line, but in different words. E.g. Proverbs 11:25—“The liberal soul shall be made fat” is the first line. The liberal soul is the person who gives liberally, and the word fat is simply a poetical word for wealth. Grace produces wealth. Now this is a synonymous distich because the second line says, “and he that gives water to others shall be watered.” This is an agricultural economy in which water is very important and means prosperity. As the man provides water for others they become prosperous along with him, and this is the concept of collective and individual prosperity. The point of doctrine, then, has to do with giving and how giving relates to the individual spiritually—the first line. Then how prosperity in one individual relates to the entire economy—the second line.
The second type of distich is the antithetical distich. The doctrine of the first line is given—usually the positive side, though it can be negative—and then in the second line you get the negative side, the doctrine is restated but it is restated form the negative side or the other side of the picture is given. Proverbs 14:30, a point of doctrine relating to physical health. The quickest way to lose your health is mental attitude sins. “A sound heart [mentality of the soul, a stabilised mentality from doctrine] is the life of the flesh.” Life of the flesh is an idiom for health. If a believer gets doctrine into his soul before he loses his health he is going to have good health because the mind is free from those things that destroy health—worry, anxiety, fear, envy, jealousy, etc. Mental attitude sins destroy health because the pressures of the mind overflow into the body. Second line: “but envy [mental attitude sins] the rottenness of the bone”—an idiom in the Hebrew for poor health. A stabilised mentality means Bible doctrine is your life, as per Matthew 4:4. A sound heart is a soul full of doctrine, and this is the life of the flesh. The second line is the antithesis but it is still teaching the same principle. Cf. Proverbs 17:22—a merry heart is a soul full of doctrine; a broken spirit goes back to the mental attitude sins; the drying of the bones is loss of health. Also Proverbs 15:5—“A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.” This is a little different because the first line is negative and the second line is positive. “Reproof” here means instruction, to be rebuked by your parents; and a person who can take these rebukes has learned self-discipline, the importance of authority, has learned enough lessons so that he is going to become a wise person and/or prudent.
The third type of distich is a synthetic distich. This means the first line expresses a truth of doctrine, the second line expresses a truth of doctrine. The two lines have something in common. They both express a doctrine and they both have something in common which is neither antithetical nor synonymous. They are simply developing a subject—the only thing the two lines have in common. Cf. Proverbs 10:18 in which the sins of the tongue is the subject but we have two different aspects of it. “He that hideth hatred with lying lips.” Here is a person has a mental attitude sin of hatred but he hides it with lying lips. The second line: “he that uttereth slander, is a fool.” The second line deals with gossip; the first line deals with hypocrisy expressed verbally. Both of them are part of the subject of mental attitude sins. A second illustration would be Proverbs 29:18—this time the subject in common is really learning Bible doctrine. The first line: “Where there is no vision the people perish,” but the word for vision here connotes the idea of Bible doctrine. If a believer lives his Christian life without Bible doctrine he has had it! Where there is no doctrine in the soul the people perish—the individuals who do not have it. Second line: “but he that keepeth the law [Bible doctrine is the soul, and using it], happy is he.” The word happy here is a word that only occurs in the plural—ashere. It means two happinesses at once: inner happiness leading to outer happiness. The principle is that Bible doctrine is the only way to live.
The fourth distich is the integral distich. In this the second line completes the thought of the first line. The first line gives the thought and the second line completes it. Proverbs 13:14—“The law [Bible doctrine] of the wise is a fountain of life.” The second line completes the concept, “to depart from the snares of death.” Life is filled with many snares. The snares of death refers to temporal death or being out of fellowship, but doctrine delivers you from them and gets you back into fellowship. Proverbs 19:20—“Hear counsel, and receive instruction.” In other words, go to Bible class and learn. The second line says, “that thou mayest be wise in they latter end [as you move along in life].” In other words, if you are ever going to get any moxy you are going to have to get it through Bible doctrine. The second line here finishes the first line. Notice the next verse, verse 21: “There are many devices [mental attitude sins] in a man’s heart.” The second line: “nevertheless the counsel of the Lord shall stand.” It is the counsel of the Lord that shall stand, this is an antithetical distich. The mental attitude sins are in contrast to Bible doctrine. The counsel of the Lord is doctrine. The first lines gives where believers fail—lack of doctrine; the second line gives where believers succeed—doctrine in the soul. Proverbs 22:6—the first line gives the principle of doctrine and the second line finishes the principle of doctrine. “Train up a child in the way that he should go”—the way that he should go in Proverbs is doctrine. The word train means to teach it over and over again. The second line competes the though: “and when he is old he will not depart from it.” When he is old means when he gets to be mature, it doesn’t mean an old man. Give a child doctrine and when he is mature he will not depart from it, though in the meantime he might depart from it in 100 ways. Proverbs 22:10—“Cast out the scorner [the person who doesn’t go for doctrine]”—the word for scorner in the Hebrew is the word for a person who stammers and stutters, and it comes to mean someone who says, yeah, yeah, yeah, when it comes to doctrine—“and the contenders,” those who argue against doctrine. The second line says, “and contention shall depart, yea, strife and reproach shall cease.” Get rid of those who don’t like doctrine. Throw out the tongues people and you won’t have trouble. Anyone who does not use doctrine for their criteria is a scorner. Proverbs 20:15—“Stupidity is bound in the heart [soul] of a child.” The second line: there are some things a child can only learn one way.
The fifth one is the parabolic distich in which the first line illustrates the second line. It usually has the word as. In the second line you get the doctrine or the point. Proverbs 11:22—“As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout”—first line. Second line: “so is a beautiful woman without discretion.” Discretion here doesn’t mean to be discreet, it means to have moxy in the soul. David was teaching Solomon, “Stay away from women who are beautiful and dumb.” Proverbs 25:11—this time we have the point of doctrine and then the parabolic line: “A word fitly spoken [divine viewpoint making an issue clear] is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” The beautiful frame is doctrine and the beautiful picture is your statement of doctrine in your own language under all kinds of circumstances. Everything is life has a doctrinal counterpart. There is a divine viewpoint of life and a human viewpoint of life. And so when you can express the divine viewpoint of life about anything—government. Society, people, catastrophe, success—and everything, then this is like a beautiful picture in a beautiful frame. Proverbs 25:25—this time the parable comes first: “As cold waters to a thirsty person, so is good news from a far country.” In other words, a letter that is sustaining. Proverbs 26:11—“As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.” Proverbs 27:15—“A continual dropping in a very rainy day [like a leaky roof and the leak is caught in a bucket] and a contentious [nagging] woman are alike.” Proverbs 26:9—“As a thorn goes up into the hand of a drunkard [the thorn is sticking in him but he doesn’t know it], so is a parable in the mouth of fools.” It is possible for some people to say what is right but they don’t know what they are saying. It is possible for a believer to give doctrine on certain occasions but because he doesn’t know doctrine in its proper context he is all mixed up. It is possible for the cults to quote the Bible but they don’t quote it right.
The sixth is a comparative distich. The first line expresses something better than what is expressed in the second. Proverbs 15:17—“Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” This also says that life is too short to have social life with the people who have mental attitude sins. Proverbs 21:19—“It is better to dwell in the wilderness [desert], than with a contentious and an angry [maladjusted] woman.”
There are also four-line proverbs called a tetrastich where the first two lines can be synonymous with the second two lines. Proverbs 24:3,4—“Through wisdom [doctrine applied] is a house built”—In other words if doctrine is the basis of your home you are going to have a wonderful home. Your children will come out fine though they may be rebels at intervals—“and by understanding it is established,” i.e. understanding of doctrine. These first two lines tells us the importance of Bible doctrine in the family. The second two lines are synonymous but stated in different words. “And by knowledge [of doctrine] shall the chambers be filled”—people will enjoy being in your home. Then the final line gives us with what it will be filled: “with all precious and pleasant riches,” and it is made a fourth line to indicate that not only will it be with all that is precious, including people, but it also includes materialistic things—present riches. In other words, a home where there is doctrine and is built upon doctrine will have pleasant people/things.
There is also a synthetic tetrastitch—four-line proverb: Proverbs 35:6. There is also an integral tetrastitch: Proverbs 30:17.
Then there is a six-line proverb. The first two lines actually form the subject and then the next four lines give the amplification of the subject—Proverbs 23:12-14. “Apply your heart to instruction”—in other words, use your mind to learn doctrine. That is the first line. The second line: “and your ears to hear words of knowledge [of doctrine]. The first two lines are the subject: the importance of learning Bible doctrine. The next two lines amplify its usage: “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.” This is an application of learning doctrine, you will know how to discipline your children. Then line number 5: “Thou shalt beat him with the rod”—this emphasises how you handle the situation, and then the final line: “and thou shalt deliver his soul from hell.” In other words, it isn’t what you teach through the ear gate that counts, it is how you judiciously use the paddle!
Then we have the heptastitch, a seven-line proverb. The first two lines are expanded by five lines. In 23:6-8—“Eat thou not bread of the person with an evil eye.” An evil eye is used for mental attitude sins. In other words, do not have any social life with believers who are prone to vindictiveness, pettiness, bitterness, or any of the mental attitude sins. Stay away from those people—“neither desire his dainty meats.” Someone might be a great cook but if they are filled with mental attitude sins give them a wide birth. These are the first two lines that set up the doctrine; the rest of it amplifies. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so he is.” What people really are is what they think—“but his heart is not with thee.” There are people who will do things for you who resent it. “The morsel which thou hast eaten thou shalt vomit up.” Why? Because if their bitterness, jealousy, etc., ever overflows to you then you will get what is known as a nervous stomach, and this phrase “thou shalt vomit up and lose thy sweet words.” In other words, if you associate with these people over a long period of time you will lose your sweet words, an idiom for losing your own sweetness. You will become just like they are.
In Proverbs 25:6,7 we also have a pentastitch—two lines and then three two amplify, instead of four.
The octastitch is found only in Proverbs 6:16—two lines and then it is expanded. “These six things doth the Lord hate.” The word hate means to abhor something that is ugly. “Yea, they are an abomination unto him.” And then we have six lines which amplify what these seven things are: “A proud look,” etc. This is the only octastitch.
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Verses 2 through 4 – the purpose is stated. They were originally designed for young teenagers and we have them recorded in the Word of God because often what you learn as a teenager you can use all of your life.
Verse 2 – “To know” is an infinitive in the Hebrew and it means this is the purpose—to learn something. The greatest thing that parents can do for their children is to inculcate in the field of Bible doctrine; “wisdom and instruction” – wisdom is chakmah in the Hebrew means to have it pounded in, and that is the way you teach children. The second word instruction goes right along with it. Wisdom here means learning doctrine and using it, but the next word in the Hebrew actually means to teach by discipline. Some things can only be used by discipline. It is the principle of going over and over and over something until it is learned. Here it means parents teaching their children by using their authority. This word is the key to the Proverbs, it means to train by discipline, by the utilisation of authority. The family, divine institution #3, is the most basic unit in life and if there is failure to learn authority here may mean the result of failure throughout life of a child when the child becomes an adult. The family is the basic preparation for life and there is no way to get around it. Failure to train in the family means failure in life; success in training in the family means success in life, for all knowledge is learned on the basis of authority.
Eight different kinds of authority on which knowledge is based, or success is based.
a) The authority of God’s Word. Ultimately, success is based upon accepting the authority of the Word of God.
b) Behind this is the authority of God Himself. This authority is communicated to man through His Word.
c) The one who teaches the Word, the authority of the pastor.
d) The authority of the rulers of state. These have authority under divine institution #4, nationalism. This means that at every level of national life there are those in authority.
e) The authority of parents under divine institution #3.
f) The authority of life—under the principle of common law of order.
g) The authority of business—the executive, the boss, the business organization.
h) The authority of the military—the superiority of the officer.
If we wanted to add a ninth it would be the authority of volition under divine institution #1—the right to make choices for yourself under certain conditions, choices which are not contrary to common law, and so on.
So to bring order out of chaos in life there must be authority. But every child must learn something more than the principle of authority. Basically, as far as
life in general is concerned there are five things which every child must learn from his parents before he is launched on society. They are: a) Respect for authority, its principle; b) the principle of self-discipline; c) respect for the property of others; d) respect for the privacy of others; e) respect for the rights of others. Apart from spiritual life this is simply under the principle of a national entity, whether it is an unbelieving family or a saved family, regardless of the circumstances, these things are necessary for divine institution #4 to operate.
In every generation there is always a teenage gang which rejects these five principles, and this is what the first chapter of Proverbs is going to call the wrong crowd. They have no respect for authority, they are lawless and have no self-discipline. They have no respect for the property of others, they steal and destroy property. They have no respect for the privacy or the rights of others, and they usually run in a crowd. They wrong crowd must be defined because we will see a good deal of it in this passage. What is the wrong crowd generally? It is not simply believer or unbeliever; it is not lawlessness; but in principle the wrong crowd is composed of teenagers who have not learned these five principles. They do not like to study, so they do not study. They do not like anything that means any kind of sacrifice or hard work, so they avoid it.
The word instruction in verse 2 means learning these five things, and then it is the responsibility of the parent to keep their children away from the wrong crowd and to train them how to stay away from the wrong crowd so that when the child reaches his teens he will stay away from the wrong crowd.
“to perceive the words of understanding”—the word to perceive is an interesting Hebrew word bin, a word which means to get information in your mind so that you do not have to depend upon a book or a person to communicate at some time, someone to correct you; you have it; you know it; and you are ready to use it. Understanding is simply the Hebrew noun binah, which refers to doctrine in the soul. The doctrine is in the mind where it can be used now, tomorrow, the next day, under any circumstance.
Verse 3 – “To receive instruction of wisdom.” There should be a colon after wisdom, instead of a comma. “To receive” is a different word now, lachach, a word for handing it on, passing it on. Doing it forcefully, clearly, in a manner in which it can be understood. Again, it is an infinitive indicating a purpose: “the instruction of wisdom”—Bible doctrine in the soul applied. We have three circumstances of application—justice, judgment and equity. The word justice is literally righteousness in the Hebrew and it has to do with modus operandi in life. The second word, judgment, is actually the word for divine institutions, and we should understand all four of the divine institutions and how they operate. The final word is equity which is personal integrity. You should be so reared and trained that your word is your bond.
Verse 4 – the concept is further amplified recognising that some children are more teachable than others. “To give subtilty to the simple”—the word subtilty is some thing of value; the word simple is stupid. To give the stupid something of value is to give them doctrine.
“to the young man” – this is the teenager—“knowledge and discretion.” Knowledge refers to Bible doctrine; discretion means something to think about. The word discretion does not mean the same as our modern word, it means concentration. The most critical period in human life for concentration is in the teenage period. It is the responsibility of the parent to teach children how to concentrate.
Verse 5 – “A wise man” is actually a wise one, a person who is motivated to learn, to concentrate; “will hear and increase learning.” If you are motivated to learn doctrine you will learn doctrine; if you are not motivated you will have excuses, you will rationalise, and obviously you are hooked on TV!
“and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel.” To attain unto wise counsel simply means to be successful through the use of doctrine. He will have principles on which to make his life successful.
Summary
1. Since the Bible is the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) the more we know about the Bible and its doctrine the more we know about Christ.
2. The more we know about Christ the more we love Christ and are occupied with Him. Occupation with Christ is the easiest way to learn concentration in this life.
3. The more we love Christ the more we are occupied with Christ—therefore concentration.
4. Therefore Christ becomes paramount and everything else in life is a detail. So orientation to life depends on this principle. If you put doctrine first in life then everything else is going to be wonderful, but if you phase out doctrine then the details of life become paramount and therefore you are going to be miserable as long as you live.
Verse 6 – “To understand a proverb.” This is the teaching of a child in the home; “the interpretation; of the words of the wise”—the wise is the writer of
scripture; the words of the wise is the written scripture; “and their dark sayings” – an enigma, and this is advanced doctrine. Doctrine is built on doctrine.
Now before the writer can get on to the subject of the wrong crowd there must first of all be principle of respect for authority. No teenager is going to stay away from the wrong crowd unless he has respect for parents and the word of his parents.
In verses 7-9 we have two types of authority emphasised. One is the authority of God’s Word—Bible doctrine, and the other is the authority of the parents. In verse 7 we have the authority of Bible doctrine; in verses 8 and 9 we have the authority of parents. These are the two basic authorities for the preservation of teenagers so that when they become the adults of the land they will succeed in bettering the country.
Verse 7 – “The fear of the Lord.” The Hebrew word for fear jahre’ah means awe. It comes to be used for occupation with the person of Jesus Christ and it is used in the sense of occupation with Christ, stimulating interest in spiritual things, primarily Bible doctrine. The fear of the Lord is occupation with Christ, loving the Lord because you know Bible doctrine, and because you know Bible doctrine wanting to know more Bible doctrine. It is used in that sense here, and the word Lord is the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the principle of Hebrews 12:2.
“is the beginning of knowledge” – in other words, occupation with Christ results from learning Bible doctrine but once you love Jesus Christ you want to know more about Him. This means you want to know more about what He thinks. Doctrine must be paramount, it leads to occupation with Christ which stimulates interest in doctrine. So the two go together. Everything else in life is a detail. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” – Matthew 4:4.
“but fools despise wisdom and instruction” – the word is a little stronger than the word fool. It really means stupid, but it is really stronger than anything we have in the English language. Who is a fool/stupid? The believer who is indifferent to Bible doctrine; the believer whose scale of values includes other things before the Word of God. The fool is the believer to whom the details of life are much more important than doctrine and occupation with Christ. Such a believer is never oriented to the grace of God and never really knows what the Christian way of life is all about. But for the believer who puts Christ first—occupation with Christ, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge which is stimulation to learn more and more doctrine—he arrives at that place of having a true scale of values, Christ is first, having inner happiness and stability of life that really counts.
The fool despises—booz is the Hebrew word, and it means to put your foot on something, to stamp on it, to dislike it and to kick it either mentally or physically. The believer who is a fool is the believer who despises wisdom [application of doctrine] and instruction [communication of doctrine].
Verse 8 – “My son.” Solomon’s father was David and this is what David actually taught Solomon in the first seven chapters of Proverbs. Solomon failed to teach his son and therefore the country broke up—Rehoboam was a fool, he hated doctrine and the application of doctrine. He got into the wrong crowd and it broke up the country for him. But David taught Solomon.
“hear the instruction” – the word instruction is in the plural in the Hebrew, denoting the fact that there are many types of doctrine; “of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother.” The word law here means doctrine spoken by the mother. In most families the mother knows more doctrine than the father—a generality with exceptions—and it is often the mother who has the greatest opportunity of conversing with the children. Therefore doctrine must be on the lips of the mother—by application and by direct statement. Here, then, is the first command to the child in the home: Listen to doctrine. Instruction from the father is doctrine; law of the mother is doctrine again. Deuteronomy 6:4-9.
Verse 9 – the child who listens to doctrine, the child who gets doctrine from his parents, is going to grow up to be a wonderful adult. “For they shall be an ornament [crown] of grace unto they head.” The woman has a necklace of gems. So we have a reference in the first half of the verse a reference to the boy and a reference to the girl. The word “they” is literally these—principles of doctrine in the soul are an ornament of grace, which is literally a crown of grace. The crown of grace is an idiom for a successful adult. The child who learns doctrine in the home is going to be a great adult, and it has nothing to do with genes or talent or academic education or advantages, as parents think of these things from the human viewpoint. It depends entirely upon that Bible doctrine.
Verses 10-19—the enticement of the wrong crowd. There must be the authority of the parent, and if the authority of the parent is based upon Bible doctrine then the child will avoid the wrong crowd and some day the nation will be great. A great nation is a nation where a maximum number of children have avoided the wrong crowd.
Verse 1— “My son, if sinners.” The word for sinners is in an intensive form, in the plural, and it actually indicates a person who makes sin some form of habit. It is used for a vicious, wicked crowd; “entice thee” – the word entice is in the piel stem, and the word means to make it a point to put on pressure, a lot of pressure, as only a teenage crowd can pressurise someone to join them.
Note: the vocabulary of a teenager reflects thinking. When you depart from good grammatical, syntactical construction, it means inability to think clearly and logically consistently, and to face issues with discernment.
1. Come on and be a regular guy, or something of this sort. Being a “regular guy” includes doing whatever the wrong crowd is doing. The inference is that if
you do not do what the crowd is doing you are not a regular guy.
i) You’re chicken! Which means you do not have the courage to do the wrong thing. It actually takes more courage to say no to the wrong crowd.
j) What will the girls think about you? This is a teenager, and the thought is that the girls aren’t going to think much of you if you can’t “hang a weed” from the corner of your mouth, etc. In other words, if you don’t do something wrong, something which is construed as a part of the wrong crowd, the girls won’t admire you.
k) Awe c’mon, everyone is doing it. In other words, you should be herd-bound just as the rest of us are herd-bound.
l) Are you going to be a square, like your parents? The implication is obvious—the attempt to undermine parental authority. C’mon and do it because your parents will never find out. In other words, become a spineless sneak like the rest of the wrong crowd.
“consent thou not” – the Hebrew says, do not be willing, do not agree, don’t go along
with it.
Verse 11 – the activities of the wrong crowd have not changed since this was written. “. . .let us lay wait for blood.” Let us go out and beat up someone. This is
an idiom for using violence. A mob is cowardice.
“let is lurk secretly for the innocent without a cause” – attack people. So in this verse the wrong crowd try to gain power and ascendency in any neighbourhood by the use of violence.
Verse 12 – illustrations. “Let us swallow them up alive as the grave.” Let’s beat them up so badly they are as dead. “. . .and whole as those that go down into the pit” – in other words, they intend to completely brutalise and bully anyone in their vicinity.
Verse 13 – they also commit robbery. The word for spoil means something robbed.
Verse 14 – notice the wrong crowd always operates on the basis of socialism. “Cast in thy lot among us; let us have one purse.” This is concept socialism.
Verses 15-16, the warning against the wrong crowd.
Verse 15 – “My son. Walk thou not in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path.” Stay away from them entirely. When the teenager faces the wrong crowd he has to make his own decisions. Parents cannot make it for him. The only way parents can help him is to have taught him doctrine before he became a teenager and to continue that process during his teens.
Verse 16 – “For their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.” They try to solve things by mob violence.
Verse 17 – the illustration. “Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.” In those days they used to catch birds by some kind of a trip stick and pieces of grain that a bird would peck at, his head would hit the tick and a net would drop on the ground and the bird was caught. This illustrate what the mob offers. If you look at it and go in, you are trapped. But if you look up and see the net you aren’t trapped. Even a smart bird can see the net. A smart bird is the teenager who stays away from the wrong crowd which offers the corn or the various things which the bird likes to eat. The wrong crowd has no perspective of life, as illustrated by the bird trap.
1. The birds have their eyes on the bait. Therefore the bird is caught. The teenager who falls for the wrong crowd has his eyes on the bait.
2. The bait or the scattered corn represents the enticement of the wrong crowd.
3. But the smart bird flies away from the bait when he sees the net. That is what it means in this verse when it says the net is spread in vain.
1. Bible doctrine warns the teenager of the net; the parents warn the teenager of the net.
2. If the bird flees from the net, so should the teenager through Bible doctrine or through respect for the authority of his parents stay away from the wrong crowd.
3. This is an illustration of how not to be stupid.
Verses 18-19, the wrong crowd destroys itself. They are lawless, they have no law, and if you do not have law and authority within a mob it destroys itself. It
destroys itself by the very power that raises it up.
Verse 18 – “And they lay wait for their own blood.” They hang around to beat someone up, but those who live by violence die by violence.
“they lurk secretly for their own lives” – they are trying to steal something but they will get caught.
Verse 19 – “So are the ways of everyone that is greedy for gain.” The lust pattern is the reason why people often get into the wrong crowd. “ . . . which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.” When you get into the wrong crowd you destroy yourself.
In this first chapter of Proverbs we have the relationship between the family and nationalism. There are many approaches to the destruction or the success of a nation. These are all covered in principle and in doctrine throughout the pages of the Word of God. But we even learn from history that while nations continue to exist, and while nationalism is an eternal principle and nations will always exist as long as the human race exists, that nations are constantly in a process of change and fluctuation. Many of the great nations of the past no longer exist as a race, as a people, speaking the language, except in the pages of history. So we learn from history that nations fluctuate. They begin with a concept of freedom, and under these principles and the principles of Bible doctrine they move to a peak, to a maximum point. Then they begin to decline. Sometimes the decline is stopped by Bible doctrine, as in the case of Rome. In the second century of the Roman empire it was Bible doctrine which preserved the nation and the empire for another three hundred years. Eventually nations deteriorate until they no longer exist. They usually destroy themselves from within and then they get some help by some wars, some hostile activity from without. Today our greatest danger lies in the teenager himself because in every generation there is the wrong crowd. Now we flip the coin over and in verse 20 we see the solution. The Jews were on the verge of a civil war when these proverbs were actually written. Within 20 years of the writing of Proverbs chapter one the Jews went into their civil war which split them, and the ten tribes to the north became one national entity and the two tribes of the south became another national entity. If anything, Proverbs was not only written to the teenager but it tells how to avoid civil war. It tells how a national entity on the way down can recover. It all begins with Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is the preservative of a national entity. This doesn’t mean that everyone in a national entity is saved—that has never been true—but there are periods of history when certain national entities have had a maximum number of believers who understood Bible doctrine, who utilised Bible doctrine to the extent that they had inner happiness, peace and power, who understood the principles of freedom, who believed in live and let live and other things connected with freedom. Whenever this happens a national entity goes to its peak.
Verse 20 – in the days before that great civil war which came to Israel, “Wisdom crieth without.” Wisdom is the application of doctrine. It is the prophet of old standing up and teaching the doctrine and then showing its proper application. The word here to cry is a public speaking situation in front of a lot of people where the speaker has to shout to be heard. Wisdom cried outside. In other words, people were gathered in crowds and the prophets would tell about the great dangers coming.
Proverbs also anticipates the coming of the fifth cycle of discipline to the Jews of the southern kingdom in 586 BC. Up until 586 BC the Jews had many warnings. They were warned, for example, by Jeremiah. Proverbs chapter one has Jeremiah in mind. He stood up before the people in Jerusalem and gave many messages. Before Jeremiah there was Isaiah, and between Isaiah and Jeremiah spanning three generations these men warning the people, “Come back to God; come back to the things that count; get back to Bible doctrine.”
“she [Bible doctrine] utters her voice in the streets” – people are constantly exposed to the gospel and to Bible doctrine.
Verse 21 – “She crieth in the chief place of concourse” – an open air auditorium, usually in the centre of town where a maximum number of people could be gathered; “in the openings of the gates” – every place in an ancient city had a place where someone could stand up on steps which formed a platform and look out over a great crowd, and there speak. In the ancient world news was broadcast from these gates. So in places where news was disseminated these people could come and hear the gospel.
“she uttered her words, saying” – now here was the message given to the Jews before every crisis break came. Before the decline, before the civil war of the Jews, before the first administration of the 5th cycle of discipline in 586 BC, before the second administration in 70 AD, the Jews had three maximum crisis periods when they were about to be totally destroyed when there was the teaching of Bible doctrine. This is reproduced for us now in essence.
Verse 22 – “How long.” That is, How long will you reject Bible doctrine?; “ye simple ones” – the Hebrew word here does not mean simple ones at all. It has no parallel in the English language really, the best we can come to it is stupid ones; “will you love simplicity [stupidity].” The word simplicity is simply stupidity. This is our first category of people destroying a nation. The word stupid is someone engrossed in the details of life, doctrine is not first in their scale of values. And this first category refers to a believer. This first category is the believer in Jesus Christ to whom the details of life are more important than Bible doctrine. This person is miserable and, furthermore, he is contributing to the destruction of his own national entity.
The second category is the believer whose principle of life is based on emotionalism. Everything is how he feels. If it feels good it is great; if he feels bad it is terrible. Therefore emotionalism becomes the criterion of the second believer—“and the scorners delight in their scorning.” The word scorner actually means someone who ridicules or downgrades or criticises or takes a dim view of something else. The scorner is the believer who takes a dim view of doctrine. When he delights in scorning he simply downgrades doctrine.
The third group is an unbeliever—“and fools hate knowledge?” This could be a believer or an unbeliever but in principle this is the way that the prophets later approached the unbeliever. They despise doctrinal information, they hate those things connected with the presentation of Jesus Christ as the only solution to man’s problems. So we have here the three categories of those who reject Bible doctrine.
Verse 23 – the first solution. The first answer to the problem of indifference or apathy toward the Word of God is rebound. “Turn you” – the Hebrew word for turn means to take an about face, to turn around. Turning around involves two factors: rebound—1 John 1:9; and after rebound there must be something to fill in the gaps—turn toward doctrine. Doctrine must become the believer’s life. If a nation is going to recover the recovery starts with the believers of that nation. The believers of that nation must have interest in Bible doctrine. It only takes a handful of believers to have impact for Christ, but this handful of believers cannot offer something phoney to the world—an ecstatic experience, throwing a faggot on a fire, something about the tongues movement, or some goofy system of self-righteousness, some system of tabooism. The unbeliever is smart and he can see through that. You have nothing to offer the unbeliever until you get doctrine in your soul. The principles of Bible doctrine can never be disseminated in a national entity where there is indifference to the Word of God.
“at my reproof” – the word reproof must be a word in any man’s ministry. You cannot rock along this way: as goes the believer, so goes the nation.
“I will pour out my spirit” – there are two ingredients that begin the road to recovery. I will pour out my spirit refers to the filling of the Holy Spirit. When the believer is filled with the Spirit he produces divine good which glorifies Christ. His perceptive abilities are sharpened so that he can take in Bible doctrine. “I will make known my words to you” is the sharpening of the perceptive abilities. This is the ultimate: learning God’s word.
Verses 24-27—the folly of ignoring doctrine.
Verse 24 – “Because I have called.” This doesn’t mean to call at all, it means to preach; “and ye refused” –they refused to hear Bible doctrine. Solomon was a failure because he refused Bible doctrine.
“I stretched out my hands” – this is the plea to change, to clearing the mind, and so on; “and no one regarded.” So here we have the word and the gesture, the two things that characterise the communication of Bible doctrine in the time in which this was written, and they were rejected. A nation goes down when it rejects Bible doctrine.
Verse 25 – “But ye have set at nought all my counsel.” To set at nought is a word which means to dismiss, to reject, to refuse. The word counsel means Bible doctrine as it was presented in the form of a reproof.
“and would none of my reproof” – would none means you did not desire it.
Verse 26 – what happens when disaster comes. Disaster comes to these people for one reason: because they have rejected Bible doctrine. When that happens, “I will laugh.” This sounds cruel. It is until it is realised that the believer who rejects, rejects, rejects Bible doctrine is going to come to the place of disaster. In the place of disaster [maximum catastrophe] when nothing else works, then he calls upon the Lord. “I will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.” Here is the beginning of disaster. The laughter is an attitude that God puts in the mind of a prophet. It was the attitude that God put in the mind of Jeremiah who preached and preached and preached. He gave them doctrine and they laughed at him, they ridiculed him, they scorned him for years. They through him in jail and he was in jail when the catastrophe hit. Then when the disaster hit the people all came to Jeremiah for help. Nebuchadnezzar freed Jeremiah from jail and gave him a lifetime stipend. The people cried to Jeremiah and God gave Jeremiah an attitude: he laughed at them; he mocked them. The word mock here doesn’t mean to mock as such, it means to deride in the sense of looking down one’s nose at someone. It means to look at you and to see that you had the answer in your hand and you refused it.
Verse 27 – the operation of the 5th cycle of discipline which came to the Jews. When it came there was no one to help. Jeremiah saw the people go into captivity, and as the people filed by him on their way to disaster he couldn’t tell them anything more. It was too late.
Doctrine must be first in your life; without doctrine you can’t make it.
Hosea 4:5 – we have gone from the problems of the wrong crowd as a teenager to the problems of a national entity—divine institution #4. God has ordained nationalism in order that the human race might survive and be evangelised in every generation. Man’s solution for time and eternity is inevitably a personal solution, and that personal solution begins at the cross where Jesus Christ died for our sins and took our place. Hosea was writing to the northern kingdom where they had down-graded their military until they had almost phased it out. They were a nation of drunkards as described in Isaiah 28, they had fallen apart from the standpoint of their economics, they no longer had a true system of economy and they practised something very similar to socialism. So there were areas from within which were very destructive but they ignored the principle of having a military organization and every often when they needed help they would go to their southern neighbour, the kingdom of Judah and they would ask for military help from them. Sometimes they would go to Syria until Syria was wiped out by the Assyrians. As a result of this they followed a policy which led to their inevitable destruction by the Assyrian nation under Sargon II. Hosea is viewing this situation just before it occurred. Just before the Jews of the northern kingdom went into the 5th cycle of discipline God the Holy Spirit gave information which indicated this is the true cause of their destruction.
“Therefore shalt thou fall in the day.” The day refers to the conquest by the Assyrians, a day in 721 BC when after the siege of Samaria was completed the entire northern kingdom was taken into slavery; “and the prophet also shall fail with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.” The word mother here is simply the word used to indicate the basic structure in society. It is used in that sense in Proverbs 31. The basic structure of the northern kingdom was destroyed over night. Two things are missing at that point. First, there was no prophet to declare Bible doctrine. These people have rejected Bible doctrine and therefore they are going into slavery.
Verse 6 – “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” In context this refers to Bible doctrine. Because they have not followed the principles of Bible doctrine they go into slavery. A nation can make all kinds of mistakes—economy, common law, military, liberalism. Political liberalism is opposed to the principles of divine institution #4 as found in the Word of God. Behind all this liberalism is a departure from Bible doctrine—lack of knowledge of doctrine.
“because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee”–this was the doom of the northern kingdom. It therefore went into slavery in 721 BC.
“that thou shalt be no priest to me”—the Jews would lose their wonderful responsibility of custodianship of the Word of God and their responsibility for its dissemination.
“seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Verse 7 – “As they were increased, so they sinned against me; therefore I will change their glory into shame.” This in one paragraph gives us the doom of any nation that has had any relationship with God in the past. This is amplified in Hosea 6:5—“Therefore have I hewed [cut down] them by the prophets.” The prophets preach doctrine. If the Jews had listened to this Bible doctrine the Jews would have been preserved as a nation. But they refused the doctrine sand therefore they went down. In other words, the prophets gave them information on how to be preserved. They rejected the message of the prophets, they rejected Bible doctrine, and therefore they were destroyed. “I have slain them by the words of my mouth; and thy judgment as the light that goeth forth.”
When the people heard the message of Bible doctrine it was often associated with their offerings and associated with certain types of ritual designed to teach them doctrine. However, they mis-queued on ritual. When you reject doctrine ritual becomes meaningless.
Verse 6 – “For I desired mercy [grace in action].” Mercy is often used in the Old Testament to indicate orientation to the plan of God, understanding the plan of God, orientation to the principle of grace. “…and not sacrifice”—merely a ritual—“and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Knowledge of God is knowledge of doctrine. Doctrine means the understanding of God—His essence, person, work, plan, and the saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and everything connected with it. They rejected all of this, they became a nation of religionists, a nation of ritualists, and they ignored Bible doctrine. They ignored the application of doctrine in mercy and therefore they went down into slavery—destroyed as a nation. God finally judged them with the 5th cycle of discipline. This constitutes an introduction to the section of Proverbs we are now studying.
Proverbs 1:27 – “When your fear cometh as desolation.” This refers to the destruction of a nation. People can often be very selfish in a national entity as long as things are going their way, but once they begin to see an outside power moving on the horizon and threatening their very existence, then people become frightened. And in their fright they always make wrong decisions. Fear is no basis for making decisions, and when people panic in high places as well as low places, then a nation falls.
“and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you.” These are the things attendant of national disaster—the enemy, the invasion, etc. This is what happens when the military is not free from civilian control.
Verse 28 – the frustration of being without doctrine. Born-again believers who had opportunity to learn Bible doctrine are suddenly overtaken by disaster and catastrophe. They didn’t go to Bible class; they weren’t interested. They weren’t interested in the doctrine as such and didn’t take it in categorically; they did not expose themselves to doctrine. They went about their own way, the details of life being more valuable to them.
“Then shall they call upon me” – here are believers in final disaster, people who should know better; “but I will not answer”—they have no knowledge of prayer, they do not understand the faith-rest technique leading to occupation with Christ, and this means they have their eyes on self and on people and things. They have their eyes on a human viewpoint situation called disaster and therefore they are not able to cope with the situation. When a maximum number of people are not able to cope with a situation you have national disintegration.
“they shall seek me early but they shall not find me” – they could have during a period of relative peace absorbed Bible doctrine but they refused to do so. In this way David is describing to Solomon what is going to happen to the nation, the people that he now rules so well.
Verse 29 – what happened. “For that they hated knowledge”—the same thing we have in Hosea. Bible doctrine is the key to the survival of a nation as well as the key to the individual believer’s personal happiness. The believer cannot live without Bible doctrine, but neither can a national entity survive without the principles of Bible doctrine. Therefore as goes the believer in a national entity, so goes that national entity.
“and did not choose the fear of the Lord”—this is fear in the sense of awe or occupation with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not choose occupation with the Lord. As a result of this they found themselves in a very desperate situation. Negative volition over a period of time on the part of believers leads to national disaster.
Verse 30—“They would have none of my counsel.” They would none is simply the Hebrew of they did not desire—negative volition. My counsel refers to Bible doctrine presented categorically, so that it could be understood, retained in the soul, and through this system of perception applied to any situation in life.
“they despised my reproof”—reproof is the exhortation which comes from Bible doctrine.
What is the result of no doctrine: a) to the individual; b) to the national entity? We find it in the next two verses.
Verse 31 – for the individual, self-induced misery. “Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way.” This verse is dealing with the believer who is not interested in doctrine—the person who is saved but doesn’t learn any doctrine. If Bible doctrine is not first in the believer’s life then he is not occupied with Christ, and therefore any disaster situation is going to bring total misery.
“and be filled with their own devices” – referring to the various mental attitude sins: fear, worry, hatred, envy, jealousy, pride, vindictiveness, etc. These are the devices of the believer who rejects doctrine. These mental attitude sins result in a terrible falling apart in any type of pressure. Such a believer succumbs to his own devices—the mental attitude sins.
Verse 32 – for the collective group, national disaster. The fifth cycle of discipline. “For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them” The word for turning away is the Hebrew word for apostasy and it refers to these apostate believers. When you have believers turning to apostasy or turning away they are called simple. The word actually means a fool, one who is ignorant and has the wrong scale of values. A person with a false scale of values here is called the simple one. The things that are important to him are his pleasures, his health, his money, his success, his friends. He has in his life no room or no time for Bible doctrine. He is actually, then, trapped by his own devices and is miserable as such. No believer can ever put these things first and have happiness. He may have a few moments of exhilaration, but exhilaration does not sustain anyone in life. The thing that carries a person through all circumstances of life is Bible doctrine. God has so designed the plan for the believer that the believer must live by doctrine—Matthew 4:4.
“shall slay them” – the nation at large. When believers reject Bible doctrine they destroy their own nation. They are responsible for the slavery and the death of an entire national entity.
“and the prosperity of fools” – notice a contrast: “the turning away of the simple is the born-again believer rejecting Bible doctrine. But this phrase says, “the prosperity of fools.” This is literally “the security of fools,” the false security of fools, and it refers to a system which is anti-biblical in government. It is Satanic in its concept. It is Satan’s concept to solve man’s problems by perfect environment. There is no system of government designed to create perfect environment. There can be no perfect environment in the devil’s world, the only perfect environment that can occur on this earth will occur at the Second Advent of Christ. In the meantime, personal environment is personal and individual. It begins with the individual believing in Jesus Christ as saviour. It starts at the point of the cross—salvation. Perfect environment is perpetuated for the believer through Bible doctrine and in no other way. The “prosperity of fools” is literally the security of fools. They “shall destroy themselves.”
Verses 33 – “But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell in security.” We hearken to the Lord through Bible doctrine. The voice of the Lord today is the Word of God, Bible doctrine presented in the content.
“and [as an individual] he shall be tranquil [peace with happiness]”—inner peace and inner happiness, inner blessing; “from the disaster of evil”—in other words, the solution to out problems personally, the solution to our problems nationally, lie in one person. It begins with a decision, Acts 16:31.