Chapter 11

There are three basic facts which are brought out on chapter 11. The first is the fact that we have an old sin nature. It is described usually by the word “wicked,” and sometimes by the words “wicked men” which is not really wicked men at all but a principle of wickedness. The Hebrew word ra’ah really stands for the OSN rather than for wicked men. One of the great lessons of the book of Proverbs is that there is no place for human good, it is always the work of God. It is brought into the life and utilised on a non-meritorious grace basis.

The second fact found in this chapter is the matter of the details of life. These include money, success, pleasure, social life, health, sex, materialistic things and status symbols, etc. In their proper place these can be a source of pleasure and enjoyment in the various areas of the soul. When we have the details of life, or some of them, they do not make us happy, though most people think that happiness is found in one or more or a combination of these details. Proverbs says this is not true, that these in themselves are dead ends. They do not bring happiness, they do not sustain, they do not sustain in time of adversity. The only thing that sustains is, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” And if you are going to get any enjoyment out of the details of life and have that inner happiness that God wants you to have it must come from Bible doctrine. So Bible doctrine gives inner happiness which produces occupation with Christ. And when you have this inner happiness, occupation with Christ, then you can enjoy the details of life. And if you do not have the details of life you still can have happiness. So happiness is not found in the details of life. The believer is designed by God to find his happiness in Bible doctrine, and as a result of occupation with Christ.

Then the third great principle. Mental attitude sins are the worst sins. These come from a negative attitude toward Bible doctrine. Always in a believer who is negative toward Bible doctrine his mental attitude sins are unchecked. Two things are produced in the vacuum in his soul, the first is self-induced misery. He takes it wherever he goes, he is constantly miserable, and he lacks capacity for love.

In verses 1-9 we have the three-proverb series. In other words, there will be three verses dealing with the principle. Then three verses dealing with another principle, and then three verses dealing with another principle.

The first series here deal with the subject of character, verses 1-3. The Bible emphasises generally what you are on the inside, and what you are on the inside comes to the outside.

Verse 1 has to do with business, and it is a reminder to us by way of application that every believer is in full time Christian service. A person in business is full time Christian service. In the first line of this verse we have someone who is cheating in business, and 3000 years ago they had a title for it: a “false scale.” So “a false scale or balance is an abomination to the Lord.” In the second line we have “a just weight.” And this refers to legitimate business. The believer has a right to legitimate profit and here is the principle of Christian character in business. Character is what you think.

Verse 2 also has to do with character, but it is character related to mental attitude. Your real character is not what you do, it is what you think. Pride is a mental attitude sins. “When pride cometh, then cometh dishonour.” In other words, character is what you think and the area in which you think is mental attitude sins. Pride does not refer to someone who overtly has a lot of confidence, or who uses good language or good posture. Many people are called proud when it isn’t a matter of pride at all. Pride is a mental attitude. But pride here is really representative of all the mental attitude sins. Mental attitude sins produce self-induced misery. It says here that with pride comes dishonour. Dishonour has several types. The mental attitude sin here is pride. Pride representing mental attitude sins produces self-induced misery, a pseudo love or lack of capacity for love. These are all on the inside. It produces a third factor: lack of orientation to the plan of God and therefore disorientation to the grace of God.

“but with the lowly” – the lowly is the believer oriented to Bible doctrine through knowledge of doctrine; “is wisdom” – the doctrine which has been stored in the soul for application. This humility and lowliness is learning Bible doctrine. Cf. 1 Peter 5:5,6.

Verse 3 – “The integrity of the upright.” The Hebrew word for integrity is tamim which refers to being complete. It refers to completeness of mind, being fully equipped. So it means to have a mind fully equipped with Bible doctrine. The “upright” is simply a believer in fellowship.

“shall guide them” – the believer who has Bible doctrine in his human spirit and is running it into his soul is going to know the will of God and dot it, and the two of them combined comprise divine guidance. The more doctrine the believer knows the easier it is to know the will of God. This is divine guidance for every situation.

“but the perverseness of the transgressor” – the word for “perverseness” in the Hebrew is seleph. It is the believer who rejects Bible doctrine and has a vacuum in his mind as a result. He rejects rebound and therefore inside he has a vacuum, into which is drawn all kinds of ideas, all kinds of legalism. He is a believer who can learn a false idea in one second and has absolutely no perspicacity for the truth. This is the kind of a believer who goes into the tongues movement, the kind of believer who is all mixed up and confused.

“shall destroy him” – the word “destroyed” simply means to be devastated. It is actually a word for misery. The Hebrew word is shadad in the perfect tense here, which means it is an accomplished fact, it is a law of God. He produces shadad which is self-induced misery.

Verse 4 – three proverbs on righteousness. This verse deals with imputed righteousness, verses 5,6 deal with experiential righteousness. These various types of righteousness depend upon an understanding of the plan of God. The plan of God was designed in eternity past; the actual outworking of the plan was fulfilled in time. Phase one was planned—Jesus Christ dying on the cross, bearing the sins of the world. Operation phase two is the believer in time and operation phase three is the believer in eternity. All three phases of the plan of God are mentioned in these proverbs. These proverbs dealing are with righteousness. When we come to the cross and believe in Jesus Christ God’s righteousness is credited to out account. This is actually an extension of the doctrine of propitiation.

“Riches profiteth not in the day of wrath” – the day of wrath refers to the last judgment when all unbelievers will be resurrected to face their judgment. They will face the judge on the basis of their own human good rather than the work of Christ which they rejected. The issue is human good versus divine good. At the last judgment only human good will be the basis of indictment. The only reason a person will ever stand at the last judgment is because they have rejected Christ as saviour. And so he will be judged on the basis of his own works.

Unbelievers who have wealth or who share them are really in view with the word “riches.” This is the unbeliever who possess wealth but who produces human good. Human good is something that looks good on the unbeliever but it looks terrible on the believer because the believer is designed for the better things which are the production of divine good through the filling of the Holy Spirit.

“but righteousness delivereth from death” – the righteousness that delivers from death is imputed righteousness. This is the righteousness of Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed in the Lord and it was credited to his account for righteousness.” This is the righteousness which is found in 2 Corinthians 5:21. Cf. Romans 3:22. The word “delivereth” here is in the hiphil stem which is causative in the Hebrew. That means a caused deliverance. He causes us to be delivered, and He causes us to be delivered permanently. It means to snatch away from certain doom. The word is natsar.

Verse 5 – experiential righteousness. “The righteousness of the perfect” – we are not perfect but once we have believed in Christ we are given certain divine operating assets whereby we might have an experiential righteousness in keeping with our position. Positionally we are in union with Christ, we are ambassadors for Christ, and every child of God is in full time Christian service. The believer has to have an inner righteousness experientially and this inner righteousness is produced by the filling of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit controls the life this eliminates the worst area of sin which is the mental attitude sin.

The “perfect” does not mean someone who is minus sin, it means someone who is equipped. The Hebrew word is tamim. At the point of salvation we are given a human spirit. This human spirit has a lot of shelves. The Holy Spirit takes doctrine which is communicated and moves it into the human spirit, which at salvation is an empty closet. The shelves are then filled. When they are filled with Bible doctrine, then they are equipped. We are equipped by the amount of doctrine we have on the shelves of cupboard of the human spirit. Doctrine is only usable in the cupboard and we must transfer it from the pages of the Word of God into our human spirit. Once this occurs it is then ready to be piped into the soul—self-consciousness, mentality, conscience, volition, emotion. The “perfect” man, instead of having self-pity in his self-consciousness, has occupation with Christ. Doctrine is piped into his mentality so that he looks at life from the divine viewpoint. It is piped into his volition so that he makes decisions compatible with the will of God. It is piped into his emotion so that he can have an appreciation for God and therefore a relaxed mental attitude about people. It is piped into his conscience so that he can have divine norms and standards. This is what is meant by the righteousness of the perfect. This is an experiential righteousness, a righteousness which is on the inside, free from mental attitude sins.

“shall direct his way” – this is literally, “shall make his way successful. On other words, when you have Bible doctrine you are going to be successful in the spiritual life in the operation of phase two. It means that you are going to be a relaxed person with a maximum amount of inner happiness.

“but” – by way of contrast, getting back to the unbeliever—“the wicked shall fall in their own wickedness.” This means that whereas you are free from mental attitude sins, for example, the unbeliever does not have this freedom. He functions under a principle that mental attitude sins produce self-induced misery. Therefore he is constantly in a state of being upset and disturbed, he is constantly trying to sublimate for his mental attitude sins, he is trying to have some kind of an exterior exhilaration that will compensate for this inner misery. But them point is, it is impossible to derive happiness from the details of life. The “wicked” is the unbeliever who is always under the control of his old sin nature. He shall fall by his own wickedness—mental attitude sins which produce self-induced misery.

Verse 6 – the righteousness of the equipped. This is an experiential righteousness which is on the inside, in the mind, and which eliminates mental attitude sins. Everything depends on learning Bible doctrine for the believer. This righteousness is the monopoly of the believer, an unbeliever cannot have this righteousness.

The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them” – this righteousness does a delivering job. It delivers in time of suffering. Doctrine on the inside will equalise every pressure that the believer will face in this life. The righteousness of the upright is that inner happiness which comes from Bible doctrine.

“but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness” – the word for naughtiness here means to try to hurt someone else, to deal treacherously with someone, to try to use revenge. The word is much stronger in the Hebrew than it appears in the English. Here are retaliation tactic from mental attitude sins. A “transgressor” is simply a believer out of fellowship, a believer minus doctrine, or an unbeliever.

Verse 7 – the challenge to salvation. The word for “wicked” really means the old sin nature, it means to possess the old sin nature as a member of the human race without any solution to it. So it is describing a member of the human race described in 1 Corinthians as “the soulish man.” Man is born with an old sin nature and is physically alive but spiritually dead. He has to be born again in order for this problem to be solved. A person who has only a soul and not a human spirit is said to be an unbeliever. The word for “wicked” in this passage, ra’ah, actually describes the old sin nature, it does not mean some concept of overt wickedness but it means a person who is controlled by his old sin nature constantly. In other words, an unbeliever.

“The wicked man dieth [physical death], his expectation shall perish [when he dies]” – in other words, death is the end of the line for the person who has rejected Christ as saviour. As long as a man is alive there is hope for him.

“and the hope of the unjust” – the unjust is the person who has not received the imputed righteousness; “perisheth.” There is no hope.

Verse 8 – as far as the believer and the unbeliever is concerned they are contrasted by their attitude toward the cross: the unbeliever has rejected, the believer has received or had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. One has imputed righteousness and eternal life, the other only has temporal life which is spiritual death. The believer and the unbeliever both face suffering in time. For the unbeliever the suffering he faces simply causes additional misery, and so on. The believer is going to face the same kind of suffering but in his case the suffering is converted to blessing. With the unbeliever the only thing that suffering can do is to alert him to his need of a relationship with God, and then he can enter into that relationship.

“The righteous” – this is not a person who is overtly righteous by simply adhering to some ethical system, it is the believer who has the righteousness of God credited to His account; “is delivered out of trouble.” There are twelve different reasons why believers suffer, all of them are designed for blessing even when suffering is discipline.

“the wicked cometh in his stead” – in other words, the unbeliever comes into the same category of suffering but he is not delivered, he finds himself in total misery and disaster with which he cannot cope. The principle is simple. What does the unbeliever have by which he can handle the sufferings of life? Some pleasant associations, a nice party, a lot of things that might be considered to be wonderful things. But these things don’t sustain him. It is Bible doctrine that sustains. The believer has inner resources and when he faces these problems he has Bible doctrine stored in his human spirit. When trouble comes this doctrine is piped into the soul. It is piped into the mentality, bringing every thought into captivity. The result is the divine viewpoint of life. There is a tremendous availability of doctrine to give inner happiness and inner peace in time of disaster. The unbeliever has mental attitude sins, but the believer has inner happiness, divine viewpoint. Then doctrine goes into the volition so that under suffering conditions decisions are made according to the will of God, instead of sublimation decisions. Then there is emotion, and in time of suffering and pressure he has an appreciation for God and for His Word under these conditions of pressure. The conscience has divine norms and standards which contribute to the inner happiness of the believer under pressure conditions. With the unbeliever he falls apart under the pressure, it breaks him up on the inside as well as on the outside—“the wicked cometh in his stead.”

Verse 9 – a progression and an illustration. “An hypocrite” is an erroneous translation. The Hebrew word chaneph is a noun and it means an ungodly person or an unbeliever. It is a synonym for the wicked in the previous verses.

“with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour” – when he gets under pressure he has no inner resources and in the mentality of his soul he has mental attitude sins. He not only has self-induced misery but he expresses his self-induced misery toward his neighbour. The word “neighbour” here simply means a fellow member of the human race with whom he has contact. He expresses his mental attitude sins in terms of sins of the tongue—gossip, maligning, judging, nit-picking.

“but through knowledge the just shall be delivered” – knowledge means doctrine in the human spirit. The believer is delivered through knowledge of doctrine from these terrible sins. Instead, when gets under pressure he merely pipes doctrine into the facets of the soul. As a result he has inner peace and happiness, he is a relaxed person in the midst of the troubles and the difficulties of life. So Bible doctrine provides deliverance from every pressure and disaster of life. There is no problem in this life that is too great for the plan of God.

Divine institution #4 is in view in verses 10-14. We have a relationship to our national entity and responsibility to it. Cf. Matthew 5:13, “You keep on being the salt of the earth.” The purpose of salt in the ancient world was its use as a preservative. The salt is the unseen preservative and often judgment against a nation is often restrained because of the presence of believers; but not just ordinary believers, believers who have learned Bible doctrine. “If the salt has lost its savour” – if the salt has become insipid, if it has post its preservative ability. The believer loses his preservative ability when he fails to learn Bible doctrine. The most dangerous thing to a country is the believer in ignorance, the believer minus Bible doctrine, the believer who is not aware of the fundamental principles of the Word of God. With Bible doctrine the believer preserves the nation but the preservative loses its power when the believer is ignorant of doctrine. “How shall it function as a preservative? It is good for nothing, having been cast out [as useless].” The principle: The believer minus Bible doctrine is detrimental to his country. The believer who knows Bible doctrine acts as an unseen preservative.

Verse 10 – “When it goeth well” is not found. The Hebrew says, “In the good of the righteous.” The righteous refers to the believer. “Good” refers to the production of good, and this takes us to the production of phase two: knowledge of doctrine plus the filling of the Holy Spirit equals the production of divine good. This is the combination which makes the believer a preserver of society.

“the city rejoiceth” – the rejoicing of the city is a Hebrew idiom for prosperity, and the word “city” is actually a city state. The concept is that the state is blessed by a believer with Bible doctrine in his soul.

“and when the wicked perisheth” – again, the wicked here does not mean an immoral person. This is simply an unbeliever with the human viewpoint: man by man’s efforts trying to solve man’s problems. When the wicked is eliminated—any system which seeks by man’s efforts to solve man’s problems by socialism, by improving his environment, etc. This is human good which has no place in the plan of God.

“and when the wicked perish, there is shouting” – this is the result of Bible doctrine.

Verse 11 – the blessing of the upright is the impact of Bible doctrine on a believer. “By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted” – this is the city state. The word to exalt means to have blessing in all categories; “but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked” – the mouth of the wicked is simply the human viewpoint system contrary to the principles found under the divine institution #4 doctrine of Scripture. Human viewpoint destroys the whole governmental system of society.

Verse 12 – this passage begins with a dissertation on the grace lady, which leads to the study of the grace man. Grace always has to have a point at which it begins. Grace actually began in eternity past when God made plans for the human race. He made plans for man’s salvation and for his life in phase two.

“He that is void of wisdom” – there is the problem. No concentration on doctrine. Void of wisdom means destitute of doctrine.

“despiseth his neighbour” – this is to be guilty of mental attitude sins. Immediately a believer goes negative toward Bible doctrine he sets up a vacuum in his soul, into which is drawn mental attitude sins which produce self-induced misery, legalism and religionism, and an emphasis on the details of life. So he hates his neighbour. Mental attitude sins are directed toward others—hatred, bitterness, jealousy, envy, etc. As a result he cannot give others their privacy. Privacy means living your own life as unto the Lord. When you despise your neighbour that is when you start minding their business.

“but a man of understanding” – the believer with Bible doctrine. Corrected translation: “a man of understanding minds his own business.” The Hebrew word is charash, and it means not only to mind your own business but it is in the hiphil stem which means you are caused to mind your own business. By nature people are nosy and want to intrude into the affairs of others, but Bible doctrine causes the believer to mind his own business.

Verse 13 – here is the nosey person, the person who is minus doctrine. “A talebearer revealeth secrets” – this is the believer with mental attitude sins, is motivated to discredit others therefore, and he does this by gossiping, maligning, judging, and often retaliation of some sort. On the basis of legalism, on the basis of no capacity for love, this person not only interferes with others but he begins to bully others. He tries to put pressure on others to bring them around to his modus operandi. A talebearer reveals—piel stem, the intensive stem. In this case it means that they reveal the secrets of others because they hate that person, because they are bitter toward that person, because they are jealous of that person. The word “reveal” also means to violate the privacy of another person, to take their privacy and to make it public property.

“but he that is of a faithful spirit” – the word for faithful here means a stabilised spirit. This stabilised spirit comes from Bible doctrine. The spirit is mentioned because the human spirit is the storehouse for Bible doctrine; “concealeth the matter” – when a believer learns Bible doctrine he learns to mind his own business. The word here means to cover or conceal. So he conceals someone else’s business. It is not his business, it is between them and the Lord, and therefore to become a grace person the first thing one must become is relaxed. To become relaxed you respect the privacy of others, you are minus mental attitude sins. This is where grace begins.

Verse 14 – the divine viewpoint of government. “Where no counsel is” – counsel means a system of a government which is influenced by Bible doctrine.

“the people fall” – cf. Hosea 4:6. When believers in a national entity reject Bible doctrine the nation falls.

“in the multitude of counsellors” is literally, “but where there is no lack of doctrine there is safety.” Where doctrine exists safety exists for that nation. Bible doctrine is the basis for freedom.

Verse 15 – “He that is surety for a stranger.” This means getting into someone else’s business to the extent that you are co-signing a note for them. This does not mean stranger as such, it just means a person into whose affairs you have intruded and should not have.

“shall smart for it” – he suffers for it; “and he that hateth suretyship” – in other words, getting into the affairs of others and seeing their financial affairs. To hate suretyship is to have so much doctrine that you are smart enough to keep away from it; “is secure” – if you want to be secure, stay out of other people’s business.

Verses 16-17, the grace woman.

Verse 16 – the beauty of the grace woman is inner beauty. The woman who has this grace principle from Bible doctrine is the greatest thing on this earth. “A grace woman retaineth honour, and a strong one [woman] retaineth riches.” The grace woman is said to retain. The word “retain” doesn’t mean retain here, it actually means to acquire, to obtain. The grace lady is someone who acquires something that she didn’t have by birth, that she didn’t develop through normal growth.

The word “honour” here isn’t honour either, it means glamour. The grace woman acquires glamour. There is nothing more glamorous or glorious than the grace woman. She has capacity for love.

“a strong woman [person] retaineth riches” – the word for “riches” is not riches, it is inner happiness. She is so occupied with the Lord that everything else falls into place.

Corrected translation: “A grace woman acquires glamour, the strong believer [grace woman] acquires happiness.”

A strong believer has a maximum knowledge of Bible doctrine. She is oriented to the plan of God.

Verse 17 – “The merciful man” is literally a grace man. He has a mental attitude which reflects itself in overt action; “doeth good” is incorrect, it should be “benefits.” “The grace man benefits his own soul.” Everything depends upon understanding the facets of the soul which has so much to do with this passage, up through verse 23. The human soul has self-consciousness, and the grace man benefited in his soul because his self-consciousness is parlayed into occupation with Christ. The grace man is benefited in the mentality of the soul by the divine viewpoint. The soul has volition and the grace man makes decisions according to the will of God. His emotion is benefited by an appreciation of God. His conscience is compatible with the standards of doctrine and the will of God.

“but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh” – the non-grace man is guilty of mental attitude sins, and these not only produce self-induced misery but they also produce repercussions in the realm of the psychosomatics. The word for “cruel” in the Hebrew means a person who is guilty of mental attitude sins. The word for “flesh” here refers to the body. This man’s mental attitude sins overflow into the body.

Verse 18 – the grace man produces divine good; the non-grace man produces human good. “The wicked” is the carnal believer who produces human good.

“worketh a deceitful work” – “deceitful work” in the Hebrew is “wages of a lie.” The carnal believer produces the wages of a lie. The wages of a lie is human good. It is a lie to think that you can give money to a church, attend prayer meetings, work in the program of the church, pray every day, memorise the Bible and read a passage at the breakfast table, and that it is good. These things can be accomplished in the energy of the flesh. This is the pay-off of a lie. Everything depends on who controls the life. If the Holy Spirit controls the life then these things are divine good and the wages of truth. But if the old sin nature controls the life then all of these things become the wages of a lie because there is no place in the plan of God for human good. No man can be a grace man and produce human good.

“but to him that soweth righteousness” – “to him that soweth” is a qal active participle and it means to follow a particular course of action; “righteousness” is the production of divine good. There are two sources of divine good and they form the dynamic equation of phase two: knowledge of doctrine plus the filling of the Holy Spirit equals the production of divine good. Ignorance of doctrine plus carnality equals the production of human good.

“shall be a sure reward” – the sure reward is declared in 1 Corinthians 3:11-16, the doctrine of the judgment seat of Christ. This is the gold, silver and precious stones. Human good is burned.

Verses 19-21, victory over the old sin nature.

Verse 19 – “As righteousness tendeth to life.” The word life is plural in the Hebrew: “lives.” It refers to the human spirit where the doctrine dwells and the piping of the human spirit to the facets of the soul. So we have one life in the spirit and one life in the soul, they are packaged together and linked. So when there is doctrine in the human spirit it is piped into the soul. There is one’s knowledge of doctrine. The literal translation is “True righteousness unto lives.”

“so” is really “but,” a conjunction of contrast; “he that pursues” – piel participle, which means it is an intensive action. Operation under the old sin nature is intense.

“evil” – here this is ra’ah which really refers to the old sin nature, the principle of evil, to living under the old sin nature; “to his own death” – the sin unto death, 1 John 5:16. It is possible for a believer to shorten his life.

Verse 20 – the froward heart. “They that are of a froward heart” – this is an “ungracious mind.” The believer who does not learn doctrine, has no filling of the Spirit, he operates under his old sin nature habitually and produces human good: “abomination” – they stink! This is the divine viewpoint; “but the upright [believer in fellowship] in the way [phase two] are his delight.”

Verse 21 – Though hand join in hand.” This is an idiom in the Hebrew meaning “I guarantee.”

“that the wicked shall not be unpunished” – wicked here refers to a believer. This is divine discipline. The believer who operates in the power of the old sin nature is going to get into three different types of discipline: simple discipline, compound discipline, dying discipline.

“but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered” – in every generation there is a mature believer and this is the seed of righteousness, and this one is always delivered. This is a hiphil perfect which means to escape from whatever the pressure is and to be delivered. The perfect tense means the action is completed, it was completed in eternity past. The Hebrew word is malat, and it means to be thoroughly relaxed in a hot situation and enjoying it. Hiphil stem: doctrine causes it. Perfect tense: God provided this deliverance in eternity past. This deliverance is an inner deliverance.

Verses 22-23, the importance of the inner life.

Verse 22 – “A jewel of gold.” This is actually a beautiful gem which was beautiful in its original state and was put together is some magnificent piece of jewellery. It is a stone that has been cut and polished and put together with other stones in a beautiful setting.

“in a swine’s snout” – nothing could be more startling than this beautiful stone pinned in a pig’s nose. The pig here is all hidden, it is on the inside. If a woman on the inside is proud, bitter, jealous, vindictive, implacable, filled with fears and worries, carrying around a guilt complex; that is the pig. Inner ugliness. “Without discretion” is without inner beauty.

Verse 23 – “The desire of the righteous is only good.” The word for desire here refers to a delight more than a desire. In other words, positive volition toward Bible doctrine is the desire of the righteous. The person who is free from mental attitude sins and is positive toward doctrine wants more and more doctrine. This type of person craves Bible doctrine. The “righteous” is the believer under the control of the Holy Spirit and has positive volition toward Bible doctrine.

“only good” refers to divine good.

“but the expectation of the wicked is wrath” – wrath here is divine discipline, as per Hebrews 12:6.

Verse 24 – the principle of giving. “There is he that scattereth” should be “There is one who gives generously.” To give generously means to give with a mental attitude. It isn’t the amount. Generous giving has to do with the character of the person. Giving reflects the character of the giver. There is such a thing as a grace giver and there is such a thing as a pseudo giver. A pseudo giver gives under emotional pressure—he might be stimulated by a sad story. He gives on the basis of approbation lust. It isn’t what people say, it is what people think that counts.

“and there is he that withholdeth” – qal active participle of chasahk, and it means to be stingy. It means a little more than that here, it means to have a mental attitude of stinginess and then to cover it up by giving a lot of money. This means to withhold the mental attitude of love.

“more than is fitting” – legalism removes what one has until there is nothing but poverty. You can have a lot of money but if you are minus Bible doctrine you are giving from the wrong mental attitude; “even to poverty” – legalism turns to poverty of soul. This means self-induced misery.

Verse 25 – “The liberal soul shall be made fat.” The liberal soul is literally “the soul of blessing.” This is the soul of doctrine. The word “fat” means to be made happy or to be made prosperous. This is the grace mental attitude producing inner happiness even while giving.

“and he that watereth” – hiphil stem: “he that causeth watering.” The word here indicates the old system of providing water for others. He has a well in the middle of his field and he allows the water to flow to his neighbour’s field so that he can have a crop. This is the principle being used. The hiphil stem means that he causes the water to go to his neighbour’s field. Why does he give to his neighbour? Because of his mental attitude toward his neighbour. So the soul with Bible doctrine shall be made prosperous,

“and he that watereth shall be watered also himself” – this is a hiphil stem again and it means he will receive benefit. First of all the benefit comes by grace. When a person lives by grace he is benefited by grace. But this also has other concepts. In an agricultural economy one person’s prosperity depended upon another person’s prosperity.

Verse 26 – “He that witholdeth grain, the people shall curse him.” Failure to operate under grace.

“but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.” This is a case of selling under difficult circumstances when one would have a tendency to hoard.

Verse 27 – the principle of grace. “He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour” – as it stands this is very misleading. Seeking good here is not trying to adhere to a standard of morality, no matter how great it is. To diligently seek means to have positive volition for good. And the word for good in the Hebrew refers to divine good. Divine good in the Church Age is produced by knowledge of doctrine plus the filling of the Holy Spirit. Divine good is produced by a divine means. Divine good is the work of God, the result of grace. The word here to procure doesn’t mean to procure at all. It means when you are producing divine good you choose for yourself favour. But the Hebrew word for favour is “grace.” Translation: “The one who has a positive attitude toward divine good choose for himself grace.” The choice is on the basis of who and what God is, never on the basis of who and what we are. To have ⁺V toward God requires a knowledge of doctrine.

“but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come to him” – the word “mischief is the Hebrew ra’ah and is a reference to the old sin nature. You either choose to live under the old sin nature or you choose to live under God’s plan; “he that seeketh” is a qal active participle of darash. It means to like to frequent a certain place. The idea is a person who likes to frequently hang around his old sin nature. To do this all a believer has to do is to stay out of fellowship. And what shall come upon him? “It”, the old sin nature shall come upon him. When this comes upon him he is perpetually out of fellowship, perpetually miserable, perpetually disoriented to the grace of God and the plan of God. And this means he is the most miserable person in the world.

Verse 28 – “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall.” There is nothing wrong or sinful in having money. Riches here simply refers to the details of life. Money is the one in view here. If your emphasis is on the details of life then the details of life are going to mow you down. There is nothing wrong with these things, but they become your enemies when you depend upon them for your happiness. The believer’s happiness is doctrine. When he has the inner happiness of doctrine on the inside then he is going to be very happy with the exterior things of life. Trusting in riches means to use the details of life for one’s happiness. The word for “fall” here means to be miserable.

“but the righteous” – the believer who has doctrine, the believer who is oriented to the grace of God and the plan of God; “shall flourish like a branch” – the word to flourish means to blossom. What is on the inside blossoms on the outside.

Verse 29 – “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.” To inherit the wind means to be blown away. This is an idiom for everything that is nothing. Who is he that troubles his household? It can be any member of the family with mental attitude sins.

“and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart” – if you have mental attitude sins toward someone then you have put them on a pedestal. They are the wise person, they are free from those things and you are their slaves.

Verse 30 – “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.” The fruit of the righteous is a certain type of production—witnessing, leading souls to Christ.

“and he that winneth souls is wise” – a wise person wins souls. A wise person has doctrine in his human spirit. He is occupied with Christ and wants to tell people about Christ.

Verse 31 – “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed.” The word for being recompensed in the Hebrew is shalem. It means to receive security, to receive happiness. It means to receive inner stability. The reason it means to receive something is because it is in the pual stem. It means to receive something that stimulates you, therefore it refers to inner happiness. The righteous are believers who have Bible doctrine and are oriented to grace, and they receive inner happiness “on the earth,” in the devil’s world. Inner happiness in the devil’s world should be a daily experience.

“much more, the wicked and the sinner” – this has been defined by the entire passage, it goes back to the word “it”—the old sin nature. This goes back to the phrase “seeketh mischief” in verse 27, “it shall come upon him.” “Much more the wicked” simply refers back to “it shall come upon you.”