Chapter 25

Chapters 25 through 29 constitute what is called the Hezekiah proverbs. As can be seen from verse 1, they were not written by Hezekiah or by anyone who lived in his reign. But when the Sennacherib invasion took place the Jews had one year of terrible adversity and pressure during which time they were all but destroyed. It was during this time that they were moving some files and they discovered some of the proverbs of Solomon. So when it says at the end of verse 1, they “copied out,” it really means they were discovered and distributed. Often God has a purpose in certain parts of the Word of God and emphasis on certain doctrines, and certain principles will occur just at the right time in history. The men who sat on the wall and did not succumb to the propaganda system of the Rabshaka of Assyria, because they were so relaxed and could take any disaster that came into life, part of the reason for their spiritual stability is found in Proverbs chapters 25-29. The discovery of these proverbs and the use of them: apparently Isaiah was the one who used them, along with several other prophets.

Verse 1 – “These are the proverbs of Solomon.” Again, a proverb is a two-line piece of poetry which presents a point of doctrine. These proverbs were discovered just in time to be use for the great disaster of the Assyrian invasion.

“which the men of Hezekiah” – refers to the prophets who preached in Hezekiah’s reign. This was primarily Isaiah, but it would also include Micah and Hosea. The first collection of proverbs, chapters 1-24, is primarily for teenagers, but the second collection, chapters 25-29, are for the people of Jerusalem in their time of crisis and disaster.

In verses 1-7 we have the proverbs of the king. This is the way a king should conduct himself. By application to us, anyone who has any responsibility or place of authority, this is applicable.

Verse 2 – the policy of kings. The first King is God; the second king is the king of Judah. “The glory of God” refers to the essence of God, in this case the essence of God the Father. It also refers to the plan which emanates from His essence.

“to conceal a matter” – the Hebrew word for matter is dabar. Here it refers to a point of doctrine. It is very strange that we should start out by discussing that it is the policy of the King of kings to often conceal or keep secret a point of doctrine. There is a right time and there is a wrong time for people to get certain types of doctrine. If you are thoroughly aware of the Word of God and learning doctrine day by day you will often learn a point and tuck it back in your mind and not use it for perhaps years. But there will come a time in your life when you will need that point of doctrine and you will apply it. The principle behind this first line simply means that there were certain doctrines that were not revealed to the Jews in Solomon’s day—roughly 1000 B.C.—nor in the day of Isaiah and Hezekiah—700 B.C., three hundred years later. There were certain doctrines which were not revealed to these people, doctrines pertaining to the Church Age (mystery doctrine). Therefore it remains dormant, not understood, until the proper time for its revelation.

There is an application to this. There are some doctrines in which we show little interest, if any, at the point at which they are communicated. Sometimes it takes a tragedy or disaster, or some sort of a situation, to provide a use for it. It is important to understand any principle of Bible doctrine. This is what is meant by the glory of God concealing certain things until the right moment. These proverbs, chapters 25-29, were taught by Solomon to the people of his day, but for 300 years this section of the Word was not of any great interest to the people. Then suddenly, in 700 B.C. when the Assyrian army was surrounding the walls of Jerusalem, when it looked as though the Jews would be wiped out completely, when there was absolutely no human help, someone was going through the files and they discovered Proverbs chapters 25-29. So this section is doctrine for people who face disaster.

“but” – conjunction of contrast; “the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” Honour refers to responsibility. It is a part of the Christian way of life to have a sense of responsibility. To God: defined by Bible doctrine. We represent the Lord Jesus Christ; every believer is an ambassador for Christ and in full time Christian service. All of us have some responsibility somewhere and this should be done as unto the Lord; “search out” is a word which means to be unbiased, without prejudice, fair and impartial in the fulfilment of responsibility. In other words, to search out a matter is describing the mental attitude of anyone in responsibility. Here it is the mental attitude of a king. Prophetically, this anticipated Hezekiah’s day. In this matter Hezekiah had failed and this is one reason for the disaster which came to the kingdom of Judah. He did not know, nor did he apply doctrine.

Hezekiah started out with everything going for him. He abolished idolatry and more or less removed religion from the land, but he did not have Bible doctrine. In other words, he recognised that religion was a terrible thing. So he abolished religion. But when you abolish something that is not correct biblically there must be in its place doctrine. There was no doctrine in his own soul and no attempt to learn doctrine, even though the great doctrinal man of the time was preaching in his very city—Isaiah. He abolished something that was wrong, but when you abolish something that is wrong or anti-biblical you must have something to take its place. That something to take its place is doctrine. If you do not put doctrine in, then whatever reform is made is not going to last. And it did not last. Idolatry was abolished but the people had idolatry in their souls. They put everything in the world before the Lord. Hezekiah himself was a believer, but a very weak believer, and he began to think human viewpoint. As he did so he began to formulate a policy for his country. His policy was one of pride. He stopped paying taxes to the Assyrians. He turned to Egypt for help. He did everything wrong. Isaiah 30 & 31 describe his foreign policy failure. So because of his failure to learn Bible doctrine he was not able to fulfil this principle—to search out a matter.

The word for matter is dabar. It refers to doctrine, and doctrine communicated is what it actually means—“it is the honour of kings to search out doctrine.” To search out means to have in the soul positive volition with regard to doctrine.

Verse 3 – the dignity and the poise of the king. This is described by three unsearchable things. “The heaven for height” – the heaven is unsearchable in the sense that the heaven is composed of billions of light years of space. The heaven is so extensive that it is impossible to penetrate the mysteries of the heavens.

“the earth for depth” – this is an illustration of inability to really know what is there.

“the heart of kings” – his soul. It is filled with likes and dislikes, prejudices, impressions, concepts. However, as one in authority he must sweep aside all of his human prejudices.

Verses 4 & 5 (parabolic tetrastich), a stabilised rulership leads to a stabilised nation.

Verse 4 – the illustration. “Take away the dross from the silver.” To take away means to melt away. Heat is applied—suffering is the principle here. Dross is sued in two ways in the Hebrew: for refuse and also for anything that keeps the metal from being pure. The impurities must be removed from the metal before the metal can be made into any kind of a vessel.

“and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer” – should be translated, “so that the vessel is ready for the smith.” The smith is going to take the metal and mould it into a vessel. But the metal has to be purified before it is useable. In order for the silver to be made into any kind of a vessel there must be a refining process with regard to the ore. The impurities have to be removed. The principle is that before the country could be rescued from its disastrous situation there had to be a purification. This was brought about by one year of preaching by Isaiah. The dross removed was religion, apostasy, legalism.

Verse 5 – the point of doctrine. “Take away the wicked from before the king.” The wicked in the nation were the unbelievers. They were taken away by being converted; they became believers. But the word wicked also has a specific reference to the rulers who had been advising Hezekiah. Their advice was so poor that it led to the Assyrian invasion. Isaiah 36:3—the three frightened men. They were discredited by the invasion, by their fear, their worry. When they came back and reported to the king they were phased out of the picture and Isaiah became the advisor at that point. In the hour of crisis it took a man of doctrine. Hezekiah appealed to him and from that point on things began to look up, and finally the Lord Himself delivered the kingdom of Judah from the Assyrians. Take away the wicked means: remove apostasy, remove false doctrine, remove human viewpoint.

“and his throne shall be stabilised [prospered]” – this was actually fulfilled as a result of the great catastrophe; “in righteousness” – this is not self-righteousness, which is totally objectionable and is a part of legalism. This is a relaxed righteousness which comes from being oriented to Bible doctrine.

Verses 6 & 7 – once the king is re-established on the basis of Bible doctrine his authority is recognised. We have in these two verses a warning against arrogance.

Verse 6 – “Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king.” The presence of the king means at a time of some official state dinner or some banquette, or some state occasion. The king was always given a place of honour, a dais. But here is a person who has seen Hezekiah’s failures in the past. Hezekiah has now rebounded, his authority is stabilised by the work of Jesus Christ in the kingdom, and yet this person is proud and his arrogance now displays itself by standing in the presence of the king, which means standing in the place of great authority assuming he has the same authority as the king. This person suffers from self-induced misery. He has a mental attitude sin called pride. More than that behind his pride is approbation and power lust. These three things together keep him off-balance all of the time. Put not forth means to not show one’s self as proud, to display arrogance.

“and stand not in the place of the great ones” – this means to stand at a table, up near the head of the table, the place of the great people. This is a person who desires recognition of high office without the willingness to assume the authority and the responsibility which goes with that high office.

Verse 7 – a comparative distich. Mental attitude sins such as pride reject authority and they suffer for it. Mental attitude sin competes with everyone else.

“For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldst be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen.” Principle: Mental attitude sins destroy capacity for living. When a person is guilty of perpetual mental attitude sins he destroys his soul and he is a shell. He has no capacity for love, no capacity for leadership, no capacity for happiness. While this capacity is there originally it is destroyed by mental attitude sins. Worst of all, there is no capacity to serve the Lord, no capacity to fulfil the purpose for which we remain in this life. The person with a relaxed mental attitude is promoted without trying.

Verses 8-17, some proverbs of conversation. In verses 8-10, the isolation of controversy. Whenever you have a controversy with someone, because you are a believer with a relaxed mental attitude, you are not going to let a controversy spread. In fact, you destroy it mentally in your own mind.

Verse 8 – “Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.” Here is the believer who because of mental attitude sins carries a chip on his shoulder. He is aggressive in starting trouble.

“lest thou know not what to do” – thou know not is not found in the original. It should read, “Do not go forth hastily to strive; result: what to do in the end.” The end is the terrible self-induced misery that comes from constant bickering and striving.

“when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame” – you neighbour is your fellow believer and he puts you to shame by putting the matter in the Lord’s hands when you wrong him. Psalm 55:22.

Verse 9 – “Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another.” Corrected translation: Isolate your controversy with a fellow believer; do not reveal the secret of the controversy to another.

The word to debate means to contend quietly so that others cannot hear it. In other words, to isolate it. The word cause means quarrel or controversy. You have a quarrel with another believer, so discuss it with him and do not bring others into the controversy. As soon as you bring others into a controversy it leads to a schism. It divides families and friends and loved ones. Discover not means do not reveal the secret.

Verse 10 – “Lest he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamy turn not away.” Lest introduces a result clause; put thee to shame means to eventually isolate you, separate from you. Infamy here is vindictiveness—a troublemaker, a person with mental attitude sins plus the expression of mental attitude sins in operation revenge.

These three verses remind is that controversy and rupture among believers can be avoided by the utilisation of Bible doctrine—faith-rest and the filling of the Spirit. Principle: No believer can ever be happy and at the same time habitually practice mental attitude sinning.

Verses 11-13, the effectiveness of the Word of God.

Verse 11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” The translation is incorrect. It actually says, “Golden apples on silver trays; a word being spoken on its wheels.”

Line one: the illustration. Golden apples on silver trays. This is something very valuable. In the ancient world a golden apple was a status symbol for wealth. Here it is an illustration of Bible doctrine and the fantastic spiritual wealth which comes from it. The silver tray means good service. It simply depicts the wonderful luxury of being properly waited on. Bible doctrine is not only a source of great spiritual wealth to the born-again believer but it will give you the best service you will ever have in this life—faithful, loyal, wonderful service. Bible doctrine will serve the believer in a marvellous way.

Line two: the point of doctrine. “a word being spoken on its wheels.” A word being spoken is the communication of doctrine to the individual; on its wheels is a Hebrew idiom. The wheels are revolving. A chariot could travel in all kinds of conditions and weather and it went through everything and kept on turning. From this they developed a concept of something that is beneficial at all times and under all circumstances. It is an idiom then for Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is on its wheels. It is good in time of suffering and it is good in time of success and prosperity—for all the circumstances of life.

Verse 12 – “As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.” The obedient ear is the believer with positive volition toward Bible doctrine. It represents the believer who desires to learn doctrine. The golden earring is Bible doctrine; the ear is the believer. The earring is what Bible doctrine will do for the one who is desirous of hearing it. An ornament of fine gold is literally a golden necklace. It brings out the beauty of the features to which it is attached. The point is that when anyone desires Bible doctrine, and when anyone will make the sacrifice to learn doctrine, it is just like a beautiful person wearing a beautiful piece of jewellery. In other words, Bible doctrine in the soul brings out all of the beauty of God’s plan and grace. It gives the believer the effectiveness and the power of the Christian way of life.

The second line makes the point. “A wise reprover” – this is a hiphil participle and it is from the Hebrew verb jakach which, in the hiphil, means to be right, to set someone straight, to communicate something that is correct in order that people can see what is incorrect. It means to provide someone with a norm or a standard, and in the provision of this norm and standard one has the ability himself to say what is right and what is wrong. In other words, it means to teach doctrine categorically. We could say, ‘so is the communicator of doctrine to the obedient ear.’

Verse 13 – “As the cold of snow in the time of harvest.” Those who lived near snow used snow in their drinks as we would put ice in our drinks today. This refers to water which has been cooled by snow—very refreshing. The time of harvest was very hot, a time of hard work, and it was a time to desire more than at any other some cool water. So this first line gives us the illustration: a nice cold drink on a very hot day of harvest.

The second line: “so it a faithful messenger to them that send him.” The faithful messenger by analogy is the slave who runs up the mountain and collects the snow, then runs back down the mountain and puts it in the water to be served to the harvesters. In other words, he is the water boy who provides cold water for refreshment. Water here represents doctrine. Ice-cold water means something which is very refreshing. So the slave or the faithful messenger here is the one who provides the doctrine, and doctrine is refreshing; “to them that send him” is literally, to them that send for him. So we have an analogy to someone who has problems, frustrations, disasters, catastrophes, heartaches, whatever it happens to be, and the one who brings him the water is the one who refreshes him. In other words, the communication of doctrine is the means of resolving the problems of life. God has an answer but these answers have to be communicated until one has enough doctrine to be spiritually self-sustaining.

The third line: “for he refresheth the soul of the labourers [the ones who are working].” He refresheth is in the hiphil stem—he causes refreshment. The analogy refers to the needs of the soul.

Verse 14 – we go from the effectiveness of the Word to the ineffectiveness of the Word. The ineffective word is the word of legalism, the word of religion. The translator in the KJV reversed the lines in this verse. The Hebrew says, “Clouds and wind without rain is like the man who glorifies himself with a false gift.”

The illustration: “Clouds and wind without rain.” These usually signify rain. Under an agricultural economy rain was a very important commodity. It Palestine one of the great blessings and one of the reasons for the prosperity of the Jews in the ancient world was that they had the early and latter rains. The first rains were right after planting. They had the second series of rains just when they needed it for whatever they were planting to be properly nourished by water. As a result of this they always had great crops. This meant great prosperity. So generally rain is associated with prosperity in an agricultural economy, and when you have clouds and wind you expect rain. But here we have clouds and wind and no rain—no blessing. In other words, we have a preacher, a prophet of the ancient world, who is standing up and speaking with eloquence but he has no blessing because the content of his message is not Bible doctrine. He is a false teacher, e.g. the tongues crowd.

The second line: “is like a man who glorifies himself with a false gift.” At the time in which this was written they claimed to have the gift of prophecy, the gift of being a preacher, but they were actually operating in the energy of the flesh. This proverb illustrates the ineffectiveness of human power. Divine dynamics is the only answer and this is linked with Bible doctrine.

Verses 15-17, the principle of balance or moderation.

Verse 15 – moderation or balance of language. “By long forbearing [restraint from mental attitude sins: anger, etc.]” – restraint from anything that would destroy the continuity of doctrine, anything that breaks the clarity of the content.

“is a prince persuaded” – the word prince is not a prince but a judge. So the corrected translation of the first line is “By restraint of anger [or any mental attitude sin] is a judge persuaded.” Mental attitude sins not only produce self-induced misery but they destroy clarity of thinking. So we need control over mental attitude sins. All of these things steer the believer away from Bible doctrine, the absolute norm. Instead of getting upset and emotional it is better to be calm and logical and present a clear case. What a relaxed person says will have power. When you have mental attitude sins you cannot think, and when you cannot think you cannot think divine viewpoint. M/A sins and Bible doctrine applied [wisdom] cannot coexist in your soul.

Second line: the antithesis of a person with mental attitude sins—the soft tongue. A soft tongue does not simply mean to speak sweetly or quietly. It means someone who speaks from thought rather than from sins—thinking instead of anger, fear, worry, etc. The soft tongue is the communication of the Bible or the expression of Bible doctrine. The principle is: If you stay relaxed, think Bible doctrine, then all you have to do is stay relaxed and you will win through in any situation. The soft tongue means to be clear and lucid in the explanation of the divine viewpoint of life.

Verse 16 – “Hast thou found honey?” Honey was the basic type of sweet in the ancient world and as a food honey has a number of advantages. But just like any food that has tremendous advantages you can also overdo it.

“eat so much as is sufficient for thee” – eat to your own capacity but don’t go over it. A little is beneficial but a lot becomes detrimental. The principle is: Do not let the taste buds dictate your eating habits. This is like letting your emotions act as the criterion for your life.

“lest thou be filled [super-filled, over-eat] therewith, and vomit it” – God has a very wonderful safety valve: nausea. So when it comes to your spiritual life you have to decide who is running your life: Bible doctrine or the way you feel.

Verse 17 – moderation of conviviality. Just as too much food produces nausea, so too much conviviality among acquaintances [as distinct from friends] can produce acrimony. Familiarity breeds contempt. You can be around friends a lot of the time.

“Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour’s house.” Literally, is says “Make rare your foot on your neighbour’s doorstep.” Obviously you are going to have contact with acquaintances and they should be wonderful contacts, but make them rare. Don’t wear out your welcome. But there is a little mote to this, it means Do not turn your intimacy into intrusiveness.

This means eight things:

1. Respect the privacy of others.

2. Respect the volition of others.

3. Understanding of the social capacity of others. No two people have the same social capacity. Some people cannot be relaxed socially without certain things.

4. Since we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ you are never going to have a true friend and a stabilised friendship apart from occupation with Christ.

5. You can be different from a friend in many ways but you must have one thing in common—positive volition with regard to the Word.

6. A mental attitude love produced by the Spirit.

7. Orientation to suffering is necessary for lasting friendship. That is, you don’t complain every time you have a problem.

8. Avoidance of those thing which make people tense around you.

“lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.”

Verse 18 – the condemnation of gossip. “A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.” This has been reversed by the translator in the KJV. The word maul is a hammer. The Hebrew says in line one: “A hammer, a sword, and a sharp arrow.” The word sharp is important because it not only means it will pierce but it also has good trajectory; the second line: “is a man that bears false witness against his neighbour.”

The three analogies to gossip or the sins of the tongue. The first is a hammer which smashes everything in pieces—the gossiping tongue which smashes reputations, destroys friendships, divides people, causes schisms, and so on. The sword is an instrument for killing someone up close. The arrow is an instrument for killing someone at some distance. All three illustrate the sins of the tongue. The hammer means simply to slander, to malign, to nit-pick, and to do it constantly until the person is destroyed or until schisms exist. The sword means to do it up close in the social circle with someone. The arrow means to snipe from across the church or across the lodge or across the office, etc.

Verse 19-28, the proverbs of misery.

Verse 19 – the first misery: dependence upon unstable persons. This is a comparative distich in which something in the first line is better than something in the second line. We have the principle of “better than.”

The two lines in this verse are actually reversed in the KJV. In the Hebrew it is: “A worthless tooth, and an unsteady foot.” That is the first line. It not only illustrates line two but it demonstrates something better than line two. A worthless tooth is simply one tooth or a series of teeth which make it impossible for you to eat. They are either broken off or torn out, and therefore it is impossible to enjoy food. The unsteady foot is a leg which has no strength and therefore walking becomes impossible. And it is better to have legs that are so weak or so feeble that one cannot walk, and to have teeth whereby one cannot assimilate food, than to have confidence in an unfaithful man.

The entire proverb says: “A worthless tooth, and an unsteady foot is better than to trust in a faithless man in the day of need.” The day of need is the day of pressure, tragedy. To depend upon people in the day of disaster is a terrible thing. Our only hope is Bible doctrine. In principle this verse says drop everything and go for doctrine. After you are saved the thing that should be more important than anything else in life is maximum ability to assimilate God’s Word.

Verses 20-22, self-induced misery and its remedy.

Verse 20 – the first line includes two illustrations. The first: taking off your clothes in cold weather. The second one: pouring vinegar on nitre. A lot of believers face the cold weather of suffering and difficulty by taking off their clothes. The clothes represent Bible doctrine. In other words, they face tragedy with sublimation, escapism, and they try to solve their problems by clinging to the details of life; and therefore they shed Bible doctrine and cannot cope with the problems of life.

The second illustration, vinegar upon nitre. Nitre is sodium or potassium nitrate today. But in the ancient world it was sodium carbonate used for soap. So really, nitre is a form of soap used in the ancient world. Vinegar here refers to an acid. When you have nitre and pour acid on that nitre you neutralise the cleansing ability of the nitre. The principle: the nitre represents 1 John 1:9 or rebound. The acid or vinegar poured upon it is rejection of Bible doctrine—refusal to accept it, refusal to believe and to utilise 1 John 1:9.

“so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.” He that singeth songs is sheir in the Hebrew. It means to live it up and sing. There is nothing that sounds better than a little harmony. It’s all fun and everyone is having a good time—self-made happiness. This is used as an illustration. Now someone comes to the party who walks in with a heavy heart. This word heavy heart has two connotations: a) a person who is under pressure through tragedy, heartache, frustration, etc. He comes in with his problems, and all of the gaiety of the party only makes him much more unhappy. b) he comes in with mental attitude sins and the gaiety of the party doesn’t reach him at all. This is the principle of doctrine, and again it is couched in an analogy. In the analogy the point is very simple. You cannot as a believer solve your problems, find happiness and blessing by using the details of life. The details of life cannot bring happiness to the believer unless he has Bible doctrine first, and then he can orient to any problem or difficulty of life. The details of life are no substitute for Bible doctrine.

Verse 21 – if you have relaxed mental attitude, love produced by the Holy Spirit, divine viewpoint produced by Bible doctrine, you are going to be loose and relaxed. You don’t hate anyone, despise anyone. You are not bitter, jealous, and you don’t envy anyone. When someone is upset at you, you don’t get upset and disturbed. Here is what doctrine will do.

“If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:

Verse 22 – “For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.” If he wants to be hostile toward you that is between him and God. By non-retaliation the believer keeps the issue between the enemy and God. Mental attitude sins are like burning coals in the head, they produce self-induced misery. But you stay out of it if someone has it in for you. Don’t retaliate, don’t hate them; stay out of God’s way, and these people only hurt themselves.

“and the Lord shall reward thee” – this word reward means to be given something of value in place of something that is no good.

Verse 23 – there is always someone fighting doctrine and in this verse this person is a troublemaker. “The north wind driveth away rain” – the Hebrew actually says, The north wind forms rain. Rain is the troubled person, the person who has problems and difficulties. The north wind is the principle of bringing in the tragedies and trials of his life, and having no solution. The north wind is someone guilty of the sins of the tongue and the rain is trouble which the sins of the tongue bring.

The second line” “and a slandering tongue forms an angry face.” The angry face is a troubled person.

Verses 24 & 25, the nagging woman and her solution.

Verse 24 – “It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop.” The corner of a housetop is actually a fort on top of a house. It was called a battlement. The text actually says, It is better to dwell in a battlement. The battlement has no roof, and it is better to live up in the battlement exposed to the weather than to live down in the house with a nagging wife. The battlement represents life minus the details plus Bible doctrine. The nagging woman is simply the details of life minus doctrine.

Verse 25 – the solution. “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” The good news is doctrine. Doctrine is much more important to the thirsty soul than anything else.

Verse 26 – the imitation of the unbeliever. “A righteous man falleth down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.” This is a poor translation. Actually, the two lines are reversed. This is a parabolic distich and the first line illustrates the second line. The Hebrew: A troubled fountain and a ruined spring—illustration of the old sin nature. The ruined spring, sins from the area of weakness; the troubled fountain, human good from the area of strength. This is the first line.

The second line: is as the righteous man tottering before the wicked [the principle of wickedness: the old sin nature]. So a righteous man is a believer—imputed righteousness. The believer minus doctrine will spend all of his tottering or catering to the old sin nature. He will live under the power of his old sin nature and he will look like any unbeliever.

Verse 27 – the principle of sublimation. “It is not good to eat [too] much honey.” Here eating honey is compulsive eating. When people are frustrated and have problems and pressures the simplest form of sublimation is compulsive eating. So it is said to be not good to sublimate. This is the illustration of trying to solve problems with the details of life, rather than doctrine.

The second line is nothing like we have it in the KJV. It actually says, but consider my doctrine valuable, as wealth. The greatest wealth you will ever have, the greatest moments you will ever know, are those moments when you have learned Bible doctrine and you apply it to the problems of life.