Chapter 22:15-23:18
These brief moral axioms here (vv. 15-21) close with the following pair—the thoughtless child, and the calculating adult-which we do well to lay to heart.
It is a sure and solemn thing that folly is no calamity from without, but bound in the heart, and this not only when in the conflicts of busy life, but from our early days, departed as all now are from God by nature. "Folly is bound in the heart of a child"; exemption there is none from the most tender age. Nor does the utmost love or care adequately restrain folly. There is the rod of correction to drive it far away by Jehovah's prescription and with His blessing. It is the folly of a father or mother to think their way better than God's.
With the grownup another snare is too common: to oppress the poor in any form of increasing one's means-very especially to commend oneself to the rich by gifts they do not need. God's eye is on this folly too; and such "come to want" as such selfishness deserves.
To give heed to the words of the wise is itself a wise thing -to apply the heart as well as the ear to such as know better than ourselves. How sad the self-sufficiency that doubts it!
These words, if kept within, give satisfaction and pleasure; whereas all else palls and becomes distasteful, if not a shame. Nor is this all. They contribute to our own growth and the help of others by the help they render and the confidence they inspire. Thus do they become "together fitted to thy lips."
But there is a better effect still, "that thy trust may be in Jehovah." Therefore are such words made known, for who otherwise is sufficient for them? and what good is there that we have not received? Surely we do well to mark precisely the debt of each of us, "this day, even to thee."
Further, let us not overlook the enhanced value of "excellent things in counsels and knowledge" by their being "written" to us. However good oral instruction, there is no small danger of mistake in the hearer, and still more of letting slip even what we understand. But we can read again and again what is written, and make it our own more fully. Hence the signal profit of Scripture as the permanent Word of God to our souls, as nothing else can be.
A similar advantage, here noted next, Scripture possesses, is "that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth." Pure science has nothing moral in it, still less an affection, and least of all makes God known to the soul. and in His true relationship to me. This is just what His Word does communicate in all certainty, for His Word is truth of that spiritual kind. Unbelief makes the truth of God the most uncertain of all things, like heathenism with its gods many and lords many, but the one true and living God unknown.
How good too is the fruit resulting to others! "That thou mightest report words of truth, to them that send thee" as a trusty representative, or that "send to thee" for advice in difficulty. Does not God give songs in the night, who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?
The apothegms in verses 22-29 all have a prohibitory character, save the last, which is a positive example to be followed and honored.
It may seem singular to say, "Rob not the poor," and in particular "because he is poor"; but it is a warning especially, so base, selfish, and cruel as human nature is now. The rich who might appear the more inviting prey to the unscrupulous are able to take care of themselves in ways that the poor would or could not essay. Hence, bad men flatter the rich for gain, while they also rob or oppress those who ought to be objects of pity. But Jehovah has His eye on such villainy, at the very gate whence justice should flow, pleads the cause of the poor and the afflicted, and repays heavily those who despoil them.
With one given to anger, it is hard to keep friends, and unsafe to make a friend; and to go with a furious soul is to run the risk of learning his ways, and thus to get a snare instead of a deterrent. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, says the Apostle; not to hear him in this is to give place to the devil. Even if we have grave reason, the only right Christian feeling is to forgive; and if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses. You who are slow to forget your wrongs, perhaps imaginary, do you believe Christ's words?
If one realized the duty of having to pay, in any bargain that is made, or suretyship which one agrees to, there would be a serious consideration whether God approves and leads the way. But as drowning men catch at a straw for life, so the imprudent lose their own means, and then seek to draw to their help their trusting friends, even if these have little or nothing to spare. It is a trifle, say they, or a mere form without risk; for it is sure to answer. The sanguine and the improvident thus ensnare themselves into their own ruin. How homely and pungent the hint! If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away the bed from under thee?
Another dishonesty is then held up to censure, in which men are apt to cheat craftily rather than with open violence. The ancient landmark set by thy fathers is to be kept contentedly, and without allowing a covetous desire.
Last, it is well to regard a man diligent in his work in a world where so many begrudge their time, care, and labor. No wonder that one who does his business with conscience, despatch, and skill, makes himself at length an object for the king's honor if not need, leaving behind the obscure with whose company he began. Those who rule value industrial integrity.
In chapter 23:1-8 we have the cautions of wisdom against self-gratification and seeking the riches which furnish its means.
In Luke 16 our Lord depicts the easygoing gentleman-not an infidel, but orthodox-who lived to indulge himself, clothed in purple and fine linen, and making good cheer in splendor every day. But, dead and buried, in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, the immediate consequence of living to self and not to God. But here it is rather the danger to one not used to luxury; and he is told to consider what or who is before him, and to put a knife to his throat rather than yield to self-indulgence. "Give us this day our sufficient (or necessary) bread," as the Lord told His disciples to pray. Dainties are deceitful food even for a Jew, how much more for a Christian!
If possible, more insidious and absorbing is the danger of seeking and setting the mind on being rich. Here it is not the mere appetite one has to guard against, but to cease from one's own understanding, so apt to find good reasons for an evil and selfish thing. The Apostle declares that those who desire to be rich, even if they avoid bypaths to it, fall into temptation and snare, and many unwise and hurtful lusts which plunge men into destruction and ruin. For the love of money is a root of every evil, after which some having aspired have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Hence it is their uncertainty, as well as our own self-confidence, that is graphically described. Our wisdom is to set our mind on the eternal weight of glory where Christ is, and to look not on the things that are seen; for how transitory these are, while the unseen are eternal. Wealth, says the wise man, does indeed make itself wings and fly away as the eagle to the skies.
There appears to be a link of connection between the counsel in verse 6, not to eat the bread of one that has an evil eye, with setting the mind on what is not in a covetous way, as in verse 5. And this tends to bind up verse 4 both with what precedes and with what follows. For the desire for money is far less commonly for its own sake than in order to enjoy with more ease the things of the world and of human life. And the table forms no small part of these in general. But the point here pressed is to beware of accepting the hospitality of the insincere, who really begrudges the guest what he eats or drinks, while with his lips urging him to partake freely of his store. Far otherwise is such a host as he thinks in his soul. He says to thee, Eat and drink; but his heart is not with thee. The prophet Isaiah, looking to the King's reign in righteousness, lets us know that so it will not be in that future day of bliss for the earth. The vile person or fool, like Nabal, shall no more be called liberal, nor the churl or crafty be said to be bountiful. The wicked now strive to appear what they are not, and not to manifest what they are. For at heart men are ashamed of what they know themselves to be.
Can any discovery among professed friends be more sickening than to find that one's welcome was a vain show, after being taken in by it? This is here represented energetically in verse 8. The morsel thou hast eaten thou shalt vomit up, and thou shalt waste thy sweet words: that is, the thanks you expressed when you thought his invitations were as cordial as kind. From ordinary life up to the most solemn acts of reverent faith and love, to eat and drink together is regarded as an act of hearts united. So much the more painful when one finds it wholly insincere.
In verses 9-18 we hear maxims of wisdom and probity; then of the value of instruction for oneself, and of discipline for the child; next of joy over the wise heart and lips; last, of guarding against envy and cherishing the fear of Jehovah.
If grace has given us wisdom, inseparable from Christ who is God's wisdom no less than His power, who from God is made to us wisdom. it is vain and unseemly to speak its words in the ears of a foolish man. He needs to judge himself instead of listening to words which his folly prevents him from understanding, and exposes him to the sin of despising. The Lord put the same mistake in a still more pungent form when He told His disciples not to cast the holy thing to the dogs, nor to cast pearls before the swine.
Heartless dishonesty toward any and especially the fatherless draws out a far graver warning. It matters not whether it take the crafty shape of removing the ancient landmark, or the open boldness of entering into the fields of the fatherless. If they have no father, they need no lawyer any more than taking the law into their own hands. Their Kinsman, their Redeemer, is strong; He will plead their cause against the rogue, high or low.
Again, if instruction can be had, it needs application, and the application of the heart, without which the head avails not. When right affection guides and governs, the ears profit by the words of knowledge, instead of knowledge puffing up.
Then comes the serious question of training, and not merely teaching the young; and the word is, "Withhold not correction from the child." But if he needs chastening for moral delinquency, there must be self-restraint as well as holy resoluteness. He is not to be beaten with a scourge to his great pain or injury, but "with the rod." So beaten, "he shall not die," but live the better. On the other hand, the parent must not shirk pain to natural feeling-"thou shalt beat him with the roe, and shalt deliver his soul from hell." Let the father fear the end of laxity, and look for blessing on a godly beginning.
Hear the touching encouragement, if the child bow dutifully. "My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine; and my reins shall exult, when thy lips speak right things." Thus the fruit of righteousness in peace is sown for those that make peace.
But let no saint's heart envy sinners; whatever their appearance, they are set in slippery places, and cast down to destruction as in a moment. To be in the fear of Jehovah all the day is the true, safe, and happy place. "For surely there is a latter end," and the saint's "hope shall not be cut off." "Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of endurance, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise. For yet a very little while he that cometh will come and will not tarry."