Proverbs Chapter 8 - The Discourse of Wisdom

This was a refreshing chapter after reading about all of the temptations of adultery.  Wisdom was with God at the beginning of time, when the world was formed - In the beginning when God formed the Heavens and the Earth (Genesis 1:1).  Wisdom is greater than gold and silver.  Those who have wisdom have great wealth.  Wisdom comes with experience, strength and understanding.

I have issues with this verse:  "By me kings reign, and lawgivers establish justice; By me princes govern, and nobles; all the rulers of earth." (15-16)  I am not so sure that Wisdom rules lawgivers in the United States.  If that were true, would we not be in a better state than we are?  The Republicans bash the Democrats and vice versa.  The IRS has different rules than the laws of the land.  Our media covers bad news to get better viewership.  Where is the wisdom in our lawgiving system?  Perhaps the answer to this lies in the gender balance of our current rulers.  There are more men than women serving as elected officials, so if we revert back to the first lesson in Chapter 1, we know that wisdom is female, so maybe we need more women in lawgiving positions.  That's a pretty big stretch of logic, but is worth considering.

Verse 17 says, those who love me, I also love, and those who seek me find me.  With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity."  What greater wealth do we want or need?

This is a good chapter.  Today was a good day.  I have five different spiritual friends with whom I interacted today:

1. Spiritual in the Catholic church - spiritual in that she loves Jesus and follows his teaching.
2. Spiritual in Catholicism - strong backgrounds, strong beliefs, long held beliefs
3. Spiritual in the ways of God - in what is right, and just and decent.
4. Spiritual in the ways of the earth, of Buddha, of oneness with the Universe. 
5. Spiritual in the ways of loving with all her emotions - with empathy, caring and loving. 

I am rich.  Rich with friendship, rich with friends who understand Wisdom, rich with life's experience that have taught me that Wisdom is wealth and life itself.

Proverbs 7

Again we hear advice against adultery to the young man.  She is sweet and soft and he is stupid.  I'm ready for a new lesson.

Proverbs - Chapter 6 - Miscellaneous Proverbs

This chapter has made me work harder than other chapters.

According to the footnotes, verses 1-19 should be part of chapter 30, so I read chapter 30.  It's a little like reading the last chapter of the book before you get to the end, so I decided not to try and merge all of those thoughts.

Verses 1-19 are helpful.

• 1-5 remind me of Grandma's statement, neither a borrower nor a lender be - or if you do need to borrow, pay it back ASAP
• 6-11 say work hard like the (female) ant and don't be lazy.
• 12-15 describes an evil person
• 16-19 finally give us some meat - the seven things that are an abomination to the Lord.  The thing that makes me wonder is - which of these seven are the six things the Lord hates?

1. Haughty eyes
2. a lying tongue
3. hands that shed innocent blood
4. a heart that plots wicked schemes
5. feet that run swiftly to evil
6. false witness who utters lies (perhaps this is the same as #2 so there are really only 6 things)?
7. he who sows discord among brothers

Then, of course, verses 20-35 go back to adultery focusing more on not having adultery with a married woman because the payback is worse than with an unmarried woman.

Proverbs 5 - Warning against Adultery

I read and re-read this chapter trying to find something to write about, and what I found were groups of verses.

1. An adulteress is tempting, but in the end, "her paths will ramble, you know not where" (6).  From previous chapters, (3:6), we are told that if we trust in the Lord with all our hearts, he will make straight our paths.  Verse 21 tells us that the Lord surveys all our paths.  The analogy of paths is helpful for understanding the goal.  
2. Verses 11-14 describe the results of being an adulterer, "I have all but come to utter ruin, condemned by the public assembly." (14).  Verses 22-23 give more results, "he will die from lack of discipline, through the greatnesss of his folly he will be lost.
3. Verses 15-17 describe adultery using water and fountains.  Drink from your own well, don't disburse your water, and don't share your fountain with strangers.  If you want to go there, the fountain could be compared to an ejaculation, that you should not share with anyone but your own good and beautiful wife, 18, 19, 6, 22.  Drinking from your own well could be taken as satisfying your sexual thirst with your own spouse.

Verse 6, 22 is located between 19 and 20, and the notes say this chapter is transposed from chapter 6, 22.  The topic of adultery is discussed again in Chapter 6, and chapter 22 is missing, so more about adultery tomorrow!     

Word study for the day:  Reproof:  an expression of blame or disapproval.  

Proverbs Chapter 4: The Supreme Guide

There are two sections in this chapter and two specific points came to me.

One:
v7:  "The beginning of wisdom is:  get wisdom at the cost of all you have, get understanding."   In my mind you can learn (get) anything.  Whether or not you choose to use the learning, or apply it is a choice.  However, understanding comes with life's experiences, with application of what you learned.  Mostly, understanding comes with life's lessons of hardship that create wounds on your heart and soul.  As the wounds heal and scars form, understanding deepens and grows.  Understanding continues to expand as the same life's lessons occur for other people in your life, especially if you choose to assist them on their journey of understanding.  

Today's word to study is the same word defined the other day, "didactic" - used to describe someone or something that tries to teach something (such as proper or moral behavior) in a way that is annoying or unwanted.  Hardships, grief, and trouble in your life are unwanted.

My life's lessons have included illness and death of both of my parents.  My parents were good teachers, and they taught us wisdom, but the understanding that came with the scars on my heart and soul via their deaths were unwanted.  So, this brings up a question about verses 8-9:  Since these are lessons we do not really want to learn - what is the crown?  Thankfully, the answer was already described in Chapter 3:  Long life, peace, sweet rest, which by the way, the evil do not get (for they cannot rest unless they have done evil; to have made no one stumble steals away their sleep.) (16)

Two:

The second primary thought about this chapter is to shun evil:  Verses 15-19:  Shun evil people as they are wicked and violent.  So why is it that our society today considers violence and evil as entertainment?  Violent serial TV shows, violent movies about evil people, violent games children play on their electronic toys and violence on the news are things that people view during their times when they want to relax,have fun and rest.  My vote is to go with the direction provided in verse 15:  "Shun it, cross it not, turn aside from it, and pass on."

Proverbs 3: The values of wisdom

Proverbs 3 has three sections:

1. Attitude toward the Lord
2. The Value of Wisdom
3. Attitude toward Fellow Men

I like the number three, so we have a good start.  

Many benefits of wisdom are defined in this chapter.  

1. Many days and years of life (2) / Long life (16)
2. Peace (2), her paths are peace (17)
3. He will make straight your paths (6), her paths are peace (17), a secure way and your foot will never stumble (23), he will keep your foot from the snare (26)
4. Health for your flesh (8), Vigor for your bones (8)
5. Barns full of grain and overflowing vats of wine (10)
6. Riches and honor (16), kindness (34)
7. Happiness (18)
8. You need not be afraid (24), Sweet sleep (24)
9. Blessing of your dwelling (33)

Nothing in life comes free, so for all of these benefits, there is a price.  

1. Forget not my teaching, keep in mind my commands (1)
2. Be kind (3), be mindful of him in all your ways (6), fear the Lord and turn away from evil (7)
3. Trust in the Lord, not yourself (5)
4. Honor the Lord with your wealth (9)
5. Appreciate His corrections when they come (12)
6. Give others what is good for them (27), do no evil to your neighbor and do not quarrel without cause (29)

Today's word for study is:  Reprove: (verb) to criticize or correct (someone) usually in a gentle way.

Proverbs - Chapter 2 - The Blessings of Wisdom

Today's thought:
Good words in today's chapter!   Proverbs 2:2-3 provide names or aspects of the same gift:  Wisdom, Understanding, and Intelligence.  Verses 10-11 add two more descriptions:  Knowledge and Discretion.  Wisdom contains a large body of aspects.  I am certain more names or descriptions will be revealed in future chapters.

My Bible's introduction to Proverbs, describes the book as, "an anthology of didactic poetry forming part of the sapiential literature of the Old Testament." 

Words for today:
di·dac·tic
 adjective \dī-ˈdak-tik, də-\

: designed or intended to teach people something

—used to describe someone or something that tries to teach something (such as proper or moral behavior) in a way that is annoying or unwanted

 

sapiential (ˌseɪpɪˈɛnʃəl; ˌsæpɪ-)

adj

1. showing, having, or providing wisdom

ˌsapiˈentially adv