Two dangers are predominant
in the first nine chapters of Proverbs: the perversity and violence of wicked men,
and the wiles of seductive women. Both of these are found in the second chapter:
To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; From
those who leave the paths of uprightness, To walk in the way of darkness; Who delight
in doing evil, And rejoice in the perversity of evil; Whose paths are crooked, And
who are devious in their ways; To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress
who flatters with her words; That leaves the companion of her youth, And forgets
the covenant of her God; For her house sinks down to death, And her tracks lead to
the dead; None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life (Prov.
2:12-19).
A Father's Instruction ( Proverbs 1:8-19)
Verses
8-19 are addressed to a son who is young and inexperienced and who is, as yet, relatively
innocent. Wisdom speaks through the parents of the lad, his mother and father (v.
8). I understand the young man to have reached his teen years, the point at which
he is facing adulthood and has to make decisions on his own. At this point in life
he is inclined to look more to his peers than to his parents for guidance and direction.
He will normally begin to question the values taught by his parents. The father urges
his son not to forsake what he has been taught and to avoid the evil way advocated
by at least some of his peers.
The intention of the father's words recorded
here is preparative and preventative. The child has not yet been approached by evil
men, but that may soon come. In the words of a contemporary proverb, "a stitch
in time saves nine." I believe it was Mark Twain who said, "It's easier
to stay out than to get out." This father is attempting to spare his son the
heartache of choosing the wrong way by following the wrong friends and forming unwise
associations."
A Father's Appeal
Verses 8-10 contain the
appeal of this wise father in the most general terms. Both mother and father have
faithfully taught this lad, and that instruction should not be carelessly set aside
as the boy begins to experience a greater measure of independence and outside influence.
Positively stated, adherence to parental teaching will beautify and enhance any child
(assuming, of course, that the parental instruction has been godly).
Sweet
and innocent as children may often be, there is natural inclination toward foolishness
and rebellion in the heart of every child ( 22:15). Consequently the parents' words
are not what a child himself is inclined to think. Parents of teenagers will probably
agree with me that parental teaching and standards of conduct are thought to be a
"pain in the neck," not an ornamental and beautifying chain about the neck
(v. 9).
The assumption underlying the appeal of the father in this chapter
is that wisdom is largely conveyed to a child through his parents. But at this point
in the life of a young man, that assumption is often challenged. Have you ever had
the distinct impression from your teenage child that it is you who are naive, while
the child is sophisticated and worldly-wise? Parents are never so backward or ill-informed
as during the teen years of their children. Our children roll their eyes and merely
tolerate the ideas and ideals as an anachronism from the days following the Flood.
The father urges his son not to allow this youthful and erroneous mentality to control
his thinking.
What Evil Men Offer
Verses 11-14 move from the
general to the specific. In verse 10 the child was urged to reject the enticement
of the wicked. Now the father forewarns his son in a much more specific way by supplying
him with the substance of the appeal. The words "Come with us . . . " in
verses lare spoken by the father, but they are the essence of the appeals which will
shortly face the young lad who must cope with peer pressures. This wise father knows
what his son will soon face and his words are prophetic.
The godly parent
can learn from the instruction of this father. Our inclination is to say something
like this to our children, "Now, Johnny, when I was a boy . . . " To our
children that is mere history, and it seems to have little relationship to their
lives. Our children cannot fathom the fact that "nothing is new under the sun."
To them, we are the product of another dispensation, and our experiences in the past
have no direct connection with them. This wise parent does not speak of the past,
but of the future. When sinners approach this son, as the father knew they would,
they will show the lad how right his father was. Many of us who are parents have
not come to appreciate the value of knowing the temptations our children are facing
and of preparing them to meet them before they come alone. Usually we procrastinate
and face problems only after they have reached crisis proportions. We can learn from
the wisdom of this father.
Let us look more carefully at what it is that
evil men offer our children and which they find so appealing.
Group Acceptance
and Identity
The first enticement is that of group acceptance and identity.
In the teen years children establish their self-esteem more in the way their peers
view them than by what their parents think of them. The result is a tremendous sensitivity
toward what their peers think, and a strong inclination to be accepted by their own
age group. Peer pressure is never stronger. The sinners who entice the young man,
I believe, are those whom the child wants to impress, and are probably near his age
group or a little older. Within the group there is acceptance, significance, and
security--all of which the youngster craves.
Have you ever noticed that people
will do things as a part of a group that they would not consider doing as individuals?
Mass demonstrations and riots are examples of how group pressure can be used to promote
what is evil. That is not to say that all group involvement is bad, for group pressure
can work for the good as well as evil. In Hebrews we read,a nd let us consider how
to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling
together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more,
as you see the day drawing near (Heb. 10:24-25).
The evil is not in group
involvement, but in involvement with the wrong kind of group, with those who entice
us to join them in doing evil.
Promise of Material Gain The second
enticement of sinners is the promise of material gain: "We shall find all kinds
of precious wealth, We shall fill our houses with spoil; Throw in your lot with us,
We shall all have one purse" (1:13-14).
Prosperity is never considered
evil in Proverbs, unless it has been gained by sinful means (10:2; 13:11; 19:22;
28:6). Godliness and wisdom are often followed by prosperity (3:9-10,16). But the
gain which is offered by the wicked is the result of violence. It is not by diligence
and hard work that the wicked become prosperous, but by robbery (1:11-12). Individual
effort is down played, and the comfort and prosperity is to be found in a communistic
work ethic (1:14).
Excitement and Sense of Power
The third
enticement is the excitement and sense of power and exhilaration inherent in crime.
Young people get tired of being told that they are to be seen and not heard. They
want to be important and able to wield power over others. A life of crime is one
quick way of obtaining a sense of power. Looking at a teenager from the wrong side
of a 45-caliber revolver appears to give him great respect. A life of crime offers
youngsters a chance to experience the chills and thrills they love. The dangers involved
only enhance the appeal. After all, why do so many young Americans (and older ones
too) pursue hobbies and sports which endanger life and limb?
A Father's
Final Appeal
In verses 15-19 the father makes a final appeal, based upon
the enticement he has just described. Verse 15 pleads with the son to avoid this
evil way. Verses 16-19 give two reasons to avoid all such offers. In verse 16 we
find the first reason-because the money and the excitement of this kind of life are
at the expense of others. These are violent men, who are not only hasten to shed
blood, but are prone to do so. I know many of you will find this hard to believe,
but the three months I spent teaching in a state prison convinced me that there are
some who would stab you for the sheer enjoyment of watching you bleed to death. Such
men must be avoided.
A Father's Explanation
Verses 17-19 explain
the second reason why a life of violent crime is evil--it destroys the villain as
well as the victim. While the evil man may be willing to destroy others, he should
be warned that he also destroys himself. Indeed, it is useless to spread the net
In the eyes of any bird; But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their
own lives. So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life
of its possessors (1:17-19). Bible students have found these verses especially difficult
to interpret. There are two explanations which are most frequently offered, and it
is the second to which I am inclined. The first view is that birds are smarter than
most crooks. The bird, we are told, is smart enough to avoid any trap that it sees
being set. Although grain is set out, the bird will not touch it, for it knows that
there is a trap and that it will be caught. Criminals are not even as smart as birds
because they follow a life of crime, unaware that they are bringing about their own
destruction.
The thrust of the second explanation is that such criminals
have no more sense than birds, who, having watched the trap being set, allow their
appetite for grain to overrule all sense of danger, to their own destruction. Birds
watch the net being spread and sprinkled with grain. But sooner or later their eyes
behold only the grain and seeking to satisfy their appetites, they descend on the
grain, destroying themselves in the process. So it is with those wicked men who choose
to live a life of violent crime. They, like unreasoning animals, allow their appetites
to reign. Such men are worse than birds. Men have minds and are capable of discerning
danger. Men also have parents, who have warned of such evil. Men also are less to
be pitied because they lay the trap for themselves by their violence, while birds
are the victims of a trap not of their own making. Like Haman, who built a gallows
on which to hang Mordecai, yet died on it himself ( Esther 7), those who choose to
live by the sword, will die by it ( Matt. 26:52).
Wisdom Speaks
A
noticeable change occurs when we come to verses 20-33. In the previous verses wisdom
was spoken by a father to a young, impressionable boy. In verses 20. wisdom is personified
as a woman. She is not speaking to the innocent, but to the guilty. The father urged
his son to avoid the evil way; wisdom now speaks to those who have chosen to follow
the evil way. The first discourse is preventative; the second is prescriptive. The
point is that there are both young fools and old fools. The wisdom of Proverbs is
for fools of all ages. While there is no wide-eyed optimism that many will forsake
their evil ways and turn to wisdom, the offer is nevertheless made to all.
Wisdom
Proclaimed
Verses 20 and 21 introduce us to wisdom personified as a woman
and to the place where wisdom is proclaimed. In a nation where righteousness is encouraged
and sin is restricted, wicked men cannot entice others to follow them as openly.
But while evil men are forced to entice secretly, wisdom calls out to all men from
the public places, where the masses are found. The gates of the city (v. 21) are
the place where the elders sit and judicial matters are settled .
The inference
of these verses is clear. We can learn a great deal by considering the source of
the "wisdom" which is offered. Wisdom, we know from the previous verses,
was to be found in parental counsel and instruction. Here, wisdom is to be gained
from the elders of the city, from men who are recognized for their maturity and godliness.
The evil men of verses 10-14 will hardly be found in the city gates, for
such ilk lurk in the dark alleys and come out at night. Their "wisdom"
is not proclaimed publicly, but whispered in private.
If the "son"
of verses 8 is young and innocent, those addressed in verses 22 and 23 are not so.
Ignorance and innocence are not their problem, but willful rejection of the way of
wisdom. "How long, 0 naive ones," wisdom cries, "will you love simplicity?
And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge?" (v.
22). Those who are simple love it and those who are scoffers take pleasure in it.
It is not that knowledge was unavailable, but that it was unacceptable--they hate
it (v. 22).
Wisdom Corrects
Wisdom's words are appropriately
those of correction. "Turn to my reproof," she admonishes (v. 23). Wisdom
calls upon guilty sinners to repent. The only way for sinners to obtain wisdom is
for them to turn from their wicked ways, renounce their folly, and walk in the way
of righteousness.
Wisdom is Not Natural
Wisdom does not come
naturally, but folly does. Consequently wisdom requires a supernatural source (I
Cor. 2:6-16). Wisdom therefore offers to pour forth her spirit on those who will
flee from folly and turn to her (v. 23). The "spirit" which wisdom offers
men is, I believe, the Holy Spirit, who enlightens our minds and illuminates the
Scriptures, resulting in an understanding of divine wisdom (Eph.1:17; Col.1:9).
It is my personal conviction that Christians see too little of Christ and of the
Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.
I find it difficult not to see this text
as a reference to the Holy Spirit. There is good reason for wisdom's solemn warning.
Those who have chosen the way of folly are on a path which leads to destruction.
In verses 17-19 the father urged his son not to join the evil men because they were
on a self-destructive course. In verses 24-32 wisdom warns men who are already on
a course of destruction. There are three dominant themes in these verses.
Wickedness
is a Choice
The first theme is that men are on the wicked way because
they have chosen to be there: "Because I called, and you refused; I stretched
out my hand, and no one paid attention; And you neglected all my counsel, And did
not want my reproof" (vv. 24-25). "Because they hated knowledge, And did
not choose the fear of the Lord. They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all
my reproof" (vv. 29-30).
From verse 7 we learned that the beginning
of wisdom is the moral decision to fear God and to turn from evil ( 3:7). Those who
are here warned by wisdom are those who have willfully chosen to reject her call
and to follow the way of evil.
Men do not reject wisdom for folly, they reject
wisdom as folly. Few people pursue the way of evil
because they know it isfoolish. They do so because, in their minds, they are smarter
than the rest. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can give
a discreet answer (26:16).
Rejecting Wisdom Means Painful Consequences
The
second theme is that the choice to reject wisdom's call has painful consequences:
"I will even laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, When
your dread comes like a storm, And your calamity comes on like a whirlwind, When
distress and anguish come on you" (1:26-27). One may be troubled by the fact
that wisdom seems cruel here, but wisdom warns men that calamity and disaster are
the consequence of rejecting her. Evil men suffer only what they deserve. God's justice
requires that men not only receive what they have earned ( "the wages of sin
is death," Rom. 6:23), but what they earnestly desired. "So they shall
eat of the fruit of their own way, And be satiated with their own devices. For the
waywardness of the naive shall kill them, And the complacency of fools shall destroy
them" (1:31-32).
A Point of No Return
The final theme
is that there is a point of no return, after which repentance will be too late.
"Then
they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they
shall not find me, Because they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of the
Lord" (1:28-29). When wisdom calls out to sinners in verses 20-33, it is not
an offer than can be set aside until a more convenient time. They way of evil will
eventually lead to destruction. Men cannot complacently continue to walk in the way
of evil, only to repent as the consequences become evident. It will then be too late.
Hell will be populated with men and women filled with remorse, but not with genuine
repentance. Justice demands that men face the consequences of the way they have chosen.
The time for repentance is now, not later (cf. II Cor. 6:2).
The final verse
contrasts the fate of the righteous with those who have chosen the way of the wicked.
"But he who listens to me shall live securely, And shall be at ease from the
dread of evil" (1:33). Those who walk in the path of wisdom will reap the reward
of sins forgiven and will not need to fear the penalty of sin. The dread of evil
is only for those who practice it. Wisdom delivers men from the destruction which
results from sin.
Conclusion
Proverbs chapter 1 is like a road
map in that it outlines life in terms of only two ways--the way of wisdom and
the way of folly. Wisdom leads to peace and security, while the way of folly
ends with death and destruction. Everyone is on one of these two paths. The way of
folly is characterized by evil men who seek material gain through violence. The way
of wisdom is entered by fearing God and forsaking evil.
Because our sinful
nature inclines us to the path of folly, we must make a conscious decision to be
on the path of wisdom. To enter the way of folly, one simply chooses to follow those
who encourage him to do what comes naturally and to reject wisdom's call.
To
enter the way of wisdom one must recognize his bent toward sin, reject folly, and
choose to pursue wisdom in the fear of the Lord. All men are forced to make a decision
concerning the fear of the Lord, either to fear God (1:7) or to resist Him (1:29).
While an in-depth study of "the fear of the Lord" is worthwhile,
let it suffice for now to point out that wisdom is personified in Proverbs. I believe
that in addition to serving as a literary device this personification of wisdom prepares
us for the incarnation of wisdom in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the
striking comparison of wisdom in Proverbs with Jesus in the Gospel of John.
"The
Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. From everlasting
I was established, From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth. When
there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no springs abounding with
water. Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills I was brought forth; While
He had not yet made the earth and the fields, Nor the first dust of the world. When
He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of
the deep" (Prov. 8:22-27).
In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All
things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that
has come into being (John 1:1-3).
For men today there are only two ways,
the way of sin and death, and the way of salvation. The determining factor is our
response to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He himself claimed
to be the only way to God's heaven when He said, "I am the way, and the truth,
and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me"(John 14:6).
John
the apostle wrote in the fifth chapter of his first epistle, And the witness is
this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has
the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life
(I John 5:11-12).
There is no more important decision, my friend, than that
which determines your eternal destiny. Your eternal future is determined by your
response to the person of Jesus Christ. Like wisdom in Proverbs 1, our Lord says
that you are a sinner, bound for eternal destruction. He has come to the earth, lived
a sinless life, and died on the cross of Calvary for your sins in order to give you
a right standing with God. Will you wisely accept His offer of salvation, or foolishly
reject it? The decision is yours.
There are only two wisdoms in this world,
God's wisdom and that of sinful man. To the natural man God's wisdom appears foolish,
for in His wisdom God provided salvation for men through the death of His Son: Where
is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God
made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through
its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness
of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs,
and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling
block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of
God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (I Cor.
1:20-25).
Wisdom is the way to life, not just a way of life. You cannot get
to heaven by any other way than the way of wisdom, the way of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I urge you to trust in Him for your eternal salvation. Having said this, it is important
for me to stress to those who are true Christians that wisdom is a way of life and
not just a once-in-a-lifetime decision about Jesus Christ. While we must place our
faith in Christ, we must also follow Him. Jesus called men to Himself with the call,
"Follow Me" ( Matt. 4:19;10:38). The decision to trust in Christ is also
the commitment to turn from our wicked ways and to begin a whole new life by following
Him.
In our desire to see men and women converted to faith in Christ we can
be tempted to water down the claims of Christ.
Those who come to Christ must
be warned about the cost of discipleship, even as our Lord urged men to count the
cost of following Him (Luke 9:57-62). When men come to Christ they are leaving behind
their old way of life and entering into a whole new way--the way of wisdom.
Some
Christians seem to think that the ideal life is one in which we turn to Christ as
our Savior, live as we always have, and get to heaven with the best of both worlds.
Let me remind you that to walk in the way of folly is to walk in the way of death
and destruction. It is possible for a Christian who has been genuinely saved to depart
from the way of wisdom and to walk in the way of evil men. David, for example, committed
adultery and murder by taking Bathsheba and killing Uriah (II Sam.11). David did
not lose his salvation, but he did learn that whoever walks in the evil way suffers
the consequences of sin. The Corinthian saints also learned that willful sin could
result in both sickness and death (I Cor. 5:l.; 11:27.). We will never lose our salvation
when we sin as Christians, but we will find that all who choose to walk in the way
of folly suffer the consequences of that folly. The way of wisdom is the only way
to life and peace. Let us walk in it.
