Proverbs 1:1-5 (KJV)
The proverbs of Solomon
the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and
instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the
instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the
simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear,
and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise
counsels:
I want to begin the
message tonight by reading a part of the introduction to the book of Proverbs
from the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge. I choose it because it is poetic in
a manner that is befitting the book of Proverbs.
“The wisdom of all ages, from the highest antiquity, has chosen to
compress and communicate its lessons in short, compendious sentences, and in
poetic language, which were readily conceived and easily retained, and
circulated in society as useful principles, to be unfolded as occasion
required. … such short maxims, comprehending much instruction in a few words, and
carrying their own evidence with them, are admirably adapted to direct the
conduct, without overburdening the memory, or perplexing the mind …
... the proverbs in
this book … are infallible rules to direct our conduct in every circumstance of
human life. They are so justly founded on the principles of human nature, and
so adapted to the permanent interests of man, that they agree with the manners
of every age; and are adapted to every period, condition, or rank in life,
however varied in its complexion or diversified by circumstance.
Kings and subjects, rich and poor, wise and foolish, old and
young, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, masters and
servants, may here learn their respective duties, and …..
‘…these, by reading this book, shall be made wiser; for they
shall be instructed in much divine, and in no less human learning....It bridles
the injurious tongue, corrects the wanton eye, and ties the unjust hand in
chains. It persecutes sloth, chastises all absurd desires, teaches prudence,
raises man’s courage, and represents temperance and chastity after such a
fashion that one cannot but have them in veneration.”…”
There is likely no book
of the Bible more cherished than that of the Proverbs.
It might even be one of
the most read and often quoted books of the Bible.
That does not mean that
it is always understood or heeded.
I think a lot of times
people read it because it sounds good, but, maybe like The Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…”[1] they don’t seem very
practical.
The book of Proverbs, by
its very nature, does not lend itself well to chapter by chapter, verse by
verse preaching.
The rule of all Bible
hermeneutics is, “Keep the text in
context.”
With the book of Proverbs,
that is not possible most of the time.[2]
These are short sayings, compiled together, but no continuity of thought
progresses from beginning to end.
It really is a
collection of wisdom on a number of issues like:
· Parenting
· Leadership
· Education
· Virtue
· Prudence
· Finance
· Industry
One of those things that
we find in the Proverbs is a description of a number of different types of
people.
One place[3] I
found identifies eight character types:
· The wise
· The foolish
· The drunkard
· The sluggard
· The gossip
· The adultress
· The simple and
· The satisfied husband
Another one[4]
identifies just three
· The wise
· The fool
· The simple
I personally identified
at least 58 different characters in the Proverbs. And that was in just one
reading of about one hour.[5]
I want to begin in chapter
one and, to the best of my ability, bring message on those characters as they
arise.
This book begins by
telling us why it was written in the first place.
Proverbs 1:1-5 (KJV)
The proverbs of Solomon
the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and
instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the
instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the
simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear,
and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise
counsels:
There are four
characters mentioned
· Solomon
· The simple
· The young man and
· The wise
Solomon collected the
majority of the Proverbs, either by writing them personally or by discovering
and including them.
Solomon didn’t do
everything just right in his life, but he did have a heart to teach and lead
his children – especially the son who will follow him on the throne.
No father is perfect.
· I really tired when my kids were growing up
· I prayed for them and about fathering them
· I read the Bible to them and to learn things to teach them
· I studied books about being a parent and tried to practice
what I learned
· I watched men I considered to be good dads and tried to do
what they did
But I wasn’t perfect.
It’s one of those things
that, when your kids are growing up you often are “in the moment” and it
doesn’t work very well.
I promise you though,
once they are out of your house, you will wish you had tried a bit harder.
That’s where Solomon was
– he just wanted to give his son the best wisdom he could and -
He wanted it to last so
he wrote it down.
He said he was writing
to three sorts of people and for a purpose.
I. THE SIMPLE
Proverbs 1:4 (KJV)
To give subtilty to the
simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
One of the definitions
of the word simple is “naïve or open minded.”[6]
The liberal and
progressives in our world today hate the fact that Christians aren’t open
minded enough:
· We aren’t open minded about alternate forms of marriage
· We aren’t open minded about Creation versus Evolution
· We aren’t open minded about letting transgendered boys use
girls public restrooms
· We aren’t open minded about opening our boarders to illegal
aliens
· We aren’t open minded about opening our borders to any old Islamic
Terrorist who wants to come into the United States
Why aren’t we open
minded?
Because the Bible
teaches us not to be.
The Bible calls that
“simple.”
The word subtlety means prudence.
Prudence is caution
· Prudence looks ahead and sees the danger of a thing.
· Prudence avoids evil by preventing something before it
happens.
I think our new President
is trying to be prudent after years of simplicity in the White House.
You see, a prudent
person has learned to look ahead and see things like:
· We can’t tax ourselves rich
· We can’t afford every welfare case of the world
· We can’t defeat Islam once it is inside our borders
· We can’t give all our jobs to other countries and still have
jobs for our citizens
It’s not being unkind to
rein some of this in.
The world has come to
think of America as having unlimited resources so they think it is unfair of us
not to open up the floodgates and pour those resources upon them.
But America is not God.
Our resources are
limited.
Frankly, we’ve over
extended those resources and pretty soon, if we don’t shut down the faucet,
we’re going to run dry.
Then we won’t be able to
help anyone.
By the way, I think it
is one of the things our missionaries have to extremely prudent about.
Many of them serve in
countries and among people who think America has unlimited resources and see
the missionary as one means of getting some of those resources.
Pretty soon, if the
missionary isn’t prudent, he will see his role as one of gathering American
resources to distribute them to other peoples.
That is not what should happen.
The missionary should
seek enough support to maintain him on the field so he can preach the gospel
and train others to do the same.
Then he should back off
so other missionaries to other places are also able to tap in to those
resources for the part of the world God has called them to preach and train.
The word subtle means
prudent.
But it has a negative tone to it.
Genesis 3:1 (KJV)
Now the serpent was more
subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said
unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the
garden?
The word subtle means
prudent but we tend to think it means prudent in a sly, crafty way.
That’s why President
Trump is so hated and feared by the simple these days.
No matter how necessary
it is to stop the flow of resources, those who no longer receive the benefit of
those resources are going to think badly about it.
What the Bible is saying
is that we need to teach people to do the right thing, even if it isn’t the
popular thing to do.
II. THE YOUNG MAN
Proverbs 1:4 (KJV)
To give subtilty to the
simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
The young man might be
simple, or he might not be.
Some young people are
much more prudent than people many years their senior.
A. But all young men are, by virtue of their
years – young.
And there are some
things that can only be gained through years of instruction and experience.
· It’s why the founders of our country put age requirements on
the congress and an even higher age requirement on the President.
· It’s also why the Bible says that those who would be bishop,
or the pastor of a church are not to be a novice.
· Doesn’t matter how smart a young person is, he is still
young
· Doesn’t matter how dedicated he is, he is still young
· Doesn’t matter how mature he may behave, he is still young
And
B. He needs knowledge
“A clear and certain
perception of that which exists, or of truth and fact…”[7]
“Skills acquired by a
person through education and experience.”[8]
You have to hit the
books, and sit under a teacher or mentor.
One of the sure signs of
youthful immaturity is believing you can get as much done with
· youthful energy,
· good looks and
· charisma
as with an education.
C. He needs discretion
Strong’s Concordance
defines this as “a purpose” or “a plot.”
He just needs a plan.
I tell this to Bible
students all of the time; technically no one has to go to Bible College to be
in the ministry – therefore no one really needs to go to Bible College at all.
· But what Bible College can do for every Christian is to
provide them a plan for Bible study.
· It can help any Christian organize what they believe into
systematic orders of thought.
Then, having their
thoughts organized and set in a row, they become more able to discern when
something fits into their system of faith.
In other words, it can
give them discretion.
Finally there is a
reference to
III. THE WISE
Proverbs 1:5 (KJV)
A wise man will hear,
and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise
counsels:
Solomon might have been
trying to plant a bit of a seed in his son right here.
Imagine for a moment
that he has an audience of one.
· His son is a young man whom he wishes to instruct so that
· His son might not be exposed to error through simplicity and
open-mindedness
Still speaking to his
son he goes on to say
· A wise man will hear…..
Something like this
might be a part of the conversation, “Son
I know you are young, and I know you want to reach out and try new things but
believe me – it would be wise of you if you learned from my mistakes instead of
making your own.”
If a mark of youthful
immaturity is trying to muscle through things instead of thinking through them,
a sign of true wisdom and
understanding is, a willingness to
· Listen
· Learn new things and
· Lean on wise counsel
I read once that the
true difference between humans and the animals is that humans have the ability
to learn from the lessons of those before us.
I sure wish sometime we
would prove the author of that right!
Conclusion
· The simple need to be taught caution
· The young need to be given a plan of education and
· The wise know they can never afford to stop learning
[1] Matthew 5:3-12
[2] Of course we can and
must keep it in the context of the Bible as a whole.
[3]
https://www.sbl-site.org/publications/article.aspx?articleId=488
[4]http://everysquareinch.net/characters-in-the-proverbs/
[5] My plan is to read the
book of Proverbs once a week throughout this series.
[6]
Brown, Driver, Briggs
[7] Webster’s 1828
[8] The internet dictionary
associated with my computer.
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