DISCOURSE 6. THE NAIVE, THE FOOL AND THE SCORNER ILLUSTRATED. THE FIRST ADDRESSED AS ‘MY SON' IS TO AVOID ACTING AS A SECURITY FOR OTHERS, THE SECOND ADDRESSED AS ‘YOU SLUGGARD', IS TO SHAKE OFF LAZINESS, AND THE THIRD UNADDRESSED, IS A WORTHLESS PERSON AND A TROUBLEMAKER (PROVERBS 6:1). The discour... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HIS SON HAS BECOME SURETY FOR ANOTHER HE SHOULD SEEK TO OBTAIN RELEASE FROM HIS OBLIGATION AT ALL COSTS (PROVERBS 6:1). To become a surety is to guarantee to pay someone else's debts if that person fails to pay. A surety is usually a man of some worth. The idea here must be that the surety has co... [ Continue Reading ]
A WARNING TO THE LAZY (PROVERBS 6:6). The urgency required of the surety in dealing with his problem in Proverbs 6:1, and the possibility that he might be slack in doing so, may well have raised in Solomon's mind the dangers of laziness. For whereas the ants are also urgent, the sluggard is the ver... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WORTHLESS MAN (PROVERBS 6:12). This first part, defining the worthless man, may be seen chiastically, A A worthless person, a man of iniquity (Proverbs 6:12 a). B Is he who walks with a perverse mouth (Proverbs 6:12 b). C Who winks with his eyes, who scrapes/stamps with his feet, who makes s... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WORTHLESS MAN (PROVERBS 6:12). We now come to the third person in the triumvirate. The first one committed as a surety what he did not have. He was naive. The second was too lazy to do anything to provide for himself. He was a fool. But this third is a scorner. He is totally untrustworthy. He i... [ Continue Reading ]
SEVEN THINGS WHICH YHWH HATES (PROVERBS 6:16). We now have listed seven thing which YHWH hates. The ‘six things -- yes seven' was a technique saying ‘more than six' (double completeness) and emphasising the seven (divine completeness), thus stressing the divine completeness of the list. Compare the... [ Continue Reading ]
1). AN APPEAL TO ‘MY SON' TO KEEP HIS COMMANDMENT AND NOT FORSAKE THE TORAH (PROVERBS 6:20). That Solomon sees ‘his' commandment and torah as based on the commandment and Torah as given by Moses is brought out here by the description of the commandment as a lamp and the torah as a light. This was ho... [ Continue Reading ]
DISCOURSE 7. ADDRESSED TO ‘MY SON'. HE IS URGED TO OBSERVE THE COMMANDMENT AND THE TORAH, AVOIDING THE ENTICEMENT OF THE ADULTEROUS WOMAN, AND BEING AWARE OF THE WRATH OF THE DECEIVED HUSBAND (PROVERBS 6:20). Having illustrated in Proverbs 6:1 the different types of people to whom wisdom speaks, th... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE INTENTION OF THE COMMANDMENT AND TORAH IS TO KEEP HIM FROM THE ADULTEROUS WOMAN WHO WILL SEEK TO LEAD HIM ASTRAY (PROVERBS 6:24). In contrast with ‘woman wisdom' (e.g. Proverbs 1:20; Proverbs 3:13) is the ‘strange woman' who will seek to lead him astray. She will speak smooth words and seek to... [ Continue Reading ]
TO STEAL A MAN'S WIFE BY ADULTERY IS FAR WORSE AND FAR MORE COSTLY THAN TO STEAL HIS POSSESSIONS, FOR COMPENSATION CAN BE MADE FOR STOLEN POSSESSIONS, BUT NO COMPENSATION WILL BE CONSIDERED AS SATISFACTORY FOR ADULTERY (PROVERBS 6:30). A comparison is now made between a man who is hungry and steals... [ Continue Reading ]