Proverbs 19:21-29

TEXT Proverbs 19:21-29

21.

There are many devices in a man's heart;

But the counsel of Jehovah, that shall stand.

22.

That which maketh a man to be desired is his kindness;

And a poor man is better than a liar.

23.

The fear of Jehovah tendeth to life;

And he that hath it shall abide satisfied; He shall not be visited with evil.

24.

The sluggard burieth his hand in the dish,

And will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

25.

Smite a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence;

And reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.

26.

He that doeth violence to his father, and chaseth away his mother,

Is a son that causeth shame and bringeth reproach.

27.

Cease, my son, to hear instruction

Only to err from the words of knowledge.

28.

A worthless witness mocketh at justice;

And the mouth of the wicked swalloweth iniquity.

29.

Judgments are prepared for scoffers,

And stripes for the back of fools.

STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 19:21-29

1.

What does the counsel of Jehovah mean in Proverbs 19:21?

2.

Why does kindness make one desired (Proverbs 19:22)?

3.

What is different about the construction of Proverbs 19:23?

4.

Are there actually people this lazy (Proverbs 19:24), or is this a hyperbole?

5.

Who are the simple in Proverbs 19:25?

6.

Why would anybody act like this (Proverbs 19:26)?

7.

Why do people accept false counsel (Proverbs 19:27)?

8.

Who is a worthless witness (Proverbs 19:28)?

9.

Who are scoffers and fools in Proverbs 19:29?

PARAPHRASE OF 19:21-29

21.

Man proposes, but God disposes.

22.

Kindness makes a man attractive. And it is better to be poor than dishonest.

23.

Reverence for God gives life, happiness, and protection from harm.

24.

Some men are so lazy they won-'t even feed themselves!

25.

Punish a mocker and others will learn from his example. Reprove a wise man and he will be the wiser.

26.

A son who mistreats his father or mother is a public disgrace.

27.

Stop listening to teaching that contradicts what you know is right.

28.

A worthless witness cares nothing for truthhe enjoys his sinning too much.

29.

Mockers and rebels shall be severely punished.

COMMENTS ON 19:21-29

Proverbs 19:21. It is not what man wants that always comes to pass but what God decrees (or allows). See Psalms 33:10-11; Proverbs 16:1-2; Isaiah 14:26-27; Isaiah 46:10; Hebrews 6:17. God worketh all things after the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11). Men in a human council meeting thought they could stop Christianity (Acts 4:17), but they passed away, and the Word of God is still living, active, and powerful. Herod of Acts 12 took up against the church, killed James, and intended to kill Peter, but before the chapter was ended, he was dead, and in contrast to him Acts 12:24 says, But the word of God grew and multiplied.

Proverbs 19:22. This verse states that which we desire in people, and heading the list is kindness. We like people who are kind; we like to be around them; their influence upon us is good. We appreciate their thoughtfulness; we appreciate their willingness to be helpful. We are comfortable and at-home in their presence. An unkind person is just the opposite of the above. The Bible says, Be ye kind (Ephesians 4:32); Love...is kind (1 Corinthians 13:4). Concerning the second statement of the verse, this chapter has already shown that people go from and do not want to claim close connections with the extremely poor (Proverbs 19:4; Proverbs 19:7), yet they prefer a poor man to a liar (compare Proverbs 19:1). A man who will lie to others will lie to you. He is one you cannot trust, for he is not conscientious before God and with men. He makes a poor friend. Proverbs 19:23. This verse departs from Proverbs-' customary two-line verses. Notice the three lines here. Tendeth shows the usual or general results of fearing Jehovah. It means, other things being equal, that one who fears God will live longernot only longer, but he will reap more satisfaction from living than those who lack it, the reason being that he will have fewer hardships because of not being visited with evil from God. The fear of Jehovah takes us back to the first real saying in Proverbs: The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7).

Proverbs 19:24. Proverbs has much to say about lazy people: they spend much time sleeping (Proverbs 6:9; Proverbs 24:30-34; Proverbs 20:4; Proverbs 26:13). This verse out-lazies the others as it pictures a man putting his hand into the dish to get something to eat and then being too lazy to lift it to his mouth (Proverbs 26:15). When one is too lazy to feed himself, he is as lazy as he can get. Yet, all of life becomes a burden to the ambitionless person, the person with no purpose, no motivation. Arabic proverb: He dies of hunger under the date tree.

Proverbs 19:25. A scoffer is out of order whether he scoff at God or is plagued with the spirit of scoffing at people. He should be dealt with (the younger the better). The verse implies that even if he doesn-'t profit by it, the onlooking who might have taken up his ways will be affected for good (compare Deuteronomy 13:10-11). Reproving a wise person definitely aids him, for he wishes to increase his learning, and he is wise enough to see the rightness of the rebuke (last part of Proverbs 9:9). Proverbs 21:11 is very similar to this verse in both of its statements: When the scoffer is punished, the simple is made wise; And when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.

Proverbs 19:26. The language suggests that the son is a grown son, not a child. It is speaking of gross mistreatment of aged parents. While our present society has many instances of this in comparison to Bible days, this verse indicates that there were some bad offspring in Bible days. Remember that parents are to be honored, not thus dishonored. Such conduct causes shame to his suffering parents and reproach against his own name in the community. Proverbs 17:2 also speaks of a son that causeth shame.

Proverbs 19:27. It does no good to be exposed to good instruction if it is not going to be followed. There are those who seem to be listening to what you are telling them, but they are only being polite or do not wish to engage in open disagreement, for when they go their way they have not been changed by what they have heard. In time Christian teachers will cease instructing people if they will not be obedient (Acts 18:5-6).

Proverbs 19:28. A worthless witness would include both a false witness (speaking lies) and one who refused to witness (would not tell what he knew). To do either is to mock rather than further justice. Justice dictates that the verdict be built upon the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. One the latter part of the verse: Mischief is the object of his passionate desire: it is a real enjoyment to him to produce calamity; he swallows it eagerly as if it were a sweet fruit (Job 20:12; Isaiah 28:4); he drinketh it in like water (Job 15:16)(Lange).

Proverbs 19:29. Another Hebrew parallelism: judgments and stripes go together as do scoffers and fools. The verse is picturing an adult rather than a child, the judgments and stripes being public punishments. A child may be foolish (Proverbs 22:15), but he is not a full-fledged fool, but if one grows up, and his foolishness continues, and it is the recognized course of his life, then he is indeed a fool. Other passages on such punishments: Proverbs 10:13; Proverbs 26:3.