Pr. 22: Wise Sayings

Proverbs 22:19 "So that your trust may be in the LORD, I teach you today, even you."

Protect your good name before amassing wealth. (v. 1)

Train a child in the way he should go. Kids don't raise themselves. They don't have a sense of righteousness unless it is instilled. (v. 5)

Borrowers are slaves to the lender. Don't owe money if you can help it. If you do, don't be all arrogant. (v. 6)

Then the writer sort of refocuses, like that "Are you listening?" question I periodically got from teachers in school. He emphasizes the need to listen to the wise. The rest of his proverbs in chapter 22 are about justice. Don't crush the poor, don't move boundary stones. It's not fair to be like that. He wants the student to be able to trust God.

Pr. 6: Practical Warnings

Proverbs 6:5 "Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler."

Here is some more practical advice. The first section is a caution against debt. Being in debt itself doesn't appear to be a sin, but if a person is so deep into hock that it is detrimental and dangerous to himself, the command is given to free oneself. And not tomorrow, now! (Allow no sleep to your eyes, v. 4) Being in bad debt is being in a trap, and you must escape. Not by just bagging it and abandoning everything, which would become theft, but to plead your case to the person you owe.

Laziness takes a hit here too, as the writer considers the ant, who works all day without an overseer, without a slavedriver. Driven by nothing more than the will to survive, ensuring it's own survival, not counting on the ant next to him to share with him. Sure, we'll encounter charity, and possibly be on the receiving end of it, but it shouldn't be for lack of effort. Slothfulness begets poverty and scarcity.

Plotting evil in secret leads to disaster. Secret signals and unspoken cues are necessary when you are planning to waylay some poor soul. You can't just plot evil out in the open...the wise will be onto you.

God hates six things...no wait, seven things.

• haughty eyes
• a lying tongue
• hands that shed innocent blood
• a heart that devises wicked schemes
• feet that are quick to rush into evil
• a false witness who pours out lies
• a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

That is a list that seems ok by me. I'll hate it too. And I pray I'm never a part of those things. Peronsally, I think I have the most trouble with devising wicked schemes. My neighbor's dog barks a lot. I have plotted many a wicked scheme, most of which involved separating the dog from it's life. Never followed through on them. I just think my neighbor is old and frail and can't hear or doesn't realize her dog is barking. Like the rest of the neighborhood does. That's not to make excuses, I shouldn't plot like that.

Apparently chapter 5 wasn't enough of a warning against adultery, so it's ill effects are compunded here in the 6th chapter. Adultery leads to destruction. A prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread. You are her food, her sustenance. Nothing more. Its not a relationship, its subhuman. There are consequences to adultery, and I love the coals-in-the-lap thing, kind of like an STD? Also, when you lust after the neighbor's wife, watch out for the jealous husband, he will get his measure of revenge on you. Someone bedding your wife is just about the most serious thing that can happen to a man, at least here in Proverbs. All you want is vengeance, and no bribe or compensation will allay that rage.

Dt. 15: Generously

Deuteronomy 15:4-5 "However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today."

So God gives these commands. Says He will richly bless you. Richly. Not enough just to scrape by. Richly bless you. Why would God richly bless people? Apparently so that they are able to give "openhandedly" to the poor among them. One reason God bestows wealth is to give it away. "There should be no poor among you," (v. 4), yet "There will always be poor people in the land" (v. 11). God's intent differs from reality. Is that God's fault? Is poverty a result of God preventing someone from living the high life? Or is poverty a result of not being careful to follow His commands? Maybe. Is poverty an indication of someone not being careful to follow His commands? Probably not, but possible.

With the seven-year rule for canceling debts, there were certain to be loopholes found..."I won't pay on my loan, because next year it will be canceled anyway," and "I'm not lending out any money, because next year it will be canceled anyway." God makes lending a heart issue. He proclaims it sin to withhold money-lending based on His seven-year debt cancelation plan.

Also in seven years, slaves are to be set free. Not just set free, loaded down with gifts as they leave. Makes me think the slavery system a million years ago was a bit different than it was 250 years ago.

Weird that driving an awl through a slaves earlobe into the door post was the ceremony that allowed a slave to stay with a master beyond the seven years. Bloody ears are listed throughout Exodus and Leviticus as part of consecrating priests (to serve) and cleansing someone. Whether there is a connection there is up for debate, but that's the only connection I can think of.

I had been wondering about what it actually meant to consecrate the first born male of the herds and flocks. I get a little more of the picture here at the end of chapter 15. Basically the sacrifice is to not put the eldest male to work...having to wait for a second one before you could plow more economically. Same with sheep. Can't produce more clothes or wool until number two comes around. It forces you to wait.