GRACIOUS BRIDE OR MERCENARY?

Proverbs 11:16
A gracious woman retaineth honour:
And strong men retain riches.

The contrast property of these proverbs defines the wisdom they bring us. The word ‘strong’ in the original text is ‘aritz’, a word with the connotation of violent oppressing ruler.

As His Bride, our Master doesn’t want us to lord over His heritage. He does not want us to treat the ones we serve in His name with harsh commanding oppression, all for the sake of filthy lucre. Jesus doesn’t want us to be mercenaries who drive the sheep hard with the motivation of retaining the rich fleece.

We are His bride. We are meant to be an example of His Holy Spirit on earth. We are the ‘gracious woman’ who values retaining the honor of her Master more than her own wealth. We are the virtuous woman who rises up early to feed the children of her Lord. Our master Yehoshua has gave us the same warning when He said to His apostle Peter, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

At His return, may our Lord and Master find in us a Bride faithfully tending to His children, One busy serving His house with honor and integrity.

A KNOWLEDGEABLE INVESTMENT

Proverbs 11:15
He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it:
And he that hateth suretiship is sure.

Another wording of this proverb could say: He that contracts himself in bondage to another will become his own ransom: peace is with those who don’t bind themselves to each other through contracts.

In ancient times, a man freed himself of his obligations the same day. Wages were paid in the evening and there was no credit for trades. To owe money, and even to borrow put the beneficiary in potential slavery. (Note: Is it different today?) This must have made organizing finances a lot easier than the system of payment and repayment we have today.

Sometimes though, we can voluntarily, out of love, put ourselves as a pledge for someone else. In those cases, we are aware of the conditions and of the price, and are willing to suffer it. In the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law disguises herself as a prostitute to entice her father-in-law unbeknownst to him. Judah wants Tamar, but doesn’t have payment for her by him. Judah promises Tamar a sheep and as a pledge, leaves with her very important personal items such as would represent an I.D. card, a passport or his Social Security number. When he returns to her to pay and retrieve his items, Tamar is gone. Judah is compromised for his actions. Later in the story, Tamar returns his belongings to Judah, but not through a bitter experience of remorse when he learns the reasons of her actions: she was insuring his dying posterity, without which Jesus birth would have been also compromised.

Judah involuntarily puts himself in a position of bondage to Tamar, but this story represents a prophetic analogy of what Jesus, our Messiah would do for us. Out of love, Jesus voluntarily puts himself in obligation and ransom to the enemy for each one of us. He frees us through His enslavement. He pays our debts by His own investment. He becomes indebted and bound and we are liberated. The Messiah, Judah’s descendant pledged himself as a ransom for our Salvation.

This proverb leaves us with a feeling of contradiction. It is wrong to invest ourselves as surety, but Jesus saved us by doing it. Maybe the difference is that He has His Father’s big bank account to bail Him out every time, and we do too. Let us therefore make sure that whatever investment of our person we make, even for the sake of others, is backed by the securities of Heaven.

THE COUNSELOR

Proverbs 11:14
Where no counsel is, the people fall:
But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

To define this passage, we need to invite the many counselors of other passages. We need them to help us weight and align verse with verse, precept with precept, line with line. We also need to summon linguistic counselors.

Divine Scripture leaves us with differing examples concerning the question of human advice. Jeremiah and Micaiah were both prophets who challenged a whole court of prophets and were right. King Solomon lost the kingdom by listening to his wives and his son Jeroboam divided it by listening to the wrong people. Most of the prophets were lone voices against an opposing majority, and the apostles followed suit by challenging every human authority around. In fact, anyone who would be used of the Lord cannot be swayed by the opinions of others.

One with God is a majority.

Where does the issue of ‘multitude of counselors’ come in then? Common sense tells us that if I need counsel on how to bake bread, the mechanic may not the one to tell me. In the same manner, if I need to know how to serve God, I need to surround myself with counselors who are sincere unadulterated servants of the Lord; I need the right kind of counselors. ‘

Multitude’ seems not to be the key word here, but ‘counselors’.

In fact, the appearance of the word ‘multitude’ in this passage may even be dubious. In the Hebrew original, if the word ‘multitude’ indeed was there, ‘counselors’ should have been pluralized but it is not. The Hebrew word translated as ‘multitude’ is ‘rav’ and also means ‘great’, therefore the verse could be read, ’in a great counselor there is safety’, thus reuniting the adjective with its noun, and most of all, putting the emphasis on the ‘Counselor’, not on the ‘multitude’, as God seldom works with majority rule.

Let us ponder on these things and make sure that no matter the number of our human advisors, we get our counsels from the Great Counselor of all: Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; from the God who challenged and defeated the kings and armies of whole nations through the obedience of lone men who decided to abide by His counsel in spite of that of the multitudes before them.

GOD’S ‘SECRET’ARIES

Proverbs 11:13
A talebearer revealeth secrets:
But he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.

Our text today makes a distinction between he that reveals confidences and he that conceals them. This text also teaches us of the contrast between he that is called in a more literal translation the ‘walking busybody’, and he that is of a faithful spirit.

Going about revealing the juicy details of another’s confidence is explicitly forbidden. In his divinely inspired Instruction, Moses has tale bearing lumped up with lying. He says, Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:16. (Note: ‘stand against the blood of thy neighbour’ is a Hebraic expression for being a false witness in a death sentence sin). In this instruction, a colon follows God’s command against such actions. This means that the following clause is an attribute to the fist one. A colon also follows this attribute and then we have the statement, I am the Lord, a strong reminder of the reason, and of the authority behind the Instruction.

Revelatory details revealed to us in confidence make us feel so important. Mostly they feed our egos: they tell us that someone has confidence in us. By revealing them, we also prop ourselves up in the eyes of others: we actually inform people that someone else trusted us, and that therefore we are ‘safe territory’ for them to also spill their precious nuggets on our plate. The facts are, that the moment someone unnecessarily reveals another’s secrets, they are dangerous territory for our confidences. They will unscrupulously and in a, oh so secretive way, tell someone else all the intimate things you simply needed to get off your chest. The problem is that by the time we do that, our personal spin has twisted the issue, and we are liable to be found ‘false witnesses’ which we are forbidden to be.

Who in this world is a faithful person who is secure enough in themselves? Who doesn’t need to use the crutch of other’s confidences to boost their own sense of importance? The word ‘secretary’ means ‘keeper of secrets’. Secretaries are privy to the affairs of the company, and they are not supposed to go about revealing them. We are meant to become a nation of ‘priests’. We are a bit like God’s ‘secretaries’ to people. We need therefore to start learning to faithfully keep the confidences of others. Sometimes, these confidences are heavy to bear, but that is why we have God.

BE WISE

Proverbs 11:12
He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour:
But a man of understanding holdeth his peace.

‘Great minds ... discuss ideas.
Average minds ... discuss events.
Small minds ... discuss people.’
Author unknown

Negative criticism seems to be the favorite activity of little people. They feel insecure in themselves, so they derive their glory in abasing others. They think their own candle will shine brighter if they dim that of others. It is the activity of the idle; he who is busy exerting positive energy doesn’t indulge in such time wasting. Our wise king Solomon relates this attitude as a lack of wisdom.

Let us rather take example from he who is slow with his words, careful with his judgment. He knows that only by the grace of God he goes, and he does not indulge in quickly divulging his opinion. He knows how to hold his tongue until afterward. Was he born that way? Let me rephrase that question: is a man born wise? Or is a child born mature? The only person I know of that caliber was Jesus who at twelve years old confounded the sages of Israel. The Word mentions that Jesus learned obedience through the things which He suffered. How much more then will we learn wisdom by the things which we suffer. But how do we learn? Where do we find the syllabus?

The wise has often felt the lash of his own lack of wisdom; he finds the syllabus imbedded within the suffering of his life’s experience. The difference between the wise and the unwise is that the wise knows how to draw the lessons carved in the syllabus of his life. He knows God wrote the curriculum, so pays attention to it. One of his principal lessons is that his own words have often come back to haunt him, so he knows better than to indulge in negative campaigns of criticism.

Our Master said, But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. And again, For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

DIVINE ENDORSEMENT

Proverbs 11:11
By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted:
But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

These proverbial principles are as sure as the law of gravity.

To comprehend the meaning of our text today, we first must understand ‘exalted’. What is ‘exalted’ in the sight of man is usually accursed in the eyes of God. The exaltation meant by our kingly author is surely meant as ‘divine endorsement’, but this ‘divine endorsement’ can come in different forms. A divine endorsement can be bestowed in the form of persecution, as it is an honor to be persecuted for the cause of our Messiah. When we become victims of man’s wrath because of our loyalty to our Master, we enter God’s hall of fame. It is a confirmation that, whether man canonizes us or not, God has found us worthy to join the rank of sainthood,.

To be exalted in the sight of God, or divinely endorsed can also mean being given the material blessings of this world, as He has surely given all things for us freely to enjoy. A difference must be made though, as every time a man enjoys material blessing is not necessary a sign of God’s blessing or endorsement. If it were so, Bill Gates would be the most blessed man on earth, and is he? God offered King Solomon anything he wanted, but all he asked for was the wisdom to do his job as king of God’s people. Because of that, God also gave him all the rest that he didn’t ask. This is the difference: when material wealth comes of its own self at our door when we are just busy going about doing God’s will to the best of our ability.

By these parameters, let us judge now our life, our community, our town and country. Is it exalted by the blessing of the upright? Or is it overthrown by the mouth of the wicked?

LEGACY

Proverbs 11:10
When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth:
And when the wicked perish, there is shouting.

I have heard it said once that the measure of a man is valued in the countenance of his wife. I believe that. According to God, the same principles applies in governments, and that the measure of a civil servant, from mayor to president or king, is valued in the happiness of the people he serves.

No, promises, speeches or good intention can replace the vivid results of our actions. Faith has to be validated by works or it is dead. It is a pity how today we get excited at the empty promises of would-be officials who only try to lure our votes. Until today, the French King Henry lV from the Middle Ages, is remembered because of a decree that French people should afford to eat chicken every Sunday. Works accompanied this promise, and songs were written about this King. Until today, it is traditional for French people to eat chicken on Sunday. When such a king dies, there is mourning in the land; people rejoiced in his well-being, just as a wife would rejoice at the well-being of a very caring and considerate husband. But when the guillotine severed the head from the body of Louis XVI, who lived in exuberant wealth while the people of France starved, there was rejoicing in the land. No one cared for his well-being.

The only funeral I ever attended as a child was that of a great-aunt who was rich but as stingy as stingy could be. When she died, my family went through the memorial but then, they went to her old house and celebrated her death by opening a bottle of Champagne. In the famous Charles Dickens story, A Christmas Carol, the clincher that made Ebenezer Scrooge change his ways was when he saw the reaction of people after his death. People plundered his house; they did not mourn him; some were indifferent, others were even relieved.

This may sound a little morbid, but as time passes, reality declares that we have fewer years in front of us than we have behind us. Should such of us in this case start thinking of legacy? Will people mourn at our death? Will they rejoice? Will they be indifferent? Some people believe that from the other side, we attend our own funerals.

I don’t know if it’s true, but does thinking about this possibility makes us want to change the way we live, especially the way we are with others?

THE WORD REVEALS THE TRAPS OF HYPOCRISY

Proverbs 11:9
An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour:
But through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

As our civilization goes on, we lose more and more of our fundamental values. We now live in a society where double-speech is the norm in finances and politics. Everything is based on what is stated and signed rather than the facts. Societal relationships also, whether related to Church, work, or common interests rely on double-speech in their communications. Unbeknownst to us, we have created a world where we have to constantly translate what is being communicated to us so we don’t fall for it. Either that or we play the game.

Why is it that a smile does not necessarily mean a smile? Why is it that a simple question concerning our welfare can be loaded with innuendos and agendas? At the store someone says, “How are you today?” Do they care or is this a pretended concern just so you feel welcome at that particular store? We are daily submerged with advertisements that pretend to care for every single side of our welfare, when their sole concern is to sell their product to us at any cost, even if it is not the right things for us to do financially at the moment. Unscrupulous hypocrites use these methods born of hypocrisy to target teens into drink, drugs and sex. Older folks are also victims of smooth-tongued predators who lure after their retirement savings.

Why have we given in to the notion that it is OK to lie when it is for business, personal interests, or even for a good end? Have we grown so numb to the truth as told us in God’s Word? Or is that the reality of our wicked nature is too hard to bear, so we live in a pretend world of courtesy?

Our protection and deliverance against such global perfidy is based on a working knowledge of the Word. It is the Word of God that helps us see the truth in people no matter what they do or say. As we know and believe in the principles outlined in the Word, we can make the right conclusion that will help us see the traps of hypocrisy scattered around us like those infamous I.E.D.s that maim so many of our soldiers.

One day, the chief hypocrite will appear on the world scene. With his smooth tongue, he will deceive the world and even many saints. He will use the whole arsenal of lies and hypocrisy in the book to win the world to his side and against God. He will speak of peace, but war will be his heart. May we learn today to protect ourselves against him. May we learn today, through a thorough personal working knowledge of the Word of God, to discern the difference between truth and lying hypocrisy. May we be willing to face the truth of every matter when it comes, no matter what the cost.

To reckon with hard truth, is better, safer and healthier than accepting the traitorous cushioning lies of hypocrisy.

THE VOICE OF THE MARTYR

Proverbs 11:8
The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.

The Polish Jewish rabbi had a grin on his face. His Nazi tormentors looked at him with disgust and asked, what makes you smile so, you Jew, don’t you know you are coming to your death? The old rabbi answered, In the days of the Persian Empire, a man called Hamman, just like you determined on the annihilation of our people. Today we celebrate his demise by eating a cookie called after his name: Hamantashen; I was smiling cause I was wondering what we will call the cookie we will eat after your demise.

The enemies of God’s people never seem to get it. As they kill God’s children, they are automatically sent into the Bosom of Abraham. They are forever delivered from their torment. They go to a place of rest and comfort waiting for the great day of the resurrection of all the saints. It is not the same with their persecutors. Those who seek the destruction of God’s people, just like Hamman of old in the Book of Esther, are hanged on the very gallows they prepared for God’s people.

This could seem very little comfort for those today who have to endure persecutions at the hand of very wicked people and governments. Yet, God’s people through the ages, starting with one of the oldest ones, have learned that nothing is due to us in this life; that our lot here is to make the best to keep our virtue, and that within the parameters of what has been dished out to us by the Almighty El-Shaddai.

As he was leaving the Russian village where he and his family had lived for generations, the old man was reminiscing on the pogroms they had suffered and on the order of eviction of all Jews fro Russia. He frustratingly prayed, Why God, why us? Then he cynically answered his own question and said, I know, I know, it is because we are the Chosen People; but sometimes couldn’t you choose somebody else?

Let us not be like this old man. Let us rejoice when we are chosen to suffer for the cause of Christ. Like the apostles and martyrs of old, let us count it all joy and honor when we are called to be a witness by suffering for him, when we are called to His side to share in His fate.

In the Bible, the word ‘witness’ originates from the Greek word used to make the word, martyr.

HOPE. AGAIN I SAY, HOPE.

Proverbs 11:7
When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish:
And the hope of unjust men perisheth.

Thankfully, we are not as those with no hope or whose hope perishes.

We all muddle through life. We go through each with a sense of hope. We hope that we are right. We hope that we are doing the proper thing and that we stand for godliness.

Through the Messiah’s atonement, we also have the hope that if our heart is turned towards God’s Instruction, our bungling steps are counted to us for righteousness. We hope for ourselves; we hope for our children; we hope for this world and for the one to come. Hope is what makes us get up everyday, what gives us the stamina to happily go through the routine of life. Hope is the incentive that keeps us on the right path; it is the balm that heals our broken hearts to try on another day.

Because our hope is birthed from God, our death does not destroy it; its heavenly Author dotes upon it even after we are gone. Death cannot destroy our hope; death has no power over it. Even now, even now we are the recipient of these great people of faith who hoped for the world to come and who saw it coming in our day. We are the receivers of the blessings inherited because of their hope of righteousness. These people did what they did in the concern that their seed, us, would receive the blessing of God. They themselves did not receive the promises from God, they did not see in their lifetime the outcome of their accomplishment, but they hoped in them for their children and here we are, we receive them.

Let us therefore not live for today only. Let us have that same hope of our ancients. May we know that our hope doesn’t die; that it goes on forever. Because God has no pleasure in the death of anyone, He has delayed judgment. In a way, time is our friend; there is always more of it coming and it is free. Let us hope for our children; let us hope for our friends; let us hope for this world as well as for the on the come.

As the apostle says, hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

OBEDIENCE OR LEGALISM

Proverbs 11:6
The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them:
But transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.

John, the beloved disciple of the Lord tells us that ‘sin’ is the breaking of the Law. Contextually, that would mean that ‘sin’ is the breaking of the Torah.

The Torah has such bad rap these days. Adhering to the commandments Moses relayed to us straight from God in the book of Exodus has been equated to ‘legalism’. That is because of an anachronistic understanding of Paul’s text in Galatians.

I think we need to make a difference between ‘legalism’ and pure plain ‘obedience’ to God. Obedience to God is to obey His ordinances; legalism is to define obedience to the commandments of God by man’s teaching about them. Even Jesus who believed in and obeyed the Torah rebuked the Pharisees for obeying their own traditions above the commandments of God. The issue came up when the Pharisees accused Jesus of desecrating the Sabbath because He healed a man and told to carry His bed on that day. Moses never mentioned that it was forbidden to heal on the Sabbath, and even though in his days, Jeremiah rebuked people for lifting burdens on the Sabbath, it was mainly for commercial purposes, and commerce is forbidden on the Sabbath.

Obedience to the commandments of God is beneficial to us in every way. God is like the parent or teacher who try to instill in us the healthy mechanics and dynamics of life, while we always try to see if it can work otherwise. Most of us realize, only later in life that in fact, ‘Daddy’ was right.

Keeping God’s morals ordinances maintains the harmony of our families. Keeping His dietary laws keeps us healthier. Adhering to His sabbatical laws definitely keeps us healthier, even the economico-sabbatical laws. If we were to keep in financial laws, even those pertaining to sabbatical jubilees, we would have much, much less poverty, our lands would produce more and better, and we would not be a society dependant on borrowing, thus forever living in the stress of paying back debt.

The rod of correction God applies on us is simply imbedded in the result incurred by our disobedient actions. Righteousness, or ‘obedience to whatever is conformed to God’s will’ truly delivers the righteous; while transgressors, or ‘those who disobey and transgress God’s commandments’ shall be taken in their own naughtiness.

THE SPIRITUAL LAW OF GRAVITY

Proverbs 11:5
The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way:
But the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.

As gravity calls elements towards the earth; as liquids send gases upwards, and as the hand of God mightily synchronizes the movements of the planets, also it is with spiritual laws. Why contend against the way of darkness? Why be anxious and fret? History is our prime witness of the words of this proverb. Kings and would-be presidents need to lend a keen ear to our text today. The laws of physics cannot be changed; neither can spiritual dynamics.

Let the wicked continue in his wickedness. Let him live his own way. Let him eat the forbidden food, drink the dangerous brew, and indulge in his immorality. The very intemperance of his life will comeback to bite him in the end. There is no need to gather the great courts of judgment; there is n o need to convey all the judges of the earth to exercise their powers against him. Why, he would delight in the attention. Just look, his own actions daily seal the verdicts of his fate.

Righteousness does not need to fight wickedness. Darkness flees of itself when we turn on the light. Let us not fret and worry about the way of the wicked. Let the righteousness of the One who was called the Son of Man direct our way. Let the Messiah be our righteousness and our ways will be perfected in God.

He has won the battle against darkness; and we will celebrate the victory with Him in His Pavilion.

REFLECTION AT HIS COMING

Proverbs 11:4
Riches profit not in the day of wrath:
But righteousness delivereth from death.

Who is he who puts his trust in uncertain riches? Who is he who stands as the ‘King of the mountain’ setting confidence on his own power? Who is he who stands claiming, ‘I am the captain of my fate’? Today he may weasle his way through. He may impress, bribe and influence. Oh, watch him push and demand; watch him grow like a ‘green bay tree’.

When we come to the end of the road; when the Son stands on the Mt of Olives to judge the world and its vanity, He will not judge according to the seeing of the eyes not according to the hearing of the ear. He will judge righteous judgments. On that day of wrath, wealth will uncover its source. Did it originate from the blessing of God, or was it cleverly pried from the hard work of the working masses?

On that day, all the gold in the world cannot rescue the soul from death; only the righteousness found in Jesus-Christ. He is the true Captain of our fate. Like gold in the smith’s caldron, the righteousness of our faith is tested daily. What will it look like when the Son of man returns to take account of His own? The goldsmith knows that the gold in his caldron is finally pure when it stops sizzling and he can see the reflection of his face in it. When Jesus returns to take over this world and put it right side up, will He see His face reflected in us, the face of one who put his trust in God? Or will it be the face of an idol-worshipper who put his faith in the uncertain elements of this world?

FOCUS

Proverbs 11:3
The integrity of the upright shall guide them:
But the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.

It is often said that we walk in the direction our eyes are looking. If we look straight onto our God and savior, if we look straight into His Law of perfection, that is where our feet will also take us. Like a magnet, as we focus in the eyes of our Lord and Master, we are led in a straight and perfect path.

But oh, how can we expect to walk the straight and perfect path of God when our eyes are all over the place? How can we pray ‘Lord, lead us not into temptation’ when we go there of our own selves? Sometimes curiosity just gets the best of us, but curiosity did ‘kill the cat’.

Let us now therefore focus into the perfect law of God. Let not our eyes stray neither to the right nor to the left. Using the written Word, the Holy Spirit and prayer, let us keep our hearts minds and souls focused on Jesus and work our salvation with fear and trembling. Why should we meet the end of the transgressors?

THE CONQUERED PRIDE OF THE WORLD

Proverbs 11:2
When pride cometh, then cometh shame:
But with the lowly is wisdom.

The unteachable nature of the proud makes this course of events inevitable. Daily wisdom cries at him but in his stubborn independence the proud replicates his yester-mistakes. They say that a wise man learns from his own mistakes, but that the wiser man learns from the mistakes of others. Yet, the proud is like one who cannot receive counsel from another who has already been down that road. He is unteachable, so instruction doesn’t reach his heart.

As the poet said, his head is bloody, but unbowed.

This world incessantly looks for glory and fame. It turns mercilessly in search of pride’s new victim. Haven’t they learned yet? Where is the glory of the mighty? Where is the pride of great empires? Today they cry ‘hosanna’, but three days later they crucify you. The wings of glory and fame are fickle; they are made of wax; they fall as quickly as they rise.

In its race towards humanistic perfection, the world will eventually attain to a sort of peace. A proud godless super-leader will eventually arise and create order out of our present economic and political chaos. The ensuing seeming world harmony will even deceive believers in God. But in its humanistic climax, tension within its own system will consume and bring it to its knees. It is not an out of space external power that will conquer it. The only ‘aliens’ we have to fear is the lethal stench of our own pride. Like the proverbial skunk, the world will stink itself to death. Only the power of God through the return of His Son Jesus-Christ on earth will prevent its total shameless annihilation.

In that day, the fragrance of God will fill the earth. the wise Son of Solomon; the One who was born and who died in the meanest of conditions; the One who conquered entering the capital of the world on a donkey; the One who gave more than He took; the One who did not look to save His own life but took the sin of our shameful pride upon his meek shoulders; the One who despised the world and its dainties; this wise One, God will raise to honor and glory to teach us how we should live.