THE EARMARKS OF KNOWLEDGE

Proverbs 17:27 KJV

He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.

The idea here is that a man who has knowledge doesn’t feel the need to validate his own self through endless rumblings. He is generous with his knowledge at the right, at the right place, in the right way and with the right people, but he is neither boastful nor arrogant. He actually seems pretty humble about himself, which is a proof of his knowledge acquisition. Someone who knows has realized how little he knows, or even how little man can achieve to know compared to all there is to know.

The Hebrew wording for the second clause is, ‘and the cool of temper is a man of understanding’. What is there to understand that gives a man ‘coolness’ of temper, even in the midst of controversy (as controversy is the time when temper is tested)?

These two clauses may seem unrelated, but here is an idea. Someone of a cool temper spares his words because he has understanding due to his knowledge. In ‘English’, what I mean to express is that: A man who owns a true knowledge of Yeshua Hamashiach His Savior, doesn’t need to talk much to prove himself because his life style, his ‘conversation in this world’ as the apostle called it, is the testimony of the knowledge of his heart. This understanding of the ways of Messiah in return gives him an excellent spirit.

This proverb is very useful in teaching how to recognize knowledge versus pseudo-knowledge. Many people talk about many things these days, but the earmarks of true knowledge are found in a person that is sparing, careful and humble with his words. A true person of knowledge is also ‘excellent’ in spirit, excellency being of course measured by the standards of the One who admonished us with the following words:

‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect’.

Matthew 5:48

TO PUNISH THE RIGHTEOUS

Proverbs 17:26 KJV
Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity.

The Stone edition version of the Book of Proverbs renders this verse from the Hebrew as: One who is not good will punish even the righteous, and will smite generous people for integrity.

The Apostle Paul teaches in agreement with the pre-Yeshua Scriptures that, all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23 KJV). In essence, we are not good, at least not good enough to enter into the presence of the Almighty. As it was before Yeshua’s manifestation on earth, so it is now: we can only come into the Presence of the Almighty through the mediation of atonement. The Almighty has placed everything about Him in Yeshua, only through Whom He restores His relationship with us. That is only because we are not good and Yeshau has the merit necessary to bring us into the Presence. We are not good, but we enter the Presence by the merits of Yeshua. Yeshua, Who had no sin took our punishment so He can serve as an atonement. We, who are not good, ‘punish’ the Just, the Righteous and Generous Prince as the price of our entering the Presence.

Let’s pay attention here. This ‘punishing’ of the Righteous is not referred to as an act done in ignorance. It is an act done in full consciousness of the fact. I am Jewish and a common derogatory name for Jews throughout history has been: Christ-killers. When accused of the fact I raise my hand and plead guilty. Since the days of Moses, it was the job of a Jewish High-Priest to kill the Passover Lamb. If we, the Jews, through the Jewish priesthood of the day hadn’t had participation in the murder of the Righteous, this man on the cross was not the Messiah but an imposter. Our ‘job description’, and that of everyone who endorses His atoning powers is to: ‘punish’ the Righteous, the Just and the Generous prince.

May we never be flippant about sins. They are the lashes that ‘punish’ the Righteous who stands in our place before God as one of these lambs killed at the altar of sacrifice by the altar.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF DISOBEDIENCE

Proverbs 17:25 KJV
A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.

Let us now explore the mind of this 10th century B.C.E. king, King Solomon. Let us try to mine for the natural social, theological and eschatological stones that would prompt his recorded statement.

In the mind of the Israelite, contrary to the mind of the Greek, there are no purely ethereal concepts. From the creation of man to the building of the Temple, everything God put on earth is small model and a temporal replica of a greater eternal reality in the Heavenlies.

While this proverb warns a child of the grief his foolishness (foolishness: living in conscious disobedience of the Word of God) would cause to his parents, it also teaches a spiritual reality.

The mind of the Israelite equates ‘Father’ with God, and ‘Mother’ with Israel, Israel not just as a country, but as the body of the people of God. Jewish sages refer to the events as Mt Sinai as a marriage between God and the people of Israel. The son then, is the ‘fruit’ of God’s interactions with Israel.

Here is a biblical example of an Israelite son of Israel typifying this proverb. Commentators speak of Jeroboam as the dandy bad example of a foolish son who caused grief to his ‘Father’: God, and bitterness to his ‘Mother: Israel. Jeroboam is the man from the tribe of Dan who having started as Solomon’s right hand man, later took ten of the tribes and started the Northern Kingdom. Jeroboam is also the man who initiated an idolatrous counterfeit Judaism religion which provoked God’s anger. The ten tribes ended up dispersed until this day.

In Revelations chapter twelve we see another imagery of our proverb. John the disciple of Yeshua, sees a vision of Israel as a woman giving birth to a child who would become brother to many. In the vision, the devil persecutes the woman ‘Israel’, but when he sees that God secured her somewhere, he persecutes the ‘remnants of her seed’. The child is of course Yeshua who was physically born from the nation of Israel, and who would be the firstfruit of many, ‘the remnant of her seed’.

This makes everyone who is grafted unto God through Yeshua, sons (and daughters) of God our Father and of Israel our Mother. Sin is disobedience to Torah; foolishness is to know the Word of Torah while not doing It (Matthew 7:26).

Let us now pause our theological rambling for a moment and reflect. Let us take the time to meditate on the history of the grief and bitterness our conscious and purposed disobedience to Torah caused to our Father (God), and to our Mother (Israel).

NOTE: Biologically, a woman does not have ‘seed’. The text in Revelations 12 is made to make us equate Israel, the woman in the vision, with another woman in the Bible whom God referred to as having seed: Eve. Also Miriam, the biological mother of Yeshua also gave birth having God’s ‘Seed’ implanted in her through the Holy Spirit.

THE WISE AND UNDERSTANDING HEART

Proverbs 17:24 KJV
Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.

Solomon was an adept student of the Torah. He had a working understanding of Its basic principles. Solomon understood that the Torah is not a difficult thing for him who had acquired understanding. Moses elaborated on that in the following teaching:

For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
(Deuteronomy 30:11-14 KJV),

‘Understanding’ is not necessarily inborn. Even Solomon the king didn’t have it. It is recorded in the historical Book of 1 Kings that Solomon had to pray for it. When God appeared to him in Gibeon and told him, Ask; what shall I give thee, Solomon asked for understanding to discern the good and the bad so that he could do a good job in his responsibility to lead Israel. God answered Solomon and granted him a wise and understanding heart. As a result, as it is said that wisdom is near to him that has understanding, Solomon became the wisest person who ever lived on this earth. The understanding to discern good and bad that God gave Solomon put wisdom before him.

Today, distinctions between good and bad are blurry. Good is called bad and bad is called good. Idolatry is acceptable while Yeshua gets a bad reputation. More than ever today we need to pray Solomon’s prayer for God to grant us a wise and understanding heart.

The Torah is called our Wisdom in front of the nations (Deuteronomy 4:6).

Yeshua is also called Wisdom (Proverbs 8:22,23).

The spirit of Yeshua the Messiah in us is the Wise and Understanding heart that puts the Wisdom of the commandment of Torah near us.

May it soon fill the earth like waters fill the seas.

THE RULES OF BUSINESS

Proverbs 17:23
A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

Bribery has existed since the beginning of times. Our judgment is easily altered by the idea of, “What do I get, or lose out of this’, and that makes us wicked in the sight of God.

Money has a way of making strange bedfellows. It is amazing to see how the world of money is very different from the world of political rhetoric. People who are ideological enemies find ground for friendship around a business deal where everyone gains. We cannot expect better from worldlings, but should we expect more integrity from God’s children? One of my sons one day told his Mom, ‘But Mom, it is so difficult today to be a godly successful businessman. There are sharks out there and if you don’t act like a shark you get eaten.’ And that is so true. Don’t get me wrong: business is not wrong. The Bible tells us of many business transactions, but the Word of God also regulates the spirit in which business is conducted. One of the biggest biblical principles in godly business is: integrity comes before profit.

Bribery does not have to only refer to money. We may alter our judgment to preserve a friendship, a job, or a relationship with a fellowship, a Church or a company.

Since we live in the world, we have to do business with the world. If in our business methodology we stick to the admonitions in God’s Word, people will consider us wise. Here is God’s advice on these things, Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. (Deuteronomy 4:6).

In all our dealings with the world, and especially when we bind ourselves by any contract or ‘ covenant’ with people, we need to remember that we are ourselves bound to God by a more excellent and all-encompassing covenant. About our dealings and transactions with the world, we need to always ask ourselves,

“Is there anything in this new deal that is injurious to my covenant with God?”

THE GREAT HEALER

Proverb 17:22
A rejoicing heart causes good healing,
But a stricken spirit dries the bones.

It is inevitable that accidents and sickness will happen, but our recovery is dependable on the condition of our heart. The heart is the center of our being. Its condition affects our every circumference. A healthy heart is therefore imperative for good healing.

What is a healthy heart? I am speaking of spiritual health because even the physical health of our heart depends of our spiritual condition.

First of all of course, a healthy spiritual heart is full of the presence of Yeshua. This Presence of course contributes to fullness of the Word and of the Spirit of His Shechina. Whether an individual is blessed with this Presence or not is easy to spot: it is seen in the attitude of the individual. A bottle full of perfume cannot emit one single drop of full odor, no matter how hard it shaken, even if it is thrown on the ground and broken. We can therefore prove the Presence in someone by their attitude in trials, tribulations and adversity. We can see how they inter act with their spouses and with their children. How the little aggravations of daily life affect them. Of course, this is to be assessed over a certain period of time, not a single event.

Sicknesses related to an unhealthy heart plague our society. From depression to heart failure going through every psychosomatic disease in the book, they are all related to fear, lack of faith, lack of love, lack of trusting God and living unhealthy lifestyles in our flesh and in our mind. They are all related to sin in our lives. The most pathetic thing of all is that in our present day mind frame, any pill the doctor prescribes is better than going back to the Father in a spirit of repentance. Just like the doctor, the Father may prescribe the bitter pill of a change in lifestyle, eating habits and even thought patterns, but we do not want to do that. We prefer to go to the doctor and take his pill which gives us a form of symptomatic healing while we are able to continue, and even excuse ourselves for our unhealthy physical and spiritual habits.

Only the Father through the healing presence of Yeshua can give us the right heart to heal us from the negative effects of our natural sinfulness. May we not only acknowledge Him in mind, but also may we let Him direct every step in our lives. Our heart is filled by through our eyes and our ears. May we contribute to our healing by letting Him direct every fiber of our being, screening everything we see, hear and yes, even everything we eat by the standard of his Words.

WRATH VS SORROW

Proverbs 17:21
He who brings forth a fool has sorrow for it, and the father of a fool has no joy.

Again, let us be reminded of the biblical definition of a ‘fool’:

One who knowledgeably and consciously refuses to obey the Torah.

The first Hebrew word used for ‘fool’ in this Hebrew text has the connotation of ‘silly; stupid’. The second word used has the sense of ‘vile; wicked’.

Many parents have experienced the frustration of child raising. A child is born into the world and its destiny is in our hands. We take all the good resolutions and put our best forward. We raise the child with great hopes and expectancy of a bright future which we have often prepared and saved for, but something happens around the early teens. The child all of a sudden metamorphoses into this willful independent being, and we don’t know if common sense will ever exist again into these brains of his. Sometimes, children never recovers from that turbulent period of their life. It is often at such times that family dynamics take a nosedive and fragmentation rules until the eventual birth of grandchildren. Sounds familiar?

During this defining period when everyone tries to assert their authority, issues big and small become shouting matches between the teen and the father. The mother on the other hand is often found crying on the kitchen table. Frustration brings out our worst. We feel that nothing will work and that the world is blame for wrecking our lives.

Maybe the solution is to put life in its proper perspective.

We also as adults have a Heavenly Father. Our Father felt the same way at our creation as we parents did about our brand new child. From birth the Father cared for us through His angel having great expectancy about our future which was also planned from the beginning. When we self-righteously react to our frustration with our teens, maybe we should try to have a reality check about our standing with our own Father. We need to remember that to Him, we are creatures of sin. If we carefully listen, we may hear Him cry those tears of frustration as He sees us reaping the results of our disobediences when He tried so hard all along to teach us to live a more Godly life but we wouldn’t listen. We would realize then the patience He has for us in His sorrow is an attitude which should exemplify ours.

So before we are ready to fly off the handle with our children, those in and those out of the nest, let us set our frazzled emotions into perspective by checking ourselves with our own Father. The wrath of man doesn’t accomplish the righteousness of God, the apostle said. Sorrow on the other hand, may work the perfect work of experience and conviction.

THE CAUSE OF THE CURSE.

Proverbs 17:20
He that hath a froward heart findeth no good:
And he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.

The Hebrew vocabulary in this proverb leads the understanding in Semitic syntactic contrast and parallelism. The Hebrew wording contrasts ‘good’ in the first clause with ‘bad’ (instead of perverse) in the second clause. The ‘froward heart’ is identified in parallels with the ‘perverse tongue’ because of another Proverb, To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; Proverbs 2:12. The Hebrew word used for ‘perverse’ means to ‘twist and turn’ alluding to the turning back of the froward (contrary to ‘forward’) of heart.

This Proverb teaches us about cause and effect. One who only finds ‘no good’ in his life, who actually falls into mischief, is revealed as one who has turned against God. You may argue with me with the fact that many loyal to the Father finds themselves in bad situations, but the difference is that they do not ‘fall’. The one who is dressed in righteousness, truth, peace and the Gospel is able to stand in spite of all the devil can throw at him. He does not fall.

Another proverb from our same author teaches that ‘the curse causeless shall not come. The cause can be varied but it is always present, and it is always related to sin. Job argued with his ‘comforters’ (who were more like his accusers) saying that his troubles were unjustified while his friends accused him of the sin of presumption. In the end, God rebukes Job’s friends and restores Job to his former state, and more. The case of Job is a teaching foreshadowing the work of Yeshua: He that had no sin was afflicted like a common criminal. In the case of Yeshua, the cause was also sin: our sin.

The story of Job is also a microcosm paralleling the story, and history, of Israel and of the Jewish people. First beloved, abounding in blessings; then in long terrible affliction, while despised and accused by others. The Book of revelations tells us that in the end, Israel’s ‘accusers’ get a ‘rebuke’ from God, while Israel is restored to its former glory, and more, just like Job. In this case, Paul also teaches us that as a cause, the demise and blindness of the Jewish people and of Israel originated from God in order to usher the ‘time of the gentiles’. This theme runs through the whole Bible and goes back to Abraham. Abraham was also tempted to the limits, and the Jewish nation owes its blessings to him. This story has its roots with the Father Whose Son, the Mashiach, was designated from the foundations of the world as the innocent suffering Lamb to redeem us from sinfulness.

Let us remember, there is always a cause to every curse.

THE ELEVATED GATES

Proverbs 17:19
He loveth transgression that loveth strife: and he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction.

This proverb leads us again to a Hebrew idiom. Hebraism often compares the mouth to ‘gates’. We find this kind of expression in Micah 7:5: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom: The expression ‘elevate his gates’, or as it is found in other translations: ‘elevate his mouth’, refers to someone who speaks in a proud and arrogant manner.

Some find it a virtue to be strife-driven. Our text is clear though that he who loves strife loves transgression. Debates and discussion are all right, as they are the means by which we learn, but strife is an element of transgression and sin.

Our author/King (and I purposely remind the reader of the elevated status of our author) spent hours judging people listening to case after case. When we are in such a position of having to listen to people’s issues with each other, we start finding patterns. There certainly are cases with legitimate issues and problems, but in many cases, issues are created because of the arrogance of one party, or even of both. Another proverb of our same author mentions that strife disappears once the proud is taken out of the picture.

Sometimes I am reminded of radio talk-show hosts who speak in such a strife-driven way. After you listen to them for five minute you feel all riled up about something that didn’t even cross our mind before, or didn’t even know. Through these, we are not informed, educated, nor even led to positive action and attitude. We are simply and solely exposed to someone’s spirit of frustration and anger. We are made to partake of somebody else’s hot air, confusion and spirit of strife. Issues in the world need to be exposed and addressed, but in a sprit of wisdom, prayer and trust in God’s overall Plan. The Antichrist is the ultimate one who will be known to ‘elevate his gate’ in a very arrogant mouth

Let us not be guilty of such attitude. Let us not exalt our mouth through arrogance and pride provoking strife and destruction. Before uttering any word, especially about things that are sensitive to us, let us always pray: please God, put a guard over my mouth.

LENDING:THE RECIPE FOR SOCIAL CATASTROPHE

Proverbs 17:18
A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend.

The idea here is that your friend cannot get a loan. Creditors do not trust him or his credit (same thing). Your friend then banks of your friendship, as well as good ‘credit rating’ and reputation to co-sign, a loan with him.

Common sense should tell me that if my friend cannot get a loan, it could be that he is a risky investment. For me to co-sign a loan with him could take me, and my whole family down. Only a person ‘void of understanding’ would agree to such a thing. My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Proverbs 6:1-5

The preceding proverb tells us that a friend loves at all times, but this may be a case when the person showing love should be the person in need, by not asking his ‘friend’ to guaranty for him.

The insanity of the lending system is played out in front of our eyes in our generation today. People and banks loan to each other; they ‘strike hands’ in guaranty to each other for ‘toxic loans’. The taxpayers are now bailing these financial institutions out and as unfair as it seems, it brings the payment back to the original people: the loaners.

The Word teaches us to give to him that asks of us; not loan. That is because the borrower is servant to the lender and we do not want this sort of owing relationship between brethren. It is the recipe to social catastrophe.

May Yeshua return quickly to deliver us from the insanity of man and put us back in God’s financial system as described, and prescribed in His Words.

YESHUA THE FRIEND/BROTHER

Proverbs 17:17
A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Yeshua, the atoning Messiah ordained by the Father from the foundation of the earth, came to tabernacle with us. As the very image of the Almighty, He looked upon us as His servants.

Shortly before being offered as the ultimate offering of all offerings in order to reestablish our relationship with the Father he said, Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
The knowledge from the Father that Yeshua imparted elevated the disciples from the status of servants to the level of friends. This refers to covenantal friendship, which in early Semitic cultures was as binding as marriage. The steps of this covenant making are found in Genesis 15 when the Father revels His Plan to Abraham as He makes an eternally binding covenant with him. Yeshua also acted the steps in this covenant making with us.

As He becomes our friend, Yeshua also becomes our brother, the Firstfruit among many brethren. A friend may love at all times, but the quality of a brother, or of a sister for that matter, are especially found in times of adversity. This is usually when kinsfolks finally get closer, during a family tragedy.

Soon tragedy will happen in the world of believers, and we can count on our Friend/Brother to be there for us. He was born for that very purpose.

THE MORE I KNOW, THE MORE I KNOW THAT I DON’T KNOW

Proverbs 17:16
Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?

FOOL: Biblical definition: one who knows the Word of Life and does not obey it.

Why is there money in the hand of the fool to purchase wisdom, though he does not have an understanding heart? A fool may have money in hand to hire a teacher, but it will be to no avail if he lacks will and appreciation of the importance of knowledge.

My wife is a grade school teacher. One time she was correcting a child’s wrongly spelled word when to her amazement he replied, 'oh no Ma’m’, this is how I spell it.’ We may find the young child amuzing, but sad to say, we as adult d have a tendency to act this way. This proud attitude may be bad enough in the academic field, but it becomes a tragedy in the realm of religion. It is easy to convince someone they do not as know as much as we do about the details of a particular trade or academic field, but when it comes to hermeneutics, it feels sometimes that everyone wants to be their own rule book. Every one wants to feel free to interpret and define doctrine according to their own limited knowledge and experience.

Mathematics, physics and astronomy for examples have foundation rules that do not, and cannot change. Two and two always make four; what goes up always comes down and the constellations always show the same story. But when it comes to Bible hermeneutics, it seems to be a free for all. Even though the text it self tells us that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, we have myriads of interpretations. Even though the apostle tells us that there is one faith, one baptism and one doctrine, we are plagued by deep differences. The answer can only be that we, instead of thoroughly searching for The Answers, have allowed ourselves to be taught by other men who did not know the answers either but pulled answers out of their magic hat and called it divine inspiration or even worse ‘new revelation’. My personal motto is: let the Book answer the Book within its own cultural and historical context, and that without any stretch of personal interpretation. No man has the right to come between us and the defined interpretation of Scripture. We need to make sure that our understanding is Scripturally inspired and divinely downloaded, not interpreted.

Let us now ask ourselves: are we a generation of fools? Are we a generation who prides itself in the number of teachers we can hire for ourselves? Teachers who become blind guides of the blind? Are we blinded by our arrogant lack of desire and appreciation for true knowledge? The apostle described our generation in these sobering words: Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:7

SOMEBODY PAYS

Proverbs 17:15
He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.

I like to chock my students or congregants by exclaiming, “I do not believe in salvation by grace; the Bible does not support such a doctrine”. After all, salvation by grace means that our sins are wiped away. It means that we, the guilty party, guilty of murder, adulteries and idolatries, get to walk free without any punishment for our sins. And we call that justice? What if a judge decided to have ‘mercy’, and as a result freed rapists and child murderers? Would we call that judge ‘good’?

The wicked (us) cannot be made righteous on his own merits. It is an abomination to God to justify the wicked. A price has to be paid for the covering of his sins. The full price of our sin is un-payable by us; that is why Yeshua pays it for us and we are saved (reconciled with the Father) based on the merits of the Father’s favor to wards Him. And even though the Son has the favor of the Father, the Son still has to pay an excruciating price for the covering atonement of our sins. So actually, salvation is not free: Somebody pays.

On the other hand, and this is a theological ‘catch 22’, because the price of the Son’s payment is required for our reconciliation with God, by our sins, we automatically condemn the Just. The Just One who had not sin has become sin so He could pay the price/ransom of our regeneration. This knowledge should make us careful and less flippant about our daily behavior. Sometimes we can get familiar and live like, ‘Oh, my sins are forgiven; He understand that I am just human and make mistakes.’ Our sins are forgiven, yes, but not for free. Somebody pays for them. Yeshua pays for them.

A Mom wanted to teach a lesson of obedience to her son. She decided to change technique. Instead of swatting her child’s behind when he misbehaved, she decided that every time the child would disobey, he would have to slap his Mom’s hand. She child, not wanting hurt his Mom anymore quickly changed his behavior.

We cannot be perfect and our sin is with us from birth. Can we try our best to not be flippant about it and try to change our general behavior so we stop slapping, spitting on, lashing, pricking, mocking, humiliating, hurting crucifying and killing the Son of Man? Remember: it is an abomination to condemn the Just.

DRAMA FREE ZONE

Proverbs 17:14
The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.

The idea is of a man who makes a little hole in the bank of a river. Cutting a small passage he lets water in an adjoining field. The force of the water itself widens the passage flowing in great abundance to the overflow and prejudice of the filed. Lo and behold: It cannot be stopped. So a single word spoken in anger in a way of contradiction is the beginning if a great strife and contention.

What is the wise thing to do? Before the conversation amplifies to such an uncontrollable degree, leave off the subject; let things cool off. This is good advice for partners, colleagues and spouses. Do we want to win the fight or the argument at the cost of the relationship? No. It only yields an empty victory where we really are the loosers.

WERE WE WORTH SAVING?

Proverbs 17:13
Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

Nabal is the Biblical example of what happens to someone who rewards evil for good. David acted with favor with Nabal. When David could have let his men help themselves of Nabal’s sheep, David made sure that nothing was missing of Nabal’s properties. In return, when David’s army needed sustenance, Nabal refused to help and was even mean and arrogant about it. Nabal ended up with the spite of his wife. He died suddenly during the night, after the which Abigail went to join and marry David. All of Nabal’s goods ended up in David’s hand. 1 Samuel 25.

It is easy though to use goodness as a means to an end. It is common for people today use ‘good works’ in order to win political or social favor, or even with the intent of claiming a favor in return. This was not what David was doing. He was anointed King of Israel, and he was doing his job as King which was to protect the people and act with the dignity of King of Israel. He must have felt indignant to see his virtue wasted on such a piggish person as Nabal.

Bringing this notion home, let us look at ourselves. Yeshua the Son of David also guards over us. It is said that He that keeps Israel never slumbers nor sleeps (Ps 121) The question is: are we worth the protection of the Son of David? Are we worth His efforts? Probably not, but do we try our best, or do we act like Nabal?

A man saw a young boy struggling with the current in a river. Right away the man jumped and rescued the drowning boy. ‘Thank you for saving me’ said the boy. ‘Make sure you were worth saving’ replied the man.

Will Yeshua receive positive returns for His investment in us? Were we worth saving?

THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS

Proverbs 17:12
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

Of the nature of beasts there is none more fierce than a she bear, when she has lost her whelps, or wants food. And yet, as terrible and as dangerous as it is, it is safer and more eligible to meet an enraged bear in those circumstances than a fool in his folly. The fool knows the injunctions of the Word but he has consciously rationalized that they are not applicable to him so he does not obey the. Doing so, he builds his house upon the sand the Master teaches us. A fool then, having rejected the Torah is left in unrestrained subjection to human passions, to the heat of their lust. He pursues them and there is no stopping him, or turning him from them. His heat and anger exceeds that of a bear, and is not so easily avoided.

There are many references to enraged bears in the bible. The Assyrian Empire who cruelly conquered and deported the ten tribes is compared to a bear having lost its young. Rome who brutally subjected the world to its rule has the feet of a bear. A she-bear appears and kills 42 young people who were mocking a prophet because he was bald. On the other hand, as a youth, David kills a bear who was after his father’s flocks. The bear often appears in the Bible as a symbol of punishment and/or attacks on God’s children from the North. At the end of this age, there will be a final attack on Israel from the ‘bearish’ North. At that time, Yeshua, the Son of David will appear and deliver His father’s flocks from this angry bear and thereby bring His people to full repentance.

Understanding the meaning of the Biblical imagery of the bear gives us a more complete vision of the comparative imagery of this proverb. It is more dangerous to our lives to meet with a fool, one who has consciously rejected the Word, than to meet with such a creature as the she-bear deprived of her young.

Maybe something is to be said about our circle of friends, media and cyber encounters.