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.

THE WEIGHT OF OUR GRATEFULNESS

Proverbs 11:1
A false balance is abomination to the LORD:
But a just weight is his delight.

Several similar references are made in this proverb; God Yahweh certainly disapproved of the dishonest merchant whose weights differed. In these days people used stones for weights; each stone claimed to be of a certain weight. A dishonest merchant owned stones with differing stones, or weights. The literal translation of the second clause of this proverb says, “a full stone is acceptable unto Him” Much certainly needs to be said about honesty in business, but is this all this proverb intends to teach us?

What is the weight of our Master’s gift to us? Can we ever find it? Is there a measure that can quantify the worth of the messianic sacrifice? Can we calculate its length, width, height, volume or strength? Can we even compare it to anything we know? How can we? We have yet to learn about the concept of infinity.

With such a price paid for our ransom from the evil one, we are left with a dilemma. We are not asked to repay, but the very virtue that we receive from our salvation teaches us about gratefulness. How can we then show the right weight of gratefulness for a gift we cannot even measure?

Ah my friend, the measure is not in the length, width, height, volume or strength. The measure is, as is stated in the original language of this proverb, in the ‘fullness’. Our Master’s fullness is truly immeasurable, but he gave it all. Here is the right weight of our gratefulness to the Master who delivered us from slavery to Satan:

to give our all to Him.

THE TOUCHSTONE

Proverbs 10:32
The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable:
But the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.

Again the Scripture divides humanity into two camps: the righteous and the wicked. Again this polarization is done within the perspective of the fruits of our speech. Not that the speech is necessarily conscious, but rather that the speech is an illustration, even a revelation of what already is in our heart.

Ideas and concepts travel from one person to another through the vehicle of human relations. We have contact with and speak to each other. In this process we affect each other, even have the ability to lead each other in the right or in the wrong direction. God has therefore given us parameters that we may be able to discern if a person is a right according to God’s standards, or wrong. By these parameters, we are to judge whether or not we are to associate with a person or not. It is important to notice that most of these parameters reveal people’s nature through the content of their speech.

If we follow the parameters given to us and if we ourselves know the Word, it doesn’t take to be a highly educated psychologist to define someone’s character. All we have to do is match them with these proverbs on the tongue and speech. Like the touchstone helps us know the quality of gold, the Word helps us find the worth of a person. Then, our own worth is also defined by whether we choose or not to associate with that person after the Word reveals their character to us.

When He returns, Jesus will discern and evaluate each one of us. He will judge between person and person. The sheep He will put at his right hand and the goat at His left hand. These proverbs, and many other character evaluating statements in the Word are the laws by which he will judge the world on that day. How will we fare?

Now that we know the content of the test, maybe we should prepare ourselves for the greatest ‘exam’ of all times.

A PARABLE OF TREES

Proverbs 10:31
The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom:
But the froward tongue shall be cut out.

Words are like seeds. Words grow flowers or weeds depending on heart of the sower. They are conceived in our hearts; proceed from our mouth; planted in someone’s mind, and finally conceive in their heart to continue the same process.

Like a good tree, a sower of good words needs at times to be fertilized, pruned and trimmed. This faithful care results in a harvest of goodly fruits. Seed from this good fruit can be planted to produce more goodly trees. The farmer and his family feed from the fruit, so they are happy to care for and protect the tree. So it is with who has the tongue of God’s wisdom: he shall be kept forever.

Oh, but there is a tree in the garden that has withheld for several years now. It does not respond to fertilizing and pruning. The master of the garden comes to receive fruit from it and there is none. The tree just holds space. Some of its branches are dead and dangerous; he is infested with parasites. This dead sick tree also hides the sun from the other trees in the garden. The farmer is frustrated with this tree. So it is with one who has a perverse tongue: he shall be cut off.

Can the Master of our soul collect His due from the many words we speak during the day? Can He come and feed from the fruits of our tongue in the life of others? Will he have to cut us out from the land and give our place to another?

Something to think about.

FINALLY HOME

Proverbs 10:30
The righteous shall never be removed:
But the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.

From eternity, the righteous is promised an inhabitation.

It is important to notice that under King Solomon, God’s people possessed that land under the large boundaries given to Abraham: from the Euphrates to the Nile. This inheritance is a perpetual inheritance conditional on obedience to God’s Law. After all, if we abide in His Land, we should obey His rules. Sad to say, because we broke the terms of the ‘Lease’, our ‘Landlord’ kicked us out. All is not lost though, because the ‘Lease’ also comprises an atonement clause. The ‘Landlord ‘s Son’ pleads to His Father on our behalf and even pays for the damages. He also takes charge of teaching us how to be better guardians of the terms of the ‘Lease’; the terms even say that He ‘turns’ us away from our Law-lessness and disobedience. As we learn to obey the terms of the ‘Contract’, we are in time returned to our Land.

But those who absolutely refuse the help of the Son, those who do not want to learn how to obey the lease, those will never possess the land. The eschatological role of that land is too important. It is to become the spiritual center of the earth: the place where the whole world will come to learn about God. Therefore the people living there have got to be an example of God’s character. God cannot allow sin, which is the breaking of the ‘Lease’, to exist in that land. The Son, who is without sin, will reign there and that land is to represent Him, His character, His inner being.

Let us rejoice in this promise: God’s people have a land. It has been promised to them. They have a land from where they shall never be removed. No dubious peace plans preserves it for them, only the Hand of the Almighty El Shaddai Himself who has promised it to them. The wicked, he who is disobedient to God’s law, has no place in it. It is a place of promise, of learning, of plenty, of peace, of love and of laughter. It is a place where God’s people are no more pilgrims and stranger trying to obey their God while living in foreign cultures. It is a place they can finally call ‘home’, where they can, without fears and uncertainties, unpack from their millenniums of travels and finally settle with their children and grand-children. It is a land where serving their God is no strange thing. It is a Land of milk and honey.

TRUE STRENGTH FROM GOD

Proverbs 10:29
The way of the Lord is strength to the upright:
But destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
NOTE: ‘Iniquity’: law-lessness

And what is the way of the Lord but to walk in His laws?

Those who think they know better than God; those who seek to live solely by their own rules; those who refuse to subject themselves to the company of God; they say that faith in God is for the weak. Maybe they are right.

God has taken the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. Weakness in our own eyes wins us the strength of God. What would happen if a man joined the armed forces, but refused to subject himself to military rules and training? This man would be a danger to himself and to his comrades. So it is with the upright. If we join this army of the Lord on earth, our strength lies in our abiding in His laws and statutes. Only by doing so can we expect to inherit the promises of provision and protection granted to us in our salvation.

The worker of iniquity, or the ‘law-less’ by definition of the word, denies to himself the strength of God and therefore is the one who is truly weak. He is weak because he has no standard but himself by which to judge the right and wrong of his actions. He is weak because he refuses the character strength training that comes by exercising the muscles of faith when we obey God’s laws. He is weak because he does not have the ‘way of the Lord’ to protect him; he therefore becomes prey to every one of his own evil inclinations.

May we take the to heart this admonition of the Lord:
Deuteronomy 6:6-12 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

HOPE. AGAIN I SAY, HOPE

Proverbs 10:28
The hope of the righteous shall be gladness:
But the expectation of the wicked shall perish.

In this we can assuredly pray for a better world. In this we can certainly expect a change.

The righteous, along with all of God’s creation, cry daily for this madness to end. They cry to God against the evil trend that envelops their children. They cry to God for justice against their oppressors. They cry to God for peace and security. They cry to God that His will be finally done on earth, as it is in Heaven. They cry and know that their hope and that the end of their expectation is gladness. God hears. God tenderly gathers the sweet prayers of his children and tends to them like a gardener tends to his flowers. He responds and nurtures each one. We may not see it now as we are still in winter, but underground the seeds of God’s answers to these righteous prayers have already germinated. Already the seeds are burst forth with life. The daffodils push the hardened earth. The crocuses peek through with promise. Oh, what a wonderful spring it will be.

It is not the same for the wicked. Daily, his expectations are doomed to destruction. They are no sooner conceived that hell takes a hold of them. The worm devours them even as their heads pops out of the ground. The judgments of God burn their consistence even as they flourish. How can we be deceived and look at the plot of the wicked with envy? How can we fear the wicked’s empty boastings?

Let us now rejoice as we remember these words. Let us sit at peace and look forward to the future with gladness. Let us now with joyful anticipation work and till the garden of our hope. Watch now; even now, it’s Friday evening. The greatly expected Sabbath of all times is at the door.

FROM NOW TO THEN

Proverbs 10:27
The fear of the LORD prolongeth days:
But the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

Is longevity a blessing? The ancient certainly looked upon it as such. For them, the very concept of death was very different than ours. Dying was in itself not as important as the way in which we died. Did we die in youth or full of years? Did we die a glorious purposeful death or did we die torn by a ravenous beast or a loathsome disease?

It is true that the contentment of heart, the peace of mind, and the overall prosperity that defines the life of the righteous contributes to a long life. It is the true secret to longevity. It is also true that the guilty soul, the internal contentions, and the overall vice that characterizes the life of the wicked shortens his chances to a long life. Sin is definitely the main death-contributing factor. But it is also true that the life of a righteous man is often shortened as he walks with God. God also allows the pious to be taken away from evil early in life, especially in case of martyrdom. So is our author merely reflecting on our passage in this life, or is he pondering something more?

In Hebraic terms, life and death are not just the union and separation of our body with our spirit. Life is union with God. Death is separation from God. This is the death of the wicked: to be separated from God forever. This is the life of the righteous: to live in the Temple of God, to enjoy Him in His courts, and to be partakers of the fullness of His blessed Spirit forever.

And what is to be learned from this: let us not exchange the temporal sinful seeming self-gratification of this day against the true joy and contentment that is to be ours forever.

VINEGAR TO THE TEETH; SMOKE TO THE EYES

Proverbs 10:26
As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.

Peasants used to drink sour wine. Even Jesus was offered some when hanging on the cross. This vinegar-like wine blunted the teeth and made it troublesome to eat. Smoke from a campfire also frustrates the sight. So is the sluggard, lazy, unfaithful person to him that sent him on a mission.

When our Lord sends us on a mission, we are to lay aside all other priorities. We are to solely focus and concentrate on the job He accorded us the privilege to do. When we allow other things to distract us, we are to His teeth as vinegar, and to His eyes as smoke.

Do we have a mission from Him? Is there a particular job He would have us accomplish during the vanity of our time on earth? Each of us has to answer this question for himself. But whether we have a special calling in this world or not, there is one mission He has sent us all to do, something that is part and parcel with our salvation. While in this world, we are to be as He is. As His people, we are to be the world’s luminaries shining with the exemplary light of His virtues. We are to show the world how life should and could be lived. We are to represent the character of Yehoshua the Messiah on earth.

When we fail in this mission, when our lives are distracted by the foolish elements of life, When we are lazy to accomplish this precious calling, we are like the vinegar that Jesus was given to drink at the cross, brew which he rejected. We also become like the smoke of a campfire that impairs His vision.

Let us now take this reflection to heart. Let us be to the One who saved faithful messengers of His light, diligent carriers of His Words, dependable representatives of His virtues.

A SURE PROPHECY

Proverbs 10:25
As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more:
But the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

Both the righteous and the wicked walk this world. They are sown on the soil of the earth to take root, prosper and flourish. They work, toil and compete for the good soil, for the nutrients and moisture of the earth. At their early stage of growth, we can hardly tell who’s who, so the wise husbandman waits for harvest time to reap the righteous and burn the wicked.

Tornadoes regularly ravage parts of our country. They are powerful. As they pass through our lands, they take with them cars, trucks and even dislodge houses. They leave intense ravages behind them. When God’s judgments come, the righteous stand strong, but the wicked is like what is left on the path of a tornado.

Today the wicked rages; he plots against the righteous. He plans and connives with other wicked ones; he wants to destroy the culture of the righteous. He is a virtue terrorist. But the day will tell all. As the wicked tries to choke the good seed, he is the one who, when the Husbandman Jesus returns, will be left with nothing. While he will found to be no more, the righteous will possess the land and rejoice in an abundance of peace.

THE RETURNED FEAR AND THE OBTAINED DESIRE

Proverbs 10:24
The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him:
But the desire of the righteous shall be granted.

Again, contrast is the key to this proverb. We see the righteous contrasted with the wicked; fear with desire. Fear comes upon us, while desire is granted us.

Job exclaimed, I feared a fear and it came upon me. Fear is really the opposite of faith. The wicked, who has no peace, spends his whole life indulging in his fears. His wealth was gained dishonestly. He was hurtful to others. And he knows his house is built on the sands of disobedience to God. He therefore lives in fear. He rightfully lives in fear that his wealth will be taken from him. He fears that all he has done to others will be done to him. He fears that his house will crumble from under him. It is a fear God implanted in the wicked for them to know that he who sows the wind inherits the whirlwind.

Is there a more beautiful thing in life than to be granted a gift from God? We know we don’t deserve it. We know we can’t even begin to earn it, but yet, God, in His great mercy and pleasure in us loves to please us. He loves to please us as a father who comes home bringing lovely gifts for his children. He loves to please us as a husband who enjoys seing a smile of satisfied adoration on his wife’s face. When we please Him by putting our trust in Him, He also becomes our greatest gift. Like with Moses who begged to see God, He hides us in the cleft of the rock; and He puts his hands on our face so he can pass before in all his glory.

INSTRUCTION OF WISDOM

Proverbs 10:23
It is as sport to a fool to do mischief:
But a man of understanding hath wisdom.

We can categorize those who do evil into three main categories. Those who know they sin but don’t know it; those who know they sin and are convicted of it; and those who know they sin while they even boast of it. The fool, the one who is careless of God’s Instruction, is part of this last category.

The fool sins and boasts. The fool sins and laughs. The fool sins and despises correction. The fool sins and returns to his folly. The fool sins and mocks the wise. The fool sins and sins again. Even a rod on his back has no effect on the fool. Mothers, protect your children from the fool. Father, chase him from your grounds. He infects everything around him, and with a sneer destroys the pure building of your children. As he passes through your lands, do not speak with him; do not get in his ways. Do not answer him nor interact with him. Just open the road wide for him to flush out from your midst and fall into his eternal hellish reward.

The wise learns and shares. The wise practices righteousness and rejoices. The wise seeks the correction of his ways. The wise learns from his mistakes. The wise honors the wise. The wise wins and learns to flee from sin. The rod of correction on the back of a wise is precious gold. Mothers, invite the wise to your table. Fathers, invite him to teach your children. Righteousness emanates from his mouth, and with godly satisfaction edifies your children. As he passes through your lands, speak with the wise; walk with him a while. Interact and learn from him. As he walks the narrow road, he will show you the way to your eternal reward.

THE GREATEST OF BLESSINGS

Proverbs 10:22

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

The usual understanding of this proverb is that when a gift is truly from God, it is totally free; there is no work added to it. Yes; the blessing of the Lord enriches, and there is not work, or ‘sorrow’ added to it. Is it truly so? Adam was given a garden that he was told to tend. He was also to tend his heart towards keeping God’s one and only commandment. We may marry the love of our lives, but marriage also requires to be ‘tended’, or it will fail. We may get saved, but even Paul tells us to’ work’ this freely given salvation with fear and trembling.

We are overly used to think of wealth in terms of dollars and cents. Why do we forget that physical wealth is fickle? From day to day, the biggest fortunes of the world lose and gain value according to the whims of a man made market. The physical is temporal, but the spiritual is eternal, so really, the blessing of the Lord can only be a spiritual value.

The only thing we get for free is this life, the only blessing that truly makes rich, the only thing that the true spiritual men of God looked for and considered the highest of God’s blessings is to live in God’s presence; to live in His house.

God’s presence is given for free. There is no extra effort or ‘sorrow’ added to it. When we are in God’s presence, He fills our hearts to the uttermost. The principle is easy to understand. In everything on this earth, we are the one who tends, who cares, the responsible ones. But when we are in the presence of the Almighty El-Shaddai, we are the ones cared for, the ones tended unto. When we enter the presence of Yahweh, we become the Bride enveloped in the love and care of her husband.

Is there a greater blessing that to find the place where we can lay down our tools and sheath our weapons? Than to find the place where we can de-activate the ‘protective shield’ of outward appearances we feel we have to project in order to protect ourselves? Is there a greater blessing that to be able to let go of everything and just snuggle in the arms of our husband and Creator?

THE WORDS OF THE WISE FEED

Proverbs 10:21

The lips of the righteous feed many:

But fools die for want of wisdom.

Literal translation: The lips of the righteous shepherd many. . . ..
The shepherd, or pastor, provides guidance, care and food. Our Lord and Master Jesus-Christ was an excellent example of this by providing all of these to His disciples, and He has promised to continue. He has promised us food and raiment; for the rest we work. He has also promised the needs for the execution of the work He has assigned us to do for Him on earth. For His work not ours; even though He may also indulge us in that. He has not promised our wants, He has promised us our needs. He has not promised the ‘top of the line’ in everything, even though He may indulge us in that too, He has promised us our needs.

There is cause and effect in this phrase. The words of the righteous leave us with a sense of satisfaction, spiritual and physical. Pastoral Words inspired of God leave us with a counsel that presents a light at the end of the tunnel; with a providing practicality. After all, isn’t one of the names of God: Yehovah-Yiree: God, the Provider?

Literal translation: But many fools die for want of wisdom . . . .
The understanding of this phrase is in the contrasting properties of the sentence structure of this Book of Proverbs. A literal translation with inferred meaning would maybe read:
The lips of the righteous shepherd many, thus keeping them alive and wise;
but fools die in foolishness because they do not receive the words of the righteous.
Again, we find cause and effect. Fools, who are not recipients of the wise words of the righteous, die for want of food and wisdom.

It is sad when people die because of a famine of righteous words, but it is depressing when fools die when the Word is published and easily available.

John, the disciple, is quoted to have ended the Book of Revelation in these terms, Let the righteous be righteous still, and let the wicked be wicked still. . ..

May the righteous faithfully teach and feed the flock the only Words of eternal life; and may people allow God to open their eyes that they may see the path of truth wherein lies all of God’s bounties.

THE GAUGE

Proverbs 10:20
The tongue of the just is as choice silver:
The heart of the wicked is little worth.

Let us here remember the maIn literary structure of the Book of Proverbs: contrast.

In today’s text, the tongue, an instrument of the heart, is contrasted with the heart itself. The just, one who is justified by Jesus-Christ, is contrasted with the wicked: one who is not justified. Choice silver is contrasted with ‘little worth’, which in the contextual Hebrew text could be seen as mere silver shavings falling off the tool of the silversmith.

Jesus told us that from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So in the case of the just, if his tongue is valuable, how much more his heart. But in the case of the wicked, if his heart is worthless, his speech also is.

The Hebraic mind is one of simplicity. To the Hebrew, if it looks like a duck, if it sounds like a duck, if it acts like a duck: it is a duck. You can’t tell the true Hebrew mind, ‘no, it is not a duck, because in his heart, he is really a chicken’. In the same manner, you couldn’t tell the Hebrew, ‘oh, this person only acts and sounds bad, but in their heart, they are good’.

Applying this very important principle to basic theology in today’s text, we could therefore say, ‘If these words I hear benefit my soul like choice silver, the heart that produced them must be justified, and of even greater worth than the words themselves. But if the words I hear are of no more value than, contrasted with choice silver, the silver shavings falling from the tool of the silver smith, the heart that produced these words must also be, by contrast, of worse value than the words themselves. This is hard gauge by which to judge, but it is a gauge as infallible as the law of gravity. It is a safe gauge.

‘May the words of our mouths be few, but may they be fit. May they shine to audiences big and small with the golden glow of our salvation in Jesus-Christ. May they be godly wealth to the hearer, a spiritual map to the traveler and true comfort to the mourner. And by Your grace oh Lord, may our words not be vain or poisonous, for how could the same fountain give both sweet and bitter waters?

What can be said of your words?

WISDOM IN SILENCE

Proverbs 10:19
In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin:
But he that refraineth his lips is wise.

The Master reminded us that by every one of our words we shall be judged. Each and every one of our idle utterances will be brought before the throne of the Almighty, and placed in the quantum of evidence concerning our case. What will these words prove?

Will our words be arrows in the arsenal of accusations of the accuser of the Saints, or will they provide the Master, our Defense Attorney, with evidence of sincere repentance and devotion?

In light of our subject today I will not say more, but let us instead be silent and ponder on this question.

CLEAN INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

Proverbs 10:18
He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.

The Word of God is not only concerned with our actions; it also challenges the intentions of our heart. In the case of our text today, the Word instructs us that to entertain evil thoughts against someone while at the same time outwardly acting friendly towards them, is as foolish as to openly let out our negativity towards them.

The Word doesn’t leave much room for hypocrisy. The word ‘hypocrite’ means ‘one who pretends to own a virtue that he does not possess’. The word ‘hypocrisy’ also comes from the Greek word, “actor’. When we entertain evil thoughts that, for a reason or another we do not want to reveal, we put on an act. But eventually, our words or our actions betray us. It is often practiced in politics; it is called ‘diplomacy’. It is also practiced in commerce; it is called ‘good business’. But whatever man calls it for whatever reason, God calls is foolish.

Now if we try to make peace with someone by doing the right thing and being nice to them when we don’t feel like it, this is different. This is almost viewed to God as a sweet flavored sacrifice of obedience. The idea here is to truly repair the breach in communication; to truly heal the relationship. It s not just to apply some cosmetic cream or powder on the wounds in order to alleviate the pain or hide the scar, and try to pretend it is not there.

When Moses was instructed to build the Ark of the Covenant, he was told to make it of acacia wood laid in gold inside and outside. We can easily question the purpose of the expensive inside layer. This is a sample to teach us that we must strive for our hearts to be pure on the outside that every can see, but also on the inside that only God can see.

TEACHING CHILDREN BY EXEMPLE

Proverbs 10:17
He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction:
But he that refuseth reproof erreth.

The Hebrew word used for ‘instruction’ in this text is actually ‘discipline; to ‘discipline’ means to train, educate, to disciple.

Anyone who has children knows that the subject of discipline is all encompassing. Children do not like to receive it, and parents feel intimidated to give it. Yet, the Bible tells that to give discipline is part of love, and it also tells us that to be disciplined is a sign of being loved.

It is obvious when children refuse discipline. With teenagers it is sometimes a bit trickier; they learn to play game before our eyes while they have a secret life behind our backs, often online. With adult, we mostly have to fight ‘drama’, and sensitivity.

The apostle Paul warned us that in the end time, we would live in a generation that refuses discipline and instruction. What more could define the times we now live in? Children are unruly and do not naturally obey their parents. Teenagers feel that it is their right to legislate their own lives. And while children are prey to the viles of this premature sense of fake freedom, adults live contrary to the Laws of the loving God who created them. Could it be that our attitude towards God’s instruction and training is connected with our children’s attitude?

I believe that we should teach by example. It is very hard to teach a child to use proper language when our own mouth needs cleaning. It is difficult to teach a child to eat properly when we indulge in junk food or in other unhealthy habits. It is very difficult to teach a child to have wisdom in his choice of media when we ourselves are glued to its vain shows and magazines. Could it be that if we, as parents, with all sincerity of heart, showed a life yielded to God’s instruction, a life submissive to God’s discipline and to His training, we would stand a better chance with the training of our children?

It may or may not be, but one thing I know: when I come in the presence of the Almighty God; when my life’s works are weighed in the balance; I do not want to realize that it is I, who through my own rebellious attitude towards God and His Instruction, was the one who patterned rebelliousness in my children.

REVELATION

Proverbs 10:16
The labour of the righteous tendeth to life:
The fruit of the wicked to sin.

There is a day when our works will be weighed. There is a day when our worth will be measured. Everything we have done, said, omitted, judged, boasted of, cried, emphasized and minimized will come back to our face to judge and expose our heart’s true motives. The Foundation upon which we have based our faith will be revealed.

If our foundation consists of the sands of man’s doctrine, of man’s carving of its own god according to his own likings, nothing, absolutely nothing of our life’s work will remain standing in the sight of the true God of eternity. If the foundation is the Rock Jesus-Christ, the living fiery Word first revealed in the stone of Mt Horeb, this foundation will evaluate our life’s worth, through the testing of fire.

On that day, the elements of our life will be revealed. It will be revealed to all whether they lead to life or to sin. Relativism in judgment will be done with. The only arbitrator shedding light of our life will be fire of God’s Word. John taught us that sin is the breaking of the Law. Paul said that the wages of sin is death. A life of consciously breaking God’s law results in death, and is there an atonement left after we have willingly sinned? Is there salvation after willingly rejecting Christ in the form of rejecting His Word? That question still rages in theological debates and certainly deserves to be answered.

But why take a chance. If a man’s life is turned towards God’s Word, there is no more doubt. This man’s life tends to life eternal. Jesus Himself said that in this man, the spirit of God becomes a river of Life Eternal flowing from his belly. Not only his words but his actions, his interests and his priorities are in sync’ with the Spirit of God. They seem to both walk in unison as two hearts beating as one. It is an amazing thing, but if we put two heart cells together, eventually they beat as one. If our heart in near to God’s, we also beat as one, and bring life to the world.

Let man boasts of its works. Let him come before the court of public opinion and play his game before the jury. Let him bring his most precious prize that it may be tested in the fires of God’s eternal judgment. Watch it all disappear in smoke, leaving place for the rebuilding of a brand new society based of the loving Laws of our Father.

RICH MEETS POOR

Proverbs 10:15
The rich man's wealth is his strong city:
The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

A rich man trusts his wealth. It provides him with a false sense of safety and security. It makes him feel invincible. Also, once he has grown to a certain social status, he despises the poor. He despises the poor by either his generosity, his false pity or by plain disdain of people who are not as refined as he is. But here is where God comes in the picture: Another one of King Solomon’s Proverb says, The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all. Biblical society was different than ours in the sense that there was no middle-class. The rich were the rulers, the clergy and the merchants. The poor were usually the manual workers and the farmers. The wealth of the rich was dependant on the labor of the poor.

Even today, through the dynamics of business and banking, there is not a rich man on earth whose wealth does not originate from misfortune of the poor. The richest men on earth live on the back of those who buy into their ungodly business practices. God does not approve of this and His retribution system in the society of the humans is that: The destruction of the poor is their (the rich man’) poverty. When the poor loses, they both go down. We see that time and again. Whenever things get too tough for the poor, it affects the rich so they have to do things like cut interest rates or give tax rebates. This gives a boost to the economy by mostly keeping things moving. It helps the working class get their basic needs so they don’t revolt, and it keeps the money moving back into the coffers of the rich.

How diabolical therefore for the rich to seat of their mountain of gold and despise the laboring class to whom they owe their wealth. God was wise in creating both classes. The handling of wealth really helps reveals one’s character.

Maybe we need to get back to God’s economic system. God had established a jubilee every seven years. At the jubilee slaves were freed, properties acquired through bankruptcy were returned to their owners, debts were forgiven. One could not refuse to lend because he knew the jubilee year was coming. The Bible said that God established this system. That He did it so the rich never go too rich and the poor never got too poor, so there would not be oppression in Israel.

It has been calculated that Jesus was possibly born in or near a jubilee year. His return will be the greatest jubilee of all. All people will be again given the land of their inheritance; debt will be cancelled; offenses forgiven, the whole system will reboot with a new improved platform: God’s platform. At that time also, all our earthly works will be judged in the fire of god’s judgment. Will your stand the heat?

FOOLISHNESS AND WISDOM

Proverbs 10:14
Wise men lay up knowledge:
But the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.

Our dear beloved Master said, by their fruits ye shall know them. Our text today exemplifies Jesus’ statement.

In the Holy, Book, ‘knowledge’ means ‘the knowledge and understanding of God’s Inspired Laws and Statutes. ‘Wisdom’ means the ability to appropriately apply the knowledge and understanding of God’s Inspired Laws and Statutes in our lives. ‘Foolish’ is the opposite of wisdom. A foolish man is one who: is ignorant of God’s laws and statutes; who knows God’s Laws and Statutes but who, due to ignorance, misapplies them to his own hurt and that of others; one who purposely goes against God’s Laws and Statutes.

Who is the wise? Who is the knowledgeable? King David, the Father of our author is known to have said, The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. Can therefore one who denies the existence of God be considered wise? Can one who denies the deity of Yehoshua ha Mashiah be considered a person of knowledge? Should they teach us? Should they teach our children? Should we sing their songs? Should we consider their laws right though we have to obey them? Should we emulate them? Should we speak about them with honor, glory and adoration? Should we exemplify them to our children?

Under the leading of foolish ungodly men and women our world is not nearing destruction; it is destroyed. True faith in the God who created us is destroyed and replaced by religion. God’s model of family structure is destroyed and replaced by biology and emotions. Dedication, loyalty and self-sacrifice for God are destroyed and replaced by dedication and loyalty to self-pleasuring and gratification. God himself in the eyes of man has been destroyed and replaced by idolatrous mind-representations that are contrary to Him and his sense of love and justice.

May God help us. May God help us to follow and emulate wise men and women who are able to show us the way back to God, and to His Laws and Statutes. We have gotten so smart that we have forgotten them. We thought we knew the way but instead we got lost.

There is hope to find the way back though: careful exegetical study of the Word; true hunger for righteousness; unequivocal desire for the truth, all mixed with the tears of desperation for closeness to God is the unfailing recipe to get us out of the confusing theological mud of today.

THE WORDS THAT RETURN

Proverbs 10:13
In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found:
But a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding.

Oh, how great is God’s wisdom. How He has within each of us placed the judgments of our own conscience.

A man wise in the understanding of God’s Instruction speaks; his mouth drips honey. His words bring sweetness to his life, to his wife, to his children and to all around him. He wakes and he is blessed. He surrounds himself with his family and they enjoy his presence. He works and his advice is heeded. His words return to him in the form of blessings.

It is not so with the man void of understanding of God’s Instruction; his mouth pusses perversion. His words cause bitterness to his life, to his wife, to his children, and to all around him. In the morning he despises God’s mercies. His family, victim to his foolishness, loathes his presence. His works only add heat to his already seared conscience. His words return to him as the rods of God’s faithful correction on his back.

Have your words come back to haunt you? Have they revealed a heart void of God’s Instruction? Words are often like toothpaste; once it’s out the tube, it can’t be put back in. They also have a way of coming back to us activated in the actions and words of others.

Jesus said that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The Holy Book also says that the entrance to our heart is trough the eyes is the ears. If we fill our hearts by watching and listening to Godly things, we will not have a problem with comes out of our mouth.

THE OUTSIDE PROVES THE INSIDE

Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirreth up strifes:
but love covereth all sins.

The Bible is a very simple book. The Bible is a very simple book because God is a very simple God. God is not ethereal; God is ‘entirely-real’. Some people want to teach us that the realm of the Spirit is neither comprehensible nor tangible to us, but the Bible teaches us that we understand the things of the spirit by the elements of earth (Romans 1:20).

In the relative world of today, not even hatred and love have defined concepts. People want convince themselves and others that they are loving, but reality shows that they wreak havoc everywhere around them. How can that be? Faith in God is proven by a life of godly works and attitude. If the life of godly works and attitude are not present, neither is the faith. The fruits of what is inside are proven by the outside actions. The life inside emanate on the outside. The same goes with love and hate. If there is love inside, there is no strife outside.

In our passage today, we learn that it is hate that stirs up strife. One cannot claim to love if his life is marked with strife and contention with others. We are to hate and strive against evil, against false doctrine. We are to contend for the faith; uphold the right; hate the wrong; not hate people.

When someone constantly searches for the point of disagreement that causes strife, it simply reveals the hatred that dwells in his heart. It reveals the hatred in his heart because love does the exact opposite. Love finds a way to cover the sin; it seeks to hide the offense. That was, and still is, the main work of the Messiah. Not that the offense does not occur; He does not obliterate it; He simply covers as snow covers the ground with a sheet of white.

May the Almighty El Shaddai help us to come to grips with the reality of our lives. Is our life marked with contention; constant fighting and ‘bad blood’? Then we need to realize that somewhere we have a hate problem to uncover. We may need to follow its thread all the way back to childhood and uproot it. Only then we will stop trying to validate ourselves through conflict with others. Only then we will feel secure enough to cover others offenses towards us. Our heart must break to empty itself of its poisonous puss, and be filled instead with the balm of God’s love and Spirit.

GODLY COMMUNICATIONS

Proverbs 10:11
The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life:
but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

The concept of fruits of the tongue is often repeated in the Bible. James described it, Jesus said we would be judged by it and David prayed that the words of his mouth would be acceptable unto God. King Solomon gives us much good advice on the use of the tongue also. The proper use and mostly control of our speaking ability is one the most obvious sign of wisdom.

Our text today shows us that we can discern a man by the fruit of his words, even by his withholding of words, for not talking is also a form of communication. More is communicated in what is not said than in what is said. It is the wise man who knows how to control his mouth and say nothing when nothing needs to be said. The Hebrew word used for ‘well’ in this text is a word that also means ‘vein’; an allusion to the great aorta vein which convey the blood from the heart to every part of the body. The Words of the righteous man are as oracles from God and just as Jesus’ Words, they are a vein of life-giving blood to His hearers. So are the words (words as in communications done either with speech or withholding of it) of a righteous person. They may hurt for a while, but in the end they bring life.

It is not so of the wicked. The wicked talks peace with his tongue; he flatters with his lips; he cajoles and sweetens his speech with right words and attributes. He say all the right things but in the end the true motivation of his heart finds him out: violence, divisions, ego, pride, selfishness, are all under his poisonous tongue hidden by a smokescreen of personal righteousness.

Oh, but oh, how God’s spirit searches the hearts. How He reveals the hidden perfidy of the wicked to those who know His Voice and His Voice only. They will not be tricked by a stranger. They will not be led astray by what is only a form of righteousness.

As we set the words of this text in our heart, let us by God’s wisdom, discern by their fruits and their end result the source of the words spoken to us.

THE TRUE JUDGE

Proverbs 10:9
He that walketh uprightly walketh surely:
but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

Uprightness is another word for integrity. In a court of law, a man is convicted by the verdict of the jury and by the decision of the judge. The case of a said criminal is built through a trail of evidence that the defense lawyer will use in his favor. On the other hand, the prosecuting attorney will also use a trail of evidence against this same man to get him convicted. A big part of their case is built on trying to prove or disprove the personal integrity of the said criminal, and even sometime of each other. In the end, the two attorneys present the case to the jury for its verdict.

Through our new ability to prove or disprove the culpability of a said criminal through the use of D.N.A., we have recently found out that we have many people on death row who are actually innocent. They very well may be innocent, but a lawyer was able to find enough evidence against them to convict them and very often, not always tough, because the lack of integrity of their lifestyle spoke as evidence against them. A man’s lack of integrity can be used against him

If a man is falsely accused of a crime, the real perpetrator of the crime is still on the loose, and we have this promise that one day he will be known, even if it is by God, and he will have to pay his due. His perverted way will eventually find him out.

Two thousand year ago Jesus walked the earth. During the hay days of His ministry He was vilified; public opinion threw His lot with that of criminals. On the other hand, those who were familiar with Jesus knew of His integrity. They couldn’t be swayed by the self-righteous roars of manipulated public opinion. Jesus’ lifestyle spoke of Him before Him. Because of it, throughout history, Jesus’ true friends have willingly given their lives in some of the most horrible manners in order to prove His point. They also wanted to emulate Jesus’ integrity.

At the time of Jesus’ trial, the political and religious powers who brought Him to court were found to be the devilish usurpers who came with many promises of bliss they couldn’t fulfill. Their perverted ways culminated in the conviction of Jesus, the Righeous.

What a blessing it is to know that whatever man may say about us, our integrity is forever and foremost before the God who will one day judge and vindicate us through the testimony and integrity of Jesus-Christ Himself.

THE WISE AND THE FOOL

Proverbs 10:8 The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.

Oh, for the meekness of the wise. Oh, for the humility of the matured heart. Because he has seen the bad, because he has experienced the evil side of man, he comes before his Lord and like the Children of Israel in Horeb, he accepts the terms of the holy covenant even before he knows them. He understands because he obeys first. The truly meek and the truly matured has seen is Lord at work; he doesn’t need proof anymore. He hears the voice and the command of his shepherd and master and he responds. He drinks every Word from the mouth of God. He wouldn’t dream of wasting any. Because he has been purged of the rocks and of the bramble, the commandments of his God go deep in the chamber of his heart and abide there forever.

It is not the same with the arrogant fool. He speaks wisdom; he professes maturity; but his actions betray his pride. He has a form of godliness while he denies the power thereof. Hear his words proudly legislate righteousness and establish wisdom. Watch his folly spread like a green bay tree. Listen to his endless analysis of the Word of Truth. The end will tell the beginning: will he stand in the eyes of God as he does in the eyes of man? The fool doesn’t receive the commandment of God. He questions it, ‘Has God truly said?’ He doesn’t receive in all humility because he doesn’t trust God. He wants to understand before he obeys. He wants God to show the plan before he follows. Because he has rejected the love of the truth, he is given an energy of error that leads him to his own destruction.

Abba Father, I pray that you make me what you’d have me be. In the name of your son, the only Mediator between you and us: Yehoshua.

TO BE REMEMBERED FOR THE RIGHT THINGS

Proverbs 10:7
The memory of the just is blessed:
but the name of the wicked shall rot.

The ‘just’ and the ‘wicked’ both are part of our lives. They constantly walk beside us trying to influence us. The just tells us how to live a life of godliness, the wicked teaches us the ways of the world. The just reminds us that we are sinners and that we need God, the wicked helps us find excuses for our behavior. The just reminds us of God’s Word, the wicked distracts us from it. But when we come to end of the road, when the day of accounting has come, when we are faced with the sum of the decisions of our lives, who will we remember with gratefulness? Which name will we bless for having shown us the way into eternity?

God said one day to Abraham that through him all the families of the earth would be blessed. Until this day people all over the world bless the name of Abraham. They bless his name because in him, many families all around the world are, and will still be blessed. They are and will still be blessed with the hearing of the Gospel.

When we come to the Lord and our works are weighed in the balance, I think that the greatest reward that can be given us is to see all those in whom we have been instrumental in showing the way to the Lord. Most of us can remember the person who brought us to the Lord. When we finally experience what it is that we gained that day we gave ourselves to Jesus, we will want to go and find that person who showed us the way, maybe even all those involved, and vehemently thank them for having been concerned enough for our soul. Is there anything better to be remembered for? We certainly don’t want to be remembered for being the ones having instructed others of bad worldly ways, provided the, with excuses for their sin nor distracted them from the Word of God. If we are so, they will certainly wish our name to rot.

One of the most infamous names in the Bible is the one of Judas, the person who betrayed Jesus. I have never met anyone called Judas. It is a name that rots in the memory of man as belonging to the person who made the biggest boo-boo in history.

Let us make sure that our name is remembered for the right thing; that it is remembered with positive heavenly associations, and that people bless us when they hear it. As our kingly author also says, A good name is better than precious ointment.

THE CHOICE

Proverbs 10:6
Blessings are upon the head of the just:
but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

Let us look upon this proverb as a plain observation.

Our Master exemplified this concept for us. His life looked like anything but a blessing. We considered him afflicted of God Isaiah says. In the end, Jesus died as a common criminal and the pure mention of His name still causes some of the deepest controversies the world has aver known. Yet, because of His faithfulness and willingness, God honored His Son Jesus the Righteous with the highest honors that ever were given. God put all His enemies under His feet; in fact, the whole universe.

The wicked on the contrary, he who lives his life of pleasure on earth; he who denies his soul the benefits of godliness; he who denies others the blessings of his God-given wealth; he who lives a selfish life of heavenly bliss on earth in total disregard to God’s commandments; his end is an end of violence. The devil exemplified this. Though he presently owns the world, which also gives him allegiance, he is the chief wicked one of the universe. All wickedness, disobedience selfishness, pride, lies and violence proceed from him. His end and that of his cronies has been determined from the beginning of time. The lake of fire awaits they and none can save from the judgments from El Shaddai, the Almighty God.

We need to always remember that. Whatever life has in store for us on this earth, if we are just, if we have endorsed the righteousness of the Lamb of God who gave His life as atonement for our sins, our end will be one of everlasting blessings in the place the Son has prepared for us, and the gifts of God are without repentance. But if we follow the prince of this world; if we now receive blessing upon blessing from his hands who shed innocent blood, we are doomed to the violence reserved for the unrepentant.

Which will be for you?

THE GREATEST HARVEST OF ALL TIMES

Proverbs 10:5
He that gathereth in summer is a wise son:
but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.

To sleep at the time when the harvest is to be gathered is the utmost foolishness. Such a lazy farmer is doomed to bankruptcy. Yet, as we reflect on this proverb, let us also rise to the level of its spiritual interpretation.

The author of the Bible is an agrarian God. He wrote it through an agrarian people living in an agrarian society. Today, we who have become urban have lost touch with the rhythm of the earth and of its season. Because of it, we are in fact slightly Bible illiterate.

The wise author of these words lived in Israel. He knew that the harvest season started around the end of the month of March at Passover with the barley harvest. It continued with the wheat harvest in June at the festival of Pentecost. The Feast of Trumpets in September saw the sifting of the grains before it was gathered into barns around the Festival of Tabernacles at the end of the month. To sleep during this season would be unthinkable.

God used this rhythm of the season of an agrarian society to give us His message. Jesus came at a time when there hadn’t been a prophet for a while in Israel. This famine of the Word, without the ‘Sun of Righteousness’ in the spoken Word of God was like a spiritual winter. John the Baptist, who announced the coming of the greatest Farmer of all time who would gather the harvest of humanity into God’s barns, was born during the Passover season. Jesus was born six months later, around the time of the Festival of tabernacles.

The death and resurrection of Jesus signaled the beginning of the harvest of the earth. For centuries God had seeded the earth with the words of the prophets, with the sample Israel had been to the world. Now God sent His son to reap the harvest. Jews have always believed that the September Festival of Trumpets signaled the actual coming of the Messiah, the end of the great human harvest, the sifting of God’s people: The great Tribulations. The Feast of Trumpets leads us straight into the season of tabernacle, when, as the grain is stored into the barns before winter. At that time we, the great human harvest of God, enter God’s barn into the peace of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Since Jesus came to the earth, each area of the world has seen its season of revival in its own generation. The Sates had its great times of revivals; one of the last one was among the youth in the 60’s and 70’s. We have seen a great harvest in Russia during the Perestroika. We have seen the opening of China and the flourishing of the underground Church. Through the dynamics of modern-day politics we see now the spiritual awakening of many in the Muslim closed countries of the Middle East. Even in Israel, which is definitely anti Jesus, the Messianic movement is now growing by leaps and bounds and that my friend is a sign of the soon return of the Lord: when the Jews start seeing their savior.
\We, the workers of the Chief Farmer of all times need not to be found sleeping during this harvest. It may be the last hour of the day, but the Husbandman of the earth is still looking to hire those who haven’t found a field to harvest. He will still pay us for the full day’s labor; are you on, sickle in hand? Or are you like the lazy son who sleeps in the harvest?

HEAVEN: THE MOST IMPORTANT INVESTMENT STOCK.

Proverbs 10:4
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand:
but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

From the very beginning of civilization, God has ordained that we should eat our bread in the sweat of our face. The apostle Paul reiterated this concept by saying, He that shall not work shall not eat. Our verse today teaches us that God always blesses the work of industrious men and women, but is it the only lens though which to see this saying of Solomon?

Jesus taught to not put our trust in earth’s uncertain riches. He also taught us to not work for the meat that perishes but to work for that meat which endureth unto eternal life. Jesus and Paul also often speak in terms of rewards in Heaven for a work well done on earth. In the light of these statements, we can conclude that the concept of rewards for diligent work needs not to be solely understood as a earthly concept, bus also as a spiritual one. It needs to be applied for most important of all investment stocks: Heaven.

What is that ‘meat which endureth unto eternal life’ that Jesus mentioned to His disciples? What can we take from this earth that will endure in heaven? What are those ‘works’ that are transformed into these starry crowns promised unto us for our diligent faithfulness?

Jesus said that the work of God was to believe on Him whom God has sent. Daniel tells us that if we turn people to righteousness we will shine as stars in the firmament. To become a star was a Middle-Eastern Semitic concept of afterlife reward.

The souls we win to our Master and the spiritual wealth we amass during our stay on earth are the only things we can take with us when we leave this earth. God will not ask about our bank accounts nor about our real estate spread on earth. He will not ask to see our wardrobe, the type of car we drive nor if we use the latest technology. God will simply take look at the state of our heart, and through a careful assessment of its condition, He will easy see how much we have invested in the true spiritual riches of the kingdom of Heaven, how much we have study and most of all obeyed the Words of His Heavenly instructions, of His contract given to us in the Torah. He will also take a poll of the souls in Heaven and see how many claim your instrumentality for finding the Word of Truth that led them to God.

Let us think about these things. Are as concerned and careful of our investments in Heaven as we are of our investments on earth?

CHOOSE YOUR FATE

Proverbs 10:3:
The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish:
but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.

Thus is the promise given to whoever puts his trust in the Lord God Yahweh. Famine may come and with it bring hunger and pestilence, the righteous, those whose who are subject to God, have the promise that they will not be destroyed by it.

We do not have the promise that we will never suffer the pangs of hunger, but Job teaches us that even in famine we are redeemed from death; that we will not perish from it. King David teaches us that even though young lions lack and suffer hunger, those who trust in God shall not lack any good things. In his service for God, Paul mentions suffering of hunger; and in the endtime, just as in the olden days of the Sinai experience, God Himself feeds the church in a place He has prepared for her for three and a half year. When Egypt put her trust in Joseph, who was an early type of Messiah, God saved her from extinction by famine. The wicked by comparison, he who has obtained his substance through wickedness, will lose even that which he has put aside against the day of famine. In the book of Job it is written that God will cast it out of his belly; he will have him vomit it. The wicked has no one to redeem him when evil time comes.

This word also teaches us that when we put our trust in God, we never suffer hunger for lack of the Word of God. We have the promise of the Torah written in our hearts, which is for us our constant source of instruction and inspiration. By comparison, one who has rejected the Word of God lives in spiritual confusion, darkness and hunger. He has to rely on man’s wisdom, emotional highs and false entertainment in order to soothe his famished soul. He is confused as to standards of right and wrong. He gropes in darkness and like a drunk man cannot keep his balance. He is ready to fall at any time. He is the prey of predators.

We can take comfort as we look back at history as a witness to this infallible truth. Let us therefore not fear following the Lord and his leadings. We should not fear endtimes what it will bring. We should put our trust in our Lord and hang on for He is mighty to supply for even the littlest of his children.

THE TRUE VOICE

Proverbs 10:2
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing:
But righteousness delivereth from death.

Our dear Lord and Master Jesus, Yehoshua Ha Mashiah’ always endorsed the Scriptures once delivered to the saints. He was in fact an epiphany of those Words which were given to men as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Jesus so understood the original meanings of the Scriptures that he was able to apply and teach us them. He was, is, and will be the true one and only oral commentary of the Scriptures.

Scriptures often offer different levels of understanding. Sad to say, this often pits people one against the other which is wrong in the sight of the Lord. With our text today, I desire to take you to the place where Jesus compared Himself to our shepherd. This place is found in the Gospel of John chapter 10, and Jesus says there that He is our shepherd, the one true shepherd who comes through the door of the sheepfold and feed the sheep at the cost even of His own life if necessary. Jesus makes these statements about Himself by comparison to Ezekiel 34 and 37 where God warns of the bad shepherds come in the sheepfold through an illegal entrance. They do not really care for the sheep; they are in it just for the shearing. Because of it, God had promised His people Israel a true Shepherd who will unselfishly care for them. Jesus announced that He was that true Shepherd. This whole analogy represents the contest between Jesus and the devil for the possession of the flock and people of God

The false shepherds of Ezekiel 34 and 37 represent the devil. They are thieves Jesus said. They do not come through the door of the heart of the people; they come through somewhere else. They move in through the windows of the mind and of intellectual philosophy. Or, like Santa, they come in through the chimney of gifts, of the fairy tales and of invented speculated theology. They are thieves and robbers. They do not speak with the voice of the oracles of God known by the people of Israel; their voice is not the voice of the Torah. They are strangers and both Jesus and Paul warn us about these. They are mercenaries only in it for the shearing. They think to wickedly profit from the flock of God but God has promised that it will profit them nothing. These shepherds are those whom Jesus said beat the servants while the husbandman was gone. They will be severely judged for taking advantage of the people of God.

Jesus represents God’s leadership of God’s people. He is the One and only true Shepherd. He comes in through the door of our heart. He is the One true representation of the voice of God because He speaks the oracles of the Torah. He is therefore easily recognizable. He is in it for us, to feed us, protect us, care for us, and ultimately to deliver us from death.

Let us be wise therefore, not gullible. Let us study the oracles of God so we can easily make the difference between the voice of the true shepherd and the voice of the thief who steals from the flock of God. It is our responsibility to do so.

I am reminded of this scene in the movie, ‘The March of the Penguins’. Before leaving his chick in the care of the mother, the father sings to his chick. He does it so at his return from feeding, his son recognizes him. The sound of the father’s voice is the sign of his true fatherhood and ownership of our soul. Jesus also ‘sang’ His Words to us before He left. Let us make sure we rehearse His voice so we can properly discern Him amongst all those who fake His voice and pretend to come in His name.

THE WISE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE KING

Proverbs 10:1:
A wise son maketh a glad father:
But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

Solomon is one of David’s several sons. King’s children learn to be strong and assertive; they have to learn to lead the people of God. Because of that heavy responsibility, so they also have to be all the more careful with the manner of their lifestyles. One of God’s requirements for the Kings of Israel was that they write the whole Torah during their lifetime. This was a way for them to remember the Laws and Instructions of their God.

David had several wives and even concubines. Each of these women most likely desired for their sons to succeed to the great King David on his throne. Solomon saw first thing the aching of these mothers when their sons foiled these chances by just yielding to their unruly appetites and inclinations. Solomon on the other hand, who seemed to have been more the scholar type, was a recipient, like Isaac of Abraham, of his father’s joy and approbation. He experienced being the cause of his father’s gladness in the midst of what we could consider to be the confusion of a very dysfunctional family.

Solomon was given a very big charge from his father. This charge was to become the greatest accomplishment of his life. The wisdom he received from God was for the accomplishment of this heavy and important task: the building of the Temple. Solomon was faithful to carry out his father’s wishes and this must have made his father glad.

Taking this Proverb ‘home’, I’d like to submit that we should ask ourselves how our heavenly Father looks at us. The image of this Father is that of one who has planted a vineyard. He has a farm, a field, which he worked hard to earn. There is no greater pleasure for as father than to see his sons walk in his footsteps, to see them carry on the work he started. By the same token, there is no greater joy for a woman than to see her husband rejoice in the children she has borne him.

Let us now decide to make our Father glad. Let us now decide to carry on His legacy in the world, the building of His Spiritual Temple: His Church, His Congregation, His Kingdom on earth. Let now rejoice our heavenly Father’s heart by assuring Him of our dedication to keep the ‘farm’ and the ‘vineyard’ going. May our mother’s rejoice and magnify the Lord knowing that God, the father of us all, is pleased with the children they have borne.

PERSPECTIVE

Proverbs 7: The properties of the evil woman
Proverbs 8 and 9:The properties of the wise ‘woman

We look here at the construction of the Book of Proverbs. Chapters 1-7 tell us of the evil woman typified ‘whorish’. It tells us through and through that staying faithful in the study and obedience of the Torah (the 5 first books written by Moses: Genesis through to Deuteronomy) is our one and only hope against her lures. Chapters 8 and 9 now introduce the good woman typified ‘ wisdom’. The rest of the book continues into the properties of the good ‘Woman’, to climax at the end with the very famous Proverbs 31.

I could take chapters 7-9 apart line by line but I think that too much of that has been done with the Bible at the cost of a loss of the perspective of the text. We get so close to the trees that we loose the map of the forest. For this one, I want to show you the forest.

As I’ve said before, Hebrew poetic literature rhymes by concepts; two sentences developing a full idea by expressing opposites. This is accomplished here also at the level of the whole book of Proverbs, contrasting the bad woman with the good woman. Here is what to do with it:

One day, a bushman in Africa found a page of the Gospel by a train track. He felt that this was important so he walked 2 days to the nearest village where he could find a missionary to read for him what was written on that page. It was the segment from the book of John about Jesus being the bread of life. The bushman’s reaction upon hearing the apostolic words was, ‘the person who wrote these words seems to know me; it must have made me’. Upon this the missionary introduced the bushman to his Savior.

The Bible is about us. It is not necessarily about us being presented with choices. Proverbs is not about being exposed to the bad and to the good woman; it is about us being either. It gives the properties of both so we can reflect; so we can look in a mirror, make comparisons and adjust. Do I look and act more like this one or like this one? The whole Bible is designed to make us reflect so we can see where we go wrong. The Torah is the embodiment of Jesus himself. It reveals to us the fullness of His properties and character The prophets of both Old and New Testament, and even Jesus Himself all refer us to the Torah to reflect on for our source of conduct.

A goldsmith was asked one, when do you know when the gold in your caldron is pure? He said, As long as there are impurities in the gold, the heat makes them come up to the top and they sizzle at the surface. When the impurities are gone, the gold stops sizzling and is quiet. When I can see my face in the quiet gold, I know the gold is pure.

In the very same way, when Jesus can see his reflection in us, when He can see the Torah in us, whe have been purified.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL STORY

Proverbs 6:23-35 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

We find here a returning theme: a warning against adultery. Why is it repeated? This theme is not solely about loose women. It concerns a woman who though married, seeks pleasure by giving herself to other men. We also find in this section good advice to help men against being enticed by such women. The wise king tells us that living in close relation and obedience to the Word of God is man’s protection against the lures of the ‘whorish’ one. Within this section, we also read the unforgiving results of adultery.

As we read these passages, we need not fail to look at their messianic value. The Old Testament refers to the people of God as God’s wife. In the New Testament, Paul’s definition of marriage purity to the Church in Philippi ends with a qualification that he actually talking about our relationship with our Lord and Messiah.

The Church, the wife of the Messiah is, and has always been unfaithful. Throughout the generations, she has decked herself in order to please others. In the Garden of Eden, Adam was really an early representation of the Messiah, the Image of God. Eve represented the Church who easily transferred her loyalties from obedience to her husband’s command to another who could provide her with more fleshly pleasures. This story is repeated over and over again throughout the generations.

Let there be no mistake though. The Church reaps the consequences of her adulterous deeds and for those who believes in pre-trib rapture, I say that you will be surprised. The Great Tribulation is the time of washing and purification of the Church getting ready to meet her betrothed Messiah for the final wedding ceremony and banquet.

The other point we see in our text is that even though the Church receives her due punishment, the man with whom she lays does not escape. The devil who has defiled the church and wooed her loyalties away from her true Lord and master will be the forever victim of the unforgiving wrath of a jealous husband.

Let this be a comfort to us. In the Book of Hoseah, we find the story of the Bride of God in the life of Gomer, Hoseah’s wife. She marries Hoseah and plays the harlot against him. Later, when he finds her in marketplace, abused and sold to the highest bidder, he buys her again. He pays a new dowry for her and brings he home back to him. So does the Messiah. His wife Israel played the harlot against Him, but He came and even though He had already married her at Mt Horeb, he came to buy her again, this time, in dying for her sins. These stories my friend serve as a ensample Paul says for us upon whom the end of the world has come. We have the assurance that our husband Jesus, while letting us reap the full results of our adulterous ways, will come and not only rescue us from our foolishness, but also rightly punished the one who took advantage of us.

DISUNITY EXPOSED

Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: (17) A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, (18) An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, (19) A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

The wise king now lists the things that God hates. Today we are appalled by random murder, sexual perversions and generally ungodly lifestyles. Most of us are not guilty of these things, but what we find on this list is a litany of attitudes that we tolerate in our lives whether at home, in the work place or in Church. Let us now elaborate on each of them.

He that soweth discord among brethren: We need not to forget the poetical construction of the book of proverbs. The rhyming of Hebrew poetry is formed by a regular repetition of concepts viewed from different angles yet confirming each other. This concept of creating variance between people comes in as a refrain to the end of verse fourteen of this same chapter. It almost seems that this whole litany, this whole list informing us of God’s dislikes is to bring us to the climax of that refrain. This proverb also continues with an example of discord between through between brothers. It warns us of the dangers of adultery.

Whereas adultery is a very common way of bringing disunity, it is not the only one. A famous missionary, whose name escapes me at present said that the biggest issues that divide a missionary or a Church revolve around the handling of children and of money. I guess these are the closest things to our heart. Taking the issue to a higher level, we also see the Church, the body of Christ, divided into many doctrinal factions. I do not feel that it is necessarily abnormal as these sometimes represent the growth pains of maturation of the Church. What is sad is when we amplify what separates us instead of what unites us.

This issue also deserves to be taken to the ultimate level of everything written in this Holy Book we call the Bible: the messianic level. Ultimately, everything is about the Messiah. Jesus Himself said that when we accept Him in our lives, it would provoke divisions within the very core of our social structure. But is He the one who created this division? The Messiah’s role is to bring restoration to our world, which means to bring things back to the way they were and ought to be. If bringing back things the way they should be provokes variance between people, Jesus must not be the one at the source of thsi variance. Rather, this division was created by those who are responsible for taking us away from the original plan of God, and no matter whom or what he used, the devil is ultimately responsible for this state of affairs.
Going full circle in this exposition, we also can see that the ultimate person responsible for brotherly divisions at all circles of life is the devil. Why should we indulge him with the pleasure of succeeding in his evil plan?

OUR LIFE: THE TRUE WITNESS OF GOD'S DOING

Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: (17) A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, (18) An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, (19) A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

The wise king now lists the things that God hates. Today we are appalled by random murder, sexual perversions and generally ungodly lifestyles. Most of us are not guilty of these things, but what we find on this list is a litany of attitudes that we tolerate in our lives whether at home, in the work place or in Church. Let us now elaborate on each of them.

A false witness that speaketh lies: This element of God’s disdain can be found in the Ten Commandments. Through Moses, one of God’s instructions at Mt. Horeb was to not bear false witness, or not to lie.

In other places in this Book of Proverbs, our author and others reiterate the fate of the liar: rejection from God, and/or death. Lying is no small matter. I do not kill my children for lying but I tell them that each time they do, some of their trust capital in the bank of my heart dies. That is the consequential reward of the liar; he is not believed even when he tells the truth. Truth is pure. It is not cream color or off-white. If it is ‘off’, it is a lie.

The Bible always required at least two witnesses for every statement of truth. God Himself stays with that plan in His contractual Word to us. There were two witnesses at the transfiguration, and for every important events, there have always been at least two witnesses if not more. Even at Mt Horeb, Moses went up with Joshua, Caleb and the seventy elders whom the text tells us ate with God. At the end of our time, the book of Revelation tells us that there will be two witnesses in Jerusalem.

When bigoted religious leaders wanted to convict Jesus and even Steven in the Bible, the Bible tells us that they hired ‘lewed fellows of the baser sorts’ as false witnesses. To lie is to give a false or distorted account of a true event. This is the crowd we associate with when we lie; the ‘lewd fellows of the baser sort’ crowd.

We do not have to utter words in order to lie. God counts on us, those who proclaim to be His children, to be witnesses to the rest of the world of what it is to be a Child of the Most-High El-Shaddai. When we publicly claim that title, we bind ourselves to represent Him. If we don’t, or if we agree in our lives to ungodly standards, we make false witnesses of ourselves. In a way, if we are truly born-again the family of God, our lives should naturally demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit of God. When we don’t, while still claiming spiritual rebirth, we lie on two accounts: our citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven, and in misrepresenting ourselves to others.

Let us think about this today. Are our lives accurate witnesses of what we proclaim to be?

SPEEDING PAST CONVICTION

Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: (17) A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, (18) An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, (19) A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Feet that be swift in running to mischief: As the father of our author says, we are born in sin. It is therefore easier, even more natural for us to conceive to do evil than to do good. Even after we are regenerated, while in this pre-millennial period, we only get an ‘earnest’ of our salvation, the fullness of it we will be granted as Jesus returns to rule the earth.

The question therefore can be asked, why should we get punished for just being what God created us? It is a legitimate question. The idea though is that now that we have been regenerated we have no more excuses. We can pray and be delivered from our sinful nature. Even one like our author who is an Old Testament person is without excuse, because he has received the knowledge of the oracles of the Torah (Torah means: instruction) of God therefore, since done in knowledge, he cannot claim ignorance and the evil is done willfully.

This same author advises us in another part of Proverbs to acknowledge of all of our actions. When we willfully plan to do evil, we do not usually acknowledge God to ask him permission. We don’t want to let him know so act like the child who quickly goes to do something he knows would be disapproved without checking with his parents so he can claim ignorance. Will God ‘buy’ our claim?

It is the willfulness sinning which is abhorrent to God. In the shedding of the blood of innocent Jesus-Christ, some knew what they were doing and some didn’t. The populace crying for crucifixion followed a mob driven hype, but the priest, scribes and Pharisees knew who Jesus was. The Roman soldiers who drove the nail in Jesus’ hands and feet followed orders, but Pilate knew he executed an innocent man. They executed Him quickly. They didn’t want to wait passed the Passover festival. They didn’t want conviction to set in their hearts. In so doing, they were swift to run to mischief, but in their case, they also executed the will of God, which also exposed their perfidy.

THE ULTIMATE PRIDE OF MAN

Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: (17) A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, (18) An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, (19) A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

NOTE: Wicked: From the root word: wick; meaning: twisted as we twist the wick to set it in a wax candle.

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations: Three thousand years ago, King David, the author’s father of today’s text rhetorically questioned, Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. Psalms 2.

From the Tower of Babel unto today, futile man has not changed. In his pride, he has to attempt to thwart God’s purposes. He tries to justify himself by passing laws allowing behaviors that God has forbidden. He plunges into the esoteric to find the keys to hidden wisdom. He tries to understand prophecy thinking to change the course of history. Every generation forgets the sovereignty of God; each generation has to learn to see God for itself.

Let there be no mistake here. We may sit and devise wicked imaginations of all sorts and kind, but this text brings us to the ultimate, to the epitome of wicked imaginations: the rejecting of God’s laws and subsequently, the killing of the Messiah. Since Cain’s rejected sacrifice man has tried to establish his own rule and ways. Since the beginning of time governments have rejected God’s control through His appointed Messiah. Their only way is to reject His statute, and when He finally comes to pay a visit, to kill Him.

Here is King David’s answer to the question; can I say it better?

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

THE SANCTITY OF DEATH

Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: (17) A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, (18) An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, (19) A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

The wise king now lists the things that God hates. Today we are appalled by random murder, sexual perversions and generally ungodly lifestyles. Most of us are not guilty of these things, but what we find on this list is a litany of attitudes that we tolerate in our lives whether at home, in the work place or in Church. Let us now elaborate on each of them.

Hands that shed innocent blood: From the beginning of creation Satan hates mankind. Satan hates mankind because mankind is made in the image of God and Satan hates God. His main weapon to get rid of mankind has always been the same: murder; and not just murder, but murder of the righteous ones whose character is shaped according to the image of God. Satan started his dirty work right with the murder of righteous Abel. All the elements of modern-day murder and shedding of innocent blood are found in this Genesis story.

When commenting on the commandment against murder, Jesus pointed us to one of the main reasons for murder: anger; anger in our hearts. Anger in our heart also stems from, self-righteousness, pride, jealousy, grudges, and a basic unwillingness to be defrauded in times of injustice. Our verse today implies that God hates these things.

In the Old Testament, killings, even of whole nations were done under the command of God. These were for the sole purpose of eradicating sin and idolatry, not out of vengeance, hatred, or personal interest. Another option for law-breakers was excommunication from the congregation. Whole cities were dedicated for the protection of people who were accused of involuntary murder.

How devil-like is one who can thoughtlessly think he can justifiably kill another human being made according to the image of God. The God who gives life to the righteous ones made according to His character is also the only One who can take it away. And who are we to truly know who is righteous and who is not? At times of church apostasy, God has even called its persecutors His ‘servants’ doing His will. We speak of the sanctity of life, but we may need to also address the sanctity of death.

The devil is responsible for the killing of all righteous people throughout history. He started with righteous Abel, and his illustrious career culminated with the killing of the Righteous Jesus-Christ. If that was not enough, Satan added insult to injury by killing righteous people all throughout modern-day history, but oh, oh, how it is going to lash back on him. As soon as the resurrected Jesus, who came first as the lamb of God, the Suffering servant to voluntary give His life for His people on the altar of sacrifice returns as the Lion of Judah, the earthly king ordained by God to rule humanity in justice, honor and beauty, Satan will meet His final everlasting punishment in the lake of fire.