Recap

So far in Proverbs, we’ve read through the introductory speeches from a father to his son and started the wisdom one liners. We learnt that wisdom is to be practised and that these aren't promises or laws. They are principles for living out righteousness and justice. The father started out by warning his son to avoid following those who are wicked. Instead, he should chase after Lady Wisdom, the embodiment of wisdom. Lady Wisdom calls out to all to listen to her, but the foolish ignore.

The father explained the value of wisdom and how it only comes from God. It comes when we put our trust in God and not ourselves. And it also comes as part of righteousness. They’re a package deal. If you’re not living righteously, you’re not listening to wisdom. Wisdom should be a lifelong journey. It doesn’t happen overnight.

The father then brought a second character, the adulteress. While pursuing Lady Wisdom leads to righteousness and life, pursuing the adulteress will destroy your life. This wasn’t meant to serve on a commentary on women. It’s a father using the idea of a good woman and a bad woman to teach his son wise principles. The ways of the adulteress seem attractive to begin with, but they soon lead to destruction. Instead, the son should hold to integrity and right living. The father also offered some practical advice. From handling debt, to working hard, to keeping your talk honest.

Again the father warned about the temptings of the adulteress, the life that looks good but quickly destroys. He explained that she uses all sorts of tricks to distract you from thinking so she can lure you in. In order to protect yourself from this, you need to guard your thoughts from being clouded, not stray too close to temptation, and look beyond the immediate promises of pleasure to the consequences of these actions. In contrast, Lady Wisdom is an open feast where all are invited and should be encouraged to join. As long as you fear God and put your trust in him and his wisdom, then you will be blessed. All of this then becomes the lens through which the wisdom sayings are looking through.

Proverbs 19-21

As we’ve mentioned so far, because the proverbs aren’t passages you study, but passages you soak yourselves in, I’m not unpacking what they mean. Instead, I’m modelling what applying the proverbs to your life could look like. Try to find a handful of proverbs that jump out to you in today’s reading. Here are some that jump out to me.

"Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way." (Proverbs 19:2). We've all experienced deciding in a moment we want something and going for it. Maybe we've seen something we've liked, or an idea has popped into our heads and we've just gone for it. There's no pause. No stopping to think whether this is the best idea. I see it, I want, I'm going for it. Sometimes this works.

However, nine times out of ten, it is always better to slow down and think about whether this is a good idea. Maybe do some research and find out more, or invite others in to give us advice. Acting with haste, or from a lack of knowledge, is rarely a good plan.

"The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out." (Proverbs 20:5). Most of us are blind to our true intentions. We keep doing the same behaviours over and over again, and can't work out why. Except our friends and family can see why. Let’s think about it from a different perspective. You have a friend that keeps getting into relationships that are bad for them, and they keep complaining and wondering why this is happening to them.

Chances are you can see the problem. You can see the poor choices they are making, and maybe even why they are making them. The purposes and the intentions of our hearts are too deep and too close for us to see in ourselves. They are blind spots. This is why we need to bring in other people, men and women of understanding, to draw them out and explain them to us. This may be a close friend, a trusted leader, or maybe even a professional therapist.

"Do not say, "I will repay evil"; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you." (Proverbs 20:22). It's a familiar experience. Someone has hurt us or done something to wrong us and our response is to roll up our sleeves and say something like "well if that's the way they want it, two can play at that game". The sad thing is, on some level, we know how unhelpful this is. We know this is only going to make things worse.

But in our head, we somehow twist it that this is just bringing justice. In cases where we've been hurt, let's not take 'justice' into our own hands (unless it's something illegal, then police should be notified). Instead, if you've been hurt by someone, don't try to get back at them. Leave it up to God. Because chances are he's more interested in healing the relationship than dishing out punishment.

"Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble." (Proverbs 21:23). This one is huge. Or at least, it is for me. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say not a day goes by where I don't stick my foot in my mouth at least once. Now fortunately for me, I'm surrounded by people that care about me and know my heart, so don't take what I say personally.

But this isn't always the case, and sometimes what I say can be personal and hurtful. One of the best things I can do in many situations is keep my mouth shut. Not everyone needs to hear my thoughts. I don't need to get that last jab in when I'm having an argument. Learning to control our tongues, I believe, is one of the hardest things to do, but also one of the most important things.

Psalm 2

This psalm isn’t attributed to anyone in particular and falls into the category of royal psalm. Royal psalms are psalms that are focused on either God as king or on a human king. This psalm was likely read out during the coronation of a new king. It can be broken into four sections.

Psalm 2:1-3 - The foreign nations and rulers rebel against God and his king

Psalm 2:4-6 - God mocks these rulers by establishing his own king 

Psalm 2:7-9 - This king is declared God’s son, and the earth is his inheritance. He has authority over it

Psalm 2:10-12 - The foreign rulers are warned of the wrath of God for those who rebel against God’s chosen king

God’s chosen king is described as ‘his Anointed’, which is a reference to kings being anointed with oil when they are appointed. For now, it’s just another way of referring to the king, but over time, this word will take on new meaning.

In the same way, this psalm, at face value, should first be interpreted in light of God’s authority over the nations, and the authority he gives the kings over his people. God is the one with authority, but the king plays the role of his son (Psalm 2:7), his physical representative on earth.

But that doesn’t mean we have to stop our interpretations there. We’ve read through the prophets where God’s people are waiting for a future king who will redeem God’s people and reunite the nations. An anointed one. Indeed, when we get to the New Testament, those writers begin to interpret Psalm 2 in a whole new light.

And just as Psalm 1 opened the book of psalms by sharing its intent to help people meditate on God’s word, Psalm 2 sets out the hope and promise of the psalms. A future king is coming. One who will provide all the wisdom found in the wisdom psalms, heal all the pain found in the lament psalms, and who is worthy of all the praise found in the praise psalms.