Dangerous Promises
Seven Deadly Sins
01 My son, if you become surety for your friend,
00 If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
02 You are snared by the words of your mouth;
00 You are taken by the words of your mouth.
03 So do this, my son, and deliver yourself;
00 For you have come into the hand of your friend:
00 Go and humble yourself;
00 Plead with your friend.
04 Give no sleep to your eyes,
00 Nor slumber to your eyelids.
05 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
00 And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
The Folly of Indolence
06 Go to the ant, you sluggard!
00 Consider her ways and be wise,
07 Which, having no captain,
00 Overseer or ruler,
08 Provides her supplies in the summer,
00 And gathers her food in the harvest.
09 How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
00 When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
00 A little folding of the hands to sleep--
11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
00 And your need like an armed man.
Credit for commentary at the end of today's Proverbs for, verses 12-19 go to
(Although I did edit it to fit the team I love and the ream I despise)
The Wicked Man12 A worthless person, a wicked man,
00 Walks with a perverse mouth;
13 He winks with his eyes,
00 He shuffles his feet,
00 He points with his fingers;
14 Perversity is in his heart,
00 He devises evil continually,
00 He sows discord.
15 Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly;
00 Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.
16 These six things the LORD hates,
00 Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look,
00 A lying tongue,
00 Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
00 Feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who speaks lies,
00 And one who sows discord among brethren.
Beware of Adultery
20 My son, keep your father's command,
00 And do not forsake the law of your mother.
21 Bind them continually upon your heart;
00 Tie them around your neck.
22 When you roam, they will lead you;
00 When you sleep, they will keep you;
00 And when you awake, they will speak with you.
23 For the commandment is a lamp,
00 And the law a light;
00 Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
24 To keep you from the evil woman,
00 From the flattering tongue of a seductress.
25 Do not lust after her beauty in your heart,
00 Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.
26 For by means of a harlot
00 A man is reduced to a crust of bread;
00 And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.
27 Can a man take fire to his bosom,
00 And his clothes not be burned?
28 Can one walk on hot coals,
00 And his feet not be seared?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;
00 Whoever touches her shall not be innocent.
30 People do not despise a thief
00 If he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving.
31 Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold;
00 He may have to give up all the substance of his house.
32 Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding;
00 He who does so destroys his own soul.
33 Wounds and dishonor he will get,
00 And his reproach will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy is a husband's fury;
00 Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
35 He will accept no recompense,
00 Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.
There is often a correlation between the things we love and the things we hate. Because we love certain things, we tend to hate other things. On a somewhat trivial level, a person who loves the Minnesota Vikings, probably hates the Green bay Packers. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether or not that hatred is appropriate, but that’s the way it works. We hate the things that threaten the well being of the things we love. On a more substantive level, if you are a parent, you love your children. Because you you’re your children, you hate things that might violate or threaten them. The more intently we love certain things, the more we hate other things.
Something similar can be said of God. Because He loves certain things, He hates certain other things. As you work your way through today's Proverbs, you will become clear that God hates certain things, because He loves other things. The reason I used Proverbs 6:16-7 to focus on is because we are in the midst of times when evil and good have never been so prevalent right before our eyes.
One aspect of the fear of the Lord is to love what God loves and to hate what He hates. If we align our lives with God and His truth, we will hate what He hates. Therefore this list serves to inform us of things we too should hate. I often times find myself hating things I should just be annoyed with. However, it is true that many of the things we hate in the world today are truly evil things the Scripture warn us to avoid, and the people condoning and perpetrating these evils fit the verses 16-19 like a glove.
The purpose of Writing the book of Proverbs was to reveal the mind of God in matters high and lofty and in common, ordinary, everyday situations. It appears that no topic escaped King Solomon's attention. Matters pertaining to personal conduct, sexual relations, business, wealth, charity, ambition, discipline, debt, child-rearing, character, alcohol, politics, revenge, and Godliness are among the many topics covered in this rich collection of wise sayings.
Without wisdom, knowledge is nothing more than an accumulation of raw facts, influenced by emotional feelings. Many highly educated people are in positions of power in the United States, but very few of those educated leaders have the wisdom needed to rule properly.
One can say that they have been educated well beyond their intelligence. A cursory look at the court system will prove my point that knowledge without wisdom will only lead to an immoral society that eventually crumbles from within. Judges are supposed to be above the fray, and immovable to emotions. Instead, the vast majority of judges today are Godless individuals who are vacant of wisdom. So their rulings are totally based upon emotional feelings.
We the people are to blame, because we ignored God's guidance in appointing our leaders. Instead of putting leaders full wisdom in power, we instead chose those who would scratch our itchy ears to lead us.
Of the 31 Proverbs, only the first 24 were written by Solomon. King Hezekiah wrote 5, Proverbs 25 to 29, Agur wrote Proverb 30, and Lemuel wrote Proverb 31. Now many believe Lemuel was in fact King Solomon and Lemuel was just a nick name his Mother, Bathsheba gave him. We are told that Solomon write over 3000 Proverbs and composed 1000 songs, but the only Proverbs God decided to preserve for us are Proverbs 1-24. Like the New Testament epistle by James, it is impossible to get a chronological outline for a study since they all bounce from subject to subject.
Along with my daily routine of reading the Bible, I try to read through the book of Proverbs once a Month. It's an easy task when you consider there are 31 Proverbs. So all you need to know is what day of the Month it is. In the Months that have 30 days, or in the case of February, I just double up by reading more than one two proverb so I can begin the next month with Proverb 1 on the first again.
Credit the commentary on verses, 12-19 to Faith Church in Manhattan NY.
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