Proverbs 7:1-5 Today’s reading sounds very much like Pr. 6:20-24, which we read just two days ago. Are we listening yet? Do you keep [these] words? Do you treasure up [these] commandments? Do you bind them on your fingers? Do you write them on the tablet of your heart? Do you say to wisdom, “You …
Monthly Archives: May 2022
May 21 / Proverbs 6:27-35
Proverbs 6:27-35 He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. (v. 32) I think that pretty much sums it up. As we have said before, adultery is called out here as particularly dangerous. I suspect that is because Solomon is addressing his son as a young man whose raging hormones could make him more vulnerable to sexual temptation. But that is …
May 20 / Proverbs 6:20-26
Proverbs 6:20-26 Once again we are admonished to heed instruction, and once again the focus of that instruction is to avoid the deadly pitfall of adultery. But I’m not going to talk about adultery today. (We’ll be stuck on that for the next few days!) Instead, I want to look at just the last half …
May 19 / Proverbs 6:12-19
Proverbs 6:12-19 Wormtongue. Now that is a (fictional) person that fits the caricature given in Pr. 6:12-15. In case you don’t know (or by way of reminder) “Wormtongue” is an apt nickname for a character otherwise named Gríma in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. He is an advisor to King Théoden …
May 18 / Proverbs 6:1-11
Proverbs 6:1-11 Today we turn our attention to a couple of practical bits of wisdom. In Pr. 6:1-5 we are warned not to put up security for someone else, particularly a stranger, and in Pr. 6:6-11 we are advised to work hard and not be lazy. Have you ever co-signed a loan for someone, perhaps …
May 17 / Proverbs 5:15-23
Proverbs 5:15-23 Lest there were any doubts about whether this chapter is warning against adultery, the language in Pr. 5:15-20 should clear that up. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand the euphemisms: “springs“, “streams of water“, “fountain“… Then Pr. 5:19 dispenses with euphemism altogether: Let [your wife’s] breasts fill you at all times with …
May 16 / Proverbs 5:7-14
Proverbs 5:7-14 …and you say, “How I hated discipline,and my heart despised reproof!I did not listen to the voice of my teachersor incline my ear to my instructors.I am at the brink of utter ruinin the assembled congregation.” Proverbs 5:12-14 Ah, the voice of regret. Can any of us say that we have not uttered …
May 15 / Proverbs 5:1-6
Proverbs 5:1-6 For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,and her speech is smoother than oil,but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,sharp as a two-edged sword. Proverbs 5:3-4 All of Proverbs 5 serves as a warning against the particular sin of adultery, but as Fred pointed out, the specific temptation toward adultery …
May 14 / Proverbs 4:20-27
Proverbs 4:20-27 I am again struck by the full intensity of purpose called for here: Be attentive…Incline your ear…Let them not escape…Keep them… (vv. 20-21) Why such focus? For [my words] are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. (v. 22) And then further: Keep your heart with all vigilance, …
May 13 / Proverbs 4:10-19
Proverbs 4:10-19 So, how are we doing? Are we beginning to listen, to pay attention? Do we accept these words of wisdom? Are we following in the paths of uprightness? Are we keeping hold of instruction? Are we guarding her? Do we consider her to be our life? Or how about wickedness and evil? Do …