Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Pr 11:1-2 and following. Indeed, we have noticed how, in almost every verse of these chapters, the part and character of the righteous and the wicked are contrasted. Well, this is so in the daily life of the child of God: Placed next to the unbelievers of this world, his faithfulness is called to bring out their iniquity and vice versa. He is upright and upright in the midst of perverts, and ungodly. Verses 9 to 14 present more particularly the side of life in society. The righteous are not called to live alone. His presence in the midst of the world that observes him is a testimony to it. The epistle to Titus warns us to have to live justly… in the present century, in order to adorn as the illustrations of a book “the teaching which is of our savior God” (Titus 2:9-14). “Wisdom is with modest men” (verse 2). The believer who stands before God never has a high opinion of himself. The best remedy for pride is to think of the greatness of the Lord Jesus. This pride, which is accompanied by contempt for one’s neighbour, is the opposite of intelligence (verse 12). For the latter will always make me find reasons to esteem the other superior to myself (Phil 2:1-4).
The tendency of our selfish heart is to monopolize and retain more than is necessary (verses 24, 26). But let us read in Luke 6:36-38 what the Lord Jesus recommends: The true way to be blessed oneself is to care for the good of others. This sometimes defies human prudence and wisdom, but God does not have the same arithmetic as man. He reverses his calculations and precautions. And riches are always a trap for those who trust in them (verse 28; Mark 10:17-27 and 1 Tim 6:17-19). “Rich in good works” must be our ambition according to this last passage. Yet there is in the world something of the highest value, which we are invited to seek and earn. What could be more precious than a soul? To acquire ours, the Lord “sold all that He had” (Matthew 13:44-46). Yes, “the wise man wins souls” (verse 30). Happy service, do we know? It was that of the disciple Andrew (John 1:37-43); and it can be ours too, regardless of our age and degree of knowledge. Whoever wants to win a soul to the Lord, what does he especially need? Precisely from this wisdom quick to seize the opportunity (Ephesians 5:6-16). And also love, skilled in finding the way to the heart (1 Cor 9:19-23).
The false scale is abominated to the Lord, but the right weight is pleasing to him (v. 1; Pr 20:23; 16:11). It is not to have double standards (20:10), but to use falsehood to weigh, by deceiving the one who trusts in you and relies on your integrity to receive from you what is right. Jehovah has this as an abomination; he likes integrity in estimating the weight of things. It goes without saying that this also applies to moral things. When pride comes, so does shame; but wisdom is with modest men (v. 2). Pride is mentioned as a result of falsehood (v. 1). Often these things mate in evil, but there is nothing that God has as much hatred as pride, so shame is born with him, so to speak. The proud are chastised by things that shame them and their families. The knowledge of God’s thoughts, the highest, is not separated from modesty, which does not have a high opinion of itself.
The integrity of righteous men guides them, but the perversity of the treacherous destroys them (v. 3). This is, as always in Proverbs, the way of wisdom in the world. Righteous men are necessarily upright and this path will prevent them from flinching and lead them to the goal, while the treacherous are led to their destruction by their very perversity. Thus justice, modesty and righteousness are opposed, in these verses, to falsehood, pride and perfidy. Wealth does not benefit from anything in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivers from death (v. 4; Pr 10. 2). This verse and the following ones do, as we shall see, follow v. 3; at the same time, it brings us back to the thought expressed in Chapter 10. 2.
Riches can be used for many things when it comes to satisfying one’s lusts, but it serves no purpose when God’s wrath is unleashed. Will they be the ransom that can save the wretched rich? But righteousness delivers from death as God’s judgment. Such was the case of the just Lot. We repeat here that it is easy to illustrate Proverbs since chapter 10 with examples from biblical history. We will indicate some of them. Rather, the first part of Proverbs (1-9) would be illustrated by truths contained in the New Testament. The righteousness of man of integrity sets his way straight, but the wicked fall by his wickedness (v. 5). If integrity guides us (v. 3), it also makes the path of the just not tortuous, because the righteous does not allow sin to enter it. In this way he goes straight ahead of him, without straying or flinching, but the wickedness of the villain turns against him to bring him down. The righteousness of righteous men delivers them, but the treacherous are caught up in their greed (v. 6). Finally, justice not only guides the faithful (v. 3), preserves him from death (v. 4), makes his way straight (v. 5), but it delivers him in the midst of traps and dangers. Such was the case with Joseph, David, Daniel; but the treacherous are caught, as if in a net, by their greedy lusts; Miserable prisoners, they cannot get rid of it and fall prey to calamity.
Beauty is a distinctive sign of the woman as above, in v. 16, grace. What is noticed here is all the more seasonal because judgment is so often lacking in this sex. How many women in this case, but preoccupied with appearance, delude themselves about the value of their beauty. It is like a golden ring, the ornament of the nose (Gen. 24:22, 47) of the beautiful virgin, modest and full of grace and attraction, put in the nose of a purseel instead of the iron ring with which her groin is equipped: an incongruous and pretentious ornament bringing out the impurity of what he believes he recommends. The desire of the righteous is only the good; the expectation of the wicked is fury (v. 23). We have seen in v. 19 what the righteous and the wicked tend to, in v. 20 what they are in the eyes of God, in v. 21 what their future will be; here, in v. 23, we see the desire of the righteous. Under this title of righteousness, man is always considered to possess a new nature from which sin is practically excluded, even though Proverbs considers in the son the flesh, the old nature, as part of his being. It is because of this new nature that we are told of the desire of the righteous which is only the good. What a difference from the bad guys! We are not told of the desire of the latter, but of what awaits them: “A certain terrible expectation of judgment and the ardor of a fire that will devour the adversaries” (Heb. 10:27).
Such disperses and increases further; and such retains more than is necessary, but has nothing but scarcity of it (v. 24). All of these verses deal with selfishness and its consequences. These are general maxims which, as we have seen more than once in this chapter, apply to all men, to their tendencies, to their occupations, and become a subject of reflection for the sons of wisdom. Men will easily condemn a foresight that seems to disperse its resources and which, in fact, increases them. This is not the path to selfishness. Instead of sharing it with others, the latter saves his goods too much, but, far from enjoying them, he suffers from embarrassment. This is not strictly a question of avarice, but of a petty selfishness that bears its consequences.
The soul that blesses will be fattened and the one that waters will itself be watered (v. 25). That is still the case. Give to the outside, the opposite of selfishness, of whatever nature the gift, but with a view to the blessing of the one to whom it is addressed; seek the prosperity and good of others; you will receive the increase for yourself and you will be refreshed by the refreshment you bring to them. “Give,” says the Gospel, “and it will be given to you: you will be given in good measure, in a hurry and shaken, and which will overflow; for by the same measure which ye shall measure, he shall be measured in return” (Luke 6:38). He who holds the wheat, the people curse him; but the blessing will be on the head of the one who sells it (v. 26). This is about trafficking by monopolizing the basic necessities that constitute the food of the people. It is always greed, selfishness that does not take into account the needs or misery of others, so the curse of the people accompanies this man. On the contrary, he who, renouncing the gain, sells the wheat in times of scarcity, to benefit others, will receive the blessing from above and the blessing of those to whom he comes to the aid. A serious lesson for us Christians.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
- Abominable things, detestable things, abhorred by God
Dt 7:25 You will burn in fire the carved images of their gods. Thou shalt not covet and take for thyself the money and gold which are upon them, lest these things become a trap for you; for they are abominated to Jehovah, your God. Pr 11:20 Those who have evil hearts are abominating to the Lord, but those whose way is honest are pleasing to Him. Pr 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is something abominable; How much more when they offer it with criminal thoughts! Luke 16:15 Jesus said to them, You seek to appear righteous before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is lifted up among men is an abomination before God.
- Integrity, general references
Ps 41:13 You have sustained me because of my integrity, and you have placed me forever in your presence. Pr 11:3 He who spreads slander reveals secrets, but he who has a faithful spirit keeps them. Pr 19.1 Better the poor who walks in his integrity, than the man who has evil lips and who is a fool. Pr 20.7 The just walk in its integrity; Happy his children after him!
- Destructive sin
Ps 34:22 Misfortune kills the wicked, and the enemies of the righteous are punished. Ps 140:12 Man whose tongue is false does not strengthen himself on earth; And the violent man, misfortune leads him to his loss. Pr 8:36 But he who sins against me harms his soul; Everyone who hates me loves death. Pr 11:3 The integrity of upright men directs them, but the detours of the treacherous cause their ruin.
- Day of the Lord, called the last day or the great day
Jn 12:48 He who rejects me and does not receive my words has his judge; the word I have announced will judge him on the last day. Rom 2:5 He who rejects me and does not receive my words has his judge; the word I have announced, it is she who will judge him on the last day. 2 Tim 1:12 And it is because of this that I suffer these things; but I am not ashamed of it, for I know in whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he has the power to keep my deposit until that day. Jude 6 whom he reserved for the judgment of the great day, eternally chained by darkness, the angels who have not kept their dignity, but who have abandoned their own abode;
From all the above, we note that he who seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to whom seeks it (v. 27). What is the purpose of our activity? If it is good, the favor of God and men will be upon us (Luke 2:52); if it is evil, it will happen to those who seek it, witnesses Mordecai on the one hand and Haman on the other, in the book of Esther. He falls who confides in his riches; but the righteous green like the leaf (v. 28). “That one falls.” We find this same expression in chapteritre 10:8, 10. His riches fly away and fall to him, (perhaps) as the dry leaf falls from the tree. The righteous is like the tree planted near streams of water whose leaf does not wither, for it is always in contact with the source: Christ and his Spirit (Ps. 1:3; Numb. 24:6; Jer. 17:7; Eze 47:12). He who disturbs his house will inherit the wind, and the fool will become a servant of the wise one of heart (v. 29). He who disturbs (perhaps by the faults mentioned above) the order that God has given to his authority and responsibility, the one who has not kept his house according to the administration that God has entrusted to him, he will find nothingness as an inheritance or result of his foolish conduct, and, instead of retaining his place of authority, will become the humiliated servant of the sage who has God’s thoughts as his guide. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and the wise wins souls (v. 30). The result of the work of the righteous, of the one who sows righteousness (v. 18) is the fruit of the tree of life for others. The same is true of wisdom (3:18). Others enjoy it, eat it, feed on it. These are not speeches or words, although these also bring life, they are a testimony rendered by the conduct of the righteous. The latter is for others a reproduction of Christ, of the tree of life on which he was nourished. The wise wins souls; that is his treasure. Wisdom in its conduct begets children to Wisdom. Behold, the righteous is rewarded on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner (v. 31)! This maxim is in agreement with all the content of Proverbs. It is about God’s government here on earth, to those who honor or dishonor Him. Everyone in this world reaps the fruits of his conduct (1 Peter 4:18). Donc, inthis chapter it is, in a general way, the relations of the just with the human society considered as a whole and in its elements, and the influence that it can exert on it. There is always, in the end, an absolute contrast between the character of the world and that of the just. Practical justice is the basis for the latter’s deliverance. Selfishness and its consequences occupy the last verses of the chapter. Rather, justice here has the character of integrity and righteousness. The fruit of the mouth and lips is less often mentioned than in Chapter 10. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “Collections ofProverbs on the Moral Life (Pr 12).
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.