Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

“This Book of Proverbs is so called, because it consists of wise and weighty sentences: regulating the morals of men: and directing them to wisdom and virtue. And these sentences are also called PARABLES, because great truths are often couched in them under certain figures and similitudes.” quote

Reading through the 31 chapters of Proverbs each month can give us an understanding of how to serve God.

Proverbs 3:4

⁴ The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,

while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

Industry: Skill, ingenuity; habitual diligence in any employment or pursuit; steady attention to business; assiduity. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary

Industry, as defined, is an often considered subject in Proverbs. In Proverbs 6:6-11, labor is illustrated, demanded, and its failure described.

⁶ Go to the ant, O sluggard;

consider her ways, and be wise.

⁷ Without having any chief, officer, or ruler,

⁸she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.
⁹ How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
¹¹ and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.

In Proverbs 13:4 the eternal principle of labor is stated. The industrious man prospers. Any other person is prosperous only to the degree of his labor. Proverbs 14:23 “In All labor there is profit”. Galatians 6:7 “ whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”. Paul’s application of this spiritual effect does not change the principle as such.

We can say with Biblical certainty that all our conduct in this world is governed by the Law of God. Where in the Law do we find a principle of labor? It is stated plainly in the fourth commandment. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work.” The fact of labor is stated, and adequate time to accomplish it is described.

What this commandment does not do is determine the hours of a legal work week, whether it be 35 or 40 or 60. Neither does it have anything to say about retirement. The work day and work week are simply defined by the principle that the work of day is to be done in the day.

Retirement is determined by a person’s ability to do the requirements of their vocation as is illustrated by the retirement of the Levites in Numbers 8:23-26.

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

“This Book of Proverbs is so called, because it consists of wise and weighty sentences: regulating the morals of men: and directing them to wisdom and virtue. And these sentences are also called PARABLES, because great truths are often couched in them under certain figures and similitudes.” quote

Reading through the 31 chapters of Proverbs each month can give us an understanding of how to serve God.

Proverbs 12:1; 1:23

Proverbs 12:1

KJV ¹Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.

NKJV ¹ Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates correction is stupid.

NASB ¹Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.

ESV ¹Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

The Hebrew root of the word “brutish” or “stupid” is “to burn” or “to consume”. By extension it is an animal, who without any understanding or consideration consumes his fodder.

The KJV has captured this with the translation “brutish”. A person who hates reproof or correction has an animal intelligence. He is improved neither by instruction nor experience.

An owner teaches his dog not to cross the road and disciplines him when he can catch him disobeying. The dog continues to cross the road and is hit by a car. He is nursed back to health and when he runs loose again, he crosses the road, is hit by a car and killed. Why does this happen? He is a brute. Neither correction nor experience has saved him.

The one who hates reproof whether it comes by word or experience is a brute or stupid. While the one who receives reproof, accepts it and profits by it is described as one who “loves knowledge. Contrast Proverbs 13:12; 15:5, 10, 12.

Proverbs 1:23

²³If you turn at my reproof,behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;
I will make my words known to you.

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Reading through the 31 chapters of Proverbs each month can give us an understanding of how to serve God.

Proverbs 11:9 and Psalm 15:1-3

Proverbs 11:9

⁹With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor,

but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

Psalm 15:1

¹O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

²He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
³who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

Psalm 15:1 confronts every believer with the most important question in the Scriptures. This question is not left to human inquisition or debate. It is answered in a decided fashion.

We can paraphrase the question to apply to the present in this way, “O Lord, who can, with faithfulness go to Church worship, who can come there before the preaching of Your Word and grow in conformity to Christ with a good conscience?” Or, “Who can go regularly to a Gospel preaching church with a good conscience?”

Looking from this to Proverbs chapters 10-12 we find 28 direct references to speech. The frequency forces our attention to the importance Scripture, as God’s Word, places on this subject.

Back to Psalm 15, in answer to the searching question of Vs 1, begins with a very general statement - the person who is consistent in his conduct, and only this person, can sit under the Gospel with a good conscience. But God in His Word is never bashful about specifics and it is both interesting and for our purpose, in light of Proverbs chapters 10-12, that the specific instructions begin with the believer’s speech.

All instruction on conversation comes under the 9^th commandment. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. This command exercises absolute control over all speech. There are particular principles to recognize to help in applying the commandment to present experience.

1. The command is one of relationship. Whatever is destructive to our acquaintances in or by our speech is forbidden while our speech is always to encourage, inform honestly, and protect our neighbor.

2. Speech is under the direct supervision of God.

Proverbs 16:1

¹The plans of the heart belong to man,
but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.

3. The facts of conversation are governed by the single principle of what is, “against our neighbor”. It is never obedience to the ninth commandment to be destructive of our neighbor for the benefit of the wicked. The examples of the mid-wives in Exodus and Rahab’s protection of the spies sent out by Moses make this clear. James 2:25 counts this as evidence of her justification.

The proper use of conversation is most vividly stated in Proverbs 11:30 - “He that wins souls is wise”.

His speech in this use makes him wise in God’s estimation, wise in his relationship with his neighbor, and wise in the fruit his speech produces.

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Reading through the 31 chapters of Proverbs each month can give us an understanding of how to serve God.

Proverbs 8:1-36

Personification – The attribution of personal form or character to inanimate objects or abstract ideas as endowed with personal attributes. (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary)

The English Standard Version has the following note in chapter 8, “In this majestic poem, wisdom is the supreme teacher who teaches on her own authority. The personification is most probably a poetic device to express most vividly the authority of wisdom.”

The caution of the author in this statement is evident. He knows he has departed from the great mass of conservative commentators beginning in the 4^th century. But his comments are correct and welcomed.

It seems this author (ESV) has failed to see the grand exaltation of wisdom in personification began in 7:4, found throughout chapter 8, and continued in chapter 9:1-6.

In 7:4, the relationship with wisdom is described as “my sister” and “your intimate friend.” The ESV notes about this description, “One should think of wisdom and understanding as one’s close relative.” Rather a more correct understanding would be “my sister” understood in the same sense it is used in Song of Solomon 4:9, 10, 12; 5:1. This committed relationship, as a husband to his wife, is the enduring protection wisdom furnishes against adultery.

⁹You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
¹⁰How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much better is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!
¹²A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
a spring locked, a fountain sealed.

¹I came to my garden, my sister, my bride,
I gathered my myrrh with my spice,
I ate my honeycomb with my honey,
I drank my wine with my milk.

In chapter 8 we find a personification of wisdom which identifies and exalts its great and enduring value, (8:10-11; 18:21). Chapter 8:21-31describes wisdom as an eternal attribute of God, (Vs 23).

All creation demonstrates this eternal wisdom.

²² "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
²³Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
²⁴When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
²⁵Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth,
²⁶before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
²⁸when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
²⁹when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
³⁰then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
³¹ rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.

This brings a three-fold conclusion: A. All creation has a reasonable explanation. B. Wisdom is directed to the wellbeing of creation. C. Wisdom is a communicable attribute.

It is here we can consider God’s eternal decree as it is revealed in His Word. This decree, as it is so beautifully stated in Romans chapters 8-10, is a pregnant commentary on Proverbs 8. As you read Proverbs 8, consider joyfully Romans 8:18.

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Reading through the 31 chapters of Proverbs each month can give us an understanding of how to serve God.

Proverbs 7:1-27

This chapter (7) completes the “My Son” section - cf Vss 7:1 and 7:24; and introduces the personification of Wisdom, which extends through chapter nine. Along with chapters five and six it is a specific instruction in the destructive consequences of illicit sexual gratification. The extended emphasis on this subject is a strong warning of the danger inherent to this sin against the Seventh Commandment.

In chapter five, instruction is given to provide for wisdom as the way to escape sexual uncleanness. Chapter 6: 20-35 is a specific warning against adultery in the classic sense. In chapter seven, the writer moves on to sexual seduction. As you read these three chapters be careful to note the characterization

of the one most often seduced is “the simple.”

Chapter seven presents ten facts about sexual seduction. Like the steps of grief, they might not be realized at the time but they are there.

1. Vs 5 Sexual seduction is based on dishonesty. It is a commitment that cannot be made and will not be kept.

⁵ That they may keep you from the immoral woman,
From the seductress who flatters with her words.

2. Vs 7 A commitment to illicit sexual gratification is ordinarily an early development. The “simple” is one easily seduced, or persuaded. He is without discernment in his conduct.

⁷ And saw among the simple,
I perceived among the youths,
A young man devoid of understanding

3. Vs 9 Sexual seduction ordinarily begins as a hidden affair. It is characterized by night and darkness.

⁹ In the twilight, in the evening,
In the black and dark night.

4. Vs 11 Sexual seduction is commonly bold in its’ presentation. The increasing gains by the sexual market should not surprise us.

¹¹ She was loud and rebellious,
Her feet would not stay at home.

5. Vs 14 Very often the presentation will have a religious front. The Temple of Diana had religious prostitutes, both male and female.

¹⁴ “ I have peace offerings with me;
Today I have paid my vows.

6. Vs 18 The commitment of this sin requires a determined act. It is a willing answer to a seductive invitation.

¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;
Let us delight ourselves with love.

7. Vs 19 The seductress blames others. If the husband had not gone away and left her alone she would not have had to do what she is doing.

¹⁹ For my husband is not at home;
He has gone on a long journey;

8. Vss 22-23 It always shows the bait and hides the hook. Broken homes and destroyed lives are not in the commercials or on the billboards.

²² Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
²³ Till an arrow struck his liver.
As a bird hastens to the snare,
He did not know it would cost his life.

9. Vss 24-25 The one sure escape is abstinence. From chapter 1:10 forward this has been the only sure escape. Repentance is presented as an option but it is never an option without a price. This sin is like a great gaping wound in a visible place. It is going to leave an ugly scar.

²⁴ Now therefore, listen to me, my children;
Pay attention to the words of my mouth:
²⁵ Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths;

10. Vss 26-27 Those seduced into illicit sexual gratification will always find it destructive. This in found in 5:9-14, 22-23; 6:32-35.

²⁶ For she has cast down many wounded,
And all who were slain by her were strong men.
²⁷ Her house is the way to hell,
Descending to the chambers of death.

Vss 6-9 might lead us to say, “wrong person, wrong place, wrong time”. But the woman is not his problem. His problem is that he is a fool and folly is but the fruit of his nature.

⁶ For at the window of my house
I looked through my lattice,
⁷ And saw among the simple,
I perceived among the youths,
A young man devoid of understanding,
⁸ Passing along the street near her corner;
And he took the path to her house
⁹ In the twilight, in the evening,
In the black and dark night.

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

“This Book of Proverbs is so called, because it consists of wise and weighty sentences: regulating the morals of men: and directing them to wisdom and virtue. And these sentences are also called PARABLES, because great truths are often couched in them under certain figures and similitudes.” quote

Reading through the 31 chapters of Proverbs monthly can give us an understanding of how to serve God.

Proverbs 6:16-19

¹⁶ These six things the LORD hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
¹⁷ A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸ A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
¹⁹ A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.

The Knowledge of God is declared clearly only in the Scriptures. Any understanding of God other that that revealed in His Word is idolatry. In this context, verses 16-19, a primary truth about the person of God is stated. There are some things God hates. The hatred of God here is at the least His determination not to bless, but to bring into judgment all that offends Him,

In this instance the writer names particular actions which, considered in the ones doing them, are offensive to God. The lesson that leaps out at us is the Law of God as the accuser of those identified.

There are four lessons in this descriptive warning.

1. God’s judgment extends as well to the motive as to the deed. Vss17a and 18.

2. Lying is twice mentioned and is doubly certain of judgment. Vss 17b and 19a.

3. Seven accusations are stated and three and a half are sins of the tongue. Vss 17b, 19a, 19b, and 18a will have to include the communication of the plan.

4. The intentional destroyer of good relationships bears a special disapproval and will warrant certain judgment. Vss 19b cf I Cor. 3:16-17

¹⁶ Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

¹⁷If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…Proverbs 5:1-23

The attention given by Biblical writers to illicit sexual gratification is nothing less than startling. In modern society it is so common that it is by many, if not most, dismissed as something personal and unimportant.

But in the Law of God it is the subject of one Commandment and is forbidden as motive or desire in another, cf Commandments 6 and 10. This in itself should draw our attention to the dire consequences of disobedience to the Law of God.

In Proverbs 5, the wise man writes of this fact and the dangers of illicit sexual gratification. This warning lies in the certainty of the presence of the temptation. This temptation is great for two reasons – first there is an internal appetite that the Apostle Paul describes as burning; second there is the attractiveness of the temptation and its’ promise to satisfy the craving it elicits.

The writer in chapter 5 begins by presenting the attraction of the temptation.

1. Vs 3a

³ For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey,

There is the promise of satisfaction of the craving that is like the palate for something sweet

2 Vs 3b

And her mouth is smoother than oil;

All intellectual curiosity and denial is overcome.

3. Vss 4-6

⁴ But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
⁵ Her feet go down to death,
Her steps lay hold of hell.
⁶ Lest you ponder her path of life—
Her ways are unstable;
You do not know them.

This is the way of darkness with certain stumbling.

The writer then lists the danger that comes with illicit sexual gratification. In a very certain sense these dangers have vivid illustration in our society. The means of prevention, complete disassociation, is stated and then is followed by the results that can be expected for the participant. They are not inevitable results, but when these results occur they should never surprise us.

Vs 9-10

⁹ Lest you give your honor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;
¹⁰ Lest aliens be filled with your wealth,
And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;

The first is stated in Vs 9, a loss of honor. Our former President is an obvious illustration of the last. Vs 10 notes a lack of strength. Bill Bennett in his book, A Century Turns, states one of the consequences of Clinton’s conduct was his weakness in his official capacity. His dishonor needs no comment. The second result is stated in Vs 10B. Both vocation and financial consequences can be and often are attached to this sin. Loss of jobs, loss of office, and financial ruin are common to our knowledge.

Vs 11

¹¹ And you mourn at last,
When your flesh and your body are consumed,

The third result is found in Vs 11. It is evident that the writer is speaking of a physical consequence. If we could deny that STDs have an ancient history, we could dismiss them here. But the fact of their presence is known from ancient times and their destructive nature has always been a part of their history.

As is common with the writers of Scriptures, he does not leave us without an undeniable relief from both the temptation and the forbidden sin which can follow. I

Vss 15-19

¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern,
And running water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,
Streams of water in the streets?
¹⁷ Let them be only your own,
And not for strangers with you.
¹⁸ Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
¹⁹ As a loving deer and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
And always be enraptured with her love.

In Vss 15-19, he describes a virtuous relationship. This is one man and one woman. Both the temptation and the dangerous results are escaped in this relationship. I Cor. 7:1-9 with Vs 9 from the ESV

“But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.