How to Live Life Well. Proverbs 1:1
If we are going to live skilful lives, which is what
the book of Proverbs is all about, then we have to develop that kind of
objectivity about our own lives so that we can evaluate our lives—our
thinking, our responses to circumstances and situations, our decisions—in
the light of the objective principles of GodÕs Word. While emotion is not wrong
it can easily distract us, and this is a problem that many Christians have. As
we look at the opening verses in Proverbs chapter one there is an emphasis on
intellectual activity, not emotional activity. We have to learn how to properly think, how to properly
study, and to properly learn.
Proverbs is a book about wisdom, which means to live
skilfully, to be able to live life well in terms of the decisions that we make
so that we can at the end of decades of life look back and say that we lived
well; we did not live in the midst of self-induced calamities and self-induced
misery. We may have gone through a lot of calamity, misery and adversity but it
wasnÕt because we were making wrong or foolish decisions. And because we live
on the basis of biblical wisdom in the midst of adversity we live well with joy
and happiness and stability. So Proverbs gives us these nutshell principles
throughout the book on how to live well—skilful living.
Whenever we study Scripture, whenever we study a
doctrine, we try to point out what the human viewpoint challenge to the
doctrine is, because we are going to run into it. If we are older it we are
going to run into it less than if we are younger, but just because we are older
and we are not going to be in a college classroom or an academic lecture of
some sort where the Word of God is attacked it doesnÕt let us off. Because we
have children and grandchildren that we can answer questions for and so we need
to understand that so we can have an impact in their lives and help them. We
will always find a human viewpoint challenge to truth, and there is a human
viewpoint challenge to Proverbs as the writings of Solomon, something uniquely
a divine revelation and uniquely the product of revelation through the Jewish
people.
The human viewpoint claim is that the Bible doesnÕt
really come from God, it is written by human beings and it reflects more about
the understanding of their time, and it reflects more about their culture and
the understanding of their time and those limitations rather than objective
truth. The human viewpoint claim is that the Bible reflects and imitates
previous writings, that the writers of Scripture were influenced by Hammurabi
in terms of his law code, in terms of certain wisdom sayings from Egypt, when
it comes to the creation the creation narrative in Genesis chapters one and two
didnÕt originate with Moses, the Hebrews were influenced by the Babylonian
creation epic, others would say no, they were influenced by various Egyptian
creation myths and legends. But the reality is that if we assume the Bible to
be true the creation and the story of the creation in Genesis 1-3 occurred before
any Babylonians, Egyptians, Israelites or Akkadians, and that story was known
and passed down through the generations to Noah and even after Noah. And in
human viewpoint cultures where there was the Òsuppression of truth in
unrighteousnessÓ (Romans 1) and these creation stories got distorted and
shifted, then what we find in these other creation stories is just a distorted,
pale reflection of the original true story of creation which was handed down
through the writings of the Old Testament. The priority is the actual
historical events by God, then the recording of that through the prophets of
the Old Testament and the distortion of it by the various human civilisations.
But the human viewpoint is that the Bible is a reflection of these other
legends, there is nothing original there; it is just a Hebrew creation myth.
The problem with these human viewpoint claims is that
it always puts human literature and experience prior to biblical revelation.
And this is what the human mind always does. Rather than letting experience be
governed and interpreted by revelation it always wants revelation to be
governed by experience. We see this in everything from mysticism to the
charismatic movement and speaking in tongues and evolution. All these things
put priority on human experience and interpretation of human experience, and
then that governs the interpretation of the Word. The divine viewpoint answer
is that the Bible comes first and that all of these other things come second.
Even the best of the best Bible scholars slip now and
then. The pressure is on us always to not march too much to the beat of a
different drum, and even amongst some of the best Bible scholars they slip on
these things. Here is a quote from An Introduction to the Old Testament by Charles
Dyer and Eugene Merrill. They give too much credibility to the human viewpoint
claim on the authorship of Proverbs. The human viewpoint claim is that Solomon
wrote Proverbs after an Egyptian book known as The Wisdom of Amenemope and that he
really reflects and is influenced by wisdom literature from other cultures.
What that does is minimize and dilute the power of the objective truth that is
in the Word of God.
They say in their introduction:
ÒMost scholars know this, and many have
gone beyond this observation to draw attention to similarities perceived to
exist between this composition (Proverbs) and an Egyptian wisdom text known as The Wisdom of
Amememope, written around 1200 BC. The two works have a number of common
themes and expressionsÉ. The book of Proverbs may have borrowed and adapted
some of these sayings of Amememope.Ó
The problem: They ought to presuppositionally say, no
that is not the way it happened and then argue from there. In answer to their
view they just give a little too much ground to the other side. Gleeson Archer
who was the head of the Old Testament department at Trinity Evangelical
Divinity School for many years pointed out four things about this. First of
all, AmenemopeÕs Egyptian text has a large proportion of Semitism, i.e. a
saying that reflects the way Hebrew writing would have been done. So Archer
observes that this Egyptian text has a lot of Semitisms in it, which reflects
that it is borrowing from a Hebrew original, not the other way around. Secondly,
he points out that a large number of unknown or garbled Egyptian words can only
be explained if they were first borrowed from a previous Hebrew text. Third, he
points out that there are numerous cases where the Egyptian translator
misunderstood the corresponding Hebrew word. His assumption we think is the
correct one, that the writer of this Egyptian text borrowed from Solomon or
from a Hebrew original later recorded by Solomon, and when they translated it
they didnÕt understand the Hebrew word so they made a guess which didnÕt make
sense. So when you try to reconstruct the original you can construct and
clarify the Egyptian text only if you have a Hebrew original to go back to. The
other way around there is no way to clarify the Egyptian text if that was the
original one. Fourth, he pints out that in terms of similarity one third of the
material between Proverbs 22-24 shows any similarity at all to the text of
Amenemope.
Having said that, what this clarifies for us is that
constantly pagans those who are hostile to the truth are shooting down
Scripture, and it sounds so academic and arrogant. But when you really get down
to men like Archer and many others in the conservative evangelical camp who can
read all the languages, they go and investigate and discover they are making
mountains out of mole hills and there is really no evidence. But this is the
kind of stuff that some professor will throw out to confuse all the
evangelicals in his classroom. This is a typical approach today. Many
professors at secular schools make it a point in the first year to destroy the
evangelical faith of their students within the first four weeks of school.
ArcherÕs conclusion is that Egyptian text drew most of
its material from a prior Hebrew text. The Bible is always first.
Solomon wrote down most of this material, it didnÕt
necessarily originate with him, but God gave him a special gift of wisdom and
he wrote over three thousand proverbs. Much of that wisdom already existed in
Hebrew poetry.
Proverbs is a tremendous book for teaching us how to
solve problems. Most of us have problems in solving problems. First of all, we
donÕt want to admit that they are even there and so we ignore the problem and
hope that it will go away. Often what is seen in counselling is people who just
avoided something for so long that now they have a major mess. Second, they
canÕt ignore it any longer and now they have to address it, but they only want
to address it in a minimal way because they really donÕt want to get all that
nasty dirt out in the open and actually have to think about it. Thirdly, they
do try with some degree of honesty to face it but it is just so overwhelming,
sometimes embarrassing, so that they just give up. And then the person who is
really interested in pursuing spiritual maturity and skilful living is going to
honestly face the problem and then address it with the Word of God.
Proverbs 1:1 NASB ÒThe
proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel.Ó This is the title. And
then we have a series of purpose clauses: [2] ÒTo know wisdom and instruction,
To discern the sayings of understanding, [3] To receive instruction in wise
behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; [4] To give prudence to the naive,
To the youth knowledge and discretion.Ó
Then verse 5 totally breaks that
pattern. ÒA wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of
understanding will acquire wise counsel.Ó
Then we come to verse 6, which returns
to the formula expressing the purpose clauses: ÒTo understand a proverb and a
figure, The words of the wise and their riddles.Ó
So there are five infinitives in the
English. These are infinitives of purpose to reflect the purpose structure of
the Hebrew. Then there is a declarative statement in verse 5 and then a return
to the purpose clause. Usually a purpose clause follows the main verb. It is
rare to start with the purpose, and then you donÕt get the main verb for three
verses. But that is exactly how this begins. Throwing the five purpose clauses
ahead of the main sentence was to grab a personÕs attention to focus on the
purpose—not on the verbs per se but on the purpose. The main clause is
really what we find in verse 5. The main thought comes in verse 5; it is
talking about a wise person. There is an embedded challenge there: Do you want
to be wise? Or do you want to be a fool?
What we will find all the way through
Proverbs is this contrast between wise and foolish. And as we get into the
development of the last part of chapter one and on into chapter two we find
that there is a contrast between two different Òways.Ó One word is usually
translated ÒwayÓ and another word translated Òpaths.Ó Where do you walk? We
walk on a path, down a way. So there is a contrast embedded there between which
way, which path we are going to walk on. Proverbs 2:7 NASB ÒHe
stores up sound wisdom for the upright; {He is} a shield to those who walk in
integrity.Ó [8] ÒGuarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His
godly ones.Ó So justice and the way of His godly ones [saints] is one path. [9]
ÒThen you will discern righteousness and justice And equity {and} every good
course [path].Ó
So the question that is embedded
throughout Proverbs is: What path are you on? What way are you following? There
are two options. Modern thinking is, well thatÕs just the black and white
thinking of the Bible; thatÕs just antiquated. But theyÕve been saying that
behind academic college doors for years, and now we are getting celebrities and
newscasters saying this and it is not going to be long before a lot of people join
the chorus. Those who believe in the Bible are going to be even more
Òprimitive, antediluvian and out of dateÓ. Now the Bible has become
Òirrelevant,Ó not because has become irrelevant but people become irrelevant
toward God and are on their own path and following their own way; they donÕt
want anything to do with God.
The focus of the introduction is to
grab our attention as we begin a study of this book and asking the question: Do
we want to be wise? Do we want to have a skilful life? Do we want to live well?
When it is all over with and we are absent from the body and face to face with
the Lord do we want to look back on a life that has been lived well, that has
been lived skillfully? It takes time develop skill in any endeavor, but
especially in the realm of life. So we have this statement: ÒA wise man will
hear and increase in learning.Ó
The book of James is an integrated
whole around the idea that we need to learn how to be slow to speak, slow to anger
and quick to hear. Hearing is important because in Hebrew it is not just
academic learning or getting your auditory nerves stimulated, it is hearing in
order to accomplish what you have heard, in order to practice what you have
learned. That is the idea throughout the Old Testament in the Hebrew. Hearing
is to listen and do. So a wise man will hear and increase in learning because
he will improve his application.
ÒÉAnd a man of understanding will
acquire wise counsel.Ó A wise man is parallel to a man of understanding. Wisdom
as we have seen is a word that indicates skilful application. What precedes
skilful application is understanding. First you have to learn something. Then
as you learn it, get the facts and practice it you develop what we call discernment.
Discernment is the ability to make a wise choice between things. The Hebrew
word for understanding is bin, and bin is making a decision between. So it is not just the idea of
understanding something but discerning what the issues are so we can make a
wise choice between two options. It is a very practical concept. This is what
we see in the second verse—Òto know wisdom.Ó That is the ultimate goal,
that is why it is stated first—Òwisdom and instruction.Ó To get there we
have to have musar.
It is a disciplined, rigorous education involving correction and rebuke. So we
are to know wisdom and a rigorous, disciplined instruction in order to perceive
the words, the message of understanding. That is very practical: to be able to
make wise decisions in the midst of what may appear to be a complicated life.
Deuteronomy 11:2 NASB ÒKnow
this day that I {am} not {speaking} with your sons who have not known and who
have not seen the discipline [musar-chastening] of the LORD your God ÉÓ It is not just instruction but it includes a
punishment idea to help conform the individual to obedience. We see this same
verse ÒchasteningÓ in Isaiah 53: that the Messiah was to be the chastisement
for our peace. It includes that idea of punishment or discipline.
Jeremiah 3:30 NASB ÒIn vain
I have struck [chastened] your sons; They accepted no chasteningÉÓ The divine
discipline on Israel.
Jeremiah 5:3 NASB ÒO LORD,
do not Your eyes {look} for truth? You have smitten them, {But} they did not
weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to take correctionÉÓ The wise
person receives correction, responds positively to discipline and is
straightened out. ÒÉ They have made their faces harder than rock; They have
refused to repent.Ó The issue is that often when we are disobedient, if we
donÕt respond to the instruction of the word God is going to bring out the
belt, as it were.
Jeremiah 7:28 NASB ÒYou
shall say to them, ÔThis is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD
their God or accept correction ÉÓ The end result of that is just a boat load of
misery and self-induced calamity in life.
This is the same word that we find in
Proverbs 3:11, 12 NASB ÒMy son, do not reject the discipline
[chastening] of the LORD or loathe His reproof, For whom the LORD
loves He reproves, Even as a father {corrects} the son in whom he delights.Ó
The principle behind the law in the Old
Testament. Deuteronomy 4:6 NASB ÒSo keep and do {them,} for
that is your wisdom and your understanding ÉÓ It is the Word of God that is the
source for wisdom and understanding (discernment), because that is what gives
ability to think clearly and objectively an issue. The Bible doesnÕt tell you
how to make every decision in life. It is going to give you the framework so that
as you face decisions you can take the principles of the instruction of the
Word and then apply them is a skilful way. That leads to discernment, to
wisdom, to skilful living.
So as we look at the text. Proverbs 1:3
ÒTo receive instruction in wise behaviorÓ—how to live skillfully. This
results in three things: NKJV ÒÉ Justice, judgment and equity.Ó The
word ÒjusticeÓ is the Hebrew word tsedek and it has to do with doing things
according to an objective standard of right and wrong, and objective standard
related to the objective revelation of God; that which conforms to
righteousness. So the result of receiving the instruction, the teaching of
wisdom, is that we develop ÒjusticeÓ or righteousness. ÒjudgmentÓ is mishpat which
is the application of the objective principle of right and wrong to situations
in life. The word ÒequityÓ is a word that is designed to give objective
standards to everyone. So they are treated the same way under this objective
standard. It has the idea of equal treatment before an objective standard of
right and wrong; it has the idea of integrity. As we receive the disciplined
instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment and integrity it builds character
based upon an absolute objective standard of right and wrong. Integrity isnÕt
something that just happens. You have to first have this understanding of right
and wrong and its application. When that is applied to the individual that
develops character of integrity.
Proverbs 1:4 NASB ÒTo give
prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion.Ó The word Òna•veÓ
is not quite right. It is the Hebrew word pethi which means something that is open. It is
a little more than just being na•ve or simply inexperienced, although that is
possible, it also has the idea of being open-minded. Some people can be so
open-minded that they just suck in all of the bad ideas of human viewpoint and
are no good to anybody, and it just destroys their life. We often here people
say we need to be more open-minded, and what they mean is you need to just open
your mind to all of the garbage of the world and then youÕll be like everybody
else; you are just out of step because you are following the objective
standards of the Word of God. So the Bible treats the open-minded person as the
one who is simple.
Verse 5 gives the main thought: to be a
wise person. A wise person listens in order to learn, and to apply the Word in
their life. That becomes a priority. As such they come to understand reality as
it is and to attain wisdom and skill at living.
Proverbs 1:6 NASB ÒTo
understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles.Ó A
proverb is designed to be meditated upon, to stop and really think about it and
all that comprises it, because it is a distillation of a lot of things into a
short pithy, memorable statement. It takes time to think it through, to
understand the comparisons and the nuances and the words. It sometimes seems to
be a little bit puzzling. There are some that we will read where it seems a
little bit contradictory or a little superficial and we just havenÕt spent
enough time thinking about them and probing their meaning. We have to learn a
lot to probe these things.
Verse 7 gives us the foundational
principle for all of the Proverbs, and that is the fear of the Lord. NASB
ÒThe fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and
instruction.Ó The fear of the Lord is positive. This is not just reverence or
respect, it is the idea of a child who had been sassy, been in a bad mood, had
not shown proper respect for his mother, or had done something that was worthy
of discipline, if it was really bad then the message was: Just wait until your
father gets home. It is more than respect, it is a sense of fear of the
consequences of wrong action. Because the Lord canÕt be fooled; the Lord knows
everything, and we need to treat Him with respect. That is the starting point
of knowledge.
That is the idea here. The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge. In this verse it uses a word that is
similar to the first word in Genesis chapter one: Òin the beginning.Ó It is the
basic noun there and it has the idea of priority of time. There are other
places in the Scripture that use a different Hebrew word which indicates
priority in terms of its role within the learning process. Here it is a
priority of time: that before we can really learn we have to submit to the
authority of God. It is humility. We have to recognize that we donÕt know it,
God does, and we need to learn and submit to His authority. If you come to the
Scripture with an attitude of arrogance—that you already know it all,
that you have life by the handle and that you donÕt really need to learn this
and to be in church every Sunday or go to Bible class during the week because
you have life under control—that is arrogance and you are on the way, as
Proverbs teaches, to your own fall and collapse. If you really want to learn
and be successful in living—not in business, not in academics, but in the
process of living well—you have to start with humility and submission to
the authority of God.
And if you donÕt, the Bible says you
are a fool. Because what makes you a fool is that you despise wisdom and the
instruction of God. You may not say you despise the wisdom and instruction of
God but if you are not making the study of GodÕs Word a priority in your life
and are not focused on that at least seven or eight hours a week, then by your
actions you are despising the instruction of the Lord; you are not giving it a
high enough priority.
The question is: Do you want to live
life skillfully and be wise? Or do you want to be a fool and make a lot of
mistakes and introduce a lot of misery because you make bad decisions into your
own life. The choice is yours.