Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Today we dug back into the wisdom of Solomon, and as usual, he covers a lot of ground. So I'm just going to touch on a few things that stood out to me or that have the potential to be confusing.
Chapter 25 encourages us not to be presumptuous in relationships with others, and it covers a variety of relationships. First, we shouldn't elevate our level of importance with others. Wisdom helps us stay low. And in the same way that wisdom doesn't esteem itself, wisdom also doesn't degrade others or their motives when it doesn't know the whole story. That requires humility, too. And patience.
Verses 9-10 encourage us in wise behavior when we have a problem with someone else. The passage reminds us that we should talk about our problems with the person we have the problem with, not everyone else. That requires humility and patience too. And verse 15 tells us what great power the humble, patient tongue can wield. It says, "...with patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone." Patience and humility have a more powerful impact than being forceful and arrogant.
Much of the rest of the proverb offers wisdom on self-control and how that ties into humility. It urges self-control in everything from how much we eat, in verse 16, to how often we visit our neighbor, in verse 17. The general theme is that too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Self-control also guides us in seemingly minor areas like what words we say to a grieving person or how we treat our enemies.
In verse 24, we have a proverb that's similar to two others we've read before. It says,
The other verses we read said it's better to live in the desert or that this woman is like a constant dripping. Solomon had a lot of wives, so he probably had his fair share or his unfair share of quarrelsome wives. He knows of which he speaks. And again, this passage could be applied to either gender. But Solomon rightly assumed that most of his readers in that day would be male. Regardless your gender, it takes a lot of self-control not to be quarrelsome.
And the chapter ends with a very clear statement on self-control. A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. A city without walls can be overtaken by any enemy. It doesn't have to be a powerful one. Solomon continues in Proverbs 26. He describes the foolish man as being wasteful and worthless. In verses 4 and 5, we hit one of those sections that can be confusing because the two verses seem to contradict themselves. They say,
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
This is a good place to reiterate that Proverbs is not a book of biblical laws. It's a book of general principles for wise living. Some situations call for one type of wisdom and some for another type of wisdom. We should take them both together because they complement each other. There will be times when a fool needs to be corrected and there will be times when correcting a fool will be a waste of your time and breath because he won't receive it.
We have to have discernment to know which situation applies. This is a good example of how knowledge and understanding work together with wisdom. The foolish man, on the other hand, may speak words of wisdom, but if you watch their lives, they never grow or change accordingly. They don't retain lessons. They make the same mistakes repeatedly, but they're not humble enough to care. Verse 12 says, "'Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.'"
This verse is basically saying, arrogance is worse than stupidity. As the chapter wraps up, Solomon reminds us again of the power and importance of our words. Gossip and slander and even flattery can be wicked. Verse 28 says, a lying tongue hates its victims and a flattering mouth works ruin. Yikes. Today, my God shot came from 25 too. It says, it is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings to search things out.
Sometimes God is more glorified in mystery than in revealing everything. And sometimes the only reason we seek answers is because we're proud or impatient or just don't want to have to trust God. The leaders among men are supposed to have all the answers, but the ultimate leader of all mankind is the only one who truly does. And sometimes he just isn't telling. This is definitely humbling to us, but it's glorifying to God.
And anytime he conceals things from us, we can rest assured that it's ultimately in our best interest. He doesn't play hide and seek with anything we need to know to obey him. He's not cruel. He's intentional with all those details and with his timing in revealing them. He knows what we need to know. And he's where the joy is. ♪
Okay, Bible readers, it's time for our weekly check-in. How are you doing? What have you learned so far? If you're behind, don't beat yourself up about it. You are probably reading more of the Bible than you would on your own. Think about what you've learned so far. Reflect on what you've seen about God that you hadn't seen before you started this process 169 days ago. Lean into these things. Ask Him to grant you an increasing desire to know Him more. Okay, we'll see you back here tomorrow.