Proverbs: Part 2
Wise Sayings
As we progress in our study of the book of Proverbs, we now come to the second half of this book where we now see more ancient sayings as opposed to poems. If you can recall our last post, you would remember how the introduction discussed how Solomon wrote down many of these proverbs because he was the wisest man to ever walk the earth. Then shortly after this introduction, we were introduced to two vital characters that Solomon used to describe wisdom, the father instructing his son and Lady wisdom. Both of these people were used to pass down knowledge and wisdom from a father figure and from God Himself. And this is where the bridge to the second half of this book takes place. Chapters 10-29 cover many sayings about wisdom and wise counsel while 30-31 conclude with the wisdom from two more specific characters. With these sections of proverbs being more of a collection of sayings and not poems, most of what we read will be more practical in its application. As Robert Rothwell says, “The Proverbs of Solomon stand out as the place to find wisdom, and so it will profit us to look at how we can properly understand and apply this book’s teaching.” With this in mind, let’s see what the second half of this book has to offer us.
A Common Theme
To begin, let’s take a look at chapters 10-29. If you have a physical bible with you right now, I would encourage you to turn to Proverbs 10 and tell me what heading you see. If your bible is the same version as mine, you would see a heading that states, ‘Contrast of the Righteous and the Wicked’. Now I want you to tell me what the heading of the next chapter is. Don’t see one do you? That’s because this heading stays relevant all the way through chapter 18. A vast majority of these wise sayings in the later part of this book discuss the difference between those who are righteous and those who are wicked. Now you might be thinking that this is a bit extreme since this is only one topic being discussed for 9 straight chapters, but I want to remind you who the author is here. Solomon. The wisest man to walk this earth besides Jesus Himself thinks it is this important to understand the difference between those who are righteous and those who are wicked. Knowing this, I think I’m going to do my due diligence to really pay attention to this instruction regardless of what I might think of its length. Maybe one of the biggest reasons Solomon focuses in on this point is because of what Proverbs 11:21 has to say. “Be assured, the evil person will not go unpunished, But the descendants of the righteous will be rescued.” It is unmistakably clear which group between the righteous and the wicked belongs to God. The righteous will be rescued by God while the wicked will perish. Those who belong to the Lord will walk in a manner of a righteous person while those who don’t belong to the Lord will continue to follow their own devices to the grave. This is why Solomon is so keen on this issue and dives into this topic at great length. Look at how Proverbs 16:5-6 talks about this issue. “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Be assured, he will not go unpunished. By mercy and truth atonement is made for wrongdoing, And by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil.” By God’s mercy and the truth of His gospel, those who fear the Lord have their sins atoned for. How great of a passage is this? What a beautiful reminder that the only reason we can ever be considered righteous is because God was merciful enough to make a way for us to be righteous through Jesus Christ.
The Close
So this is what chapters 10-18 have to say, but what does 19-29 say? If you look at the title of chapter 19, you get a solid answer as to what the rest of these chapters entail. Chapter 19 in the LSB is titled ‘The Counsel of Yahweh Will Stand’. In other words, God is still sovereign over all. There is nothing that can escape the hand of God. There aren’t enough wicked people on earth that could ever thwart His plan or destroy the gospel. God has been and always will be providential over all of His creation. This is why Proverbs 19:21 states, “Many plans are in a person’s heart, But the advice of the LORD will stand.” No matter what you may plan or what a wicked person may plan, it is the counsel and advice of the Lord that will stand forever. We don’t need to worry about the lies of the enemy reigning over this earth forever. God’s truth will one day be made known to all, despite how hard Satan and the wicked try and stop it. This all leads us to the final 2 chapters of Proverbs, 30-31. In this section, we have a man named Agur and a mother of a king. As The Bible Project puts it, “Agur begins by acknowledging his ignorance and folly as well as his great need for God’s wisdom. He then discovers that divine wisdom has been given to him through the Scriptures.”
This is a beautiful realization by a man who has acknowledged his wrongs and sought after the truth in God Himself. We can see this take place in Proverbs 30:2-3 where Agur says “I am certainly more stupid than any man, And I do not have the understanding of a man; Nor have I learned wisdom, Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.” Agur noticed what we all must notice. That is without God, there is no wisdom that we can find. Furthermore, the mother of this king concludes this book by referring us back to the beginning of this book with lady wisdom. This mother informs her son of what type of lady he should search for and informs young ladies of who they should aspire to be. Proverbs 31:30 tells us “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.” This is how this great book ends. With a great example of how a man should humbly live and a beautiful description of how a righteous lady must fear the Lord. I hope and pray that as you read this great book of wisdom, you are filled with knowledge and hope to live righteously for the Lord in all that you do.
Sources
[1] Blue Letter Bible. (n.d.). Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/
[2] BibleProject. (2024a, August 8). Guide to the Book of Proverbs. BibleProject. https://bibleproject.com/guides/book-of-proverbs/
[3] The Proverbs by Robert Rothwell. (n.d.). Ligonier Ministries. https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/proverbs
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