Proverbs Study

1:5 “let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance--” Verse five is very important, first because it helps us avoid a potential error. In verse four we saw that the book of Proverbs helps the “simple”, (the inexperienced yet teachable) person gain “incisiveness, knowledge, and discretion”. But that’s not the only person who can benefit from the study of Proverbs.

Verse five, tells us that Proverbs can also benefit he “wise”. That is one who has already attained knowledge and a measure of wisdom. Notice it says they will “listen and add to their learning”. Again Proverbs is for everybody. Never get to the place where you think you’ve arrived – where you think that you have all the answers – if you do remember, that doesn’t make you “wise”, it makes you a “fool”.

I’ve met pastors like that. I have had people in churches I’ve pastured like that. I have had several who believed it – only a couple who has actually said it. I had one woman that told me, “There’s nothing you can teach me”. Well then I guess there’s nothing that God can teach her either, because what I teach I teach from God’s Word. We can all learn from God’s Word no matter how old, or mature, or wise we are. And that’s what we’re talking about here.

The word “learning” used here refers to knowledge that has been handed down and probably means this book of wisdom. In other words, Solomon says, “You who are wise, add the teachings of this book to the experience that you already have and you will be wiser still.

Now the second part of this verse says, “and let the discerning get guidance”. Instead of “discerning” the KJV says, “understanding” and is similar to the “understanding” found in verse 2. There you remember it spoke of the ability to make right choices, to read between the lines, and specifically to discern God’s will or God’s plan.

Back in verse two we didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with “understanding” because it was placed along another similar word, and was used primarily for emphasis. But here it stands alone so I want to take some time and deal with a little more.

“Understanding” means generally, to be intelligent, and yet in the biblical context, it is not intelligence as the world sees it.

What does the scripture say about understanding?

Well first, only a believer can possess genuine understanding of life and the world because of the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit.

Daniel 12:10 “Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.”

The natural man does not possess “understanding”. It can’t be learned by unbelievers because of its spiritual nature. A text that we have looked at many times before about this very thing is I Cor. 2:14. “The man without the Spirit, (KJV “the natural man”), does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

This is the reason why an unbeliever can’t understand the Bible. To him its foolishness and it would seem equally foolish to an unsaved man that the world situation... is part of a divine plan.

So if “understanding” is not secular knowledge and is acquired through worldly instruction where does it come from? Job 32:8 “But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding”

Since God is the author of the plan, He is also the author of understanding. What better instructor for a new invention than the engineer who invented it? Luke 24:45 “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”

Ok if God possess understanding, how do I get it? In Daniel 9, Daniel who along with the rest of the nation of Judah, wanted to know if there would be an end to their captivity. But how could he know the will of God, the mind of God, the plan of God in the matter?

Daniel 9:2“in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.”

Now notice what Daniel read. Jeremiah 25:11 “This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” Daniel understood from scripture that their captivity would last for 70 years.

Here’s the point. “Understanding” comes from the scripture. My pastor used to say, “Put a child of God in a dungeon with a Bible and a candle and he’ll know more about what’s going on in the world than a lost man who reads the news paper every day.”

Psalm 119:104 “I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.” What was it we said “understanding” is? The ability to make right choices, to avoid wrong life decisions… Where did the psalmist say he learned to do that? “from your precepts” that is, from the Bible, the Word of God.

Now what are some other reasons for seeking to gain understanding? How else can it help me? Look at Proverbs 14:29 “A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly.”

The book of James, which as been called the Proverbs of the New Testament says, “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” James 1:19-20.

One of the characteristics of God is that He is “slow to anger”. That phrase is used of God nine times in scripture. James tells us that it is a character, which we as believers are to emulate. And Proverbs tells us that understanding helps us avoid being quick tempered. Now we’ll talk more about that when we get to chapter 14.

But not only does understanding help us be patient and slow to anger – look at Proverbs 16:22. (KJV) “Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly.”

Do you want to have joy and fulfillment in your life? Then gain understanding.

Now why is that true? Because a Christian with “understanding” sees the world from a different perspective. I remember when I was lost, before I became a Christian. I used to be frustrated with so many unanswered questions. (It’s the proverbial [pardon the pun] question – “What is the meaning of life”?) The world wants to know, but they are looking in all the wrong places and even when we try to tell most of them they reject it.

But I know the answer. Now I see the world from a different perspective. Now I “understand”:
Where I came from, where I’m going and why I’m here.
Where the evil in the world came from.
Why there’s no peace in the Middle East.
Why the earth has so much beauty when all the other planets are barren.
Why men and women don’t have peace.
And I could go on but you get the point, I hope and besides, we’re going to see this again in the next verse.

Proverbs 1:6 closes this section on the purpose for the book of Proverbs with a summary of what we’ve learned. There’s a wide range of popular translations of this verse so let me give you three of them.

(NIV) “for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.”
(KJV) “To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.”
(NASB) “To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles.”

Again, Solomon, inspired by the Holy Spirit believed that the student of his writing would developed the ability to see life from a different point of view. (Really an eternal perspective.) That he/she would be able to grasp its significance. That they/we would have the ability to understand life’s enigmas – riddles - difficult problems and issues. All of those things we’ve already identified. This practical, everyday issues of life.

Now – That doesn’t mean God is going to speak to you audibly and tell you how much to put in the Annie Armstrong offering. But God’s word teaches us principles of stewardship that help us figure that out.

Or how much time to spend with our kids or grand kids, or for what offense we should spank them (And it does teach us to spank them.) and for what we should put them in time out. But it teaches us principles of family responsibility and child discipline.

Or where I should go and apply for a job today, or how many hours a day I should work, or how I should address my employer/employees, but it does teach us a work ethic and responsibility to work and it teaches us principles of employee/employer relationships.

Here’s a principle that I want you to remember. But don’t worry, because you’ll here it again because it is very important to understanding how to study and interpret scripture and how to apply it to our lives. The Bible is not a book of minute rules and regulations. The Bible is a book of Principles. That’s important.

First because rules and regulations are bound by time and culture and circumstances. If the Bible said for instance, “It’s God’s will for you to vote”. The people in the first century would not understand that because there was no such thing as a democracy in which the people had a voice. Now I believe for us in this place and at this time, it is God’s will for us to vote. How do I know that? Because of the principles of God’s Word that teach us how we are to relate to our government. Jesus said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s” The Vote is something that belongs to “Caesar”, which is a reference to civil government.

Romans 13:1 “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

I Pet. 2:13 “Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.”

Another reason it’s important to understand that the Bible is not just a book of minute rules and laws, but of principles is because you can always find a loophole in a law. That’s why there are lawyers.

If the Bible said, “You must fast 3 days a week”. Some people would fast during the day and eat at night. See what I’m saying. There are no loopholes in principles. It’s the difference between what we call the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. And we’ll talk more about that another time.

But the Bible is a book of eternal principles upon which we are to build our lives, and Solomon tells that if we read God’s Word, and learn these principles, we will be able to find the answers to the enigmas of life.

Proverbs Study

The next purposes of the book of Proverbs we find in verse :4 “for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young”

Now the first one listed here is “for giving prudence to the simple” The King James says “subtlety to the simple,” but “prudence” is better and is reflected in most newer translations.

There is an interesting contrast here. In verse :3 we saw the “wisdom” there means decisiveness. This word refers to “incisiveness”. That’s from the word “incision” which means to make a cut, and that is appropriate because this is a person we might refer to as being “sharp”.

You see someone who encounters an emergency situation for instance and they know exactly what to do, and you say, “That guy is sharp”. That’s what we see here, except with a slightly different twist. It is used of being prudent toward evil.

In scripture we are told different ways to handle sin and temptation depending on the situation. In Matt. 4 we are taught to confront it with scripture. In James 4:7 we are told to resist it. In I Tim. 6:11 we are told to flee from it. Here is a man who knows how to handle evil. These proverbs “will help us avoid crafty and devious people”.

Now we are told that this is to be given to the “simple”. This is an important person in Proverbs. Or rather it’s important for you to understand who this is talking about. It comes from the word “pethi” which means, “open minded”. Now we’ve all heard people talk about how we need to be open minded. And that’s true. But you have to be careful because it’s possible to be so open minded that your brains fall out. That’s the picture here.

The NASB translates this word “naïve”. Now let me show you an important difference between two people who may at first look alike. This “simple” man/woman is a person who is inexperienced, yet teachable. Now there is another kind of person that we will meet in this Proverbs who is inexperienced but who is not teachable. This kind of person is called a “fool”. 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

The person we meet here in verse :4 is inexperienced and unlearned, but he/she is open to being influenced. The problem is that they are open to being influenced by both good and evil.

Now this is the reason why it is important to disciple new believers, to teach them the truth. Someone has said, “Not to teach good is to expose those who are inexperienced to the world of evil.” And that’s true – evil, bad theology, moral corruption… When a person gets saved, the devil loses a soul, but he will do everything he can to draw them away from truth and into error. But through instruction, the “inexperienced” can become the “incisive”.

The next phrase we see in verse :4 and the next purpose of the book, is to give “knowledge and discretion to the young”.

Now “knowledge” we’ve seen. It refers to accumulated facts, which are important, but knowledge alone, knowledge with nothing to balance it is dangerous. I Cor. 8:1 tells us that unbalanced knowledge causes arrogance. And it does. You know that. You’ve seen it.

Now there’s nothing wrong with being intelligent. There’s nothing wrong with being educated. I tell young people all the time, “You should get all the education you can”. But knowledge alone is not enough and if that’s all you have, you will end up being a fool, because you think you know it all and will become unteachable.

So knowledge must be balanced, but by what? :4 “discretion”.
Ok what is “discretion”? “Discretion” is “good judgment”, “discernment”, “the power of discrimination” – That is the ability to recognize the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. But as a Christian it goes to an even finer distinction than that. – Sometimes as Christians, the choices we make are not between good and evil, it’s between good and best. Should I do this good thing, or would it be better to do that good thing.

So “discretion” is the ability to chart your own course by making careful distinctions. Actually the word used here is a naval term that means to know where the shoals or shallow places lie and plotting a course to avoid them.

This is where we too often make a mistake and I’m glad God placed this here in the introduction to the book, because we need to know this up front. Yes the book of Proverbs teaches us Wisdom and other principles that enable us to solve life’s problems and to correct mistakes. BUT if we didn’t make the mistakes in the first place we wouldn’t have to solve them – right?

You see too often we spend all our time trying to solve problems instead of avoiding them. I have people come to my office and call me all the time to talk to me about how to solve their problems. But very seldom do I have people come and talk to me about how they can avoid the problems in the first place. And even when I teach it, as you can see by looking around, not many come to learn it.

Where are the shallow places in my marriage, and my lifestyle? Where are the pitfalls in my parenting…? Where are the rocks in my relationships…?

And not only identifying where those shoals are but how do I sail between them? How do I avoid problems with my money, with my marriage, with my children…?

Many start but few finish, because a lot of Christians, especially young Christians end up getting stuck on a spiritual gravel bar or run into some submerged snag and get pulled under and never get out.

Solomon says we can steer clear of those obstacles, and it is the purpose of the book of Proverbs to teach us how.

Proverbs Study

Proverbs 1:3 gives us the next components in the purpose of Proverbs.

The NIV says, “for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair;”

The King James probably provides the better translation in this instance. “To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;”

Now first notice it says, “to receive”. That’s important. Because, (I’ve alluded to this, but I haven’t actually stated it.), No one has wisdom by nature. We’ve already seen that it comes either by experience - (Someone has said, if we ignore the past we condemn ourselves to repeat its mistakes.)

Or we get it through the study of scripture, and especially the book of Proverbs. Either way, it is something we receive as a gift, but it’s not something we’re born with.

Ok what is it we receive? "Instruction”. Now that’s the same word we saw in verse :2 – but instruction in what? Notice four things.

1. “Wisdom” Now this is slightly different from the wisdom in verse :2 (chokma) (which is the ability to use knowledge to solve life problems). This is (saw-kal') which might be better translated, “Wise dealing”. This is active wisdom. See you can have wisdom but not use it. This word implies action. It’s wisdom put into practice. It’s like common sense in decision-making. Maybe the best word to describe this attribute would be “decisiveness”. Here’s person who doesn’t second guess his decisions. That’s what this is. Proverbs teach us to be decisive.

2. “justice” Better “righteousness”. Now remember that there are two kinds of righteousness. We’ve discussed this before. There is positional righteousness that we receive by faith in Christ. It is when He takes our sin and gives us his position of righteousness with God. The second kind of righteousness is personal righteousness, or righteous acts. That’s what is being described here.

This is personal conduct that conforms to a relationship. Here the relationship is to the covenant law of God. So this righteousness refers to active obedience to the law. (Of course this was written during the Old Testament period when the only written part of the Bible they had was the law.) So for us this word would mean, active obedience to the Word of God – the Bible.

Notice it is “active” obedience. Not just knowledge of the Word. Not just an understanding of it. Romans 2:13 says, “For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.”

Its God’s will for us to know the Word of God, but we must also act upon that knowledge.

3. “judgment” Now like “rightousness” is a better translation of the last word than“justice”, here, “justice” is probably a better translation than “judgement”.

“Righteousness” has to do with our relationship to God. “Justice” has to do with our relationship to man. And this word has to do not only with our conduct in obedience to God, but our conduct with respect to others. Our moral behavior. This is, “How to maintain an upright posture in a fallen world”. (I don’t remember who said that. – I wish I had.)

There is much in Proverbs about guarding our morality. And it centers on the existence of absolutes. There is such a thing as good and evil right and wrong. It is based on a divinely established moral order.

4. “equity” “Equity” means “straight, level or even”. This is a word that still even in modern English carries a similar meaning, even though it has shifted somewhat even in the last few decades. Let me give you and illustration. If someone is a criminal, one colloquialism we use of such a person is a “crook” or we say they are “crooked”.

30 years ago if a person didn’t drink or use drugs he was said to be “straight”. That’s changed in our contemporary culture. Today if a person is a heterosexual, he is said to be “straight”. All together, that’s the meaning here. Conduct that is straight forward.

Now let me make one final observation about this verse. All of these elements in the purpose of Proverbs exist as a part of a lifestyle, and not just independent actions. What I mean is that these qualities are to become so much a part of our character, that they don’t require contemplation. They are to become “second nature” to us so that we use them almost unconsciously.

When I was in the Navy I had a friend who was from the Philippines. He had learned Karate as a child and had practiced it all his life. So his reflexes were so highly tuned that it was almost impossible to catch him off guard and strike him. Any punch or kick toward him (even if he was not expecting it) was immediately blocked – defended, and an appropriate offensive response set in motion.

That’s the picture here spiritually. The purpose of Proverbs is to teach us and train us and tune us spiritually so that instantly, instinctively we will react and respond Biblically to whatever life throws at us.