The proverbs of Solomon.

The proverbs of Solomon.

A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

The proverb is a reminder to parents who still can start instruction in the fear of the Lord at a very early age. The sons mentioned in this quote have already reached maturity. They are either wise or foolish and it is too late to do anything much about it now. We seem to develop these weaknesses in our youth, as Bro. Noel pointed out in our Sunday School class, and carry these weaknesses throughout our life. We need the cleansing effects of the Word to keep us from them.

"Foolish" is more than stupid, for the son is the word, kesil. Kesil is the most common of the three terms occurring nearly 50 times. By derivation it seems to mean one who is dull and obstinate, but it must always be remembered that the book has in mind a man’s chosen outlook, rather than his mental equipment. We are shown "the kesil" as he is, first in himself, and second in society.

Brother Aleck Crawford, who wrote the book, Proverbs, gives a good description of the foolish son, or Kesil. "In himself, he has no idea of a patient search for wisdom: he has not the concentration for it. He laps up his own opinions unreflectingly and pours them out freely, unaware that he is only displaying his folly as a trader spreads out his goods. He never realizes his mistakes for as Proverbs 17:10 reminds us, "a rebuke enters deeper into a discerning man than a hundred stripes into a fool". The root if his trouble is spiritual, not mental. Proverbs 26:11 tells us that "He likes his folly, going back to it like a dog that returns to his vomit; he has no reverence for truth, preferring comfortable illusions. What he is rejecting is the fear of the Lord.

It constitutes him a fool, and this is what makes his complacency tragic, "for the careless ease of fools shall destroy them".

In Society the fool is, in a word, a menace. At best, he wastes your time. You will not find a word of sense in him and he may be a more serious nuisance. If he has an idea in his head, nothing will stop him. Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet man, rather than a fool in his folly (Proverbs 17:12) whether that folly is some prank that is beyond a joke (Proverbs 10:23), or some quarrel he must pick (Proverbs 18:6) and run to death (Proverbs 29:11). Give him a wide berth, for ‘the companion of fools shall smart for it’ (Proverbs 13:20), and if you want to send him away, don’t send him with a message (Proverbs 26:6)!

Some people, however, cannot disown him; it is their tragedy. To his father and mother the fool brings sorrow (Proverbs 10:11; 17:21), bitterness (Proverbs 17:25) and calamity (Proverbs 19:13). It is the price of loving him; but it causes him no qualms, he despises them (Proverbs 15:20).

Unmistakably, Solomon was seeking to guide and protect his own son from the dangers of growing up in an evil world, and many chapters in this book are the wise advice of a father to a son. But Proverbs is more than this. It must be read as a message from God, our Heavenly Father, to all his children. My son, give me thine heart, He says (Proverbs 23:26).

There were many sons and daughters in the wilderness as the children of Israel journeyed to the Promised Land. If we look back at their travels in Numbers 11, we see a very spiritually dark time for them. We read in Numbers 11:7

And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; and the Lord heard it; and His anger was kindled.

We must remember "the monotonous, tiring march became very wearisome to the people. Under those extremely difficult conditions, the greatest faith was necessary. This required that they keep constantly in mind the promise of God and set their desires on attaining it. But they failed to do so. They forgot the love and mercy of God, and the hope of the Promised Land. Their minds became obsessed at their present difficulties. Therefore three days after leaving Mr. Sinai found them distressed, tired and very irritable with their situation. They grumbled at the arid dusty walk they had to complete each day. They complained at how boring the journey would be with its barren scenery and utter desolation everywhere. Each day found them more outspoken concerning their difficulties and more critical of Moses and God. Those who murmur without cause are soon given cause to murmur.

The people disregarded God’s mercy, forgiveness, and kindness that he extended after the terrible warning lessons taught by the death of the two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and now this "the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in uttermost parts of the camp." By continuing in their complaining and demands for more while disobeying God, it mirrors all of us who overlook the Lord’s blessings so many times when we are feeling sorry for ourselves.

We should be counting our blessings not looking for more thins to complain about. Unfortunately human nature is forgetful. That was the case with the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. The further tragedy recorded in Numbers 11, also commenced with a little complaining on the part of certain ones, showing how important it is that we should try to avoid that sin. Nothing is more discouraging, than the grumbling of people who complain of things they cannot alter, and forget how greatly they have been blessed.

Moaning is contagious. It discourages others, and weakens the hands of those who would be strong. The sullen faces of the people, the grumbling and complaining about the manna, and expressing their desire for a change of diet affected even Moses. What am I to do about this people? He asked God. The heavy burden of leading them tired him. And their lack of appreciation discouraged him. He became so discouraged that he too, complained to God, stating that he would rather die than continue to live under such conditions. Instead of giving way to such things, let us aim to be cheerful at all times, putting our trust and confidence in God. If we as a family do that, we will assist each other to do what is right in the sight of God. On the other hand, you don’t always get what you ask for when you complain, but you usually get what you deserve. This is because the Lord hears our complaints. We recall in Num. 11:1, 12:2, and 14:27 as we read these phrases over and over again, I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. The end result was recorded in Num. 14:28, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you.

One of the times that Miriam and Aaron were jealously complaining about Moses in Numbers 12:2, God brought them out front and center to straiten out their misunderstanding. God is listening to our complaints and truly gives us not always what we ask for but what we deserve. Another point that is made in this passage is that Miriam and Aaron were grumbling about the man that God had set up to lead His people saying, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath He not spoken also by us? Moses did nothing to refute their claim. He had enough troubles on his hands without being bothered about such petty claims. He went quickly about his work without even answering them, leaving it to God to vindicate his case. The scriptures tell us that, Moses was very meek, above all men which were upon the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3) Usually leaders of nations are not meek, but Moses received his power and position from God, and he knew that God would uphold him if necessary. Moses had the type of meekness that could bear with patience, that which is unfairly placed upon us, scholars call this meekness ‘Anath’. We usually try to avoid these trials even though others may be hurt in the process. We claim that it is not our fault. But that was not Moses’ way. The great leader heard the foolish statement of Miriam and Aaron, and he could have easily replied to them, and forced them to take back all that they had said. But to do so would have caused more trouble and argument in Israel, and he wanted to avoid the sight of members of his own family quarreling among themselves before all of the people, and thus setting a bad example. Because of that he bore patiently the hurt they gave him. In this he foreshadowed the Lord Jesus Christ (Deut. 18:15, 18-19), who likewise was ‘meek above all men’; who also when reviled, reviled not again, but committed himself to Him who judgeth righteously’ (1 Pet. 1:24). And God is the avenger of all such (Psa 76:9). He has told us that if we are prepared to be meek as Moses and the Lord Jesus were, He will see that we lose nothing by it, ‘ Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath’, He has commanded, ‘For vengeance is Mine, I will repay’ (Rom 12:9). One other important lesson it teaches us is that we should be afraid as well to speak against the Lord’s faithful.

In the same way, when we read Num. 13:32 about the evil report brought back from those who

scouted out the land and their end result, it should make us think twice about giving discouraging report about those things that we are sent to do in the work of the Truth. Let us read the account in Numbers 14:36-37. And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land. Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord.

When the children of Israel continued in their disobedience by going up against the Amalekites and Canaanites, after God had already passed judgment on their rebellious attitude, they were tragically unsuccessful. When we try to take matters into our own hands to solve problems, disregarding the Lords’ will, they often will NOT prosper and can end in calamity. We are to rely upon the Lord and HIS wisdom rather than our own feeble understanding. Our perception is flawed with the cares of this life, the emotions of our heart that can direct us to act out of anger or revenge, and we often need things quickly resolved because we feel the limitations of our short existence and our intolerance for pain.

In the first half of our exhortation, we explored more closely what makes a son foolish and shat can be done to avoid foolish actions such as unteachableness or complaining. Next let us consider wisdom. In Proverbs we read in chapter 10 verse 32, The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness. Aleck Crawford in his book, Proverbs, defines frowardness as meaning perverted and is from a root meaning to turn or twist and has the suggestion of crookedness as well. Thus a tongue which intentionally causes others to turn from producing good fruit to crookedness is a tree which shall be rooted up. By contrast, the tree which brings forth wisdom continues forever.

The lips of the righteous speak with grace as well as truth. Perversity, by contrast, is opposed not only to what is wise but what is acceptable. This ability to speak both wise and acceptable words needs to be deeply pondered, and carefully cultivated for as we read in Proverbs 25:11, A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

We need to adopt the posture of the great apostle who became all things to all men. For example, to the weak, he became as weak, that by all means he might same some. So this proverb indicates a great diversity of application. The same statement of truth does not suit all. Sometimes the same truth needs to be expressed in different ways to suit different people. Speakers need to adapt their words to the particular audience that they are addressing.

The tone of our voice, the expression on our face, and our posture all influence how the recipient views our words. So too the how, what, when (Ecc. 8:5). In other words, of our message has not brought the type of response in us that we urge upon others, then we are wasting our time. "Physician heal thyself" is a proverb for those whose own medicine has not healed them.

This consideration of acceptableness must involve not compromise of principle. If, for example, a person has been absent from the table of the Lord for some time…say 3-4 weeks, then he should be visited to ascertain the reason and an attempt made to restore the lost sheep. Those who plead for more time in cases where the pressure will cause a poor response have failed to understand the obligation of the shepherd to leave the 99 who need no help to go and restore the lost one.

So there needs to be a considerate accommodation of mode to the diversity of subjects, a forbearance with lesser prejudices and constitutional infirmities, avoiding all needless offenses with meekness of wisdom (James 3:13).

Thus Gideon dissolved the anger of the men of Ephraim by a soft answer (Judges 8:23). Abigail restrained David’s hands from blood when she in humility accepted blame for Nabal’s iniquity and indicated that God would revenge David. Also she brought a gift to appease the wrath of David’s men and asked for forgiveness of "the trespass"(1 Sam 25:28). She spake in wisdom, giving acceptable advise, whereas Nabal the fool spoke only frowardness, therefore he was cut out of the land by the Lord smiting him (1 Sam 25:23-28). Nebuchadnezzar had a froward tongue initially (Daniel 4:23) "is not this great Babylon which I have built?" – but it was not cut out, for the stump of the root was left on the ground because he responded to Daniel’s acceptable counsel by lifting up his eyes to heaven and gave honor to the "King of Heaven." Our Master had the wonderful ability to speak acceptable words at all times, especially when asked trick questions by those who tried to trap him. We need to emulate these good examples.

The Apostle Paul is another vivid example of a person whose lips brought forth acceptable words. He was one whose message was spoken with persuasion of an ambassador (2 Cor. 5:11-20) His compassion for those who did not know the Truth overflowed into his message, so that he could say of his kinsmen according to the flesh: "I have great heaviness and continued sorrow in my heart"(Rom 9:2).

The 10th chapter of Proverbs is connected with chapter 11 by the fact that a person must have the proper balance of mercy and truth to speak acceptable words. We read in Proverbs 9:7,8,9,&12, He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. The end result of following this advice is found in the 12th verse, if thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it. Aleck Crawford once again points out that the problem for us in these verses is to determine who the scoffers or scorners are. The parable of the sower indicates several types of people and also a teaching concept that is fundamentally in agreement with this proverb. First of all we note Christ now taught in parables because most people had "closed their eyes" and therefore the "mysteries of the kingdom" were not given to them. We must understand this proverb in a similar way. Wisdom had been calling to the scoffer in eight chapters of instruction in Proverbs but they have not responded. Now it is too late. Likewise we can only determine whether a person is a scoffer (rather than a fool) by preaching to them for some time. Secondly, we see that Jesus recognized some seed would fall by the wayside, a person would hear but not receive. This represents ‘the fool’ rather than ‘the scoffer’…These verses are a contrast of the opposing camps or points of view. The scoffer with his closed mind, and the wise man, ever teachable and ever progressing. Do we have a closed mind or an open mind?

In our pursuit of wisdom, we read in Proverbs 8:35-36, For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor in the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul; all they that hate me loveth death. Finding life in the Lord consist of the "durable riches" mentioned in verse 18 of the 8th chapter. Durable riches are the rewards that no man can take away or steal and that gift is the gift of life eternal through our Lord Jesus whose riches and honor are beyond anything that we can imagine. This is why God says in verse 21..I will fell their treasures.

It is through Jesus’ death and resurrection that we celebrate this day, we see an example of this spiritual wisdom that was able to transcend all adversity. Christ’s wisdom is what gave him the ability to persevere and Jesus is that wise son who has made his father glad. Let us close by reading from Proverbs 8:13-17

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy,and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles, even all judges of the earth.
17. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

Exhortation given April 7,2002
by Bro. Joe Bennett
Wanatah Christadelphian Ecclesia