Proverbs 24-25

Proverbs 24

Proverbs 24:5-6 War on earth and spiritual wars are won through wise advice. With wise advisors come many ideas - how can we decide which are best? Pray! Paul described the armor of God for spiritual warfare as including the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:17) Paul does not mention advisors in this passage, because earlier in the epistle he explained that they are as the church one body. Implicit in this is that the local church body is a unit in God’s army fighting the forces of evil together. 

Proverbs 24:7 Fools should know enough to keep their mouths shut. They have built their lives on sinking sand - maybe someone will rescue them. (Matthew 7:24-27) That someone is Jesus if they will call on Him. The reason they are fools is that they do not.

Proverbs 24:10-12 speaks to times of great peril, for example during the Holocaust. Some helped the Jews being taken off to concentration camps, but relatively few. The nation of Germany ultimately paid the price. It took time and a war that claimed millions of lives, but there was eventually a tribunal at Nuremberg of the surviving leaders. 

Proverbs 24:17-18 Do not gloat over your enemies’ misfortunes. Pray for their redemption. (Matthew 5:38-47)

Proverbs 24:21-22 Honor and respect both the Lord and the King of kings - there will not only be a final judgment day, but in this life He can bring sudden calamity. In the context of the proverbs, one should also honor and respect earthly political authority, even when they rebel against God and His standards. The Lord will hold them accountable. (For example, Acts  12:21-23) We should pray for them. Daniel respected and prayed for Nebuchadnezzar and God got his attention. (Daniel 4)

Proverbs 24:23-25 Judges and juries hold court for the sole purpose of determining guilt and innocence, and sifting truth from lies. Not only do they lose any reason for existence if they do not, but they are accountable to the One who sits on the throne of Heaven, in addition to being cursed in this world. 

Proverbs 24:28-29 Don’t invent a reason for a fight with those near you. Even if they have gossiped about or slandered you, follow Jesus’ advice. (Matthew 5:38-48)

Proverbs 24:30-34 Time is precious and pays dividends on investments. Spiritual investment or spiritual poverty result in fruit or weeds in our lives, respectively. Prioritize important things in your daily schedule. Focus on what is important, and act accordingly. How much insight the Lord gave Solomon to write this about social media three thousand years ago!

Proverbs 25

The tongue can never be tamed, only harnessed: 25:12,14,15,20,23,28.

Proverbs 25:2-3 How do wisdom, responsibility, and grace interact in finding deep truth (root causes) and making things right? How do justice and redemption interact? The heart of Jesus for us, and for others, reconciles all these seemingly incompatible values. We understand, as Solomon did not, that it was through His blood. But the heart of the King of kings can never be fully fathomed by us.

Proverbs 25:4-5 Wicked leaders purporting to be part of God’s kingdom will ultimately be removed, so that His reign will be rightly established in our lives.

Proverbs 25:6-7 Jesus illustrated the concept of self-chosen humility preceding promotion in His parable of seating at a banquet. (Matthew 14:7-11) Being humbled by the King of kings would be worse.

Proverbs 25:11-12 Contrast the rebuke of a wise judge in a listening ear to a beautiful woman who lacks discretion. (11:22) Context and appropriateness are very important for our statements.

Proverbs 25:14 was alluded to by Jude in verse 12 of his epistle. It is a jump to go from people boasting about gifts never given to slandering and destroying things they do not understand, but they are going the same direction on the same road - away from Truth and Life.

Proverbs 25:18 Respect the ninth commandment. (Exodus 20:16) Lying is like attacking a person with a weapon. You may injure them, but you will start a fight that you might lose.

Proverbs 25:20 is a puzzlement. Most likely it means that when people are grieving deeply, it is best to say nothing other than “I’m sorry for your loss” and sit with them quietly. Job’s friends did this at first (Job 2:12-13). Sadly, that didn’t last.

Proverbs 25:21-22 Jesus cited this in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5:38-48) He didn’t include the part about heaping burning coals on the enemy’s head. 

Proverbs 25:24 Solomon’s contentious wives must have been widely known (21:9&19) since Hezekiah’s team recorded this over 200 years later.

Proverbs 25:26 A righteous person who yields to the wicked is a life that has promise to refresh others but doesn’t because their goodness is cancelled by evil they have yielded to. This might seem contrary to what Jesus did in accepting crucifixion rather than confronting and destroying Satan and his evil henchmen, but Jesus had a unique mission in bringing redemption through His blood. This also might seem contrary to Jesus’ advice in the sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5:38-48), but Jesus was there focusing on loving the unlovable. We should love our enemies in a way that does not compromise our own integrity and ability to refresh others.

Proverbs 25:28 Lack of self-control in alcohol, money, sex, hobbies, etc. indicates a broken life, a character damaged by inner weakness, valuing appetites over values, and/or unmet emotional needs.