proverbs 10 and 11

Read Proverbs 10 and 11 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Pro 10:1a The proverbs of Solomon {n}
Pro 10:1b-19:9 {p} Contrast between wise/ foolish, righteous/ wicked, rich/ poor

A lot of the proverbs in these two chapters have to do with who will be delivered and who will perish during storms and troubles. You know, storms and troubles come upon the righteous and the wicked alike. But deliverance is the end of the righteous. When I find myself in the midst of trouble, I have to remind myself that my final chapter is still awaiting me, and it will be something to rejoice in!

With such a large amount of text in a single strong theme, finding the chiastic structures will be more difficult. But I did find this reverse parallelism this morning:

Pro 11:9-14

1a) Pro 11:9, The hypocrite destroys his neighbor with his mouth/ the righteous delivered through knowledge;

1) Pro 11:9a, The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor;
2) Pro 11:9b, But through knowledge the righteous will be delivered;

1b) Pro 11:10, When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; and when the wicked perish, there is jubilation;

2b) Pro 11:11, By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked;

2a) Pro 11:12-14, The fool despises his neighbor by talebearing/ the people delivered through counsel;

1) Pro 11:12-13, The fool despises his neighbor/ the discerning holds his peace + The talebearer reveals/ the faithful conceals;
2) Pro 11:14, People fall where there is no counsel, but are delivered where there is.

The talebearer who destroys his neighbor with his mouth, is a fool and a hypocrite, because he has not arrived at perfection either. The root of gossip is really malice. The root of holding one’s peace is really wise discernment and faithfulness.

Notice that the structure begins with treatment of a neighbor, and moves toward the center, with the results for the city. By loving our neighbor who lives next to us, we are blessing and exalting our city. By disparaging our neighbor who lives next to us — that is wickedness — we are overthrowing our city (vs. 11). I have a feeling the ripple effect continues, and if we want to bless and exalt our states and nation as well, we ought to look well to our neighbor. This is why the saying is true, that all politics is local.