proverbs 22 and 23

Read Proverbs 22 and 23 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Pro 21:31-22:29 {p} Wise words + excellent counsel, so that our trust may be in the Lord

Pro 23:1-5 {p} As a ruler’s delicacies are deceptive food, so riches are deceptive security
Pro 23:6-24:14 {p} …

Pro 22:29a Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; {n}
Pro 22:29b He will not stand before unknown men. {p}
Pro 23:5a Will you set your eyes on upon it? It is gone; {n}
Pro 23:5b For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven. {p}
Pro 23:7a For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. {n}
Pro 23:7b “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.
Pro 23:29a Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? {n}
Pro 23:29b Who has redness of eyes?
Pro 23:35a “They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. {n}
Pro 23:35b When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?”

The strong paragraph from Pro 21:31-22:29 makes an amazing chiastic structure with a loose end at the beginning (most likely an element for a larger structure):

Pro 21:31, The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the Lord.

1a) Pro 22:1-5, What is better to pursue than riches;

1b) Pro 22:6, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it;

1c) Pro 22:7, The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender;

1d) Pro 22:8-15, Words reveal the heart, whether it is faithless or pure:

1a) Pro 22:8, He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow, and the rod of his anger will fail;
1b) Pro 22:9, The generous eye will be blessed;
1c) Pro 22:10, Cast out the scoffer, and contention will leave; yes, strife and reproach will cease;
1d) Pro 22:11, He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend;
central axis) Pro 22:12a, The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge;
2d) Pro 22:12b, But He overthrows the words of the faithless;
2c) Pro 22:13, The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”
2b) Pro 22:14, The immoral mouth is a pit for he who is abhorred;
2a) Pro 22:15, Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him;

1e) Pro 22:16, He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches + gives to the rich, will come to poverty;

1f) Pro 22:17-18, Incline your ear + apply your heart to wise words/ let them be fixed upon your lips;

central axis) Pro 22:19, So that your trust may be in the Lord, I have instructed you;

2f) Pro 22:20-21, I have written excellent counsel, that you may know + answer certain truth;

2e) Pro 22:22-23, Do not rob + oppress the poor + afflicted/ the Lord will plunder your soul for their sake;

2d) Pro 22:24-25, Make no friendship with an angry man, lest you learn his ways, a snare for your soul;

2c) Pro 22:26-27 Do not become surety for debts; why should the creditor take away from you;

2b) Pro 22:28, Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set;

2a) Pro 22:29 {p} What is better to pursue than fame.

First the B pair. The surrounding elements, which are sure, force them together. What can it mean? One meaning may be, that what we are to train up our children in, the way he should go, are the ancient landmarks which our fathers have set, which mark out the ancient paths:

Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Jer 6:16

By the way, the most successful and enduring method of training up a child in the way he should go, is evident in Pro 23:26. Their eyes observe the ways of their parents, to follow their example, good or bad. Parents, you yourselves walk in the ancient paths, if you desire your children to walk in them!

Now the D pair. First, the 1D embedded chiastic structure: the surrounding elements pairing with the elements in the 2nd half of the structure force verses 8 through 15 together. In puzzling over what their common theme could possibly be, I noticed the recurring theme of words spoken: words of contention and strife which come from a heart of scoffing; words of grace which come from a heart of purity; faithless words; words of excuse which come from laziness; seductive words of a woman which come from an immoral heart. So I concluded the overall theme was words which reveal the heart. However, the A pairs of the embedded structure do not seem to fit the pattern, and how do they themselves pair?

Pro 22:8, He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow, and the rod of his anger will fail.
Pro 22:15, Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him.

The commonality is the rod, the rod of anger compared to the rod of correction. I think it is in fact contrasting them. Vs. 15 seems to be saying, that the one who uses the rod of correction with his child, will be successful in driving foolishness from his heart. It is a positive outcome. But vs. 8 is presenting a negative outcome: reaping sorrow. I think it is because the rod of anger is not the same thing as the rod of correction. The rod of anger will not succeed in driving foolishness from the heart of a child, but the rod of anger fails. In fact, the one who wields the rod of anger is in reality themselves sowing iniquity, from which he will reap sorrow. You will lose your child’s heart, in other words (speaking from experience here). Foolishness is not driven from them but entrenched in them instead. You do not wish that sorrow on your worst enemy! If anyone reading this, who is a parent, has ever used a rod of anger on their children, I urge you to confess your sin to God and repent of it before Him, and then do not delay to confess your sin to your children and repent before them, and ask them for forgiveness! It may be that the Lord, who is merciful and gracious, will allow for a crop failure of the seeds you have sown! ♥

And of course, if this is the correct interpretation for the 1D pair, we can see how it relates to the 2D pair. Anger is a snare of the soul, and all wise persons are encouraged to not walk in fellowship with it!