proverbs 24 and 25

Read Proverbs 24 and 25 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Pro 23:6-24:14 {p} Desire + pursue wisdom, its benefit endures/ evil +gratification of the flesh is fleeting
Pro 24:15-18 {p} The righteous may fall but will rise again/ they do not rejoice when their enemy falls
Pro 24:19-22 {p} Don’t fret because of evildoers, they do not have a future/ their calamity is sudden, so fear the Lord
Pro 24:23-27 {p} Judge rightly + rebuke the wicked/ provide for your sustenance, then build your house
Pro 24:28-29 {p} Don’t bear witness against without a cause/ even if you have a cause, don’t return evil
Pro 24:30-34 {p} A man who is lazy rather than diligent in his work, poverty will come upon him
Pro 25:1-13 {p} The glory of kings: right judgment, wise rebuke
Pro 25:14-20 {p} Contrast between a good + faithful/ false + unfaithful neighbor
Pro 25:21-26:21 {p} …

The amazing chiastic structures loaded with wisdom for parents keep coming:

Pro 23:6-24:14 {p}

1a) Pro 23:6-18, Desire not what benefits not + do not withhold correction from a child + do not envy sinners;

1) Pro 23:6-8, Do not desire the delicacies of a miser/ they produce no lasting benefit;

2) Pro 23:9-15, Do not withhold correction from a child/ the Lord pleads their cause against you;

1a) Pro 23:9, Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words;

1) Pro 23:9a, Do not speak in the hearing of a fool;
2) Pro 23:9b, For he will despise the wisdom of your words;

central axis) Pro 23:10-11, Do not remove the ancient landmark/ the Redeemer of the fatherless is mighty;

2a) Pro 23:12-16, The wise listen to instruction/ a child listens to the rod of correction;

1a) Pro 23:12, Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge;
1b) Pro 23:13, Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die;
2b) Pro 23:14, You shall beat him with a rod, and deliver his soul from hell;
2a) Pro 23:15-16, My son, if your heart is wise, your lips will speak rightly, and I will rejoice.

3) Pro 23:17-18, Do not envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord/ your hope will not be cut off;

1b) Pro 23:19-21, Set your heart on the wise way, not on drunkenness or gluttony;

1) Pro 23:19, Hear, my son, and be wise; and guide your heart in the way;
2) Pro 23:20-21, Do not mix with drunks + gluttons/ their drowsiness will clothe them with poverty;

1c) Pro 23:22, Listen to your father who begot you/ do not despise your mother when she is old;

central axis) Pro 23:23, Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding;

2c) Pro 23:24-25, The father of the righteous will delight in him/ let the mother of the wise rejoice;

2b) Pro 23:26-35, Let your heart observe the wise way, not on seduction or drunkenness;

1) Pro 23:26-28, My son, give me your heart + observe my ways/ a seductress is a deep pit;
2) Pro 23:29-35, The drunkard has sorrows/ wine robs a man of sense + its end is like poison;

2a) Pro 24:1-14 {p} Do not envy evil men + deliver those stumbling toward death + desire wisdom, its benefit endures;

3) Pro 24:1-10, Do not envy evil men who plot violence/riches + strength increase by wisdom;

1a) Pro 24:1-6, Do not envy evil men who devise violence/ by wisdom riches + strength increase;

1) Pro 24:1-4, Do not envy evil men, for they devise violence/ but it is by wisdom that riches increase;
2) Pro 24:5-6 A wise man increases his strength to wage war/ in wise counselors there is safety;

central axis) Pro 24:7, Wisdom is too lofty for a fool; he does not open his mouth in the gate;

2a) Pro 24:8-10, He who plots evil sins/ if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small;

1) Pro 24:8-9, He who plots evil + devises folly sins/ the scoffer is an abomination to men;
2) Pro 24:10, If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small;

2) Pro 24:11-12, Deliver those stumbling toward death/ the Lord considers it if you did not know it;

1) Pro 24:13-14 {p} As is honey, so is wisdom/ desire it, for your hope will not be cut off.

Most of the structure is self- explanatory, but the A pair. Each A pair is divided into 3 sections:

1) Desiring what is of lasting benefit (if you vomit up what a miser has given you, you benefit nothing from it, but if wisdom is as sweet to you as honey, so that you eat it, your hope will not be cut off);

2) Delivering those who are stumbling toward death;

3) Do not envy evil men (why would they be envied? Because they increase strength + riches, however it is by violence, and their hope, their future, will be cut off – it will only benefit them in the short term).

It is the 2nd element which needs explanation. In my notes, the substructure formed by 1a.2 is color coded like this:

1a) Pro 23:9, Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words;

1) Pro 23:9a, Do not speak in the hearing of a fool;
2) Pro 23:9b, For he will despise the wisdom of your words;

central axis) Pro 23:10-11, Do not remove the ancient landmark/ the Redeemer of the fatherless is mighty;

2a) Pro 23:12-16, The wise listen to instruction/ a child listens to the rod of correction;

1a) Pro 23:12, Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge;

1b) Pro 23:13, Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die;
2b) Pro 23:14, You shall beat him with a rod, and deliver his soul from hell;

2a) Pro 23:15-16, My son, if your heart is wise, your lips will speak rightly, and I will rejoice.

Fools despise the wisdom of sound instruction. We saw a few days ago that all children are born fools by reason of their age; it is the job of parents to turn them from foolishness to wisdom. So, to speak sound instruction in the hearing of a fool is to accomplish no correction at all, if he despises the wisdom of your words. A child who has begun to be wise, will apply his heart to instruction, and his ears will listen to words of knowledge. But if he has not yet begun to be wise (you will know the state of his heart, from the words that come from his mouth), then he needs the rod of correction. A child will listen to the rod of correction if he does not listen to or despises words of wisdom.

Pro 23:13 is a vilified verse. How dare parents beat children with a rod? But we saw that the rod of anger accomplishes nothing but entrenching rebellion in a child’s heart; what a child who does not listen to words of wisdom needs is the rod of correction. What is the difference? That will have to be another study. Suffice it to say for today: Parents, never discipline your children in anger!

Please notice that the rod is not the first option. A parent first gives his children sound instruction with the words of wisdom. Only after a child has shown to his parent that he is a fool who has closed his heart to wise instruction, does a parent employ the rod of correction. Why? Because a fool who despises wisdom has set his feet on the path of death. Which brings us to the 2a.2 pair:

Deliver those who are stumbling toward death! If you see someone on the road to death, and stand back with your arms folded and say nothing, that is not love! (See Pro 13:24).

Now back to the central axis of the 1a.2 pair. What does removing the ancient landmark, and the fatherless, have to do with anything? We saw yesterday that the chiastic structure from Pro 22:1-29 reveals that the way in which a child is to be trained, is the way defined by the ancient landmarks, which we are not to move or remove. Of course, the pashat or direct meaning of the verse remains: do not encroach on the fatherless, for the Lord is their Redeemer. But a deeper meaning is present: when we remove the ancient landmarks, and do not train our children up in the way they mark out, then it is as if we make them fatherless, setting them adrift in the world without provision, protection, guidance, or love. And their Redeemer is mighty who will plead their cause against you!

But now, look back at 2a.2: the picture is of those blindly stumbling towards death, because they don’t know any better and can’t see it. The Lord will render back to those who did not deliver them, just as He will take up the cause of the fatherless. But if a parent says, Look, I didn’t know this, I didn’t understand this, does not the Lord know it? He weighs the hearts.

This parenting wisdom from His word, which may have been known in past times when His word was known and taught among men, has been lost to us for at least several generations. But He is opening up His word again in our day, and revealing treasures of gold and silver from it. He is merciful and gracious, to the fatherless, and to the fathers who did not know. But once He opens the eyes of parents, may we be quick to change our way, if our practice does not line up with His wisdom. ♥