Wednesday Bible Study- a deep dig into Proverbs XII

Today we enter Chapter 4, which you can easily see why I call this the "Get Wisdom, Get Understanding" chapter, as Solomon says it twice in the very early going.  The thing that struck me about the wording was "Get".  Solomon was offered many gifts by God, and chose this one.  But his sons- particularly his successor Rehoboam, who had the opportunity and threw it out- would have to 'get' it on their own.  They would have to work at it.  WE have to work at it.

I noticed as I went on that Solomon gave Rehoboam some very specific instructions on how to get it- and why.  One thing we can say about the problems of today-just like the problems Rehoboam brought on himself- is we look at these actions and say, "Why would they think that was a good idea?"  And like so much else anymore, I found that answer right here in this chapter:

Pro 4:18  But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. 
Pro 4:19  The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble. 

You ever wonder why evil people seem stupid, why it is that the logic of the wicked is so easily turned back on itself?  There you go.


But as I said, Solomon left some specific ways out for his not-listening son.

1- Pay attention, boy...


Pro 4:20  My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 
Pro 4:21  Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. 

Pro 4:22  For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. 

Solomon knew he hadn't set his son a good example; he spent the book we call Ecclesiastes trying to explain that he shouldn't follow it.  Instead, he left him the entire book we call Proverbs to tell him what to do instead.  Unfortunately, "Do as I say, not as I do" has never been real effective.  However, we have the benefit of hindsight and foresight here.

2- Don't 'follow your nose...'

Pro 4:23  Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. 

The word 'keep' here translates as, 'guard, protect, maintain- make it obey'.  I remember watching a video where an anti-Trump protester told a MAGA-hatted fellow, "Feelings are more important than facts, because they come from the heart, and bring you closer to the divine."  To this, I counter with the Prophet Jeremiah:

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 

3- "If you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all"

First, let me put up the verse:

Pro 4:24  Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. 

Then, allow me to demonstrate the 'why':

Pro 6:12  A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, 

Pro 6:13  winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, 

Pro 6:14  with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; 

Pro 6:15  therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. 

So your speech is a symptom of the condition of your heart.  Let's see what Rehoboam did with THAT:

1Ki 12:8  But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. 

1Ki 12:9  And he said to them, "What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father put on us'?" 

1Ki 12:10  And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, "Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,' thus shall you say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. 

1Ki 12:11  And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'" 

1Ki 12:12  So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, "Come to me again the third day." 

1Ki 12:13  And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him, 

1Ki 12:14  he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions." 

Thus, he not only did not put the perverted speech of his buddies away, he USED it word for word- and cast the kingdom into destruction.  Or, to put it another way, 'calamity came upon him suddenly'.

4- Watch where yer goin'...

Pro 4:25  Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. 

Of course, this presumes you KNOW where you're going (which you can't if you follow the way of the wicked), and that means....

5- You need to have a plan...

Pro 4:26  Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. 

Now 'ponder' meant then what it does now; THINK about it.  But it was more as well, for part of the definition is...

...properly to roll flat, that is, prepare (a road)....

...PREPARE A ROAD... and that, as we have seen in front of our complex this past year or so, involves knowing what needs to be set up beforehand as far as drainage and communications, digging down to solid foundation, taking into account the driveways that connect in, the yards that are affected, tree branches overhanging that must be removed, and other projects that require attention at the same time.  Rehoboam never considered that his wicked path would have him stumbling over Jereboam.

Just as Solomon set it all before Rehoboam, God has set it all before us.  Rehoboam ignored it... and what happened to him?  This passage shows it as good as any...

1Ki 14:25  In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. 

1Ki 14:26  He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made, 

1Ki 14:27  and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house. 

1Ki 14:28  And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. 

Two lessons to learn here.  Both that he lost EVERYTHING, but he also thought and acted as if he hadn't!  He had his soldiers march around with their replacement shields of bronze.  Right now, gold is $1,533.25 an ounce- bronze is about 8.7 cents.

The difference between wisdom and folly.