Douglas Jacoby Podcast

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Reading advice:

• Keep noticing how sayings are related, if only loosely.
• Notice how themes introduced in previous chapters are touched on again and again.
• Notice the doublets (14:12, 16:25) and near-doublets (19:5, 19:9).
• Understand the parallelism:
  • Synonymous (19:5); a comparison is being made, or a statement is begin repeated in a different form.
  • Antithetical (19:12); a contrast is being made. Many of the earlier chapters are filled with this type.
  • Synthetic (19:19); an augmentation of the first line -- the second line elaborates, or builds upon, the first.

Salient points:

• "Zeal without knowledge" (v.2)  is alluded to in Romans 10:3. Many proverbs are echoed or quoted in the N.T.
• Sleep is good, but like honey if overdone the result is counterproductive (v.15). We will get up on time when we have a reason to get up.
• Kindness to the poor is lending to the Lord (v.17).
• V.25 LXX reads "When a pestiferous person is being whipped, a fool will become more crafty." The LXX was the O.T. (and the Bible) of Paul and the apostles who preached outside of Palestine.

Challenge:

• Get control of your sleep habits! 
• Follow your system. Eat right. Exercise! Don't watch electronic screens during the half-hour before bedtime.
• Even then, you may have to push through fatigue. "The world is run by tired me."
• I love Longfellow's poem: "The heights by great men reached and kept / Were not attained by sudden flight / But they, while their companions slept / Were toiling upward in the night."

Next up: Proverbs 20.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Salient points:

• Fools enjoy conversation but do not change their views; they only air them (v.2). Avoid such discussions -- advice seconded by Paul in the Pastoral Epistles (e.g. 2 Tim 14,23-26).
• Note how various proverbs are connected, often quite loosely. See 18:1-2; 18:10-11; 18:17-19.
• Note the delightful way the Hebrew language gets across the idea of how our words get us into trouble: "A fool's lips walk into a fight" (18:6 ESV). The image of walking lips is memorable.
• Slackness has something in common with destruction (v.9).
• There is a difference between gifts and bribes (v.16). Some gifts subvert justice; others simply grease the creaky wheels of bureaucracy. Generally speaking, the bribe/gift passages in Proverbs are only observations, neither commending nor condemning such practices.
• It's important to hear both sides of a matter (v.17), otherwise lack of due diligence (or perhaps confirmation bias) will ensure we never change our mind!

Versions:

• Today: NIV + The Jewish Bible
• Tomorrow: NIV + NAB (a Roman Catholic version)

Challenge:

• No slackness!
• "Do it now! Today will be yesterday tomorrow."
• "Some things have to be put off dozens of times before they completely slip our minds."

Next:  Proverbs 19

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Salient points:

• It can be painful when the Lord purifies our hearts (v.3). Like gold or silver in the crucible, it is through fire that our hearts change.
• V.9 in a more literal version: "One who disregards a fault, one who seeks friendship / One who insists on it, one who loses a companion."
• The fool isn't "impressed" with 100 lashes because he doesn't learn from his mistakes (v.10).
• Your friend will remember your support in tough times long after he's forgotten your companionship in good times (v.17).
• Religious people who practice their faith are healthier than unbelievers, as many studies have shown (v.22).
• The undisciplined often hop from one latest great thing to another (v.24). They start projects but rarely complete them. They are susceptible to easy fixes and may be taken in by schemes to part them from their money. Wisdom is found in focusing, not flitting from one thing to another. Alternate translation: "In front of the perceptive: wisdom / but the eyes of a fool, on the ends of the earth."

Challenge:

• Learn from my mistakes!
• Looking back over our lives, we can see patterns. Better self-awareness and more reflection on why things went wrong when they did will prove invaluable.
• "A wise man learns by the mistakes of others. An ordinary man learns by his own mistakes. A fool learns by nobody’s mistakes."

Next: Proverbs 18 (of course).

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Salient points:

• Judging motives is highly problematic. See John 2:24; 1 Cor 4; Acts 8.
• V.3 is wise counsel much more than a promise that God's children always get what they want.
• Warning: pride and arrogance are the most serious of sins. Don't take a chance; go our of your way to stay humble / humbled.
• V.9 pertains to divine providence.
• V.18 is one of the best known biblical proverbs.
• Gray hair (v.31) indicates longevity indicates divine blessing indicates upright living. Generally true (not absolutely -- as Job and his friends struggled to understand).
• Determination of God's will by lots was practiced by the priests at the Tabernacle / Temple. The last this practice appears in the N.T. is in Acts 1, to make a choice between two candidates for Judas Iscariot's replacement. There is no assurance in the N.T. that this is how we ascertain the Lord's will.

Challenge:

• Commit to the Lord our discipline strategy.
• We are only asking him to help us to become the persons he wants us to be. In such cases we can move ahead with certainty that God is with us and will help us.
• "The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day." – E. M. Bounds

Next:  Prov 17. You are now in the second half of the Disciplined Life series.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Salient points:

• When someone becomes angry with me, I should answer gently, thoughtfully, lovingly.
• Abaddon is rendered "destruction" in v.11.
• Those who get things done clear the way for productive activity (v.19).
• We all need multiple advisers (v.22).

Challenge:

• Keep the highway clear.
• Deal with clutter, overdue tasks, unpaid bills, follow-up, etc.
• "Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways." — Benet (1898-1943)

Version:

• Today I read from the paraphrase The Message.
• (Note: where Peterson has misunderstood Sheol to mean hell, I changed the word to grave, or some other term more in line with the Hebrew and Israelite theology.)

Tomorrow: Proverbs 16

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Salient points:

• Productive and counterproductive -- the wise constructs, the foolish destructs (v.1).
• Hard work leads to a profit (v.4). Here is the rendering in the Jerusalem Bible:  "No oxen, no cattle-feed; stout ox, rich crop." Here the JB, a sensitive and literary translation, captures the feel of the Semitic original.
• 14:23 contains a similar thought.
• Each heart knows its own pains and joys. Be careful with feigning empathy or understanding.
• 14:12 is a doublet with 16:25.

Version: Today I read from the NIV and the JB.

Challenge:

• Value hard work -- and hard workers.
• When we feel ourselves being dilatory or procrastinating, think of the person we deeply respect and let his or her example motivate us to follow through!
• As someone put it, "Be thankful if your job is a little harder than you like. A razor can’t be sharpened on a piece of velvet." And there's the old Arab adage, "Smooth seas do not make skilled sailors."

Tomorrow: Proverbs 15 (NIV and The Message)

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Salient points:

• Undisciplined people are usually not good with money things (v.11).
• When are hopes are unsatisfied, we may become heartsick (v.12). Be real about how you feel.
• Walk with the wise and become wise (v.20). We need people -- help, models, counsel...
• The proverb about inheritance (v.22) should not be taken as a law or even an ideal, but as an observation. In western societies inheritances do not mean the difference between life and death -- but between moderate comfort and affluence and extreme comfort and affluence.
• What is the "rod" (v.24)? In 23:13-14 it is the instrument of discipline (see Exod 21:20). Perhaps a better translation would be "stick." The Bible forbids abuse, but encourages discipline. As someone wisely put it, "Many juvenile delinquents are youngsters who have been given a free hand -- but not in the proper place." On the other hand, each child is different, and for some corporal punishment is ineffective or even harmful. Once again, we must be careful about absolutizing proverbs.

Bible versions

• Each day I have read from the NIV plus one other version.
• Today I read from the Septuagint.  which as the O.T. -- actually the entire Bible, until the N.T. was written -- of the vast majority of 1st century Christians. My version is A New Translation of the Septuagint, tr. 2007.
• In coming days I will be reading from the Jerusalem Bible (a Catholic translation) and also The Message (a paraphrase, not a translation).

Challenge:

• Find a disciplined person -- someone strong in an area where you are weak, or someone of integrity whom you respect and who might be able to help you.
• Initiate a discussion.
• "Most people, when they come for advice, want their opinions strengthened, not corrected." May we as God's people be humble enough to seek out the wise.

Next lesson: Proverbs 14.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Salient points:

• Hating correction is stupid -- and makes us stupid.
• "The wife of noble character" (v.4) -- see 31:10-31.
• Prestige purchases that squeeze our normal budget are vain (v.9). Stop trying to make people think you're someone you're not!
• Caring for our pets, livestock, or other animals is a godly thing (v.10).
• Fantasies -- daydreams -- are the enemy of productive work.
• Wise men listen to advice. 15:12 / 12:15.
• Showing our annoyance when overlooked, mistreated, insulted, or inconvenienced is not prudent -- nor is it Christlike.
• A kind word has great power to lift others' spirits, whether in the workplace, classroom, or church fellowship (v.25).
• Inklings of immortality (v.28).

Daily challenge:

• "Overlook an insult."
• As someone put it, "One of the surest marks of good character is a man’s ability to accept personal criticism without feeling malice toward the one who gives it."

Next Up: Proverbs 13

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Salient points:

• The Lord detests shady business practices. See Lev 19:15; Deut 25:13-16; Amos 8:5; Prov 11:1; 16:11; 20:10,23.
• Re: v12: One does not build himself up by tearing others down (also v.9).
• V15 and many other proverbs warn us of the dangers of guaranteeing a loan.
• People who value money over people -- ruthless, violent types -- may be wealthy, but they are the true losers.
• Giving has a reflexive aspect (v17; also 24-25).
• There is a good deal of humor in Proverbs, such as v.22.

Challenge:  To not deride our neighbor.

Tomorrow: Proverbs 12

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Scholarly background:

• This is the first chapter with the typical "Proverbs" flow: a series of many seemingly unconnected adages. Chapters 1-9 are different -- prefatory material laying the foundation for the pearls of wisdom that follow.
• The connections between proverbs may be catchwords, similar sounds, related topics, parallel thoughts, etc. These would have been useful mnemonically.
• 10:1-22:16 are explicitly attributed to Solomon. These 375 Proverbs add up to the name of Solomon (Shlomo) in Hebrew (sh = 300, l = 30, m = 40, w = 5) -- hardly a coincidence.
• Proverbs are general observations, usually capturing only one facet of a matter. "It is simply the nature of a proverb to come up short of total reality, and to be in conflict with other sayings" (Roland E. Murphy, Word Biblical Commentary 22: Proverbs).
• This chapter is strongly marked by antithetic parallelism.

Some salient points:

• How our kids are going affects us deeply, whether through joy or grief (v.1).
• Proverbs seldom provide the entire truth on any one topic. V.3 is a good example; sometimes the righteous do go hungry.
• Discipline and hard work go together. Slackness is a cause of poverty (vs. 4-5).
• Notice the paired opposites throughout the chapter: lazy... diligent, prudent... disgraceful... righteous... wicked, etc.
• Walking in integrity means we need not fear being caught out (v.9 -- see 28:1).
• There are plenty of verses in the O.T. teaching forgiveness, love, mercy, grace... as in v.12.
• When we don't seek, receive, or act on counsel, we affect others negatively (v.15)
• V.16 is strikingly similar to Rom 6:23 (though in reverse order).

Challenge: May I be a person of integrity today. Integrity lies at the heart of discipline.

Tomorrow: Proverbs 11