Reflections on the Proverbs Podcast

The Rime of the Lonely Mariner

Reflections on Proverbs 25:17, Loneliness, and the Gift of Fellowship

“Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house—too much of you, and they will hate you.”

(Proverbs 25:17, NIV)

When I was a young man working in the maritime industry, I lived a very transient life.

Sometimes I would ship out for four months and then come home for three or four months. At another point in my career, I worked six weeks on and six weeks off. I lived in Florida, worked in Japan, and eventually moved to Panama. For much of my life between the ages of twenty-four and forty, I was constantly coming and going.

There were periods when I lived ashore, as we say in the maritime industry. I spent time in seminary and had some stability. But for much of those years, I lived a life of constant transition.

I know what it means to be transient.

One of the things I remember most clearly about those years was the longing for something permanent. I wanted to belong somewhere. I wanted to have a community of people around me. I wanted the ordinary things that many people take for granted.

This brings me to Proverbs 25:17.

“Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house—too much of you, and they will hate you.”

At first glance, this seems like a rather strange proverb. Is Solomon telling us not to visit our neighbors? Is he discouraging fellowship?

I don’t think so.

I think he is teaching us something about the nature of relationships. Fellowship is a wonderful gift, but it is not something we can demand from other people.

I learned this lesson during those years when I was constantly traveling.

I remember going to church alone. Most people were there with their families or friends. They belonged to that community. They knew one another. They had established relationships and routines.

I was just passing through.

After worship, people would sometimes come up and introduce themselves. Inevitably, they would ask what I did for a living. Then I would have to explain my rather unusual life as a merchant mariner.

One of the greatest blessings during those years was how often someone would invite me home for Sunday lunch.

I remember those invitations with tremendous gratitude.

Sometimes, however, nobody invited me.

That was part of life, too.

I learned that I could not grasp fellowship. I could not demand that other people make room for me in their lives simply because I was lonely or longing for community.

They had their own families, responsibilities, and established relationships. I had to respect that.

This, I think, is one of the practical lessons of Proverbs 25:17.

There is a difference between longing for fellowship and grasping at it. There is a difference between receiving hospitality gratefully and expecting others to provide it.

If someone invites you into their home, receive that invitation with thanksgiving. If they do not, respect their time and their circumstances.

Don’t linger until your welcome is exhausted. Don’t make your loneliness someone else’s obligation.

Fellowship is something we give and receive freely.

Remember the Stranger

But there is another side to this proverb, and I think it is equally important.

Those of us who have homes, families, and established communities must never forget the stranger.

Hebrews 13:2 reminds us:

“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

I have experienced both sides of this.

I know what it is like to be the lonely young man sitting in church by himself. I know what it is like to be far from home, constantly moving, and longing for a community that seems to exist everywhere except where you happen to be.

But now I also know what it is like to have a home and a family, with all the responsibilities that come with them.

I sometimes wonder whether I have forgotten those earlier years.

Perhaps I need to try harder to remember the stranger. Perhaps I need to remember the young man who comes to church alone, the traveler passing through, or the person who has recently moved into the community and doesn’t know anyone.

An invitation to Sunday lunch might mean far more to that person than we realize.

It certainly meant a great deal to me.

Learning to Be Alone

There is one final lesson I learned from those years.

Loneliness is sometimes part of the journey of faith.

We will not always have the fellowship we desire. There will be seasons when we are separated from family, friends, and the familiar comforts of home.

We must learn to live faithfully in those seasons.

We cannot turn other people into the solution to all our loneliness. We cannot grasp relationships so tightly that we destroy the very fellowship we desire.

We must learn to give freely, receive gratefully, and sometimes go without.

The Christian life is not a promise that we will never experience loneliness. But neither are we abandoned when we find ourselves alone.

Christ is with us, even when we are far from home.

Perhaps that is something the lonely merchant mariner needed to learn.

I certainly did.

And perhaps those of us who now have a place to call home need to remember what it was like when we didn’t.

By Wisdom a House Is Built

Reflections on Proverbs 24:3–5: Building, Ruling, and Filling in the Grammar of Genesis

“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.”

(Proverbs 24:3–4, NIV)

“The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength.”

(Proverbs 24:5, NIV)

There is a great deal of wisdom packed into these few verses. The first thing that comes to mind is something very practical. If you are going to build a house, you had better know what you are doing.

These proverbs appear in the collection commonly called the Thirty Sayings of the Wise. There are interesting parallels between this collection and the ancient Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope. We cannot necessarily attribute these particular sayings to Solomon himself. They belong to the larger wisdom tradition that Israel received, preserved, and developed under the fear of the LORD.

But consider what the proverb is saying. By wisdom a house is built. Through understanding it is established. Through knowledge its rooms are filled.

You can build a house quickly, or you can build it correctly. Those are not necessarily the same thing.

Consider modern construction. You have to worry about foundations, plumbing, electrical systems, and building codes. Building codes are not simply regulations invented to make construction more difficult. They have a purpose. They establish standards for safety, reliability, and repeatability. They also make it possible for somebody who comes along later to understand what was done.

Take electrical wiring, for example. There are standards for identifying wires and installing electrical circuits. Those standards matter because the next electrician needs to know what he is looking at. If somebody runs wires wherever he pleases, without following the established standards, the system may work for a while. But eventually somebody else has to figure out what was done.

I know something about this because I live in a house where additional wiring was installed by an “electrician” who knew about the basics but not the code. He knew something but that is not the same thing as a certified electrician. There is a difference.

Some of what he did worked. But some of it was not done according to proper standards. Consequently, we have a couple of electrical circuits with faults that have been disconnected. Eventually, those wires will have to be rerun, which is not going to be a small undertaking.

The lesson is simple. Wisdom is not merely knowing how to make something work. Wisdom is knowing how to do it correctly, safely, and in a way that can be maintained by those who come after us.

That is what it means to build a house through wisdom.

The Wisdom That Was Offered in Eden

But I want to go back to the beginning of the Bible, because I have developed a habit of looking at the rest of Scripture through what I call the Genesis grammar.

I believe that Genesis provides us with patterns that continue throughout the Scriptures. We see them repeated in the law, the prophets, the wisdom literature, and ultimately in Christ.

Consider the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

I do not believe that God placed that tree in the garden merely as a test to determine whether Adam and Eve would obey him and thereby earn some reward. I believe the tree was placed there for their blessing. God intended to teach them wisdom and prepare them for their calling as his vice-regents over creation.

Adam and Eve were created to rule. They were to exercise dominion over the earth, cultivate the garden, classify the creatures, and learn about the world God had made. That calling required wisdom.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not evil. God is not the creator of evil. Knowledge was not the problem. God had always intended for humanity to grow in knowledge and understanding.

The question was how that knowledge would be received.

Would Adam and Eve receive wisdom from the Lord, in dependence upon him and according to his instruction? Or would they seize it for themselves, independently of his word?

They were called to trust the Lord and wait upon him. That is precisely what they failed to do.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

That principle did not suddenly appear in the book of Proverbs. It was already present in the garden.

Wisdom was to be received in communion with God. It was never intended to be acquired through independence from him.

This is why I see the wisdom tradition of Israel as something of a continuation of what God intended to teach humanity in Eden.

God intended us to learn how to build, how to govern, how to cultivate, how to classify the creation, and how to understand the world around us. None of these things is opposed to faith. They are expressions of the calling God gave humanity in the beginning.

But they must be pursued in the fear of the LORD.

Building, Ruling, and Filling

Now return to Proverbs 24.

“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.”

Notice the movement.

First, the house is built.

Then it is established.

Then it is filled.

This is where I see something of the Genesis grammar emerging again.

On the fourth day of creation, God appointed the sun, moon, and stars to govern the day and the night. He established rulers over the ordered creation. The lights were given their places and their responsibilities.

Ruling is part of the fourth-day pattern.

Then, on the fifth and sixth days, we see the creation being filled. The waters are filled with living creatures, the heavens with birds, and the land with animals and humanity. God blesses his creatures and commands them to be fruitful and multiply.

There is an order to this.

God establishes the ordered world, appoints its rulers, and fills it with life.

Now consider the proverb again.

A house is built through wisdom. It is established through understanding. Its rooms are filled through knowledge.

We see the same kind of movement from establishment to fullness.

The connection is not that Proverbs is explicitly explaining the fourth day of creation. Rather, the proverb reflects the same wisdom of ordered creation that we encounter in Genesis.

A wise ruler does not merely exercise power. He governs according to knowledge and understanding. His work is directed toward establishing something that can flourish.

That is why verse 5 is so important.

“The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength.”

Wisdom produces strength. Knowledge enables a person to exercise power properly.

A man may have tremendous physical strength and still be a fool. He may have the power to build something, but without wisdom he may build something that eventually falls apart.

The wise man understands how things work. He understands their purpose. He knows how they ought to be ordered.

He does not merely build. He builds so that what he establishes can be filled with good things.

Building on the Rock

This brings us to the words of Jesus.

At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us about two builders. One builds his house upon the rock, and the other builds his house upon the sand.

Both men build houses. Both houses may look perfectly adequate for a while.

But when the rain falls, the floods come, and the winds blow, the difference becomes apparent.

The wise man built upon the rock.

Jesus tells us that the wise builder is the one who hears his words and does them.

Here again, wisdom is not merely possessing information. It is hearing and obeying. It is receiving the word of God and ordering our lives accordingly.

That was the calling in Eden. It was the calling of Israel. It remains our calling today.

God has not abandoned his purpose to fill his creation with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. In Christ, the true and faithful Son, that purpose is being brought to its fulfillment.

We were created …

By Wisdom a House Is Built

Reflections on Proverbs 24:3–5: Building, Ruling, and Filling in the Grammar of Genesis

“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.”

(Proverbs 24:3–4, NIV)

“The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength.”

(Proverbs 24:5, NIV)

There is a great deal of wisdom packed into these few verses. The first thing that comes to mind is something very practical. If you are going to build a house, you had better know what you are doing.

These proverbs appear in the collection commonly called the Thirty Sayings of the Wise. There are interesting parallels between this collection and the ancient Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope. We cannot necessarily attribute these particular sayings to Solomon himself. They belong to the larger wisdom tradition that Israel received, preserved, and developed under the fear of the LORD.

But consider what the proverb is saying. By wisdom a house is built. Through understanding it is established. Through knowledge its rooms are filled.

You can build a house quickly, or you can build it correctly. Those are not necessarily the same thing.

Consider modern construction. You have to worry about foundations, plumbing, electrical systems, and building codes. Building codes are not simply regulations invented to make construction more difficult. They have a purpose. They establish standards for safety, reliability, and repeatability. They also make it possible for somebody who comes along later to understand what was done.

Take electrical wiring, for example. There are standards for identifying wires and installing electrical circuits. Those standards matter because the next electrician needs to know what he is looking at. If somebody runs wires wherever he pleases, without following the established standards, the system may work for a while. But eventually somebody else has to figure out what was done.

I know something about this because I live in a house where additional wiring was installed by an “electrician” who knew about the basics but not the code. He knew something but that is not the same thing as a certified electrician. There is a difference.

Some of what he did worked. But some of it was not done according to proper standards. Consequently, we have a couple of electrical circuits with faults that have been disconnected. Eventually, those wires will have to be rerun, which is not going to be a small undertaking.

The lesson is simple. Wisdom is not merely knowing how to make something work. Wisdom is knowing how to do it correctly, safely, and in a way that can be maintained by those who come after us.

That is what it means to build a house through wisdom.

The Wisdom That Was Offered in Eden

But I want to go back to the beginning of the Bible, because I have developed a habit of looking at the rest of Scripture through what I call the Genesis grammar.

I believe that Genesis provides us with patterns that continue throughout the Scriptures. We see them repeated in the law, the prophets, the wisdom literature, and ultimately in Christ.

Consider the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

I do not believe that God placed that tree in the garden merely as a test to determine whether Adam and Eve would obey him and thereby earn some reward. I believe the tree was placed there for their blessing. God intended to teach them wisdom and prepare them for their calling as his vice-regents over creation.

Adam and Eve were created to rule. They were to exercise dominion over the earth, cultivate the garden, classify the creatures, and learn about the world God had made. That calling required wisdom.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not evil. God is not the creator of evil. Knowledge was not the problem. God had always intended for humanity to grow in knowledge and understanding.

The question was how that knowledge would be received.

Would Adam and Eve receive wisdom from the Lord, in dependence upon him and according to his instruction? Or would they seize it for themselves, independently of his word?

They were called to trust the Lord and wait upon him. That is precisely what they failed to do.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

That principle did not suddenly appear in the book of Proverbs. It was already present in the garden.

Wisdom was to be received in communion with God. It was never intended to be acquired through independence from him.

This is why I see the wisdom tradition of Israel as something of a continuation of what God intended to teach humanity in Eden.

God intended us to learn how to build, how to govern, how to cultivate, how to classify the creation, and how to understand the world around us. None of these things is opposed to faith. They are expressions of the calling God gave humanity in the beginning.

But they must be pursued in the fear of the LORD.

Building, Ruling, and Filling

Now return to Proverbs 24.

“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.”

Notice the movement.

First, the house is built.

Then it is established.

Then it is filled.

This is where I see something of the Genesis grammar emerging again.

On the fourth day of creation, God appointed the sun, moon, and stars to govern the day and the night. He established rulers over the ordered creation. The lights were given their places and their responsibilities.

Ruling is part of the fourth-day pattern.

Then, on the fifth and sixth days, we see the creation being filled. The waters are filled with living creatures, the heavens with birds, and the land with animals and humanity. God blesses his creatures and commands them to be fruitful and multiply.

There is an order to this.

God establishes the ordered world, appoints its rulers, and fills it with life.

Now consider the proverb again.

A house is built through wisdom. It is established through understanding. Its rooms are filled through knowledge.

We see the same kind of movement from establishment to fullness.

The connection is not that Proverbs is explicitly explaining the fourth day of creation. Rather, the proverb reflects the same wisdom of ordered creation that we encounter in Genesis.

A wise ruler does not merely exercise power. He governs according to knowledge and understanding. His work is directed toward establishing something that can flourish.

That is why verse 5 is so important.

“The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength.”

Wisdom produces strength. Knowledge enables a person to exercise power properly.

A man may have tremendous physical strength and still be a fool. He may have the power to build something, but without wisdom he may build something that eventually falls apart.

The wise man understands how things work. He understands their purpose. He knows how they ought to be ordered.

He does not merely build. He builds so that what he establishes can be filled with good things.

Building on the Rock

This brings us to the words of Jesus.

At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us about two builders. One builds his house upon the rock, and the other builds his house upon the sand.

Both men build houses. Both houses may look perfectly adequate for a while.

But when the rain falls, the floods come, and the winds blow, the difference becomes apparent.

The wise man built upon the rock.

Jesus tells us that the wise builder is the one who hears his words and does them.

Here again, wisdom is not merely possessing information. It is hearing and obeying. It is receiving the word of God and ordering our lives accordingly.

That was the calling in Eden. It was the calling of Israel. It remains our calling today.

God has not abandoned his purpose to fill his creation with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. In Christ, the true and faithful Son, that purpose is being brought to its fulfillment.

We were create…

Proverbs 17: The Magic Stone

Bribery, Witchcraft, and Phantom Prosperity

This is Reflections on the Proverbs for October 17, 2026.

We come to Proverbs 17:8:

A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it; wherever he turns he prospers.

That’s an interesting expression. A magic stone.

Years ago, when I was serving as a missionary and teaching at the Talua Ministry Training Center in Vanuatu, one of the things I noticed about the Ni-Vanuatu people was that they were concerned about things that Westerners generally don’t think much about.

They are not Westerners. They come from an ancient, tribal culture that is very closely connected to nature. Much of their traditional folklore and religious practice involves magic.

I remember how excited they were when we came across this expression in Proverbs. A magic stone! What does the magic stone do?

It was something that immediately caught their attention because magic was such a familiar part of their traditional worldview.

So when I read this proverb again this morning, I thought it would be worth discussing the magic stone.

Most translations don’t use that expression, but it makes you think of witchcraft.

If you think about it, bribery is very much like witchcraft. What are people trying to accomplish with witchcraft? They’re trying to manipulate an outcome through spells, incantations, and rituals. They want to get what they want.

Bribery works in much the same way.

Instead of using spells and incantations, you use money or favors. You’re trying to manipulate someone into giving you the outcome you desire.

And it works.

In fact, that’s how much of the world operates. Think of the kings of the world, the rulers, and all the underhanded deals that have been made throughout history.

People become enormously wealthy through bribery, corruption, and the perversion of justice.

And it does appear to bring prosperity.

But it’s phantom prosperity.

It doesn’t last.

Now, that doesn’t mean that wicked men always lose their fortunes during their lifetimes. They may keep their wealth until the day they die. They may live their entire lives enjoying the benefits of their corruption.

But it doesn’t last.

Later in the same chapter, Solomon says:

The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice.

—Proverbs 17:23

So the proverb isn’t teaching us that bribery is a good way to prosper. It’s showing us how the world works and how men attempt to manipulate outcomes to their own advantage.

And remember what Solomon said in the previous chapter:

Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.

—Proverbs 16:8

There is a difference between prosperity gained through the perversion of justice and prosperity that comes through righteousness.

The one may appear successful for a lifetime, but it has no permanence.

Justice is the way to prosperity that lasts.

And I think this is the warning of the magic stone.

We do not want to be involved in magic. We don’t want to try to get something for nothing. We don’t want to manipulate anybody or anything. We want to be truthful.

And who is the truth?

Jesus is the truth.

He wants us to live by His truth. That’s what sets us free.

It sets us free from the need to amass great wealth and control everybody around us. We can actually live free.

He came to set us free.

We don’t need magic stones.

We simply need the stone, the rock upon which we build our house.

And Jesus is that rock.

That’s the stone we need, not any magic stone.

Amen.

Solomon and the Silver Mines of Demas

Beware of Demas

This is Reflections on the Proverbs for October 16, 2026.

Going down to verse 16:

How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

Given that many of the Proverbs were written by or collected by Solomon, we need to read these Proverbs in their historical setting. Sometimes scholars will use fancy words like Sitz im Leben, meaning “setting in life.” Well, what is the setting in life of Proverbs? They were written by a king of Israel, or at least somebody in his court, and eventually brought together by whoever did the final compilation of the book. The men of Hezekiah also copied proverbs of Solomon. So this is not only Solomon’s wisdom. It comes from the Solomonic wisdom tradition, and that is how I am reading it.

With that in mind, consider that Solomon had an extraordinary amount of gold and silver. He received in one year 666 talents of gold. Now, how much is that? Depending on how you calculate the weight of a talent, that would be roughly 730,000 troy ounces of gold, worth something close to three billion dollars at today’s prices. That was only the gold coming in annually. The silver was so plentiful that it was considered of little value. Solomon was rich, very rich indeed.

Now, when you look at Deuteronomy 17, you find the rules for the kings:

Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, “You shall never return that way again.” And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

—Deuteronomy 17:16–17

Here Solomon was doing something that kings were not supposed to do: acquiring excessive silver and gold. When you go back and look at what God had promised to give Solomon, you have to go to First Kings 3. It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked for wisdom, and God said to him:

Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.

—1 Kings 3:11–13

Then comes verse 14:

And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.

The lengthening of his days was contingent on his faithfulness, his covenant faithfulness. It is not that Solomon could do this in his own strength. As he put his faith in God and His promises, God would work that obedience in him. It is what Augustine said: “Give what you command, and command what you will.” That is basically how I understand this. It is not a reintroduction of works, as though Solomon had to work his way into God’s favor. He receives God’s gifts by faith, and that includes the obedience God works in His people.

When you put these things together, I think it is important to recognize that God promised him riches and honor. He did not promise him permission to accumulate excessive amounts of gold and silver, because He had prohibited that in Deuteronomy. Whatever riches God gave him were to be received and used according to His commandments.

By all indications from Scripture, Solomon was given extraordinary wisdom. Yet you see that, as a man, he did not live according to it. He may have known it, but he did not live by it. He multiplied horses, he multiplied wives, and he multiplied silver and gold. He imported horses from Egypt and married Pharaoh’s daughter. Later, he built high places for the gods of his foreign wives. He was a merchant. He was a busy king.

It makes you wonder whether, in some sense, later collectors of these proverbs were drawing attention to the contrast between Solomon’s wisdom and his life. The reading I prefer to consider is that Solomon himself realized later in life that he had not followed the wisdom he had been given. If Ecclesiastes was indeed written by Solomon, perhaps we are hearing something of his realization about the things he had done. Scripture does not give us any details tell of his repentance, but it certainly gives us reason to consider the contrast between what he knew and how he lived.

He was given wisdom, but the question is, what did he do with that wisdom? Did he use it to serve the people under him, or were they there to serve him? In some sense, I believe he became more like the kings of the world that Jesus talks about, the rulers who lord their authority over others. In the book of the Kings, Solomon looks like a king who wanted to be served.

Jesus came as a servant King. He came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many, and that is what we are supposed to follow. Whatever God has given us, we are to use it in service to Him and to the people He has placed around us.

This is where I think of The Pilgrim’s Progress, Demas, and the silver mine. Demas calls Christian and Hopeful to turn aside and see the mine, telling them that with a little effort they could enrich themselves. Hopeful is drawn toward it, but Christian recognizes the danger and insists that they keep going.

I think this is a battle that every Christian has. We need to provide for ourselves and our families. We want a house, land, work, perhaps something productive that will provide an income. There is nothing wrong with those things. Yet the vast accumulation of wealth is dangerous, and even the things we acquire to provide for ourselves can become the things in which we place our hope.

I think it also has more to do with the kind of wealth we have. Land, houses, and farms are different kinds of wealth than gold and silver. One is money; the other is an asset. We must be careful with large sums of money, as they can become a snare.

Today’s stock markets, cryptocurrencies, and other financial investments are, in some ways, like silver and gold—easily traded for cash. Very liquid, as financial analysts would say. This is the kind of wealth that can be particularly dangerous.

I think what Deuteronomy is warning against is the difference between productive wealth and financial wealth. Those are two very different things. If we put all of our effort into accumulating financial wealth, it can become a snare. But if we put our resources into productive wealth, into things that produce something useful, provide for our families, and benefit others, then we have something with which we can serve our neighbor. That is a very different way of thinking about wealth.

That is why I think Proverbs says:

Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

—Proverbs 30:8–9

The concern is that, when we have too much, we may begin to think we no longer need the Lord. Jesus tells us that we cannot serve God and mammon. Paul tells Timothy to warn those who are rich not to put their hope in uncertain riches, but in God, and to be generous and ready to share. He also tells us that Demas deserted him because he loved the present world.

Solomon knew that wisdom was better than gold and understanding better than silver. The question was whether he would live according to the wisdom he had been given. That is the question for us as well. When riches increase, we are not to set our hearts on them. We are to receive what God gives us, use it faithfully, and keep our hope in Him.

Conclusion

Wealth is not bad. But if our wealth is primarily financial wealth, and it is not serving our neighbor, it may become a snare. It may interfere with our vocation and our service. That, I think, is the warning we all need to take seri…

Solomon, His Wives, and His Wisdom

Today is the 12 of October, so we are in Proverbs chapter twelve.

When reading Proverbs 12, I want to read it consciously remembering that Solomon was the primary compiler of this book. That gives some of these proverbs an interesting texture when we consider Solomon’s own life.

In verse 4, we read:

“An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.”

If we think of Solomon writing this, we have to ask: Which of his 700 wives was his crown?

Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Did he have a wife who was a crown to him?

When we look at the Song of Solomon, which I believe Solomon wrote, although its authorship is debated, we find him speaking about the beloved. There is a woman who could be the crown of her husband.

I think this is something Solomon probably realized much later in life. The sheer number of wives he had prevented him from being a husband to any of them in the way he ought to have been. He couldn’t possibly love that many women as a husband should, nor did he need to.

He needed one wife.

I believe he figured this out toward the end of his life.

But when we look at David’s greater Son, Jesus Christ, who has one bride, the Church, we can ask another question.

Did his bride bring rottenness into his bones?

We know from Scripture that none of his bones were broken. John 19:36 tells us:

“For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken.’”

This recalls Psalm 34:20:

“He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.”

The bride of Christ did not become rottenness in his bones. His love for her made her the crown of her husband.

This is a canonical reading of Proverbs, but I think it gets to the point.

Husbands need to love their wives, sacrifice themselves for their wives, care for them, learn about them, and know them, so that they may be the crowns God made them to be.

When a husband comes into counseling and says, “My wife doesn’t do this. She’s this, that, and the other,” he ought to consider whether he has loved her the way Christ has loved his bride.

That doesn’t mean husbands can automatically change their wives into crowns. But even the effort to love them faithfully is going to change something in the marriage.

We husbands are tasked with doing that work, and that work is modeled after the work of our Savior. We have to accept that as our calling.

Solomon and the Land

Continuing through Proverbs 12, and still thinking about Solomon, we read in verse 11:

“Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.”

The question is, did Solomon ever work his own land?

Or did he work other people’s lands and have them pay taxes so that his table would always have plenty of food?

I think this is another way of looking at the proverb when we consider the man who compiled it.

Solomon knew the land had to be worked, and he certainly knew how to administer things. But I don’t think he always understood, or at least practiced, what the law of God teaches us about respecting the property of others.

Just because you’re the king doesn’t mean you get to take everybody’s property.

Solomon instituted heavy burdens on the people to support his kingdom and royal household. That is something worth recognizing as we read his wisdom.

The Diligent Hand

Then in verse 24, we read:

“The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.”

Well, we know Solomon was all about this.

He had Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor. Now, it is true that Solomon did not reduce the Israelites to the same kind of permanent forced servitude imposed on the foreigners living in the land. But if you were a foreigner, you could be subjected to forced labor. That is not exactly justice.

Even the Israelites were required to participate in labor levies. Solomon sent men to Lebanon to work with the timber supplied by Hiram. They would spend a month in Lebanon and then return home for two months. They were not slaves in the same sense as the foreign laborers, but they were told where to go and what work they had to do.

They didn’t have a choice.

Solomon understood diligence in ruling and administration, but he didn’t always understand the proper boundaries of his authority.

He should not have compelled men to leave their farms and families for a month to do his work. He should have paid them, and the work should have been voluntary.

There is something almost ironic about reading this proverb in light of Solomon’s own administration.

Solomon understood wisdom. He knew the value of diligence, labor, and good administration. But there was also something lacking in the way he practiced that wisdom.

Perhaps that is one of the lessons we should take away from reading Proverbs with Solomon’s own life in mind.

Knowing wisdom and living wisely are not always the same thing.

Today’s Reflections of the Proverbs is from chapter 11. I have titled it “Reading Proverbs Through the Life of Solomon.”

One of the things I think we forget when we read the Proverbs is that these are the Proverbs of Solomon. He’s the one who collected and wrote many of them. Sometimes we need to keep that in mind when we’re reading Proverbs and think about the life of Solomon as we read them.

“A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.” (Proverbs 11:1)

Well, we know that one thing Solomon did in his kingdom was maintain proper weights and balances. It wasn’t a kingdom without proper accounting. But sometimes, in his accounting, Solomon did things he shouldn’t have done.

I’ll give you an example.

He had forced labor. He taxed the other tribes of Israel. They had to provide a great deal of food and produce for the king’s table. Judah was treated differently. How was that a just balance?

You see, I think in some ways, when we read these Proverbs, we may be reading wisdom that Solomon came to understand much later in his life, when he saw some of the things he had done and how they didn’t work.

Solomon is a very enigmatic person. I think he’s hard to figure out sometimes. But that’s one of the things about riddles and wisdom. Wisdom comes to us in riddles. It has a strange texture to it.

Let’s continue.

“Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” (Proverbs 11:4)

Who had more riches than Solomon?

This almost sounds like a confession. The riches weren’t worth it.

God gave Solomon those riches, and then God brought judgment upon him. God loved Solomon, but He also judged him.

The book of Kings doesn’t tell us that Solomon repented of everything he did. But when I read this proverb, I start thinking that perhaps he did. Perhaps he finally saw it.

Let’s keep going.

“When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.” (Proverbs 11:10)

Certainly, Solomon’s rule was characterized by righteousness. Not perfect righteousness, but he certainly did administer the kingdom in a way that brought great material prosperity.

The people prospered under Solomon. His kingdom was wealthy, powerful, and peaceful. Yet there were problems beneath all that prosperity, problems that became very apparent after his death.

“Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” (Proverbs 11:14)

Solomon could have done none of his ruling without counselors.

No king can rule without good advice and counsel. The kings of England had their Privy Council. In the United States, the president has a cabinet. You have to have counselors in order to rule.

It’s interesting that Solomon did have wise counselors. But Solomon was so blessed, so powerful, and so wise that I wonder whether many of his counselors were reluctant to point out some of the problems in his kingdom.

They certainly tried to point those problems out to Rehoboam.

They told him, in effect, don’t make the people serve you. You need to serve them.

But Rehoboam ignored their advice and followed the advice of his pampered princes, his friends who had grown up living on the royal largesse.

It does go to show you that Solomon had wise counselors. But perhaps even a wise king doesn’t always listen to wise counsel.

Now, one last proverb.

“A gracious woman gets honor, and violent men get riches.” (Proverbs 11:16)

Well, Solomon knew a lot of women. He had seven hundred wives. Then you read Ecclesiastes, where he speaks about searching for wisdom and not finding a woman among them. It seems almost absurd when you think about it.

But then you read the Song of Solomon, which is attributed to Solomon, and it makes you wonder whether Solomon ever really knew a good woman. Perhaps he didn’t know her personally. Perhaps he knew of a story about a good woman, and maybe that’s what led him to write the Song of Solomon.

He knew women, but did he know a woman? One woman?

With seven hundred wives, you have to wonder. But maybe Solomon’s problem was that he had too many women and not one woman.

If Solomon had been the husband he ought to have been to one woman, loving her, caring for her, learning who she was, and leading her, perhaps she would have become the wise woman he was looking for.

In some sense, Solomon failed as a husband because he didn’t have one woman. He had seven hundred wives, but perhaps he never really learned what it meant to be the husband of one woman.

Now think about this in light of the Son of God and His bride.

Christ is a one-woman man. He has one bride, the Church. His bride is not naturally wise. In many ways, she is a foolish woman. But because of the goodness of her husband, because He loves her, cares for her, teaches her, and leads her, she begins to manifest His wisdom.

Christ doesn’t go looking for another bride because His bride is foolish. He loves His bride and makes her wise.

Perhaps that’s something Solomon never understood.

I think this is one illustration of why we should read Proverbs consciously thinking about Solomon himself. His life, his wisdom, his riches, his failures, and perhaps even his repentance all give us something to think about when we read these Proverbs.

Maybe Solomon didn’t learn some of the things he wrote about until much later in his life.

Isn’t that how Proverbs work?

Sometimes your father tells you something, and you think, why is he saying that? That doesn’t make any sense.

Or somebody gives you advice, and you wonder why anyone would tell you to do such a thing.

Then, years later, after you’ve lived a little, made some mistakes, and seen how things work, you suddenly say:

Now I understand.

A lot of Proverbs are like that. They’re riddles. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to understand them.

Today’s reflection on the Proverbs comes from Proverbs 9, which I read yesterday as part of my practice of reading the chapter of Proverbs corresponding to each day of the month. I didn’t have time to write the reflection until this morning.

I think when we look at Proverbs 9, we have to begin by asking, Who are these women?

Lady Wisdom is presented from verse 1 through verse 12, and then, beginning in verse 13, we are introduced to Woman Folly, who continues to the end of the chapter in verse 18.

These are two competing voices.

One of the problems we have when we look at typology in Scripture and try to understand metaphors is that we have to recognize that poetry is an expression of truth.

Sometimes people say, “Well, poetry is not real. It’s just fancy writing.”

But some things, when you say them poetically, are more real because you are getting at a truth that sometimes cannot be explained analytically.

It’s not just that we need things that are true. We need them said beautifully as well.

Scripture gives us that here in these two pictures: two women, Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly.

When we look at Lady Wisdom, what does it say?

She has built her house. She has slaughtered her beasts. She has mixed her wine. She has set her table. She calls from the highest places of the city:

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”

Come, eat, drink, leave your simple ways, and walk in the way of insight.

It’s an invitation. There is no price. It’s an invitation to come and eat.

I think when we look at this passage, we have to ask, Who does this represent? What is this a metaphor of?

Some people would say this is a type of Christ. Christ is calling his people to come to this feast. That’s true.

But I think the problem with seeing this only as Christ is that Lady Wisdom is presented in the feminine gender. We don’t want to think of Christ as a lady.

But how does God call people?

Well, he uses the church.

Why can’t we look at Lady Wisdom as a metaphor for the church?

When we see the imagery of this table, with this delicious meal prepared and an invitation to come and eat, we can see a picture of the Lord’s Supper. It’s communion. It’s fellowship.

We don’t have to press every detail to see that this is a beautiful representation of the gospel.

When we get down to verse 9, we see that she gives instruction. She teaches. She makes the wise wiser, and the righteous increase in learning.

Then we get down to verse 13.

“The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing.”

This is Baal.

Baal is loud. Baal makes promises. Baal punishes those who do not obey. It is legalistic, and it is not beautiful.

As we read further, we discover that Woman Folly is also sitting in the highest places of the city.

So false teaching is also found in the highest places. She calls out to people, just as Lady Wisdom calls out.

But look at what she offers:

“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

It’s a fake meal.

It’s not worth eating, and it leads to death.

I think we need to look at Proverbs in this beautiful language of Scripture, which uses metaphors to help describe ultimate reality.

The ultimate reality is that Christ is our wisdom. God is all-wise, but he has imparted that wisdom to his church, and the bride of Christ, the church, preaches the gospel.

But there is another voice that is also preaching a gospel, only it is not the true gospel.

That is Lady Folly.

That is the false church.

That is the w***e of Babylon.

That is today’s reflection on Proverbs 9.

This is a reflection on Proverbs chapter 8, and I think this is the one reflection I’ve been waiting to do. The early church rightly saw Christ in this proverb, but maybe there is more here than Christ. Maybe we can see the Bride of Christ too.

Lady Wisdom: The Church

Let us read Proverbs 8 and see if we can discern the two voices:

“Does not wisdom call,And understanding lift up her voice?On the top of the heights beside the way,Where the paths meet, she takes her stand.Beside the gates, at the opening to the city,At the entrance of the doors, she cries out,‘To you, O men, I call,And my voice is to the sons of men.O naive ones, understand prudence,And, O fools, understand wisdom.Listen, for I will speak noble things,And the opening of my lips will reveal right things.For my mouth will utter truth,And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness;There is nothing crooked or perverted in them.’”

When we look at this woman who is crying out, what is she crying out? This call to wisdom can be seen as a gospel call.

If we read this redemptive-historically, Lady Wisdom can be seen as the Church. She is at the gate. In the ancient Near Eastern world, the gate was a place of judgment and a place where people assembled to discuss great matters. It was like a court.

And what greater matter could be discussed than the very way to eternal life?

Notice also the character of the call. Wisdom is calling and inviting. It reminds me of Isaiah: “Come now, and let us reason together.” The gospel is that kind of call: an invitation to come, to live and not die.

One last thing we should notice in this first section of the chapter is that Wisdom is personified as a woman. Can Christ himself be referred to in the feminine gender? If, however, we see Lady Wisdom as the Church, then the imagery makes sense. The Church has traditionally been spoken of in the feminine gender. This is in keeping with Cyprian’s famous statement: “He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother.”

Wisdom Shared

Then we come to the next section of Proverbs 8:

I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,And I find knowledge and discretion.The fear of the LORD is to hate evil;Pride and arrogance and the evil wayAnd the perverted mouth, I hate.Counsel is mine and sound wisdom;I am understanding, power is mine.By me kings reign,And rulers decree justice.By me princes rule, and nobles,All who judge rightly.I love those who love me;And those who diligently seek me will find me.Riches and honor are with me,Enduring wealth and righteousness.My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,And my yield better than choicest silver.I walk in the way of righteousness,In the midst of the paths of justice,To endow those who love me with wealth,That I may fill their treasuries.

Both the Bride and the Groom could say this.

The Church can dwell with prudence and find knowledge and discretion. But can the Son of God say this?

If we remember the incarnation, then yes. Christ truly entered our humanity. In his human nature, he learned and grew in wisdom. As Luke tells us:

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

So in verses 12 through 21, I think Wisdom can be heard in a kind of dual register. Christ and his Church can both be seen.

I take this as part of the participatory nature of our salvation. Christ gives to his Church what is his. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:

“So that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’”

Everything we have comes from our Lord. He is our wisdom, our righteousness, our holiness, and our redemption.

Wisdom Before Creation

As we keep going, eventually we come to this:

The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way,Before His works of old.From everlasting I was established,From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.When there were no depths, I was brought forth,When there were no springs abounding with water.Before the mountains were settled,Before the hills I was brought forth,While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,Nor the first dust of the world.When He established the heavens, I was there,When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,When He made firm the skies above.

Here the register changes. The language points us beyond the Church to the Logos, the Son of God. The language of being “brought forth” was historically connected with the eternal generation of the Son.

The Father creates all things through the Son and by the Holy Spirit.

And so perhaps we can see the movement of Proverbs 8.

At the beginning we meet Lady Wisdom. She stands at the gate and calls to the sons of men. Typologically, she can be seen as the Bride of Christ. But she does not possess wisdom independently. Christ beautifies his Bride and gives her wisdom, and with the wisdom she has received from him, she calls out to the world.

Then, as we move deeper into the chapter, Wisdom points us to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

The Church calls with a wisdom she has received from Christ.

And Christ is the Wisdom of God.

The Bride speaks because the Groom has first spoken to her. She possesses wisdom because she participates in his wisdom. She calls the sons of men to life because she herself has received life from him.

That, I think, is what we are seeing in Proverbs chapter 8: Christ and his Bride, the Wisdom of God and the Church made wise in him.

Today’s reflection on the Proverbs comes from Proverbs chapter 7.

When we read Proverbs chapter 7, it begins:

“My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you. Keep my commandments and live. Keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers.”

And that word keep is in the imperative. Keep my words. Keep my commandments. And then again, bind them on your fingers. That bind is again an imperative.

“Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman and from the adulteress with her smooth words.”

And then the remaining verses talk about how the forbidden woman is very seductive.

The father says:

“And behold, a woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.”

She is loud and wayward. She seizes him and kisses him. And then she says:

“Today I have paid my vows. I have gone out to meet you, to seek you, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, with colored linens from Egypt. Come, let us take our fill of love till the morning.”

And, you know, it is all about you.

She knows exactly how to seduce him. She flatters him. She tells him what he wants to hear: You’re wonderful. You’re great. I came looking for you. I found you.

But she is seducing him, and she is taking his life.

And this is exactly what happened in the Garden.

It was the seduction of the serpent with the woman, and then the woman seduced her husband into participating in that rebellion.

So when we get back to the beginning of Proverbs 7, we see that the father is teaching his son not to go there.

He tells him: Keep my words. Keep my commandments. Keep my teaching.

And this will keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress. This will keep you from falling into the trap.

Now, when we read this verse, especially when you see something like “Keep my commandments and live,” which is the title of this reflection, it sounds like, well, you know, maybe I can do it. Maybe I can save myself.

And if you go to the New Testament, there was a rich young ruler who basically thought the same thing.

In Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse 17, the rich young ruler says:

“Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

And Jesus basically says:

“You know the commandments: Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.”

And he says to him:

“Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”

Then Jesus says:

“One thing you lack: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

You know, when you read this, you think, well, this just seems to be a little off.

What is Jesus doing here?

Well, he is not telling the rich young ruler, Do this and live based upon your own ability. He is not telling him that.

He is using the Old Testament way of explaining the gospel.

And even when he says, “Come, follow me,” following, walking, living in communion with God is a metaphor for faith.

Trust me.

If you trust me, you will abide in me. You will produce a life. Your life will evidence that trust by becoming holy.

You see, he is not saying work to get.

He is saying believe, and the works will follow.

And it doesn’t necessarily seem like that is what it is saying when you first read it. But I think part of the problem is that we are so accustomed to reading this from the New Testament perspective, which is generally dealing with the instrumental nature of faith, that we are not as accustomed to the Old Testament way of speaking about the evidential nature of what faith does.

And I think that is what is going on here in Proverbs.

“Keep my commandments and live.”

Not because keeping the commandments earns life.

But because that is what living faith does.