Postings on Proverbs 12:12

“Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers,

but the root of the righteous bears fruit” (ESV)

I thought this version made more sense than the NASB, my translation of choice for almost 20 years.

Observation: What does this verse say?

Parallelism?  Antithetic

Who?  The Wicked vs. The Righteous

What?  Covets vs. Bears Fruit

Where and When?  Anywhere and Anytime

Why?  Because of what they are, wicked or righteous

How?  Not sure

Word Studies?  Covets, spoil, root

This is a heart issue (“covets”) that manifests itself in actions that aren’t described here. “Root” is a metaphor, but of what?  Maybe, the source of one’s actions – maybe, because coveting is internal?

The first line is more specific than the second line (covets…evildoers vs. “bears fruit”), but how is line 1 a parallel with line 2?

“Bears fruit” seems like an almost universal statement of the good that comes out of God’s people.

“Whoever” is a sweeping statement, but does this verse say this is a characteristic of all wicked people, or that if someone “covets the spoil of evildoers” it’s a sure sign someone is wicked?  It seems like option 2 gives a skill for recognizing what kind of person I’m interacting with, meaning it gives insight into a person’s character without knowing him, saying that if you come across a person that covets the spoil of evildoers that you’ve got someone you should probably stay away from.

Interpretation: What does this verse mean?

Well, the Hebrew text and exactly what words were meant to be in the text is not clearly known (Longman 274), which makes what Solomon actually said quite difficult to determine.

The word the ESV translates “covets” means desires or craves (Waltke 529) and “spoil,” a rare and complicated word, can mean anything from net, snare, plunder, stronghold or fortification (Waltke 516, 529) so Waltke translates this verse “The wicked person desires the stronghold of evil people, but the root of righteous people endures.”

He prefers this translation because of the parallel ideas of security, that the wicked “covet the defense obtained illegally” (529) while the security of the righteous is rooted in their character.

Application: How does this verse help me?

A wicked person, someone who lacks character – dishonest, antisocial, taking advantage of others – is unstable.  He’s paranoid.  He’s watching his back.  He’s sleeping with one eye open.  Inside, he may be waiting for the truth to come out.  He knows “What goes around, comes around” so he’s waiting for all his wickedness to boomerang back on him.

Therefore, he craves security, even the security that some have obtained through wicked deeds (mob bosses, dictators, and money launderers comes to my mind) to try and calm his instability.  However, the righteous are grounded, rooted, stable.  They have no need to be paranoid.  They don’t worry about the boomerang. They are safe because their character keeps them from present and future trouble.

This proverb helps you evaluate yourself.  Has your sin made you unstable?  Paranoid?  Anxious?  Is your character keeping you safe?  Character is the real treasure.  The boomerang is real.  “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Gal 6:7).

Billy Graham's Message For You

Postings on Proverbs 12:11

“He who tills his land will have plenty of bread,

But he who pursues worthless things lacks sense” (NASB)

Observation: What does Proverbs 12:11 say?

The word “but” shows this is an antithetic parallelism, the second line being the opposite of the first line, a fact which helps with interpretation.

Who?  Anyone

What?  One man has plenty of bread, while the other man pursued worthless things.

Where and When?  Anywhere and at anytime

Why?  The first man had plenty of bread because he tilled his land; the second man pursued worthless things because he lacked sense

How?  Not sure

Word Studies: plenty, pursues, worthless, “lacks sense”

Line 1 seems to be a specific example of hard work, while line 2 is a general statement. Line 1 just seems obvious—no farmer can have bread unless he tills his land first.

The reason for blessing in line 1 is tilling land; the reason for wasted pursuits in line 2 is lacking sense. The blessing in line 1 is having plenty of bread; the curse of line 2 is pursing worthless things.

How does “lacks sense” correspond to tilling one’s land?  How does pursuing “worthless things” correspond to having plenty of bread?

If the parallels above match the text, then this verse is a chiasm (AB, BA), meaning the emphasis in the proverb the middle section, the B, plenty of bread and pursuing worthless things, namely, the focus is on the results.

Notice, both lines show people exerting energy, one for something worthwhile (having bread) and the other for things that are “worthless.”

Interpretation: What does Proverbs 12:11 mean?

The fool in line 2 is characterized by a “lack of heart” (a literal translation of the words the NASB translate “lacks sense,” which means without judgment or insight [Waltke 91], not having the sense to see how wrong or empty one's decisions are [Waltke 95]). Longman saying “it may be said that those who lack substance (heart) purse that which lacks substance (“emptiness”).”

Waltke makes more sense than my statement above about this proverb being a chiasm when he takes tilling as parallel to pursuing or chasing, and the “land” as parallel to worthless or empty things, which he calls “ventures or gambles that do not involve hard work and/or contribute to the common wealth” (528).

Application: What does Proverbs 12:11 mean to me?

Son, no one did this better than the Savior.  Jesus never pursued worthless things.  He always made the most of His time (Eph 5:16).  How did He do this? By saying only what God told Him to say (John 12:49-50) and doing only what God wanted Him to do (John 4:34) because, He said, "I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (John 5:36, see also John 6:38, 17:4).

Also, notice the wisdom in this verse.  Both men were working hard (tilling and pursuing). Both men were focused.  Both men were driven.  The difference is not their work ethic; the difference is what they’re working at, one was worthwhile (tilling his land so he could eat), the other was “worthless,” empty, producing nothing of any real benefit.

Wise men, men who don’t “lack sense,” can see through the many encouragements they get on a daily basis to pursue “worthless things” and keep their minds fixed on pursuing what’s best.  Tilling land to have plenty of bread means planning, foresight and delayed gratification, doing hard work now for a future pay off.

Fools are regularly enticed by, succumb to, and even vigorously defend their right to do what's worthless.  They trade what’s best for what’s comfortable, what’s fun, and what’s easy.

Son, what kind of man will you be? I’ve been praying since you were born that you would be a wise man, a man who lives for the smile of God on his life (e.g., 2 Cor 5:9), a man who can say with Jesus "I glorified God on earth by accomplishing the work which You have given Me to do" (John 17:4), and this verse is one of hundreds that tells you how.

I hope that helps!  TII!!!

Ghost Adventures & Paranormal Television

I've publicly confessed to being a bit of an addict of paranormal activity shows, especially Ghost Adventures (GA), but for what I think are good reasons.

The goal of GA, stated many times during their 8 seasons, is to gather what they think is scientific evidence for life after death from all over the world through their interactions with ghosts, which they understand to be once-embodied humans who now live among us in spirit forms.

Now, I’m the first to acknowledge that their evidence could be faked and the noises they catch could be bugs or animals or people (I have a student who promises me her dad and a friend made the noises recorded here by the GA Crew at the Bird Cage Theater).  However, if you chose to trust the guys on this or other shows, the evidence they've gotten is nothing short of amazing, even jaw-dropping.

I think a Christian should watch this show, not all the time, but a couple times.  Why?  Positively, these shows, if real, give one of hundreds of lines of evidence that prove the Christian worldview is true, namely, that reality is not purely physical, as naturalists / materialists say it is.  Rather, reality is both physical and non-physical.  However, other than entertainment value, that's about where the positive effects of shows like GA end.

If the Christian worldview is true, then these shows don't give evidence for life after death at all (see Hebrews 9:27), but give a lot of evidence for demonic activity--the guys on GA admit they interact with demons regularly.  Shows like GA actually give proof that demons are real, and a real threat to people today, even physically (watch this clip from GA).  This proof should warn anyone watching to stay far away from the occult, or bad things can happen to you (watch the first 9 minutes of this GA video), both from demons and from God who will punish you (see Deut 18:9-14).

Also, since these are demons, we learn from the Bible that these entities are dominated by pride since they are foolishly rebelling against the God they once served in the presence of.  Their pride drives them to bring more attention to themselves, and occult activity, which these shows encourage people to open themselves up to, give them that attention.  I've personally seen how powerful a recruit it is for getting people into "paranormal investigation," a 21st century form of necromancy and divination, which can lead to demonic possession, and even worse.  What could possibly be worse than possession?

Ultimately, shows like GA can have horrendous eternal consequences because it actually attacks the central message of Christianity.  It is a modern day scheme of the devil that Christians should be aware of (2 Cor 2:11) that keeps people from Jesus.  How? By propogating the lie that there is life after death apart from His sinless life, substitutionary death and victorious resurrection.  Jesus in the worldview of GA is completely unnecessary (unless one is attacked by a demon)--no wrath, no hell, you just live on!  I don’t think demons care what you’re deceived with, as long as you’re deceived, and this is a new, powerful tactic they are using.

So, in the end, I encourage you to repent of your sins and entrust the safety of your soul after death to Jesus, not to paranormal investigators who are, I think, getting evidence, but not for life after death.

These are my reasons--take them or leave them!  I hope that helps!  TII!!!

Postings on Proverbs 12:10

“A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal,

but even the compassion of the wicked is cruel” (NASB)

Before asking “What does this text mean?,” we must first ask “What does this text say?”  So, some of these questions may be obvious to you, but I ask them anyway because sometimes obvious questions lead to not-so-obvious answers.

Observations:

1.     What kind of parallelism is this? “But” suggests antithetic, but the two sides of the parallelism don’t seem to connect to each other, at least at first, but remember Proverbs 2:4 suggests wisdom does not give up her treasures easily.

2.     Who? A righteous man is contrasted with the category, wicked people.

3.     What? Regarding “the life of his animal” is contrasted with actions that look compassionate, but are actually cruel.

4.     Where & When? Anywhere and at anytime

5.     Why? The first does what he does because he is righteous, the second because he is wicked.

6.     How? Probably a myriad of different ways for both actions and intentions

7.     Does this refer to the animal’s life in general, caring that it has life, or caring what kind of life it has, or caring about the difficulty of the animal’s life, or caring about what the animal wants?

8.     How can compassion be cruel?  I could understand it better if it said their compassion is sinful, or selfish, but not cruel.

9.   Why does the author put "even" in the second part?

Word Studies

1.     Regard = “listens to, pays attention to, and internally empathizes with the need” (Waltke 1:526)

2.     Life = “the passionate drives and appetites” (Waltke 1:90, 526)

3.     Compassion = “the tender yearnings, affections, and love by a superior for a helpless inferior” (Waltke 1:527)

4.     Cruel = “insensitive, merciless, willfully, knowingly and unrelentingly inflicts pain on others” (Waltke 1:312)

I really don’t get how this verse is a parallelism or what the wisdom is, so I'm going to talk it out because that seems to help me.  I guess compassion is what links both sides of the parallelism. 

The righteous are just compassionate, even to the desires of their animals.  The wicked are not sensitive to people at all, let alone animals, but inflict pain even when being compassionate.  I need more help, so let's go to the commentaries.

Both Waltke (1:526-7) and Longman (273) say this proverbs is an argument from the lesser to the greater, namely, if the righteous man cares for his animal how much more will he care for his fellow man?  Waltke also says the second stanza is sarcastic because the wicked are by nature God-ignoring and others-disregarding (527) so "even" their compassion causes harm.

Now I see some of the wisdom here (I say “some of” because I don’t presume to think I see all the wisdom in this verse).  First, people often project a better person than they actually are, so you can learn a lot about what a person is on the inside by how they treat their animals.  Second, there can be a correlation, though not 100%, between how people treat their animals and how they treat people—if they abuse one they’ll likely abuse the other (sometimes, like in many animal rights circles, they treat animals better than they treat humans, especially, unborn humans).  Third, some acts that might fall under the category of compassion can actually harm people, even those that are trying to be helped.  Finally, some people are so insensitive to other people that they are actually cruel when trying to be kind.

I see this wisdom so clearly in my wife, who just loves our dog Riley.
She thinks about her needs, cares about how she’s doing and what life is like for her.  She does many kind things for her, and I often mock it in my head if not out loud.  However, after studying this proverb I’ve been feeling conviction for how I’ve encouraged her not to be very concerned about Riley because “she’s just a dog.”

We can also see this wisdom clearly in Jesus (Col 2:2-3), who taught us that if God takes care of birds how much more will He take care of us (Matt 6:26), and who never did anything cruel, but was so sensitive to the needs of others, both physical and especially spiritual, that His compassion drove Him to teach (Mark 6:34), to do miracles (Mark 8:2), to heal (Matt 14:14; Mark 1:41, 9:22), to weep (Matt 23:37-39) and, obviously, to endure the Cross.

I hope that helps! TII!!! 

Hello Again, Again!!!

So, I remembered last night that I had this blog and that I wanted to do these posting on Proverbs for two reasons:  I want wisdom, and because I want my son (and any subsequent kids God may bless us with) to be wise too.

I've preached through Proverbs twice, so I'm using what I consider the two best commentaries to be my companions and help me in this process of blogging through Proverbs 10-31, Waltke's and Longman's.

My goal in these posts are two fold: to find wisdom and to show how I came to my conclusions so that anyone reading (especially my son) will learn how to interpret the Bible.  So, each post may be long and full of stuff that might not be helpful, but I want the process recorded as well as the product.

Finally, I’m not advertising this blog on social media, but I will tell my boy about it when he’s ready.  I’m also taking what I learn here and turning it into a writing project.

I hope it helps! TII!!!

Bloomberg: There is No Privacy

Articles like this one remind me why I wanted nothing to do with cell phones, the internet and cites like Google and Facebook (and yes, I see the irony of posting this on a Google owned site)