Your ShelfYour Projects

THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON

6%

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 8, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 40.

Read the full edition

THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.

By Editor

Lesson Scripture, Prov. 1:1-19.

  1. THE proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
  2. To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
  3. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
  4. To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
  5. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel;
  6. To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
  7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
  8. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother;
  9. For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head; and chains about thy neck.
  10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
  11. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;
  12. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit;
  13. We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil;
  14. Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse;
  15. My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path;
  16. For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
  17. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
  18. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
  19. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Golden Text: "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not." Prov. 1:10.
NOTE.—The book of Proverbs is a compilation of sayings, or statements of familiar truths, the principal portion of which is accredited to Solomon. The book may be divided into three parts: The proverbs of Solomon, probably brought together by him, or in his time, chapters 1 to 24; Hezekiah's collection of Solomonic proverbs, chapters 25 to 29 (Hezekiah lived three hundred years after Solomon); the words of Agur, chapter 30, and the words of Lemuel, chapter 31, believed to be of later date. Three different words in the introduction, verses 1 to 6, are used to indicate the character of the sayings: (1) Proverb; (2) interpretation; (3) dark saying. The first primarily means a maxim, a comparison, a brief, sententious saying. The second is a superior, or wise remark, a figure, an enigma. The third is a riddle, or puzzle, literally a "knot" to be untied. Read with the lesson scripture the invitations of Wisdom in chapters 8:1-11, and 9:1-12.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

(1) What is to be known and perceived by the study of these proverbs? Verse 2. (2) What ought one to receive? Verse 3. (3) What will a knowledge of them impart? Verse 4. (4) What will characterize a wise man? Verse 5. (5) To what will a man of understanding attain? Same verse. (6) What is the threefold design of the proverbs of Solomon? Verse 6. (7) What is the fear of the Lord? Who will have it? Verse 7. (8) What is said of an opposite class? (9) What admonition is given to a young man? Verse 8. (10) What will a hearkening to such instruction and law be to him? Verse 9. (11) How should he regard the invitations of sinners? Verse 10. (12) How many different "enticings" are mentioned in verses 11 to 14, and what are they? (13) What wise advice is again given to his son? Verse 15. (14) What is the work of sinners declared to be? Verse 16. (15) In the instruction already given, who is likened to the bird that sees the net (verse 17)? What is the net? What is the seeing? (16) What is really the end of the sinners' devices? Verse 18. (17) What general conclusion is drawn in regard to sinners, and under what propensity of human nature are all their works classed? Verse 19.

NOTES.

The Introduction.

VERSES 1-6 include the introduction. Wisdom, instruction, justice, judgment, and equity are personified, and are to be known as one is acquainted with a friend. "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding" (Prov. 4:7), is a saying which shows that a possession of wisdom and understanding suffices for all else,—the giving of subtlety (activity of mind), knowledge and discretion to those who need them, and to the making a man wise to hear and learn. In other words, the man that is willing to hear and recognizes the fact that he needs to learn, is a wise man, one who is directly in the line of progress to the full attainment of all these desirable qualities.

The Beginning of Knowledge.

But the recognition of need must be present before knowledge can be acquired, or instruction received. This itself is the beginning of knowledge, and such beginning is declared to be the "fear of the Lord." The man in this frame of mind is a hopeful case; he is already a wise man. As it is said, "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job 28:28. This means far more than an intellectual desire for a knowledge of the sciences, or languages, or an understanding of finances and statecraft, and a prior recognition of one's ignorance of those things. Of course to become skilled in such, one must first feel his lack of learning in these directions. But with the true definition of wisdom and understanding before us, it is evident that a longing for such knowledge for mere worldly honor or advancement, or even for self-gratification, is not the beginning nor any stage of true wisdom. The simple mention of the "Lord" in the condition, reveals the spiritual nature of the true wisdom. A putting away of evil, of sins, and possessing the mind of Christ, which means unselfishness and a desire to do good as he did, are in the "fear," and in the "beginning," and in the attaining. With such motives controlling the mind, the pursuit of knowledge in science and art and in other laudable directions will be eminently proper. Those that reject this "beginning" are mentioned in the latter part of verse 7.

Parental Honor.

THE child learns first from the parents. How important then that the instruction of the father, and the law of the mother, should be in reality the teaching of the Lord. They are to the young child who knows not to discern between good and evil, in the place of God, and so their instruction will be largely charged or credited the course pursued by the child in after years. If wise, and wisely followed, they are likened to the adornings of grace, and have in their obedience the promise of long life "upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,"—which is the earth made new.

The Enticement of Sinners.

THE one object of sinners is shown from verse 19 to be the greed of gain. Their one thought is self, and the only incentive offered to those whom they ask to join them is profit to self. This was what led to the fall of Lucifer, and the gain which that being as Satan the adversary offered to Adam and Eve. The exaltation of self always leads to the contemning of the Lord, for his ways are eternally in the opposite direction. The devil and the world means all of self, Christ and heaven means none of self. The gain of the wicked is their own destruction; "it taketh away the life of the owners thereof." Prov. 1:19, R. V. "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Matt. 16:26.

The Value of Instruction.

It is not necessary to gain an experience in evil in order to recognize it and be able to shun it. A modern proverb is, "Experience is a dear teacher," and under a false system of education one is sometimes led to believe the only way to learn to discriminate between the good and the bad is actual contact, with the ensuing, usually, bitter results. Sow the "wild oats" and reap the crop, and thereafter sow good oats! It is all the wrong way. The allurements of the world constitute the "net" spread by the evil one; but the Lord in infinite love and wisdom offers instruction to all who will receive it, revealing the safe path, showing another way, the way of life. "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." Isa. 30:21. The net is everywhere else. The Lord's teaching is concerning the good, positive. The evil is revealed by contrast, negatively. How entirely without excuse, then, is he who falls into the net of evil, having a knowledge of the right. The Lord has the power and the will to lead you. Will you let him?