Lesson 3 of 28
LESSON 3 – PROVERBS
THE FATHER'S ADVICE
The father promised that his son would receive wisdom if he really wanted it. It would save him from evil men and wicked women.
1. Proverbs 2:1-9 - The Source of wisdom.
2. Proverbs 2:10-22 - The benefits of wisdom.
1. THE SOURCE OF WISDOM , Proverbs 2:1-9
Proverbs 2:1-4 - The father gives good advice.
Proverbs 2:5-9 - God gives true wisdom.
Proverbs 2 :1-2 - My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to un derstanding;
Solomon received the gift of wisdom from God, and so he was able to help his son. We should receive words of wisdom and consider God’s commands as treasure to be guarded. We should listen to wise words and really try to understand.
Proverbs 2:3-4 - Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her a s for hid treasures -
We should ask for knowledge and understanding and seek for wisdom more than money or great treasure. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ, - In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:3.
Proverbs 2:5-6 - Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowled ge and understanding.
If we really want wisdom we will fear the Lord and understand God. The Lord alone gives true wisdom, and His word shows us real knowledge and understanding. God will answer those who do pray for wisdom. He gives wisdom generously if we ask in faith,
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. James 1:5-6.
The words “fear of Jehovah” (Lord) are found 14 times in Proverbs: - You will get a blessing if you read, study, understand, and obey these verses.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7.
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: Proverbs 1:29.
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. Proverbs 2:5.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward mouth, do I hate. Proverbs 8:13.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Proverbs 9:10.
The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. Proverbs 10:27.
In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge. Proverbs 14:26.
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. Proverbs 14:27.
Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Proverbs 15:16.
The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility. Proverbs 15:33
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. Proverbs 16:6
The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil. Proverbs 19:23
By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life. Proverbs 22:4
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Proverbs 23:17
Proverbs 2:7-8 - He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He ke epeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. -
God has a great store of wisdom ready to give to His people when they ask Him. He gives us wisdom to protect us from the enemy. Jehovah Himself is our shield,
I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. Psalms 3:4.
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. Psalms 18:2
Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. Psalms 18:35
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. Psalms 28:7
Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield. Psalms 59:11.
For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Psalms 84:11
My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me. Psalms 144:2;
Faith in Him will protect us from the fiery arrows of Satan, - Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Ephesians 6:16.
The Lord is able to keep us walking in righteousness. He saves us from evil in this world. Proverbs 2:9 - Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
Notice the words if and then in verses 1,3,4,5,9. Wisdom will make us to understand what is fair and right. This will help us to walk in a good path ourselves and to show others God’s way also.
2. THE BENEFITS OF WISDOM, Proverbs 2:10-22
There are many benefits to those who seek and find wisdom. The Lord gives us wisdom to keep us from sinning with sinners.
A. Proverbs 2:10-15 - Deliverance from evil men.
B. Proverbs 2:16-19 - Deliverance from the wicked woman.
C. Proverbs 2:20-22 - Fellowship with good people
A. DELIVERANCE FROM EVIL MEN , Proverbs 2:10-15
Proverbs 2:10-11 - When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:-
Wisdom and knowledge will give a person real joy and insight, and understanding will keep one from evil.
Proverbs 2:12 - To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; - An evil man may say things to try to make you turn backward and go in the same way with
him.
Proverbs 2:13 - Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; God is light, but many have left God’s ways and so they walk in darkness. They love the dark because they always do evil things, - And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John 3:19.
Proverbs 2:14-15 - Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; 15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:- They get pleasure in doing evil things, like robbing and killing others, - Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Proverbs
1:12-13, and they love others who do the same things, - Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:32. They do not follow a straight pathway and they try to turn others aside also.
B. DELIVERANCE FROM THE WICKED WOMAN , Proverbs 2:16-19
Proverbs 2:16 - To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; - Wisdom will also deliver a person from the wicked woman. We read about this kind of woman in these scriptures.
For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: Proverbs 5:3
And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? Proverbs 5:20.
That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. Proverbs 7:5
The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. Proverbs 22:14
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Proverbs 23:33
The word strange may refer to a woman who is immoral, very different from most women of Israel; or someone from a foreign country, - And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof: Exodus 12:43.
And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy. Exodus 29:33.
The word strange is used of heathen gods, - They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. Deuteronomy 32:16; if we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; Psalms 44:20; there shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. Psalms 81:9; as well as the enemies of Israel.
For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah. Psalms 54:3; our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. Lamentations 5:2.
These heathen religions often included sexual acts as part of their worship services, and the Holy Spirit warned the people of Israel not to join these women. The women of Moab led Israelite men into sin, - And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of
Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. Numbers 25:1-2, and in the time of Solomon, women of other nations had come to live in the land of Israel.
(Indeed, Solomon himself later married many foreigners and they turned him away from the Lord to their own religions. He should have remembered his own advice to his own sons.) Here the Spirit describes this woman with loose morals. She is willing to take great risk to get more pleasure. She uses smooth words to lead men astray.
Proverbs 2:17 - Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
This woman promised before God to live with her husband, but now she has left him. This sin soon
leads to more sins and so she is trying to trap others.
Proverbs 2:18-19 - For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. - Her sins will result in death, in fact, she is living in pleasure and is dead (in sins) while she is still alive, as to her body, - But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. 1 Timothy 5:6; And you hath he quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2:1. Some men go into her house, they share the same punishment. We will read more about the evil woman in Proverbs Chapters 5,7 and 9.
C. FELLOWSHIP WITH GOOD PEOPLE , Proverbs 2:20-22
Proverbs 2:20-22 - That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.- We should avoid wicked persons, both men and women, and have good people as our friends. We cannot walk with
sinners and righteous people at the same time. They are going in opposite directions: sinners, down to death; righteous people, to life.
MORE ABOUT WISDOM , Proverbs 3
The father continues his advice to his son, and through the writer, the Holy Spirit teaches us true wisdom.
1. Proverbs 3:1-12 - In chapter 3 we read about the nature of wisdom;
2. Proverbs 3:13-26 - the worth of wisdom.
3. Proverbs 3:27-35 - some words of wisdom about our daily life.
1. THE NATURE OF WISDOM , Proverbs 3:1-12
We have learned that reverence for God is the first thing to learn, - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7.
In the first twelve verses of Proverbs Chapter 3, the writer teaches more about this. The inner nature of true wisdom is a right relationship with Jehovah. We have here six little paragraphs of two verses each. Each pair of verses gives us a command and a promise. (Later we will see many proverbs which consist of two verses each, and some three or four or five verses.)
Proverbs 3:1-2 - My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. -
The father told his son to remember his law and keep his commands. The promise is a long, peaceful life.
Proverbs 3:3-4 - Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. -
We should not let mercy or truth slip away from us. The New Testament says our words should always be with grace, and yet also with righteousness, - Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Colossians 4:6. So here we should be kind and loyal to all our friends, yet also faithful in telling the truth that they should always follow the Lord. By these things we shall surely please God and also people will appreciate us, -
Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God. 2 Corinthians 1:21.
The Lord Jesus as a boy grew in favour with God and man, - And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. Luke 2:52, but later many people hated Him because He told them the truth. God was always well pleased with His Son. Here we are told to write these things
on our hearts. The Holy Spirit will write God’s message on our hearts and others will know, -
Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 2 Corinthians 3:3.
Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Now we read three commands and one wonderful promise. Trust in the Lord with all your heart . The heart is more important than the mind, but it is often divided. We partly trust the Lord but we are also partly afraid. The word “heart” occurs 92 times in
Proverbs, and 41 times in Ecclesiastes. Look at these verse below, Proverbs 2:2,10 and 3:1,3. (Some new translations use different words.)
Proverbs 2:2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
Proverbs 2:10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
Proverbs 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Proverbs 3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Do not rely on your own understanding . We should trust the Lord and His Word, not the teaching of men or our own thoughts. Even wise teachers should trust the Lord, not their own wisdom. We should all seek for the wisdom of the Lord, but still we cannot go by our own understanding, - He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. Proverbs 28:26.
Think of the Lord in everything you do . Some people try to do what is right on Sunday but most of the time they do what they please. We should ask ourselves, is this really the Lord’s will for me at this time? God’s will is good, we should accept it, because it is perfect, - And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2.
Now there is a promise if we obey these three commands: God will show us what to do and how to live. He does this through His Word and His Spirit, but we must trust Him fully, think of Him in everything, and not rely on our own wisdom.
Abraham was a man of great faith, but sometimes he relied on his own wisdom and failed to ask God and trust Him fully. He went down to Egypt, took Hagar as a second wife, asked a blessing for Ishmael, lied again about Sarah, -
Genesis 12:10 - And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
Genesis 16:4 - And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
Genesis 17:18 - And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
Genesis 20:2 - And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
Proverbs 3:7-8 - Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. - The next command is like the ones in Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own nderstanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Do not think of yourself as being wiser than others. This would make you proud and you might fall into the same condemnation as Satan, - Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. 1 Timothy 3:6.
Continue to fear only the Lord and turn away from everything evil. The promise in verse 6 is that God will guide your life. Then in Proverbs 3:8 - It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones; God promises health for the body. This does not mean that the true believer will never be sick. Paul had some painful trouble in his body, and so did other great servants of God, -
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 2 Corinthians 12:7.
For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Philippians 2:27.
But we should follow the Lord and obey Him in all things. This will give us peace in our hearts and help us to get better more quickly. We should depart from evil by confessing and forsaking every known sin. Then we can pray for good health, - Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16.
Proverbs 3:9-10 - Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. - Solomon advised his son to give offerings to the Lord, and promised he would become richer if he did
so.
In the Old Testament the people of Israel were commanded to give God one-tenth of what their lands produced, and one-tenth of their sheep and cattle, - And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord. And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. Leviticus 27:30-32.
This tenth belonged to God and was given to the Levites who served the Lord in the tabernacle or temple. In addition, the people could bring offerings and pledges, - And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks: Deuteronomy 12:6.
God promised to bless Israel if they obeyed His laws, - And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto
thy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. Deuteronomy 28:1-14.
In the New Testament, Christians are not commanded to give a tenth because everything we are and have belongs to Christ, - What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.
We should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1.
The Lord does not promise to make us rich in this world, but we can store up riches in heaven, - But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: Matthew 6:20.
The Lord Jesus was not rich here on earth, and the apostles were poor, - As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. 2 Corinthians 6:10.
We should give money to the Lord’s work, and trust Him to supply our needs.
Proverbs 3:11-12 - My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. -
The Lord promises to bless those who obey, but what about those who do not do so? In verses 11 and 12 we read about the way the Lord treats His children who disobey. He does not put us out of His family or take back the gift of eternal life.
He does allow suffering and sorrow in our lives to teach us to obey His commands. This is very important and the Holy Spirit used these words again in Hebrews - And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as
unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Hebrews 12:5-11.
What should we do if we have trouble or get sick? Do not think it is just what happens to all people, but consider that the Lord may be speaking to you about some sin in your life. Sometimes the trouble may last a long time and you may feel like giving up your faith and trust in the Lord. This would also be very wrong.
You should remember that the Father loves you and is trying to keep you from sinning against Him. In fact, the Holy Spirit says that the Lord corrects every true child of God. So sickness or trouble may be proof that we are really in His family and should result in more holiness and righteousness in our lives, - If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Hebrews 12:7-11.
On the other hand we should not say that God is punishing other Christians when they get sick or have trouble. There are other reasons why God allows these things. But sometimes we see a person going on in sin and nothing happens to him. He says he is a Christian but we may well wonder if he is really
saved.
(Continued in lesson 4)
Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God...(Acts 20:26,27). “Come now, let us reason together...” (Isaiah 1:18).
