Proverbs 23

Lesson 23 of 28

6. RIGHTEOUS PERSONS IN THEIR RELATIONS WITH OTHERS

Now we will study 21 proverbs which show the difference between righteous and wicked people in their relations with others; first with Jehovah Himself; then with others in the same city or country; then with each other.

1. Relations with Jehovah

God alone can tell us what is really right or wrong, and our relation to Him is the most important thing.

Proverbs 14.2 - He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him. First, what do righteous and wicked people think about Jehovah? The righteous show that they fear God and wish to obey Him. Others walk in crooked ways because they do not respect His laws.

Proverbs 10.3 - The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. What is Jehovah’s attitude to these people? First He will take care of the righteous man, but He will not help wicked people. Jehovah punishes sinners so they will turn from their evil ways before it is too late.

Proverbs 12.2 - A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. The Lord is pleased with those who do good. See also - Proverbs 8.35 - For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord; Proverbs 11.1 - A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight; Proverbs 11:20 - They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the Lord: but such as are upright in their way are his delight; Proverbs 12.22 Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight; Proverbs 15.8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight; Proverbs 18.22 - Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.

The most important thing is to please the Lord. But He knows the thoughts of wicked people and He will condemn them.

Proverbs 11.20 - They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the Lord: but such as are upright in their way are his delight. God knows the hearts of sinners and they are an abomination to Him, but those who walk in righteousness please Him.

Proverbs 17.15 - He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord. A wicked judge is an abomination to the Lord. This judge would let evil people go free and blame righteous people for things they have not done.

Proverbs 15.8 - The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. In chapter 15 there are other proverbs about behaviour which is hateful to Jehovah. For example, a wicked person may bring a sacrifice to the Lord without really repenting about his sins, Proverbs 21.27 - The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? But a righteous man can please the Lord by his prayers, Psalm 51.16-17 - For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Proverbs 15.9 - The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness. God loves everyone, but He hates all the wicked ways of men and women. He specially loves those who obey Him and try to do what is right.

Proverbs 11.1 - A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight. God hates the dishonest practice which some men follow to get more money. They use false weights when they sell food to others, see Proverbs 16.11 - A just weight and balance are the Lord's: all the weights of the bag are his work; Proverbs 20.10 - Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord; Proverbs 20.23 - Divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord; and a false balance is not good. God is pleased with righteous people who are fair to others in all that they do. And you will always be punished for doing wrong, Matthew 7.2 - For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Proverbs 15.29 - The Lord is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous. Wicked people do not want to be near God, and He certainly will not protect them. Forgiven sinners are glad that Christ promised to be with us to the end of the age, and we love Him because we will be with Him forever. Even now we know He hears our prayers. All these promises and warnings should make us want to do what is right, and so to please the Lord.

2. Relations with other people

What is the effect of righteous people on others in the same city or country?

Proverbs 11.10-11 - When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. People in the city are happy when righteous people are successful and when wicked people die. Righteous people do good to other citizens, sinners are known to do evil. Righteous people bring a blessing on the city, but the city will be destroyed if the leaders listen to the advice of sinners.

Proverbs 28.12 - When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden; Proverbs 28.28 - When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the righteous increase. People in the city should give honour to righteous men when they are successful and happy. If wicked people rise to power, it would be better for wise men to keep out of sight. Such wicked people will be removed, and then righteous people will increase and become more important again.

Proverbs 24.24-25 - that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: 25 But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them A judge should not say that a guilty person is innocent. If he does, the whole country

should oppose him. Most people would stand against a criminal, and others would praise those who do so.

Proverbs 29.2 - When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. People of a city will be glad when righteous men are in charge. Wicked rulers make the citizens sad.

Proverbs 12.26 - The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them. In a local neighbourhood also a righteous man is considered to be more excellent than others because he keeps away from evil and helps others do the same. The wicked person tries to deceive his neighbours and lead them in the wrong way.

Proverbs 29.7 - The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it. A righteous person will try to help poor people, Job 31.16 - If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; James 1.27 - Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world, but evil men are just the opposite, Proverbs 28.27 - He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.

Proverbs 14.34 - Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. We have seen that righteous people are good for any city, Proverbs 11.10-11- When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked, and the same is true of a whole nation. On the other hand the people of a country should be ashamed if sin is spreading among them. The same is true today. What does God think about our nation? We should bring men and women to Christ. They will then be better citizens and bring honour to their country.

Proverbs 28.4 - They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them. We should obey the laws of our country as well as God’s laws. Breaking the law shows we approve what sinners do all the time. They will not love us if we keep the law, but it is better to show a good example.

3. Relations with each other

What are the relations of righteous people with sinners?

Proverbs 29.27 - An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked. They hate each other. Wicked people hate those who fear God, and righteous people hate the wicked actions of sinners, but they love sinful people, as God does. We cannot be friends with the world, Galatians 6.14 - But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world; 1 John 2.15 - not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Proverbs 29.10 - The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul. Wicked people often try to kill anyone who is righteous, as Cain did, 1 John 3.12 - Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous; but the Christian does not seek to kill his enemy, he seeks to deliver his soul from sin, Proverbs 12.6 - The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. We should try to win wicked people for Christ just as the Shepherd went out to find His sheep which was lost. We should also protect the righteous person when his enemies are trying to kill him.

Proverbs 25.26 - A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring. We should certainly not give in to wicked people, or do what they want us to do. This would be like mixing poison in drinking water. Others know you are righteous, then they see you doing what is wrong, so they may think that sin is not so bad after all.

7. REWARDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

We have seen that there are great differences between righteous people and sinners in their relations with others. Now we will consider 53 proverbs that show us that righteous people get a good reward, but sinners will be punished.

1. Life

Proverbs 10.16 - The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin. A good man does good works and God promised life to those who obeyed His law. A wicked man produces sin and this only leads to more sin. In the New Testament we see that the wages of sin is death, and you can get eternal life only as a gift from God, Romans 6.23 - For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Proverbs 11.19 - As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death. The righteous man shows that he wants life, while the sinner follows an evil pathway and does not seem to care that God will punish him.

Proverbs 10.25 - As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation. God’s judgment may come suddenly like a terrible storm. It will destroy wicked people, but the righteous person will stand through it all.

Proverbs 10.27 - The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. Those who fear the Lord will live long on the earth, Proverbs 3.2 - For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee, while wicked people may die early. We should do God’s will and trust Him to look after us, 1 Peter 3.10 - For he that will love life, and see good days,
let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile, but many good Christians do not live very long, for example Stephen and James, Acts 7.60 - And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep; Acts 12.2 - And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. Job’s friends tried to argue that he must be a great sinner because he was sick and dying, but Job showed that sinners often live long lives, Job 21.7 - Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

2. Strength

Proverbs 10.29 - The way of the Lord is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity. Righteous people follow the way of the Lord, and He gives them strength every day to do so. David was able to do great things in the Lord’s strength, Psalm 18.29 - For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. God will not help the wicked, He will bring them to destruction. 

Again wickedness will not give a man strength to continue or endure, but the righteous man is like a tree with deep roots, Psalms 1:3 - And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Proverbs 28.1 - The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. The lion is strong and so it is also brave, 2 Samuel 1.23 - Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions; 2 Samuel 17.10 - And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men. The righteous person knows that God is with him and so he does not need be afraid, Peter 5.8-9 - And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built roundabout from Millo and inward. Wicked people are filled with fear, Proverbs 10.24 - The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted, and run away even when no one is chasing them, like the army of the Syrians, 2 Kings 7.6-7 For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. 7 Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.

3. Guidance

The Lord guides the righteous person as well as giving him strength.

Proverbs 11.3-5 The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. These two proverbs show the difference between righteous wicked people. God helps honest and righteous people to know what they should do. He does this by His Word and His Spirit. By contrast sinners keep on going in the wrong way until their wickedness makes them fall and they are destroyed.

Proverbs 13.6 - Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner. This verse says about the same thing. The Spirit of God is telling us how important this truth is.

Proverbs 28.5 - Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the Lord understand all things. What is justice? Evil men do not understand God’s justice and they blame Him for all their own troubles. We should seek to worship the Lord; He will help us by His Spirit to understand all His ways, 1 John 2.20 - But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things; 1 John 2.27 - But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

4. Deliverance

The Lord guides righteous people so they do not get into trouble. The opposite is true of sinners because they refuse to be guided by the Lord.

Proverbs 10.2 - Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death. Wicked people may get lots of money but it will not help them when trouble comes. But God will deliver the righteous even when they are in danger of being killed.

Proverbs 1.6-8 - To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 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. God will deliver righteous people out of difficulty, but those who break His laws will be caught in the same trouble from which the righteous man escapes. The Moslems say that Christ was taken down from the cross before He died, and Judas was crucified instead. This of course is not true, but we see this principle in Proverbs 26.27 - Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. Men threw God’s three servants into the fire and were burned to death, but Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were not harmed, Daniel 3.22 - Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; Daniel 3.27 - And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

Proverbs 10.30 - The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth. God promised His people that they would be able to live safely in the land of Canaan if they obeyed His commands, Deuteronomy 5.33 - Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess; Deuteronomy 8.1 - All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers. This promise was repeated here in this proverb, but only for righteous people.

Proverbs 12.7 - The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand. The people of Israel were to build houses, but they had to keep God’s laws, Deuteronomy 8.12 - Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; Deuteronomy 22.8 - When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence. God’s blessing is also given to the family of righteous people.

Proverbs 14.11 - The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish. A tent is not as strong as a house; a high wind could blow a tent down. But righteous men can live in tents with greater peace than sinners in well built houses in Matthew 7.24-25 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock, we see that a wise person builds his house on the rock, and the person who obeys the words of Christ is like that.

Proverbs 11.21 - Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. God will surely punish wicked people, even though they seem for a while to succeed, and their families will suffer too, Exodus 20.5 - Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. God will deliver righteous people and their children as well, Proverbs 20.7 - The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him; Genesis 6.18 - But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

Proverbs 13.9 - The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. Life is like a light, and death is like darkness, Job 3.20 - Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; Job 18.5 - Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine; Job 18.18 - He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. So the righteous man lives a joyful life, Proverbs 4.18 - But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day, but the wicked will be punished with death.

Proverbs 14.22 - Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good. We should not plan to do evil to another person that is what wicked people do, Proverbs 3.29 Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee; Proverbs 6.14 Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord, and it is very wrong. Those who plan to do good will receive good things from the Lord.

Proverbs 19.16 - He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall die. Life and death are in the Word of God: those who keep it show that they love life. The sinner is not careful about how he walks and lives, he goes on to his death.

Proverbs 28.13 - He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. You can never hide your sins from God, He knows everything. He says in the Bible that you are a sinner so it is foolish to tell Him that you are without sin. It is necessary to confess to God that you are a sinner. He will forgive you and help you to give up all bad habits, 1 John 1.9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Proverbs 24.15-16 - Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place: For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. These verses are a saying of the wise men, who warn us not to rob a righteous man or destroy his house. The wicked person may try to take advantage of anyone who falls into trouble or into sin. A righteous person may fall a number of times yet recover again afterwards. If he confesses his sin the Father will forgive him. An evil person goes on in sin until he dies.

Proverbs 28.18 - Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once. There is a difference between the believer who falls into sin then repents, and the person who keeps on sinning and disobeying God. The Lord will forgive His child, but must judge wicked people. We are saved because of God’s grace and Christ’s blood, not because we try to live a good life. So a man is lost because he rejects God’s Son, not just because he has sinned, we all have.