Proverb of the day - 3/23/2011

Today's Proverb is Proverbs 23. This chapter has a lot to do with discipline, gluttony and alcohol. It promotes discipline, shuns gluttony (of food or riches or any other object) and condemns drunkenness. As to gluttony, in verse 2 it goes so far as to suggest cutting your own throat rather than coveting a rich man's food or possessions. Who knew that was in the Bible? As to alcohol, the Bible nowhere condemns drinking alcohol, no matter what you have heard. Jesus drank wine (Luke 7:33-34). God commanded the Israelites to drink at their feasts and ceremonies. The Bible does not condemn drinking, but it does condemn becoming drunk and gives many practical reasons why.  Here are some verses that stood out to me (quoted from the New American Standard Bible, NASB):

23:4-5:

"Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies towards heaven."

What this is saying is that you shouldn't kill yourself to get rich. After Pro 23:1-3 which come before it, which is a warning against coveting or desiring the deceitfulness of money and things, this is very practical advice. Notice that it does not say "Do not work to gain wealth" or even "Do not work hard to gain wealth". Hard work is commanded and expected in the Bible (Pro 6:6-8, etc.). But the reasons have to do with common sense and wisdom, not with hoarding. You may have to weary yourself to get out of certain dire financial situations, such as to get out of debt, or to save for a house, but these things are not "to gain wealth". More than your behavior, this proverb warns against the intent. The Bible nowhere condemns the wealthy, but it condemns those who are selfish with what they have, and those who have made money or things into an idol.

23:12

"Apply your heart to discipline, and your ears to words of knowledge."

The McCool translation of this might be, "Turn off the television and do something constructive. Listen to people who are reliable and make sense." Words of actual knowledge are hard to come by these days, especially in the media, which is where we get the majority of our information, where we tend to "apply [our] ears". I know people who tend to get much of their information from sources like Wikipedia. When I question its reliability they say things like, "It's peer-reviewed". Stop and think. First, think about who wrote the article originally (some guy with a handle like "poisonade" or "skullslammer"), and then about who that person's peers are. These are the people who are reviewing it. Peer-review means something significant in the scientific, historical and literary journal world, because the best of the best are doing the research, and their peers, who are as good as they are, are reviewing it. Jillian Reynolds, the Fox Sports weather anchor, does not know how to pronounce the word "barometer". Is it any surprise that you can't trust her weather reports to be accurate? I do not think Wikipedia is a total waste of time, and I am sure there is much accurate information available through it. It is, admittedly, quite convenient as a quick and rough source. But let us carefully consider where get our information.

Discipline is an ugly word to a lot of people, because we have been taught to associate it with pain. Many of us have never followed through with it far enough to get past the pain and to the inestimable benefits it can bring. True discipline is power. Marines know this. Black belts know this. Discipline comes from the word "disciple" which means someone who studies someone else who is wiser than they and then does what that person does. It is essentially referring to a student, and not the average kind. It refers to the kind of student that busts his butt to get all A's in all honor's courses. It is a student with an unconquerable sense of dedication to his studies. Discipline does not mean pain. It means learning from someone wiser than you, and then changing your life because of what you learn. Most of us are either too prideful or too lazy to willingly accept true discipline.

23:13-14

"Do not hold back discipline from the child, although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. You shall strike him with the rod and rescue his soul from Sheol."

I won't talk too much about this one, but for all of you spank-haters out there, here it is. Yes, it is in the Bible. The Bible says to spank your children. This is not the only place, either, Pro 29:15 is another example. I cannot emphasize enough that this does not say to beat your children. It says to discipline your children. See above. Train your children. The process of training involves reward and punishment for right and wrong behavior. Any dog trainer knows this. Any drill sergeant knows this. In boot camp or in the police academy, they don't beat you, but they make you do all sorts of grueling exercises (which are actually good for your body in their own right, although they hurt at the time) while they chastise you for what you did wrong. It makes a mental connection between pain and wrong behavior. 

Likewise, rewarding children is also spoken of (Mat 7:11). Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not stray from it." Your child is your disciple while he is growing up. You are the one who is wiser than he, the teacher, the mentor, the coach, the drill sergeant. You have seen what life can (and will) throw at your child because life threw at you already. You know what he needs to be prepared for, and if you do not prepare him, nobody else will either. I think in our society, in which any kind of pain is demonized, there are many of us parents who need to grow up before we are well able to train our children. I'm in that process right now. It's too easy in America today to be a 5 year old trapped in a 30 year old body. I don't want that for my kids. So I need to work extra hard to make sure that is not what I am. I am their most influential example. If I don't like what I see them do, maybe I should take a closer look at what they are watching, me. 

Textual note: Sheol is the ancient Hebrew word that we would now translate Hell. In Hebrew thought, it was the place of the departed dead. The account of Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus described in Luke 16:19-31 tells us it is hot and the righteous are separated by an impassable chasm from the unrighteous. This passage in Proverbs alludes to that too, by saying that you can save your child's soul from Sheol. That means there must be another option. Luke 16 refers to this other option as "Abraham's Bosom", symbolic of a place of God's blessing and promise which was given through Abraham. 

23:23

"Buy truth and do not sell it, get wisdom and instruction and understanding."

This one basically says, do not let truth go in one ear and out the other. Get it. Understand it. Be taught by those who know, take the advice of those who are wise, mull over concepts until you understand them. Do not sell out for an easier road.

23:29-30

"Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine."

Starting with these verses, the rest of the chapter is about the negative effects of drunkenness. This is not a new epidemic in the 20th and 21st centuries. The Bible relates drunkenness to foolishness in many places. The wisdom of this is universal. The vast majority of secular (non-Christian) employers would fire you or send you home in an instant if you were to come to work intoxicated. Do they do it because the Bible says it's wrong? No. They do it because you can't do your job drunk. You become an absolute liability, especially if you are dealing with customers or transportation. There are so many criminal codes dealing with alcohol precisely because there are so many life- and property-endangering crimes resulting from intoxication. It is common sense that being drunk is foolish, even in a secular society. In 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 Paul mentions that drunkards (not those who drink a little bit, but bicycle-riding-in-the-middle-of-the-workday, bar-hopping, memory-destroyed drunkards), along with some other choice classifications, are outside of the church and he says that God will judge them, so Christians should not. Scary stuff. It's like playing with poison. This is why so many Christians abstain entirely from alcohol consumption. Not because the Bible says they have to, but because it's a slippery slope on which you do not want to lose your balance.


What's this Proverb Of The Day thing anyway?