Plymothian

 ²⁰ The LORD detests those whose hearts are perverse,
   but he delights in those whose ways are blameless.

 ²¹ Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished,
   but those who are righteous will go free.

 ²² Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout
   is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.

 ²³ The desire of the righteous ends only in good,
   but the hope of the wicked only in wrath.

 ²⁴ One person gives freely, yet gains even more;
   another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.

 ²⁵ A generous person will prosper;
   whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

 ²⁶ People curse the one who hoards grain,
   but they pray God’s blessing on the one who is willing to sell.

 ²⁷ Whoever seeks good finds favor,
   but evil comes to one who searches for it.

 ²⁸ Those who trust in their riches will fall,
   but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.

 ²⁹ Whoever brings ruin on their family will inherit only wind,
   and the fool will be servant to the wise.

 ³⁰ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
   and the one who is wise saves lives.

 ³¹ If the righteous receive their due on earth,
   how much more the ungodly and the sinner!

The Ring in the Pig’s Snout

In the middle of Proverbs 11 is a verse that stands out because it doesn’t fit.  It takes us to a pig with a ring through its snout.  The ring doesn’t fit in a pig’s snout because this is by inference a valuable ring and the pig is the most detestable of animals.  Remember pigs were not eaten by ancient Jews.  Pigs were unclean and detested, so the pig turning up in the middle of the list of wicked and righteous actions is for affect.  Wise, wonderful and valuable things should be found in wise wonderful and valuable places.  Empty, unclean and evil things also have their place where you expect to find them.  On the first level, women who know how to beautify their features but show no discretion are not truly beautiful.  Women who wear earings but have no class can not hide their lack of sense.  This is in contrast with the woman of Proverbs 30.  On a deeper level, using wisdom in the wrong context with empty or evil people is inappropriate and pointless.  Jesus reinforces this point when he talks about pearls and swine (Matt. 7:6). 

The implication of this verse is that wise people pursue a peaceful life of harmony.  What they say and do is in line.  Where they spend their time and energy is in line with their stated values and wisdom.  It is not that they do not care about others, but they deal with others from a consistent and centered life.  Their life is in harmony with God and creation.  There is no disharmony like a pig with a ring through its snout, or a beautiful woman who is a fool.

Questions

1. How does the verse about beauty used unwisely stand out from other verses?
2. What do you think the author’s intent is by letting the pig with the ring through its snout pop out from the repeated patterns in the text?
3. How would a parent encourage their child to live a life that shows harmony between wisdom and actions?
4. Name any female role models who you think have external beauty but ruin it by their decisions.
5. Name any role models who you think have harmony between their daily living and their beliefs.

¹⁵ Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer,
   but whoever refuses to shake hands in pledge is safe.

 ¹⁶ A kindhearted woman gains honor,
   but ruthless men gain only wealth.

 ¹⁷ Those who are kind benefit themselves,
   but the cruel bring ruin on themselves.

 ¹⁸ A wicked person earns deceptive wages,
   but the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.

Finances, Kindness and Cruelty

People who lend their money to foolish people will lose that money.  That sounds obvious, but it is difficult when that person is a friend or a family member.  What if they feel that they have never been given a chance?  What if they feel like you are the favourite and that they have never been given anything?  These feelings can be based in reality, or sometimes they can be the heartache of an unhealthy psyche.  When a friend asks for money, or a family needs money as collateral, we need to think.  We need to avoid lending money without security.  We need to weight whether we are making wise or foolish investments. 

Doesn’t that sound unkind?  We are not prohibited here from giving money away if we can afford it.  We are warned against making foolish investments.  Of course, only a fool invests money in the completely unknown and expects any kind of return.  However, a kind person can take care of another’s needs without expecting a reward.  The irony is that those who are kind because they love God often receive a reward.  Those who live upright lives for God in a free society, often earn respect and reward from those around them.  Often, those who try and defraud others end up exposed and in jail.  They end up hated and alone.  It is wise to be kind.

Questions

1. Who is safe?
2. Who do the kind benefit?
3. How could someone misreading these instructions be ‘kind’ to be selfish?
4. How does being kind benefit people today?
5. How do people today earn deceptive wages?

¹⁴ For lack of guidance a nation falls,
   but victory is won through many advisers.

Election Season

Nations rise and fall because of the quality of their leadership.  There are those who verge on anarchy who would rather that a nation have no leadership except the will of the individual.  These people either believe that all people are naturally good enough to resist dominating and manipulating others, or they believe that we have the capacity to make it by ourselves.  In reality, when left to themselves, people choose dark paths.  We all have fears and anxieties that we mismanage by controlling others, fighting with them, and hiding from them.  There will be national leadership because the majority know that we can not survive well alone.  While we have a mass of people coming together with common interests, we will have an administration.  The question is what makes a nation great and who can preserve that?

Proverbs would advocate a leadership that brings godliness and righteousness.  A leadership that takes us further into godlessness and wickedness will bring disaster on a nation.  We are slow to recognise wickedness, though, when it is couched in nice words and dressed in nice clothes.  Washington addresses many evils, but some great evils in America go unaddressed.  The rising gap between rich and poor is evil; the destruction of human life in the womb is evil; the destruction of the Creation to quickly grasp at resources is evil; the destruction of marriage by heterosexuals and homosexuals alike is evil.  National government can’t address all of these issues equally well.  In other words, we can not look to Washington to save everyone from destroying God’s Creation.  However, we can look for national leadership that will provide godly and wise counsel.  Is such a person available?

Questions

1. Why do nations fall?
2. How do nations win victory?
3. Who do the many advisors advise in this verse?
4. Does the Bible advocate autocracy (rule by one person)?
5. How do those managing your home, work, church, local government and national government seek advice?  How should they?

Going Deeper

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2011/09/obama-rick-perry-evangelical-christian/1

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/07/romney-god-wants-us-to-lead-not-follow/

 ¹² Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense,
   but the one who has understanding holds their tongue.

 ¹³ A gossip betrays a confidence,
   but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.

Gossip and Slander

I have been angry enough to launch into negative speech about people.  I have been hurt enough to want others to join with me in an assassination of another’s character.  I can honestly say that nothing good comes of that.  Sure, we feel somewhat better.  It is cathartic.  However, the smearing of another’s character only ever hurts our own.  It is bitter to be bitter and the only ones who truly join in are those who we should not really mix closely with.  Knowing that nothing will be gained from venting makes it easier to let things go.  we need to ask ourselves why we want so badly to speak negatively and then deal with our own deficiencies. 

Gossips baffle me a little.  Why is there joy in spreading bad news?  Why do gossip columns flourish?  I think there is something really twisted behind our desire to hear of others’ misfortune.  However, I have not stood firm in rooms where gossip persists.  Again, we should feel empathy and refrain from gossip, but we too soon think of ourselves.

Questions

1. What harm do gossip and slander do?
2. How is gossip different from slander?
3. What is the solution to gossip and slander?
4. Why does gossip sell magazines and improve media ratings?
5. When are we best able to hold our tongues?

When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices,
    and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.
¹¹ By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted,
    but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.

Character Affects a City

In the United States things are gearing up for another general election.  Both the major candidates say that they believe in God and there are varied and vehement opinions as to whether that is true.  I know that some of my Democratic friends will shout with joy if Romney fails.  Also I have Republican friends who fear that if Obama is re-elected it will continue a ruination of America and its values.  We assume righteousness or wickedness in the heart of the candidates.  It does actually matter if these perspectives are true.  Of course, the Bible teaches that a measure of ultimate wisdom or foolishness is based in one’s perspective on God.  Righteousness and wickedness will be an outworking of the condition of a candidate’s heart.  One’s religious convictions, according to Proverbs, don’t just affect our private lives.  We live in community and authentic heart-faith affects the whole community.  Whether it is a home, a church, a city or a country the condition of a heart will show in public life.  We have had a series of primaries to decide the character of Mitt Romney.  We have had four years of rule to assess the heart of Obama.  Americans need to choose between the most wise (or least foolish) in order for the nation to prosper or fail.  Who will it be?

Questions

1. How does a city react to te righteous?
2. How does a city react to the wicked?
3. How are public life and private life connected in these verses?
4. Who has been shown to be wicked in the news and we have rejoiced at their downfall?
5. Who has been shown to be righteous or wise in your life?

 ⁷ Hopes placed in mortals die with them;
   all the promise of^[a]their power comes to nothing.

 ⁸ The righteous person is rescued from trouble,
   and it falls on the wicked instead.

 ⁹ With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors,
   but through knowledge the righteous escape.

Hope

I grew up with more of a natural inclination to optimism.  I have allowed myself to become more pessimistic in recent years.  So how should I go about gaining hope?  Frequently we rely on another human to save us.  We can unhealthily expect them to bring all the things that we lack.  In this case, “Hope is the first step on th road to disappointment.”  True hope is found ‘in nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.’  This is not a hope in a mortal who will die, it is hope placed in an eternal being who never dies.  God can then turn wickedness on the head of the wicked and rescue the righteous.  Even when godly people are slandered, they can hope in God for justice.

However, as we mature God sometimes takes us through dark valleys where hope is harder to hold on to.  That is why the whole hymn, which was mentioned above, is so helpful:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

Refrain

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Refrain

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

Refrain

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Refrain

Questions

1. In what is it foolish to hope?
2. How do righteous hope for escape?
3. Are these verses promises that no harm will befall the righteous?  What use are they?
4. Do you have hopes that someone will do good for you, your employer, your church, or your nation?
5. How do hopes in people or systems obscure God in today’s world (for example in Egypt, Myanmar, or Syria)?

 ⁵ The righteousness of the blameless makes their paths straight,
   but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.

 ⁶ The righteousness of the upright delivers them,
   but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.

Destiny

Destiny is often portrayed as a random, unforeseen thing.  We end up carried along by fate or destiny as if we had no say in the matter.  I think that Bob Kraft mighthave been the first to say to me that luck is a combination of opportunity and preparedness.  My father quoted a golfer as saying, “The more I practice, the luckier I get.”  We make too much of the exception.  When a person is thrust into stardom and fortune with minimum effort, it is the exception, not the rule.  Mostly it is well applied knowledge that leads to success.  The only success that matters to God is knowing Him.  The desiny of those who study His word, pray, and live for others is that they will know him.  The fate of the wicked, even when well intentioned is always less than ideal.

Questions

1. How are the wicked brought down?
2. How are the righteous delivered?
3. How would you put the message of both verses into your own words?
4. Given your actions, what should be your destiny?
5. Why do more and more children expect to make it big through minimal effort?  How are parents not helping?

 ¹ The LORD detests dishonest scales,
   but accurate weights find favor with him.

 ² When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
   but with humility comes wisdom.

 ³ The integrity of the upright guides them,
   but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

 ⁴ Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,
   but righteousness delivers from death.

Honest Business and Good Math

Mathematics and honesty are closely linked.  Without accurate measurement there is no law.  God does not only have us measure, but he has us measure accurately.  The revelation of and use of mathematics allows us to have justice.  God reveals his character in revealing mathematics.   The Israelite traders revealed their character in their use of dishonest scales.  In fact, archaeology has shown that ancient traders had two sets of weights, one set for buying and the other for trading.  It is obvious that such traders loved wealth above justice.  However, they neither knew nor reflected God’s character.  Such duplicity is destructive.  It eats out a person’s soul and leaves them self-obsessed and alone.  We say of such people, “They would sell their own grandmother.”  The path to such self-destruction starts with intentionally fuzzy math.  When a person measures a piece of cloth they sell half a yard too short, or they slyly add half a pound of rice to their purchase they may seem wise because they are accumulating wealth and possessions.  However, all their bad math will be measured against them on the day of God’s wrath. 

Questions

1. What does God detest?
2. Why would good character be shown through accurate measurement?
3. How are measurement and righteousness linked?
4. What do you have to measure in a week (e.g. your time, money, weights, etc.)?
5. How are people dishonest today in their measurement of time, money, weight, etc.?

 ²² The blessing of the LORD brings wealth,
   without painful toil for it.

 ²³ A fool finds pleasure in wicked schemes,
   but a person of understanding delights in wisdom.

 ²⁴ What the wicked dread will overtake them;
   what the righteous desire will be granted.

 ²⁵ When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone,
   but the righteous stand firm forever.

 ²⁶ As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
   so are sluggards to those who send them.

 ²⁷ The fear of the LORD adds length to life,
   but the years of the wicked are cut short.

 ²⁸ The prospect of the righteous is joy,
   but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.

 ²⁹ The way of the LORD is a refuge for the blameless,
   but it is the ruin of those who do evil.

 ³⁰ The righteous will never be uprooted,
   but the wicked will not remain in the land.

 ³¹ From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom,
   but a perverse tongue will be silenced.

 ³² The lips of the righteous know what finds favor,
   but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.

The Righteous and Wicked

The righteous and the wicked are not categories that we use very much any more.  We think of choices as being good or bad based on their results.  We have got the thing backwards.  It should be that we seek God, he changes our heart and we therefore make good choices.  Good choices actually can turn out to hurt us in an evil world. God sometimes does not allow us to see the results of a good choice.  Therefore, we need to trust God to do his work without us seeing it.  This tends to have us trying to guess what the outcome will be and to make pragmatic decisions.  We do not think, “What is it good to do?”  We think, “How will these decisions work for me?”  Part of the flaw is that we start with the flawed belief that choices are neutral, or that human beings are basically good  and they will naturally make good choices.  The flaw is starting with self and our desires, rather than starting with God and his design.

It is true that we can see fruit from wise choices and a righteous heart.  The passage above highlights all the great results.  However, the thrust is not that we pursue the righteous life for its rewards.  We pursue God because of the way the world is created to function.  Acting in righteous ways is in harmony with Creation and will reap its rewards.

Questions

1. What are the rewards of being righteous?
2. What are the ‘rewards’ of being evil?
3. What is a righteous person in pursuit of?  What is the evil person pursuing?
4. Why do you think ‘righteous’ and ‘evil’ are not words used very much in public life?
5. Why don’t people think pursuing wealth, glamour, possessions, and long-life is pointless in and of itself?

Going Deeper

Anxiety is often located in the future.  We worry about things that have not yet happened, that we can not control.  The above passage and its focus on being righteous, brings us back to the present.  Pragmatism locates us in trying to anticipate the future.  In the present, we should seek God and his righteousness and make decisions that are in accordance with that.  It is faithful, then, to leave the outcome of our decisions in the hands of God rather than trying to control the future.

 ⁶ Blessings crown the head of the righteous,
   but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.^[a]

 ⁷ The name of the righteous is used in blessings,^[b]
   but the name of the wicked will rot.

 ⁸ The wise in heart accept commands,
   but a chattering fool comes to ruin.

 ⁹ Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,
   but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.

 ¹⁰ Whoever winks maliciously causes grief,
   and a chattering fool comes to ruin.

 ¹¹ The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,
   but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

 ¹² Hatred stirs up conflict,
   but love covers over all wrongs.

 ¹³ Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning,
   but a rod is for the back of one who has no sense.

 ¹⁴ The wise store up knowledge,
   but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.

 ¹⁵ The wealth of the rich is their fortified city,
   but poverty is the ruin of the poor.

 ¹⁶ The wages of the righteous is life,
   but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death.

 ¹⁷ Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life,
   but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.

 ¹⁸ Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips
   and spreads slander is a fool.

 ¹⁹ Sin is not ended by multiplying words,
   but the prudent hold their tongues.

 ²⁰ The tongue of the righteous is choice silver,
   but the heart of the wicked is of little value.

 ²¹ The lips of the righteous nourish many,
   but fools die for lack of sense.

When to Speak and When to Listen

I get a reputation sometimes for speaking too much.  The verses above could be a warning to me.  How much do you speak?  What comes out of your mouth?  Jesus suggested that you could tell the condition of a person’s heart by the condition of their speech.  Out of the wellspring of the heart, the mouth speaks.  Jesus was speaking in a wisdom tradition that comes from Jewish culture.  The book of James in the New testament also focuses on speaking.  How we speak can build up or ruin our families.  In the context of marriage, words of affirmation and encouragement may become difficult to say, but they are essential to the health of the relationship.  As verse 11 says above, the words of the righteous are a fountain of life.  In business, words can make or break a deal.  It is good to be knowledgable about one’s area of expertise – it is obviously foolish to try and fake competency when it is not there.  In the context of the book of Proverbs, a fool will bluff their way to the top, but a wise person will seek to learn and take a humble route to success.  So the wise person is seeking wiser people to listen to.  They are not so concerned with their own chance to speak, they are looking to hear someone wiser speak so that they can learn.  This is true in business, marriage, and raising children.  We all need to find a godly speaker to listen to. 

On the other side of the coin, if, before God, we do have a little more learning than someone else in an area, we should not let false humility keep our mouths shut.  A person who has studied and understands a topic should, with a humble stance, share what they have learned with others.

Questions

1. Which verses in the passage speak about speech?
2. How are wealth, income and rewards related to speech?
3. How are we to teach children about speaking?
4. Have you intentionally been taught (or taught a child) how to have a conversation?  What are good guidelines for conversation?
5. As a fifth grade teacher I frequently found that children did not know how to have civil conversation in groups.  Some teachers would resolve the problem by sitting them in rows and teaching them directly.  Can you think of a better way?