In my book (Amazon, Kindle), I try to get across to my readers the importance of Proverbs and why we might have difficulty with it, by writing:
If you are a believer in a religion that is best expressed as four spiritual laws or a flow-chart or a chart about the dispensations of history, or a scheme of double predestination, or many other things (some of which may or may not be true–the issue is not veracity but primacy), then it will be a mystery to you why God wrote the book of Proverbs and put it in our Bibles.
But…
If you are a practitioner of a religion centered on a story that begins with how God made men and women to relate to Him and one another as they take dominion over the world, and move downstream from their garden home, and find gold, and start trading and have to raise children and eventually build cities that are supposed to further reflect the glory of God, then you will completely understand why the book of Proverbs had to be included as Scripture.
Recent events have reminded me of this.
A popular conception of Christianity is that it is concerned about the next world and our lives after death. In societies that have publicly declared themselves agnostic or neutral about such matters, naturally these “controversial” claims about God and an afterlife get more attention. But the Bible’s picture of the next world is bound up in its picture of THIS world.
Genesis 1 and 2 tells us God made human beings, not because he wanted ghosts in a later world, but because he wanted biological creatures, made of dust and animated by His breath take charge of the world, to transform it, and breed children to continue that quest.
The rest of Genesis is consistent with that quest. We are immediately told of people becoming farmers and herdsmen, and founding cities. There are bad and good ways to do this, and Genesis indicates that those who do it wrongly tend to rush ahead of those who trust God. But it shows, either through foolishness or wisdom, the commission for humanity being carried out. Doing it wrongly is a dead end, but it is evidence of the reality of the human quest.
And Proverbs is, as I have argued, aimed at encouraging people to become productive in line with that quest. It is about how to work and live, to rule.
Thus, it should not surprise us that Proverbs is directly relevant to things in the news like cities tearing themselves apart. As I recently wrote:
I think what we are witnessing corresponds with what we are warned about in Proverbs: The real treat to civilization is damaging speech. “By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown” (Proverbs 11:11 ESV). Proverbs comes from a time when cities were built with walls for defense—when they were conquered and invaded—but he warns about what people say, how they speak.
Proverbs also says: “Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath” (Proverbs 29:8 ESV). Our cities are burning, but the spark comes from words in response to a lawless action leading to more lawless actions.
Speech as fire is a common Biblical theme. One of the best known passages comes from the letter of James:
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
James 3:5b–6 ESV
There are other proverbs (in Proverbs) that say something similar:
- “A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire” (Proverbs 16:27).
- “For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases” (Proverbs 26:20).
- “As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife” (Proverbs 26:21).
This imagery may be behind the case law God gave Moses in Exodus 22:
If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.
Exodus 22:6 ESV
If you read this section of scripture as a legal code, then this is the only passage that can deal with pollution. But I’m not sure it is primarily about that. Why include the detail that the fire first spreads by thorns before that grain or field is burned down? Do people really need that information?
But thorns or brambles are an image of worthless men (for example; Judges 9:14-15). Solomon uses this imagery:
It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 7:5–6 ESV
Words spread. You often can’t control how you words will be used against you or others. But that doesn’t mean that you should not concern yourself with what you say, what words you use, and your tone.
Proverbs has advice for how you might speak to get justice:
- “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1 ESV).
- “A king’s wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it” (Proverbs 16:14 ESV).
- “The wise of heart is called discerning, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness. Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it, but the instruction of fools is folly. The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious and adds persuasiveness to his lips. Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body” (Proverbs 16:21–24 ESV).
- “The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion; whoever provokes him to anger forfeits his life” (Proverbs 20:2 ESV).
- “With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone” (Proverbs 25:15 ESV).
- “If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest” (Ecclesiastes 10:4 ESV).
To exploit a pop cultural reference right now: This is the way!
The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense.
The wise lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near.
Proverbs 10:11–14 ESV