Author: Mark Horne

Proverbs seems aimed at a young man–someone who is at least an adolescent since he is capable of being sexually tempted. He may be old enough to be a young married man. After all, one of Solomon’s exhortations is to be satisfied with one’s young wife (Proverbs 5:18-19).

I don’t know at what age men got married in Israel in Solomon’s day, but his wisdom seems aimed at males ranging from adolescence to early marriage. Continue reading “Solomon on Internet Porn”

Every workman knows the necessity of keeping his tools in a good state of repair, for “if the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength.” If the workman lose the edge from his adz, he knows that there will be a greater draught upon his energies, or his work will be badly done. […]

We are, in a certain sense, our own tools, and therefore must keep ourselves in order. If I want to preach the gospel, I can only use my own voice; therefore I must train my vocal powers. I can only think with my own brains, and feel with my own heart, and therefore I must educate my intellectual and emotional faculties. I can only weep and agonize for souls in my own renewed nature, therefore must I watchfully maintain the tenderness which was in Christ Jesus. It will be in vain for me to stock my library, or organize societies, or project schemes, if I neglect the culture of myself; for books, and agencies, and systems, are only remotely the instruments of my holy calling; my own spirit, soul, and body, are my nearest machinery for sacred service; my spiritual faculties, and my inner life, are my battle ax and weapons of war.

A common, simplistic, and erroneous interpretation of Proverbs is that you will have a life free from pain, want, and worry if you follow its instructions.

No.

If you read Proverbs you should keep in mind four basic temptations that a person can face: Continue reading “The Four Trials of Life in Proverbs”

Proverbs 25.2 tells us that

It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.

This statement, dropped into Proverbs among many others, might not seem to be that important to understanding the entire book. But it does seem to refer back to the introduction. Continue reading “The Puzzle of Proverbs”

I wrote in my post on the ants in Proverb 6:

At some point, I will share my argument that sleeping in and missing work is the least of the problems Solomon is addressing. His larger point with sleep is that we need to pay attention to our lives and what we need. If we’re sleep walking through life we are not providing for our future needs because we’re not aware of them.

So let’s look again at what Proverbs 6 says about sleep: Continue reading “Sleepwalking through life usually makes it worse”

When Solomon says in Proverbs 6, “Go to the ant, O sluggard,” it is easy to completely misunderstand his meaning. We think of ants as mindless drones, so it sounds like we’re being told to engage in mindless labor. Maybe there’s some wisdom to that, but Solomon has a different view of ants. Continue reading “Solomon on Being Your Own Ruler”

The first project I plan to complete is a book for young adults on Proverbs. That’s more or less the reason I started “Solomon Says” (with gracious help from others, including the name of the website). I have written what I might use as a Preface to that book HERE.

The ability to drive a car is a necessary skill for most people in industrialized countries. As a result, it has become a rite of passage into adulthood.

I’ve taught three children how to drive and every one of them experienced not only changing abilities but expanded knowledge. Shortly before they started driving they showed little awareness of the network of roads and locations around our home, even when traveling on familiar routes to familiar places. I would ask them what direction we were heading or where I should turn, and they usually had no idea.

They were just along for the ride. Since they relied on someone else to drive, they didn’t waste mental capacity on such things.

But when they got behind the steering wheel that changed quickly. Suddenly, the maps inside their heads expanded to include virtually the entire metro area and surrounding counties. Learning to drive gave them a new dominion. They grew in their knowledge to accommodate their new powers for a larger realm. It was a profound transformation. When they took on adult responsibilities they transitioned to adult thinking.

So, let’s think about how a child develops when he learns how to drive.

Proverbs talks about creation and wisdom.

Trees of life spring up more than once.

There is a lot about sons being a source of sorrow to their mothers, who had originally praised God they had gotten a man with the help of Yahweh.

And there are fools refusing to listen to rebukes or instruction, when a wise person says, “If you do well, will you not be accepted?”

Lots of warnings about the sons of god desiring the daughters of men.

Violence receives a lot of attention.

What kind of counsel a wife gives is discussed.

And what sort of wife ought to be valued.

Diligence is promised to be rewarded with dominion.

And though wisdom is more valuable than the gold of Havilah, it is a way to get that too.

There are springs of life.

And how cities are built is an important issue.

It is easy to read Proverbs as a meditation on Genesis.

***

Proverbs is difficult for many reasons, one of which is how far “theology” has drifted from the story of the Bible. I’m not necessarily talking about false theology. Even correct theology as it is commonly taught turns Proverbs into alien territory.

Maybe I can explain what the problem is this way:

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.

No matter how awesome you battle plan or how ingenious your general, a conflict can only be won by trained troops. If the soldiers run in the face of danger, don’t listen to orders, or don’t follow orders; if they get into arguments that distract them from their duties, they are doomed.

Soldiers can’t expect to do well without weapons and armor, but also weapons and armor will be wasted if the soldiers aren’t trained to constantly care for their equipment.

Likewise, sports. The greatest coach in the world cannot bring a team to victory if the players won’t exercise or practice.

Solomon knows that God has given the law. But he also knows that you can’t follow it naturally. No, I’m not talking about “the natural man,” I’m talking about the impossibility of relying on habits and impulses alone to guide you in a course of action.

Any course of action.

God made us this way. Sin had nothing to do with it at this level. If all humans were supposed to do one and only one thing throughout history, then it could have been wired into us. But God had more diversity in mind. So we can shape ourselves (or commit to shapelessness). We can drive ourselves (or be driven by forces outside our control).

And since this is the way we are, submitting to God’s commands takes a similar form. You can’t decide not to lust after a woman in your heart without mapping out and practicing certain responses with your neck, face, and eye muscles when you are walking across the mall and the Victoria’s Secret store is along your path. Oh, you can “decide” all you want. But until you’ve got your body parts working in formation, it will be a fruitless promise. “Let not him who puts his armor on boast as he who takes it off.”

I was talking to one of my sons about some of these concepts. He watches more basketball than I do. He told me that he’s noticed that some players, when they disagree with the referee, simply cannot shut up and end up getting their whole team penalized.

Here are people who have forced their bodies into shape doing amazing things and yet they are unable to overpower their own mouths?

You are not just a soldier in God’s army, you are a heavenly host. Your eyes, hands, feet, and mouth are your soldiers. Your soul is your drummer keeping time. You need to get him to slow down if he is prone to charge at the wrong occasion.