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Or describe proverbs as you understand
them. Wise sayings, that's good, yeah. Anybody else? Okay, yeah, practical, something
practical, something you can use to apply to your life, right?
Anybody else? We're almost to the definition
I'm thinking of, or at least, you know, at least most of it.
okay wisdom of the lord yeah so uh... will start with this
definition and i think it'll it'll service as far as we needed
to go a pithy self-contained nugget of wisdom uh... that's that's what we're going
to mention most of those things so there's good and bad in this
right so because it's pithy and because it's self-contained you
can read just one parallelism in the book of Proverbs and you
can probably get something valuable out of it. You can reach up that
tree and grab some sort of fruit out of just that little two-line
portion in Proverbs. But the bad in that is that it's
easy to miss the forest because you've got something valuable
out of the one tree. So a lot of what we're going
to do today as we introduce our look into the Proverbs is we're
going to try to study the forest a little bit so that We don't
miss all that's in each proverb because we just picked it out
of its context and because it's so easy to do that with those
self-contained pithy sayings. So in two kind of topics, we're
gonna study the forest this morning, namely Solomon, whose name is
all over the book of Proverbs, And then we're going to talk
about the structure a little bit. And just as Ryan has been
taking us through interpretation in the last few weeks, we're
going to try to build this context, not only to squeeze out all the
fruit that's in each line of the book of Proverbs, but also
so that we don't take one of those pithy sayings and go somewhere
where we were never meant to go with it. That's how context
helps us out here. So it all starts with Solomon,
which means it all starts with David, which means, well, there's
really no beginning until you get all the way back to Genesis
1. But we're going to start this morning with the promise to David.
So, of course, a large part of who Solomon is and what we know
about Solomon and why Solomon is important is because of the
way that the Lord used him in fulfilling the Lord's promises
to David. You can follow along up there
on the screen or in your Bibles. I'm going to start here first
with 2 Samuel 7. I'm going to start there in verse
2, but you'll remember after After David kind of settled into
the Lord had caused some semblance of rest, where David wasn't constantly
fighting his enemies, and the kingdom was starting to look
like this glorious thing that Israel always was meant to be,
David started to think, and he said, to Nathan, he's speaking
to Nathan, see now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark
of God dwells inside of a tent curtain. And then Nathan said
to the king, go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord
is with you. But it happened that night that the word of the
Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David,
thus says the Lord, Would you build a house for me to dwell
in? For I have not had a house since the time I brought the
children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day. But I moved
about in a tent and in a tabernacle. wherever i have moved about with
all the children of israel have i ever spoken a word to anyone
from the tribes of israel who i commanded to shepherd my people
israel saying why have you not built me a house of cedar now
therefore thus shall you say to my servant david thus says
the lord of hosts i took you from the sheep fold from following
the sheep to be ruler over my people Israel. And I have been
with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies
from before you, and I have made you a great name, like the name
of great men who are on the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place
for my people Israel, and I will plant them, that they may dwell
in a place of their own and move no more, nor shall the sons of
wickedness oppress them any more. So, as much as Nathan affirms
David's intentions to build a house for the Lord, the Lord is telling
them to wait. Now, you also might remember,
and I'm not going to go through all of the history here, but
as David was dying, There was conflict about who would succeed.
I don't know why I always forget the oldest brother's name. Absalom
is the older one that tried to take over, and the rebellion
was killed, and ultimately Absalom. But the next one, I'm going to
have to look it up. The next oldest brother tried,
as David was dying, to declare himself to be the successor.
David had already promised Bathsheba that Solomon would be the successor,
and he clarified his intentions here in 1 Kings 2. Again, you can follow along up
on the screen or in your own Bible. 1 Kings 2. Now the days
of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his
son, saying, I go the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore,
and prove yourself a man. Keep the charge of the Lord your
God to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments,
his judgments, his testimonies, as it was written in the law
of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do. wherever
you turn that the Lord may fulfill his word which he spoke concern
concerning me saying if your sons take heed to their way and
walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all
their soul he said you shall not lack a man on the throne
of Israel and as I read that I realized that I stopped short
on the last slide, because this is what the Lord had said to
David. David Beck, 2 Samuel 7, verse 11. Since the time that
I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and I've caused
you to rest from all your enemies, also the Lord tells you that
he will make a house. When your days are fulfilled
and when you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seat after
you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his
kingdom. He shall build a house for my
name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be his father, and he will be my son. And if he commits
iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with
blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart
from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
In your house, he's speaking to David, in your house and your
kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne
shall be established forever. So, at this point, there's rising
hope. We, you know, it's hard to imagine
how much of this Israel as a nation new, because this looks like
a private conversation. Of course, this is not a photograph. There were no photographs in
900 BC. But you can imagine, right? This
is David speaking to Bathsheba. We're presuming that the conversation
between David and Solomon was at least semi-private, at least
that it sounds private. We can't really be sure how much
Israel understood about what the Lord has spoken to David,
but either way, the promises from all the way from Genesis
12, which we'll turn to here in a moment, all the way through
the promises that the Lord has just now given to David, we see
a hope. We see Israel the way that the
Lord had promised it to be coming into fruition. And what we see from Solomon,
especially in the earlier parts of what we know about him, make
this hope even greater. It's adding continually fuel
to the fire here. And here's where we start to
see where we get this idea of the wisdom of Solomon. I mean,
even the world uses this phrase, right? The wisdom of Solomon
is not something that was contained and hidden in this, you know,
one part of the Old Testament of the Jewish people or of the
Christian people. The world knows one way or the
other about the wisdom of Solomon. And so we see that the first
indication of this rising hope here in 1 Kings chapter 3 Where
after Solomon has become king, the Lord has established his
kingdom. Now we see Solomon and how he's understanding the promises
that David passed along to him. 1 Kings 3, verse 3, And Solomon
loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David,
except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. Now the king went to Gibeon to
sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt
offerings on that altar. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared
to Solomon and dreamed by night, and God said, Ask, what shall
I give you? And Solomon said, You have shown
great mercy to your servant David, my father, because he walked
before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with
you. You have continued this great kindness for him, and you
have given him a sum to sit on his throne as it is this day.
Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king instead
of my father David, but I am a little child. I do not know
how to go out or come in, and your servant is in the midst
of your people whom you have chosen, a great people too numerous
to be numbered or counted. Therefore, give to your servant
an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern
between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people
of yours? Now, of course, we see in verse
10, this speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked him this
thing. Then God said to him, because you have asked this thing
and not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself,
nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself
understanding to discern justice. Behold, I have done according
to your word. See, I have given you a wise
heart and an understanding heart so that there has not been anyone
like you before you, nor shall any like arise after you. And
I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and
honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the
kings all your days. So if you walk in my ways to
keep my statutes and my commandments as your father David walked,
then I will lengthen your days. So if there wasn't a clear picture
of hope before, and there was, it is even more so now. The Lord
has made promises in commensurate or commensurate with promises
he's made all the way in the past. He's promised David to
establish his throne forever with a son if he would walk in
his ways. And here we see Solomon walking
in the ways of the Lord. and it only gets better. The
hope of this flourishing kingdom is alive and thriving And of
course, we're seeing now, publicly, we're seeing the Lord's promises
come to pass. So even if Israel wasn't all
the way on board with us thus far, they're starting to see
the fruit here. As Solomon endeavors to do the
thing that David wanted to do, but the Lord said to wait, which
is build a house for the Lord. And we'll look here at 1 Kings
chapter 6. Then the word of the Lord came
to Solomon, saying, Concerning this temple which you are building,
if you walk in my statutes, execute my judgments, keep all my commandments,
and walk in them, then I will perform my word with you which
I spoke to your father David, and I will dwell among the children
of Israel, and I will not forsake the people of Israel. So now
Solomon goes about constructing this temple. And this is the
temple of temples. When we see all those pictures
of the temple in the back of your Bibles, when we read all
of the temple instructions, this is the thing that Solomon is
after. Now when he completes it, There's
a large section here in 1 Kings which talks about the day that
they dedicated the temple. Solomon, as we picture it here,
is standing before the temple and he speaks both to the Lord
in prayer at length and he speaks to the people as well at length.
And we see a little bit of that here in 1 Kings 8. Verse 10,
And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy
place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests
could not continue ministering because of the cloud. For the
glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Now, let's
not miss this here. The glory of the Lord filled
the house of the Lord. Anybody remember or want to take
a stab at the last time the glory of the Lord filled the house
of the Lord prior to roughly 940, 950 BC? All the way back, Numbers
chapter 20, 500 years. the people of Israel who were
supposed to be carrying around the Ark of the Covenant, setting
up the tabernacle, both purifying in a cleansing sense and purifying
in the holiness sense, purifying the land around that tabernacle. so that the Lord in physical
presence, and this is important to remember, there is at least
two senses of the word when we say the glory of the Lord, right?
In some instances we hear language like, the glory of the Lord will
be known over all the earth. And in this sense we're speaking
of fame, understanding, reverence, we see power, we see in the scriptures
that kind of language. In this sense, when we're saying
the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord, we're
speaking of a, and in some sense tangible, if not visible, perhaps
perceived by other senses as well, but those were the two
main ones that we see. Everyone knew that the Lord was
there in this place, and it had not been so for 500 years. So
this is as good of a picture as we can perceive, really, of
the Lord's initial plan, where the people of Israel would be
in the land of Israel, where the land around the temple or
the tabernacle would be cleansed and purified by the priests,
so that the Lord would come and commune with them, and they could
enjoy nearness. to the transcendent God. And
here we are. If there wasn't rising hope already
before, now all those people in that rendition there sense
what's going on. They know that the Lord is continuing
to fulfill His promises as He always had before and as He is
continuing to do through David. And the word here Comes, let me read it to you
again here so we don't miss it. Oh, it's right there, the last
one. Forever. Forever was a thematic word when
the Lord spoke to David. I will establish a son and he
will reign over Israel forever. And now, The Lord said he would
dwell in the dark cloud. Solomon has surely built you
an exalted house and a place for the Lord to endure or to
commune forever. So as Solomon keeps speaking
both to the Lord and to the crowd on this day where he dedicated
the temple, we get a couple more things here that we don't want
to miss about Solomon. 1 Kings chapter 8. As Solomon continued to pray
and preach in front of the temple, he says this, chapter 8, verse
56, Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel
according to all that he had promised. There has not failed
one word of all his good promises which he promised through his
servant Moses, May the Lord our God be with us as he was with
our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake
us, that he may incline our hearts to himself, to walk in his ways,
to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments
which he commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine,
with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near the
Lord our God, day and night, that He may maintain the cause
of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each
day may require." Here's the purpose. That all the peoples
of the earth may know that the Lord is God. This is that other
sense of the glory of the Lord. There is no other. Let your heart,
therefore, be loyal to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes
and His commandments. Let's stop for a moment and consider
these promises that Solomon just cited all the way through the
history of the peoples of Israel. Most of this will be familiar
to you all. Genesis chapter 12 verses 1 through 3. Now the Lord
told Abram, go out of your country from your family to a land that
I will show you. I will make you a great nation.
I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be
a blessing. I will bless those who bless
you and curse him who curses you." So we see land, we see,
well we don't see seed in this passage particularly of course
we see when he says I will make you a great nation that assumes
a lot of folks and when the Lord reiterates this covenant in chapter
15 and 17 he makes it more obvious that Abraham will have a lot
of seed so we see land we see seed we see blessing and then
we see this purpose all the way back in Genesis 12 that Solomon
just spoke about to be a blessing not just within Israel but without
Israel as well. Then if we continue we see this
purpose again more clearly when Moses talks about these promises
in Deuteronomy chapter 4. I'll read it there with you.
Surely I have taught you that you should act according to them
in the land to which you go to possess. There's the land. Therefore
be careful to observe them for this is your wisdom and your
understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all
these statutes, and they will say, surely this great nation
is a wise and understanding people, for what great nation is there
that has a God so near to it, right? As the Lord our God is
to us, for whatever reason we may call upon him. So Israel's
greatness was meant to point other nations toward the Lord's
greatness. That's how he had set it up. So as Solomon started, Israel
is continuing to rise up in hope that now is the time. The Lord
is doing what he had always promised to do. He was going to make them
the nation that he always had intended. He was going to be
near to them. And here it was, in the greatness
of Solomon, that hope that the Lord was doing it now. And if you know your own heart,
as I know mine, and if you know the history of Israel in any
sense, you get the nagging feeling that this isn't going to last,
that the forever is the thing that is the most in question
here. And of course, you're right.
1 Kings 11, verse 1, but Solomon loved many foreign women. as well as the daughter of the
pharaoh, which he had already married even early on, woman
of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, from
the nation of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel,
you shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely
they will turn away your hearts after their gods. For it was
so when Solomon was old, that his wives did in fact do that.
They turned his heart after other gods. And his heart was not loyal,
as he had previously told the entire people to be loyal to
the Lord. His heart was not loyal to the
Lord his God, as was the heart of David. So as glorious as the rising
hope of the forever king and the forever kingdom was, so was
the intensity of Solomon's fall. Now the Lord, and honestly I'm
sorry I don't remember exactly where this was, the Lord told
Solomon that though the kingdom will fall, that it would happen
after. The way that he said it was,
I'm not going to give your kingdom, pass it on to your son in the
line of David, but your servant will be the next king. And so,
in some sense, the Lord was being merciful in his discipline to
Solomon, in the sense that he did not make the kingdom come
crashing down while Solomon was still alive. And so, and I'm
not proposing that this is the purpose for the way that the
Lord did this, but at least it makes sense. So we see Solomon
in his old age with all of this wisdom and this experience about
the blessings of the Lord and the discipline of the Lord, about
seeing all these promises fulfilled to this pinnacle of greatness
when the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord and the
people were dwelling near the Lord. The fall was Solomon's
experience just as much as the rise. And with all that wisdom,
he wrote some of it down. This, I hope, will be the shortest
sermon you ever hear on the book of Ecclesiastes, because the
depths of that book are deep, and there is much wisdom in there. It is one of the books in the
Bible, to me, that hits the hardest. But let's just take a look at
where Solomon is at, presumably at the end of his life when he
had both received the ability to be wise and had experienced
the glory of instituting that wisdom, as well as the downfall
of ignoring or going against that wisdom. Ecclesiastes runs
through a number of things that are vanity, that are passing,
that are not enduring, that are whisked away in a strong wind. The things that you cannot ground
your life, the things that you cannot ground your hope, your
satisfaction, your ultimate purpose upon. These are the things that
Solomon identifies here in Ecclesiastes. Again, this is just a very quick
list. The profit of one's labor is vanity because the profit
passes away and the labor never ends. That's chapter one. Great
wisdom, which the Lord had given him. Even great wisdom is vanity,
because ultimately it doesn't work. The way he puts it, what
is crooked cannot be made straight. Even with the wisdom of the Lord,
you cannot fix things so that they stay fixed. Pleasure and
wealth are vanity, because neither lasts. The wise and the fool,
they have the same end. And this is, you sense greatly
in Ecclesiastes. If I'm going to walk in wisdom
with the Lord and obey his commandments, and then the wicked come along
and they do none of that but receive the same things, at least
in this life, what is it that is enduring? The wise and the
fool have the same end. Work for work's sake. If you're
a workaholic, this one should slap you in the face. Work for
work's sake is vanity because the additional produce or the
extra produce is just extra. Running your mouth to the Lord
is vanity. That one's kind of self-critiquing there. Popularity,
vanity because of course it passes away. worldly gain and honor
are vanity, because they also fade away, and even unjust gain,
chapter 6, which is still God's, has a judgment. And the way he
puts it is that the Lord allows unjust gain, and then he intends
to pass that gain along to the righteous. The wisest man among his peers,
and probably, or arguably anyway, ever, because he received this
wisdom from the Lord, has gone these ways. And in Ecclesiastes,
he says, I went that way. It did not give me the satisfaction. It did not fulfill the purpose
that the Lord has put in man for eternity. These things are
vanity. And of course it's weighty and
gloomy. There's not a lot of hope. in
Ecclesiastes until right at the end, which we'll get to, so I
don't want to give you the spoiler alert quite yet. But this is
the man, this is the spot, this is the way, I think, part of
the forest with which to look at each individual tree, which
is a proverb. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. That's Proverbs
1, 7. But as we turn to Proverbs here,
we see Solomon's name right there in the first verse. Since we've
talked about Solomon for a few minutes and we just have a few
more minutes, we're going to finish up talking more about
the structure of the book of Proverbs. Because just as it
is true that there's at least a little bit of nugget in each
one of those individual Proverbs, We as people who believe the
Lord inspired the writer of Proverbs to put this down for posterity,
that there was intention along the way, however that way may
be, the Lord has intended not just that that line is in your
Bible, but that book is in your Bible, and that testament is
in your Bible. So, these are the sorts of questions
we want to ask, and as safe and right as it is to read that first
line in the book of Proverbs and say, the Proverbs of Solomon,
the son of David, king of Israel, okay, Solomon obviously wrote
this book. That is right and good, and that is how you should
read everything at face value until you have reason to think
otherwise. I'm going to turn the path here,
though, because in chapter 10, verse 1, we read, these are the
Proverbs of Solomon, which raises the question, why the reintroduction? If this whole collection of Proverbs
was all written by one hand, then why the reintroduction? We have something similar in
chapter 22, verse 17. It says, incline your ear and
hear the words of the wise. Of course, this raises the question,
who are the wise? If the writer is referring to
himself, which is Solomon, that doesn't seem to line up. Additionally,
chapter 25, it says these proverbs are also proverbs of Solomon,
which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied. So now we have
to make room for at least one editor or copier or compiler
or collector, however you want to frame the work that those
men of Hezekiah did. And then we get to chapter 30.
We have the words of Agur. And then in 31, the words of
King Lemuel, which his mother taught him. And of course, there's
not a whole lot of data about who these people are. So these
are all questions that make us wonder, or at least should make
us wonder, I would argue, about whether or not Solomon wrote
this entire collection of Proverbs. Now, I hope this doesn't make
you nervous in the sense that I'm trying to deconstruct the
inspiration of the Lord's Word. I am not trying to do that. It
is valuable to be comfortable with these questions, because
however the Lord put it before us, it is the Lord's word nonetheless. And so, here's what I'm gonna
argue, or I'm gonna propose, at least provisionally. I've
studied this before, and I've studied it, of course, in preparation
for this class, but as we go through the book of Proverbs,
I'm gonna leave this to at least to the possibility of amending
it. But here's what I think are the best arguments I could find
to what's going on in the structure. It helps us answer those questions
that I just raised on the previous couple slides there. And I think
it ultimately gets us back to where we don't have to worry
about who it is that is passing along this wisdom. And it brings
all of those questions into conclusion here. So here's what I think
is going on. Of course, I'm taking this from
a number of different sources. I won't be able to cite them
all. If you would like to talk to me about where I got these
ideas, you are welcome to do so. But I just don't want to
make it sound like they're my own. We have two collections. The older collection, chapter
10, verse 1 through 22, 16, and you'll remember that section
started out with, these are the Proverbs of Solomon. And that's
when the short two or three line Proverbs really kick in without
a whole lot of interconnected or editorial comments amongst
them. Chapter 10 verses chapter 22
verse 16 is pretty much all just proverbs all right in a row. The title of the book, chapter
1 verse 1, I propose was provided by the person who collected those
proverbs in chapter 10 verse 22. The lengthy introduction
between chapter 1 verse 2 and 9, 18, which would be the end
of chapter 9, was just that, an introduction by that first
collector. And then chapter 22 verse 17
through end of 24 is an appendix of wisdom, again, added or collected
by that first So, between the very beginning of the book and
the end of chapter 24, the Proverbs of Solomon, the ones that he
wrote, at least, or the ones that were collected, are there
in chapter 10 through 22. And then we have the introduction
on the beginning, and we have the appendix at the end, and
that gets us to chapter 25. which is where we read the men
of Hezekiah did this work. Chapter 25 through 28 are the
Proverbs of Solomon that those men of Hezekiah collected. And
then we have two appendices that were added on by the men of Hezekiah
there at the end. Sorry, three appendices if you
divide chapter 31 into two sections. So again, I don't bring all this
up to make your view of inspiration unstable. And you might be thinking,
why is this important? I hope you're thinking that,
because I should give you that. And here it is. I think it's
the next slide. Here's why. Not every proverb
is as easy as the next to take that little nugget out. Most
of them, you can get a little bit of wisdom out of each proverb. Some of them are more difficult. Many of them are repeated. So
this should start raising questions in our mind about what it is
that the author was trying to do with the way that he wrote
it, one, and the way that he organized it, two. Here's some
examples. Proverbs 10.4 and Proverbs 12.8.
This is a very common conclusion that we all come to.
And it's actually, now that I'm thinking about it, it might be
a little bit surprising that nobody brought this up when we defined
them at the beginning. Because Proverbs aren't always
true, right? When it says, train up your child
in the fear and admonition of the Lord, how does it go? And
he will not depart. Of course, that is not always
true, right? So now we have to start wondering,
well, what is the wisdom in there if it's not a, this is always
true. Did I mix it, Billy? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you
raised your hand. Maybe that was Laura. I thought you were going to throw
something at me. That's all right. So they're not always true. They're
not timeless truths in the sense that there are never exceptions. And so here's one of the common
problems with a proverb like 10.4 or 12.8. We read, a man
will be commended according to his wisdom, but he who is of
a perverse heart will be despised. And we think, man, I wish that
were always true. I wish wisdom was always rewarded
and perversity was always cursed, but that's just not the way the
world works. And so we have to back up and ask bigger questions
about what it is that Solomon's trying to pass on to us. Another
kind of of discord that we have to sort out and I'm telling you
again this is why the structure is important because the structure
along with what we know about Solomon is part of the way this
context is part of the way we can come to a resolution and
a conclusion. about some of these problems
with the individual verses. It says, When you sit down to
eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you, and put a
knife to your throat. If you are a man given to appetite,
do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
As you see, there's a little bit more work to be done there
before we figure out what we're supposed to do with that. And
the context, both the structure and what we know about Solomon,
who passed along this wisdom, are going to be an important
piece in figuring that out. Here's, I think, the biggest
reason to think about why the structure... Let me put it this
way. I don't want you to stop trying
to structure it or evaluating the one that I just proposed
for you. I don't want that to be the end of it. And the reason
it's important to think about the structure, and the reason
we'll continue to do so in the next few weeks, is because in
1 Kings chapter 4, we read that Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs,
and his songs were 1,005. I'm sure in preparation for this
class you went through the book of Proverbs and you counted them
all to see how many there were. And you already know that the
number is 513. But wherever the other 2487 went, why did the person or persons
who collected this wisdom into Proverbs choose these 513? and not the other 2,487. Why,
better said, why did the Lord inspire the posterity of these 513 and
not the other 2487? This is a valuable question. And this helps not only to see
what the Lord is doing, the forest, with the book of Proverbs, but
also to make sure we don't go the wrong way with that slit
your throat if you're sitting at a rich man's table. We kind
of know that that's not the right way to go, but why not? Well,
because we know based on the context and the structure and
what Solomon was trying to pass along to us, we know that that's
not where he was headed. And this is why it's important
to continue to think about not only Solomon and where he was
when he wrote down this wisdom, but also those men that came
along and collected it and put an introduction to it and added
an appendix to it. All of that that the Lord inspired
those men to do is important to understanding the Lord's authorial
intent. If there is any good news in
the book of Ecclesiastes, I'm going to give you a couple slides
about that. And here it is. Nothing is better
for a man that he should eat and drink, and that his soul
should enjoy good in his labor. This I also saw was from the
hand of God. For who can eat or who can have
enjoyment more than I? Of course, we've already thought
about that. For God gives wisdom and knowledge
and joy to a man who is good in his sight, but to the sinner
he gives the work. So you see, both the sinner and
the righteous have the work, But to the sinner he gives the
work of gathering and collecting that he may give to him who is
good before God. This is also vanity and grasping
for the wind. I know that nothing is better
for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives, and
also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good
of all of his labor. It is the gift of God. And then the capstone comment
at the very end of Ecclesiastes, let us hear the conclusion of
this whole matter. After all of the hopelessness
and vanity and all of those other things, not only that Solomon
has described, but that we know he has lived and he has experienced,
he concludes the whole matter. He says, fear God and keep his
commandments for this is man's all. Now, I would argue that if we went through that list,
and I'll try to do it from memory, worldly pleasure. Worldly pleasure
is not necessarily bad. Enjoying the fruits of your labor
is not necessarily bad. as we just saw, is both for the
righteous and the wicked. It is not necessarily bad. Riches
are not necessarily bad. Wisdom, all those lists, all
that list of those things that Solomon called vanity, are not
vanity because of what those things are in and of themselves,
but rather it is the use of those towards something that takes
you outside of what the Lord meant those things for. Whether it's work, whether it's
enjoying the produce or the wisdom, if those things are employed
in a wise way, the way that the Lord has commanded, those things
do bring joy, as we just saw. Enjoying the fruit of your labor
is something that is a gift of God. And so the and, I think,
is the important word here. Fear God. and keep his commandments. Take what the Lord has given,
whether that's produce or work itself or wisdom, and keep his
commandments. And what comes of those is the
gift of the Lord. And of course, again, if you
know your heart, as I know my heart, the moment you turn and
seek after something valuable that you see as valuable outside
of what the Lord calls valuable, you are immediately off track,
and even those things that the Lord has given you to produce
that gift are wicked. And so here's where Solomon is
at at the end of Ecclesiastes. And I think this is a good way
to think about, in conclusion, the very beginning of the Proverbs. Because it's not just that you
have to remember both to fear the Lord and to keep his commandments,
but that understanding that his commandments, wisdom to follow
his commandments, only comes after. So here he joins fear
of God and obedience. And as we start Proverbs, we
see that they're not just joined, but one comes before the other,
right? The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge. So all of this context to say,
as we start looking at Proverbs in the next few weeks, fear God,
then be wise to keep his commandments, and then the outcome of that
process makes the fruit which you are meant to enjoy rather
than fruit which might be enjoyable but is outside of that process
and therefore demoted to wickedness, adultery, idolatry, all of the
things that we'll read about as we go through each proverb. And with that, I'll take questions
or comments just for a moment because we don't have much time.
Yes, ma'am. OK, Jehoshaphat, right? Jehoshaphat, OK. Right. Right. Well, Jeroboam was first before
Jehovah. OK, great. Thank you. Anybody else? OK, let me pray and we'll dismiss. Lord, help us to see this study,
which even as I say it sounds a little academic, help us to
realize how we fit all of what you have told us about Solomon
and about how you have ordained the book of Proverbs, how it
got from Solomon and the wisdom you gave him all the way to us. Lord, help us to be diligent
and to squeeze every ounce of your wisdom out of each little
nugget, each little proverb, but also to see the big picture
and what you are doing in showing us David's heart and showing
us Solomon's heart, showing us Israel's heart, and ultimately
showing us our own heart. And how that you have not ordained
for reverence of you and obedience to you and the blessings that
you give for that obedience. How you have not separated those
and it is only our hearts and our own sinfulness that tries
to separate those out and go after the joy without the reverence
or without the obedience, help us to see that we are fallen
people, and that we help us to have a hunger, a thirst for your
wisdom, and help us to see that ultimately your wisdom is personified
in the Christ whom we trust. Amen.
Proverbs Week 1
Series Sunday School
| Sermon ID | 729190362633 |
| Duration | 50:25 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday School |
| Language | English |
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