Proverbs 25 - The Right Stuff
The very first verse of Chapter 25 isn't necessarily as much of a proverb as it is like an opening, you know, prologue, if you will.
This is that thing at the very top of the page that would say, hey, this was when this was written. It says, these are also Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, King of Judah, copied out.
So, a lot of times growing up, I thought, oh, man, the Bible was just, you had Solomon or you had Paul or you had so-and-so, and they would just take, you know, an afternoon, a day and write down, you know, the entire letter or the entire book of
whatever they were writing, and then when they were done, they just sent it off to, you know, the Galatian Church or they sent it off to, you know, if it's Luke, they sent it to Theophilus, and honestly, for a lot of scripture, it was compiled at
different times. So here you have in the very first thing of Proverbs 25, 1, them talking about, hey, these were some other Proverbs of Solomon that in the days of Hezekiah, several generations later were added to this particular book of the Bible.
And verses 2 through 7 all talk about kings. Now, obviously, we would know that Solomon was a king. And here he's giving some advice to people who might be working in the palace that would be in close connection with the king.
And here he's giving some insight that I think is also helpful for us as we have bosses, we have people that are over us.
And even some of these things could be taken for maybe some of those that work below us or that work back that God has concealed or he has covered, he has atoned for our sin, and that's God's glory.
It says, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter, that just as with God, it is his glory to know things that no one else knows. He's God, he's omniscient, he's incredible in that way.
It says the honor of kings is to search out a matter, that in government, God has specifically set government up in order to help and to keep law and order over countries.
You can even read Romans 13, where the apostle Paul says that kings and government are for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well.
So as it relates to us, none of us are kings, none of us are necessarily in government, and at least none of the ones that I can see right now.
But when we're electing people for government, it would be a good thing for us to remember, okay, what is the role and the rule of government? It's the punishment of evildoers and the praise of them that do well.
The honor of kings to search out of matter, to search for justice and for right judgment, and to make our choices on who we would select as our leaders based on people that would do this, that would be honorable kings.
Verse number three, the heaven for height and the earth for depth and the heart of kings is unsearchable. It says just as much as you can't tell how high space is, you can't tell how deep the earth is, particularly during this time period.
It says the heart of kings is unsearchable. You're not always going to understand the reason why a king or a ruler or even sometimes a boss would do the things that they do.
And Solomon here giving some instruction is like, hey, you don't necessarily have to know every reason why everyone does everything that they do, particularly as it relates to a king or a boss.
Sometimes they just give you a direction and you have to follow through. I can think of many times growing up as a kid where my parents would tell me to do something and the immediate question out of my mouth would be, why do I have to do that?
Why do I have to take out the trash now? Why do I have to do this thing? And sometimes we can be a little bit childish in how we interact with our bosses or things like that.
But we need to remember that sometimes we don't have to know every reason for every directive that is given to us. Verses number four and five are really joined together.
Take away the dross from the silver and there shall come forth the vessel for the finer. If you purify silver, it's going to make a better, purer, cleaner cup.
Take away the wicked from before the king and his throne shall be established in righteousness. Just as when you take away the dross from silver, it becomes a purer vessel.
When you take away the wicked from before the king, his throne will be established in righteousness. It's going to be a pure rain. It's going to be a good rain.
And that's why it's so important to have good people surrounding those that are in government.
Says in verse number six, put not forth thyself in the presence of the king and stand not in the place of great men, for better is it that it be said unto thee, come up hither than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom
that eyes have seen. Christ, even in his earthly ministry, and I might have a cross-reference here, in Luke 14, gives kind of this same thought.
He might even be directly quoting some of these verses where it says, don't exalt yourself, don't always be trying to put yourself in the best position. As Jesus said in Luke 14, put yourself in a lowly position.
And when people see, okay, this person is a diligent worker, this person is humble, this person is kind, man, that will put you in better places than if you just try and get there yourself and then you have to be put down.
So don't exalt yourself, instead be humble and allow others to lift you up. And great truth in there. I'm gonna skip down to verse number 11 and 12 because these are also kind of a couplet as well.
It says a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
So here you would have sometimes decorations that would be put together and maybe you'd have a golden apple, maybe a crafted apple that would be made that's on a setting or a plate of silver. It would be a very beautiful thing.
And so just as beautiful as this created and crafted artwork would be, that's what it's like when you have a word that's spoken in the right time, in the right way, that it just fits together perfectly. I think it's really cool.
The word fitly here in Hebrew, it's kind of talking about like spokes in a wheel, where it's just perfectly fit together. And so everything works.
And so for us, when we have words that are like that, that are just put together at the right time, they're said the right way, man, it is a beautiful thing. And then he goes on to elaborate on this thought of good or choice words.
He says, as an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.
He says, hey, when a wise person comes and says, hey, here's this thing that you need to work on in your life, or here's this thing that could really impact your life, and when a person has an obedient ear, that they hear it and they go, yeah, that
makes sense, that I need to work on that in my life. I need to change this thing. I need to start doing this. Man, it is just like an earring of gold.
It's like a beautiful creation. And it is a great thing. Verse number 13, As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him, for he refresheth the soul of his masters.
When you're a good worker, man, just as nice as it was back in these days for a cold snow to come on a very, very warm time of year, that it would be refreshing, and you'd have that coolness of that rain, of that snow, it is very refreshing to people
when they have a worker who will work the Bible way, who will give themselves completely to their job, to their boss, that they're going to work hard, they're gonna be honest in what they do, and let's all seek to in our jobs and in our life, maybe
some of us that are retired, even just in the people we interact with, seek to be an encouragement and a refreshment to them. Don't be one that would drag down their spirit. Gonna go to verse number 14.
Who so boasted himself of a false gift is like clouds without rain. Clouds and wind without rain.
This is referenced by Jude in his epistle that he writes of just the emptiness of a person that says, oh yeah, I have, you know, you can either think of it as, oh I have this gift, I have this ability, and I'm really good at this specific task.
I'm really good at this thing. And if they boast of something that they don't have, they can't sing. They are not great athletes.
Man, it's like clouds and wind without rain. It's disappointing, particularly for this agricultural culture, that it's disappointing, it's hurtful, you were expecting something great, and it doesn't happen.
You could also think about this as someone that is giving, of, hey, I am going to give you this amount of money. I'm going to give you this help.
Let's not be those that would kind of be too faced with our words, but when we say that we're going to give something, let's be faithful to give it. And that's a great habit to be in.
Just going to end here at verse number 16, and actually, I'll go one down. Verse number 18 is where we're going to end today. It says this, a man that beareth false witness against his neighbor is a maul and a sword and a sharp arrow.
A maul would be like a club, particularly a war club that you would use to beat down someone. So it's a war club, it's a sword, it's a sharp arrow. And that's a person that bears false witness that lies against their neighbor.
It can be so easy sometimes to lie because we want to preserve ourself image, we want people to think better of us. Sometimes it's even that we want people to think less of so and so so that they'll think more of us.
But here you have, it's like doing violence to a person, it's like beating them or stabbing them or shooting them with an arrow, stabbing them in the back as we might have the phrase today, when we don't speak truthfully with other people.
And man, because our father is the father of truth and not the father of lies, we ought to be those that would say, I am going to be dedicated to telling the truth, no matter the consequences.
Even if it might mean that I look a little worse, at least I will have been honest and I won't be those that would stab someone else with the words and the actions that I have. Well, look forward to being with you tomorrow.
If you are in the Moses Lake area, be sure to come tonight. We've got our split groups with our men and women. We've also got our Clubhouse Kids classes, continuing to go through Job and know it's going to be a great time for everyone that's there.
Continue to be in prayer for our junior campers as they're at camp through, I believe tomorrow morning and be in prayer as well.
For Beth and the baby and to a lesser extent, Rob, and just that they would have a great day and that they would be able to come home soon. Thanks so much for being on Strength of the Day. Hope you have a great day.
