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Tag: Proverbs

A popular saying, regarded as conveying wisdom. Scripture records a great number of didactic proverbs and also preserves some popular sayings.

Proverbs – Biblehub.com Proverbs topical index

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  • A Word to the Cunning – 2

    Cunning Defined

    NOUN

    1[MASS NOUN] Skill in achieving one’s ends by deceit.

    Thesaurus:

    [Nouns] cunning, craft; cunningness, craftiness; subtlety, artificiality; maneuvering; temporization; circumvention.
    chicane, chicanery; sharp practice, knavery, jugglery; concealment [more]; guile, doubling, duplicity (falsehood) [more]; foul play.
    diplomacy, politics; Machiavelism; jobbery, backstairs influence.
    art, artifice; device, machination; plot (plan) [more]; maneuver, stratagem, dodge, artful dodge, wile; trick, trickery (deception) [more]; ruse, ruse de guerre; finesse, side blow, thin end of the wedge, shift, go by, subterfuge, evasion; white lie (untruth) [more]; juggle, tour de force; tricks of the trade, tricks upon travelers; espieglerie; net, trap [more].
    Ulysses, Machiavel, sly boots, sly dog, fox, reynard; dodger, Artful Dodger [Dickens], smooth operator, sweet talker; Yankee; intriguer, intrigant; spin doctor, schemer [more].

    Cunning in Scripture

    You will be hard-pressed to find cunning as an adjective, verb or even a noun (such as the synonyms above), but the Bible puts forth many examples of cunning described by other more familiar words.

    Let me ask you this: look at the list above and what comes to mind? Do you see a face of someone in the news or a cunning person in your workplace? Perhaps you imagine the cunning cohort in politics who would just as soon stab someone in the back as tell the truth to the people.

    Sometimes cunning in the Bible is used to describe a specialized understanding of craftsmanship. After all, who today understands the complexity of the US elections or the craft of passing legislation no one understands? We look to the cunning businessman or woman of the world with both envy and disdain. How could they have become so cunning as to achieve their high success? What lies have they sold to millions who will elect them?

    The Hebrew word for cunning may be somewhat familiar, for it has many contexts.

    יָדַע yâdaʻ

    We find it from near the beginning: to know, learn to know, to perceive, to perceive and see, find out and discern,
    to discriminate, distinguish 2.

    The pivotal questions are: Who is the source of the knowledge? Is their word true or a well-crafted lie?

    “Consider the source’ was once a common-sense evaluation now given up to a retractable headline truism.

    Genesis 3:5-6

    For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

    • What is the source?

    You will find the cunning one in verse 1:

    Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

    Satan is darkness in the guise of light. The serpent seems to be for us, even an advocate for us against God. He fits as needed all the descriptions of cunning or crafty: subtle, shrewd, crafty, sly, sensible, prudent…

    ‘Did God actually say…?” Satan asks us time and time again?

    • Is the word truth or a well-crafted lie?

    For God knows that when you eat of it… you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw … that the tree was to be desired to make one wise…

    The command is questioned. Truth is suppressed and twisted into untruth. So how like God do you feel now? Is our knowledge of good and evil the answer to our eternal life? For satan claimed: ‘But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”‘ – Gen 3:4

    The question of proverbial wisdom is appropriately about the source:

    • Is it from God?
    • Is this Truth?
    • Or has Satan twisted fact into lies that may seem like truth?

    Proverbs include warnings of the cunning

    Solomon reminds us here of God as the source of truth.

    Proverbs 2:

    6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
        from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
    7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
        he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
    8 guarding the paths of justice
        and watching over the way of his saints.

    …

    11 discretion will watch over you,
        understanding will guard you,
    12 delivering you from the way of evil,
        from men of perverted speech,
    13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
        to walk in the ways of darkness,
    14 who rejoice in doing evil
        and delight in the perverseness of evil,
    15 men whose paths are crooked,
        and who are devious in their ways.

    Why the warning against those cunning men and women who plan evil?

    I can think of several examples of those who sought to trap or use righteous men to achieve their goals. Among these are Ahab, king of Samaria making a pact with Jehoshaphat of Judah. 2 Chronicles 18 has a complex and cunning plot of two leaders described as doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 1 Kings 21 describes a plot of Jezebel, evil wife of evil King Ahab, cunningly taking the land of another man by a carefully laid out plan of deceit. Their purpose to rule puts them against God’s greatest Prophet of the Old Testament, Elijah.

    Another example of cunning appears in the early days of the New Testament church, one of another powerful leader of sorts, one of whom his disciples said, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.”

    More about his choice when confronted by the power of the Holy Spirit in our next word to the cunning.

    To be continued…

     

     

  • A Word to the Cunning

    A Word to the Wise

    We would typically think of the Proverbs of Solomon, or perhaps anyone else as being a ‘word to the wise.’ Although my introductory focus looks to the early thoughtful expressions of this oft’ quoted book, I direct your attention to those leaders of this day who seemingly ignore these time-tested nuggets of wisdom, candidates of cunning, men and women of questionable wisdom and little affinity for the guidance of God.

    Solomon was handed everything a leader could ask for from God or his own father, the conquering King David of Israel in this case. Solomon’s wisdom was sought out by other leaders during his reign in about 970–931 BC. We read his Proverbs and ought to heed his advice of Ecclesiastes written in his old age near to the time when Israel fell into division and ruin after the time of his death.

    Proverbs 1:

    The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

    2 To know wisdom and instruction,
        to understand words of insight,
    3 to receive instruction in wise dealing…

    A word to the wise:

    Note the description of words lacking in this 21st c. AD environment of political upheaval and note that Solomon’s own country would experience a division of purpose led by those who repeatedly would do ‘what is evil in the sight of the LORD.’

    …   in righteousness, justice, and equity;
    4 to give prudence to the simple…

    Wisdom eludes the unrighteous, prudence is hidden from the cunning.

    Roger Harned

    Justice and equity become perverted in the eyes of evildoers.

    Roger Harned

    Let the reader understand the proverbs of my own understanding, as instructed in the Lord from the wisdom of the Bible. Although Solomon’s Proverbs are directed toward “.. knowledge and discretion to the youth—” understanding is reward to those seeking the Lord’s will at any age.

    5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
        and the one who understands obtain guidance,
    6 to understand a proverb and a saying,
        the words of the wise and their riddles.

    7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
    fools despise wisdom and instruction.

    Proverbs 1 – excerpts

    22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
    How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
        and fools hate knowledge?

    24 Because I have called and you refused to listen,
        have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
    25 because you have ignored all my counsel
        and would have none of my reproof,
    26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
        I will mock when terror strikes you,
    27 when terror strikes you like a storm
        and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
        when distress and anguish come upon you.
    28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
        they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
    29 Because they hated knowledge
        and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
    30 would have none of my counsel
        and despised all my reproof…

    Where is God?

    The fools ask too late; for we did not listen to the wisdom of the LORD when we walked in our own paths. We did not lead the people to worship the Lord with gratitude for our freedom nor did we acknowledge our blessings. We turned from the Lord and from righteousness, led astray by cunning leaders. Fools have followed fools and ignored the wisdom of the godly.

    When calamity falls upon us and we finally ask God ‘Why did this happen?’ will the silence of the Lord not be appropriate to a people with ears that will not hear the wisdom of the Lord?

    Are you open to receiving the wisdom of the Lord or do you rely on your own cunning?

    To be continued…

  • Interrupting Jesus 10 – a child of God

    Interrupting Jesus 10 – a child of God

    Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. – Proverbs 20:11 KJV

    The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Proverbs 23:24 KJV

    Before we look at the role of children and a rather well-known interruption of Jesus, I would like for us to briefly consider the role of Jesus as Son of God.

    GOD, the LORD Jehovah, is Creator of all men, Father of all mankind and Ruler of all creation.

    I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. – Isaiah 43:15 KJV

    In a sense we are all sons and daughters of God; yet Jesus IS God Incarnate, a begotten Son of God the Father by a woman born to man.

    It hadn’t been so many years since Jesus as a young man had became known to the rulers of the Temple.

    Luke 2:40-52 English Standard Version (ESV)

    40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

    Just a couple of quick questions for you as a 21st century parent:

    • Do you spend time in the Bible with your children so that they will become strong in the Lord and filled with wisdom?
    • Do you regularly observe the teaching traditions of the church with your children?

    The Boy Jesus in the Temple

    41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it…

    Joseph and Mary trained up Jesus in the way He should go, that when the time came for a young man to seek the favor of God that their young adult would obey the Lord.

    46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers…

    52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

    The leaders would be older men with years of understanding from scripture and from life. Jesus is now just thirty years old, a relatively young teacher at the beginning of His ministry, who though not married is of age most other men have sons of their own. This iterate Rabbi is not the stately grandfather who sits in the Temple or Synagogues only to share their wisdom of age.

    The Apostle John tells a story of how Jesus uses the faith of a young boy to bring many to faith.

    Jesus is teaching the crowds. The Apostles are serving Him and ministering to the crowds. It has been centuries since the Kingdom of Israel. It has been centuries since the miracles of the Prophets.

    Which generation will see the restoration of the Kingdom, the people ask? Which generation after all these will see the coming of the Christ?

    The people followed Jesus to hear the Lord teach and to witness His righteousness and power and healing.

    John 6:

    3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples…  5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

    Imagine that your son comes to you and says, “I want to go with the neighbors who are going to see Jesus of Nazareth teach on the mountainside.”

    “Just a moment young man,” says the good Jewish mother. “Not without some food and water you don’t.” And the mom packs her son a lunch and sends him out with it and skin of cold water from their well for the long day ahead.

    “Now off with you” the mother encourages her son, “and be back by dark.”

    Returning to John’s Gospel:

    8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 

    Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.

    It is no small role this young man who wanted to see Jesus played in the faith of the five thousand.

    Another interruption: a father coming to Jesus for the sake of his young son:

    Luke 9:

    38 And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child…

    How many parents would willingly press through the crowds surrounding this Jesus Christ, a superstar descended from the mountain, just to have an uncontrollable child healed?

    “…  Bring your son here.” 42 While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God.

    How every loving parent would love to have the Lord give your suffering child back to you. Jesus is not here only to feed the five thousand on the mountaintop. Jesus is present for even a child in need. Jesus IS here even for you.

    Jesus’ Disciples often thought of Him as a leader of men, here only to restore Israel and heal the faithful. How often we are wrong about the Messiah.

    Mark 10:

    13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

    15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

    16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

    First century families and the religious establishment often thought the teaching of Rabbis was important only to men, especially men of learning; certainly not to women (let her husband instruct her) or to children (who were only to obey without understanding).

    Jesus most often used the relationship of God as Father, a loving Father; therefore our Lord showed children the kindness of a loving Father in Heaven.

    Is it not important for us to lead our children by the example of our compassion?

    Jesus welcomed children to hear scripture, to receive healing, even to receive life. Children have so much value for a time that will last beyond a generation of our own.

    Christ Jesus welcomes woman and men to God’s Kingdom with joy. He teaches us to have a simple faith. Let Jesus be your Lord, as a loving father would be your parent.

    Men now relegate religion to the attention of the woman of the house ‘for the instruction of the children.’ Christianity is for children and moms, not working dads who know better than to bow down before anyone (let alone God). How sad for our broken homes that we would send children to Jesus and not hear the very Word of God for ourselves.

    We are a hard-hearted and sinful generation in a way more lost than those to whom Jesus first came on the mountainsides of Galilee and in the hills of Jerusalem.

    • When was the last time you interrupted GOD with a childlike praise?
    • When will your week finally conclude with your reverent worship of our loving Father?
    • When will we humbly bow down to GOD our Father and have the pure joy of Jesus as our Lord?

    How long, O man, will you count your days as if they are your own?

    Mark 10:24

    And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!