Proverb A Day
The Words of Lemuel
01 The words of King Lemuel,
00 the utterance which his mother taught him:
02 What, my son?
00 And what, son of my womb?
00 And what, son of my vows?
03 Do not give your strength to women,
00 Nor your ways to that which destroys kings.
04 It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
00 It is not for kings to drink wine,
00 Nor for princes intoxicating drink;
05 Lest they drink and forget the law,
00 And pervert the justice of all the afflicted.
06 Give strong drink to him who is perishing,
00 And wine to those who are bitter of heart.
07 Let him drink and forget his poverty,
00 And remember his misery no more.
08 Open your mouth for the speechless,
00 In the cause of all who are appointed to die.
09 Open your mouth, judge righteously,
00 And plead the cause of the poor and needy.
The Virtuous Wife
10 Who can find a virtuous wife?
00 For her worth is far above rubies.
11 The heart of her husband safely trusts her;
00 So he will have no lack of gain.12 She does him good and not evil
00 All the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax,
00 And willingly works with her hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
00 She brings her food from afar.
15 She also rises while it is yet night,
00 And provides food for her household,
00 And a portion for her maidservants.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
00 From her profits she plants a vineyard.
17 She girds herself with strength,
00 And strengthens her arms.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is good,
00 And her lamp does not go out by night.
19 She stretches out her hands to the distaff,
00 And her hand holds the spindle.
20 She extends her hand to the poor,
00 Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household,
00 For all her household is clothed with scarlet.
22 She makes tapestry for herself;
00 Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates,
00 When he sits among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
00 And supplies sashes for the merchants.
25 Strength and honor are her clothing;
00 She shall rejoice in time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
00 And on her tongue is the law of kindness.
27 She watches over the ways of her household,
00 And does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;
00 Her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many daughters have done well,
00 But you excel them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
00 But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,
00 And let her own works praise her in the gates.
The purpose of Writing the book of Proverbs was to reveal the mind of God in matters high and lofty and in common, ordinary, everyday situations. Through Solomon, God shared His Wisdom, and He made sure that no topic was left to question. Matters pertaining to personal conduct, sexual relations, business, wealth, charity, ambition, discipline, debt, child-rearing, character, alcohol, politics, revenge, and Godliness are among the many topics covered in this rich collection of wise sayings.
Without wisdom, knowledge is nothing more than an accumulation of raw facts, influenced by emotional feelings. Many highly educated people are in positions of power in the United States, but very few of those educated leaders have the wisdom needed to rule properly.
One can say that they have been educated well beyond their intelligence. A cursory look at the court system will prove my point that knowledge without wisdom will only lead to an immoral society that eventually crumbles from within. Judges are supposed to be above the fray, and immovable to emotions. Instead, the vast majority of judges today are Godless individuals who are vacant of wisdom. So their rulings are totally based upon emotional feelings.
We the people are to blame, because we ignored God’s guidance in appointing our leaders. Instead of appointing God fearing men in positions of power, we chose those who would scratch our itchy ears to lead us. It is incumbent upon us to chose leaders who have faith in Christ, then and only then can we be assured that they will make wise decisions. Paul tells us that Christ is the Wisdom of God, so if you do not have Christ in your heart, it is impossible to make wise decisions. Instead our leaders continue to make decisions based upon man’s wisdom. Yet we know that God uses foolish things to bring man’s wisdom to shame.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God–and righteousness and sanctification and redemption– that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.1Corinthians 1:26-31
Now of the 31 Proverbs, only the first 24 were written by Solomon. King Hezekiah wrote 5, Proverbs 25 to 29, Agur wrote Proverb 30, and Lemuel’s mother wrote Proverb 31. Many scholars believe Lemuel was in fact a nick name Solomon’s Mother, Bathsheba, gave him. If so, then Proverb 31 would have been written by Bathsheba. Solomon wrote over 3000 Proverbs and composed 1000 songs, but the only Proverbs of Solomin that God decided to preserve for us are Proverbs 1-24.
Like the New Testament epistle by James, it is impossible to get a chronological outline for a study since they all bounce from subject to subject, and no one can be sure of the dates. Other than to say that Solomon wrote most of the Proverbs in his younger years, and as he got older his many wives led him into idolatry. He did return in his late years, and that is when he wrote Ecclesiastes.
Along with my daily routine of reading the Bible, I try to read through the book of Proverbs once a Month. It’s an easy task when you consider there are 31 Proverbs. So all you need to know is what day of the Month it is. In the Months that have 30 days, or in the case of February, I just double up by reading more than one proverb so I can begin the next month with Proverb 1 on the first again.
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