We have seen that King Solomon taught His 3000 proverbs out of the Mosaic Law because that was the way he knew and understood God.  Solomon was taught the Law of Moses by his mother, and he carried that Law in his heart when he became king over Israel.  And that was a good thing for the period of time He lived in.  While he did not have the indwelling Holy Spirit, nor did he live under grace like Christians do today, God poured His anointing upon Solomon when he first became king, making him the wisest and richest king on earth.  This tells me that King Solomon, at that particular time in his life, had a faith in God that exceeded the majority of Jewish believers in the Mosaic Law.  As such, Solomon could extract the true meaning of the Law that God gave to Moses five hundred years earlier to meet the needs and understanding of the people of his day.

We have learned through scripture that the Law was given even to us Christians today as a teacher or tutor (Gal 3:24) to know right from wrong.  But, we do not have to live under nor are we judged by the Law as the Jews of the Old Covenant were.  That does not negate the Book of Proverbs to us today.  You see, what we have learn in Proverbs are still God's truths that will endure forever.  They are our teacher to help us distinguish right from wrong in the eyes of God.

We have seen a definite difference between the Law of the Jews and grace that we as Christians live under today.   

• I taught earlier that as believers in Christ, we live under grace through our faith in Christ because Jesus died on the cross, shedding His blood for our sins so we could be set free from the penalty of the Law, with all its curses.  As such, we will not be judged and condemned by God out of the Law as the Old Covenant Jews will be judged.  As Christians, we will be judged according to our faith and trust in Jesus as the Christ - God's Son.  Our judgment will not bring punishment but rewards on how we served Christ while living in the flesh.  Our eternity then will be residing with Christ forever.  
• Right now, at this very moment, the souls/spirits of the Jews who lived and died under the Law are peacefully resting in Abraham's bosom, which is a separate compartment in hades (or hell) according to Luke 16.  They are awaiting and looking toward the promises given to them through the prophets, which is the resurrection of the body into an afterlife, taking possession of their land with all of its blessings.  In their promised land they, in their resurrected bodies will serve God under their long-awaited Messiah (Jesus), according to the Law.  
• Christians, as believers in Jesus, having faith and trust in Christ, will also experience a resurrection; however, it will differ from that of the Jews.  When believers in Christ die and leave this body upon death, if it comes before the Rapture of the Church, their spirit/souls will go into Paradise in heaven according to 2 Cor 12:2-4, not Abraham's bosom in hell like that of the Jews (Luke 16).  There in Paradise in heaven the believers in Christ will rest in joy and peace awaiting their bodily resurrection when Christ comes to rapture the Church. 
  
  
  • At the Rapture of the Church, Christ will come in the clouds (not the earth) to gather all of His body together according to 1 Thess. 4:16.  The bodies of His believers who had died previously will arise to join their spirit/souls that were residing in Paradise so they can receive their resurrected bodies. As such, their spirit/souls will be joined with their new glorified bodies.
  • Those who are alive at the time of the Rapture of the Christ will be caught up in the air to receive their resurrected bodies as well.  Then Christ will escort His whole Body of all His resurrected saints into the Holy City in heaven to their new home (John 14), and there they will reside for the next seven years.  During that time, all of the Body of Christ in heaven will stand before Christ at the Judgment Seat of Christ.  Then toward the end of the seven year period in heaven, they will celebrate the Marriage Feast of the Lamb where Jesus will present His Body to God and as His Bride, followed by the celebration of our marriage to Christ with the most awesome feast we will ever experience.  We are now fully experiencing being the Bride of Christ, being the Body of Christ, and we are all one Body in union with Jesus. 
  • At the end of the seven years, Christ will return to earth (Christ's 2nd coming) with His angels, with His Bride (Christians in heaven).  Then in a one-day battle Christ will wipe out all sin and rebellion upon the earth at the Battle of Armegeddon.  
  • It is at this point when the resting spirit/souls of the Jews in Abraham's bosom will be raised to receive their resurrected bodies to live in their promised land with all of its blessings as God promised throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. Then Christ will set up His Kingdom upon the earth where He will rule and reign for 1000 years.
  • Christians, as scripturally promised, as His Bride/Body, will rule and reign with Christ for 1000 years over all of the inhabitants of the earth, which will consist of mostly Jews who have been resurrected to live in their promised land and those mortal beings who survived the Tribulation Period.  

The Kingdom of God has now come together - it is complete, believing Jews and Christians alike.  As Christians, we are so blessed to be the Body of Christ and a part of the Kingdom of God. 

As our teacher or tutor, the Book of Proverbs will continually be Truth and will remain eternally, enduring forever.  So then, let's continue to learn what Proverbs so eloquently teaches us.

Proverbs 14:18  Simpletons are clothed with foolishness, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

• Wise people are prudent people who are accustomed to experiencing the benefits that come from wisdom.  They have learned to love learning and are probably life-long learners.  This kind of thinking, however, is foreign to the simpleton, or the fool, who often scorns those who participate from the benefits that come from being wise.  

¹⁹ Evil people will bow before good people; the wicked will bow at the gates of the godly.

• In a world where Satan has a grip on so many, we see evil of every sort all around us.  Often we have wondered how did things get so bad, and will evil ever end?  How important is for us to remember that God knows everything that is going on.  He will only allow evil to reign for just so long before He intervenes.  While the Lord watches over and takes care of His own, God will, at the right time, bring evil down, whether it is in individuals, a nation, or even throughout the world.  That has and will continue until Christ comes back to earth.  Ultimately, when He does, every knee will humbly bow before Jesus calling Him Lord, and Jesus will then rule with a rod of iron (Phil 2: 10-11), with His saints at His side. 

²⁰ The poor are despised even by their neighbors, while the rich have many “friends.”

• It has always appeared that the rich have lots of "so-called" friends. Most of those friends, however are only impressed with the wealth or prestige of those they claim as their friends.  As such, they are insincere in their friendship.  Take the money or their prestige away, then most of their friends will disappear.  
• While the poor don't have as many friends as the rich, the ones they do have will generally be true friends because money has nothing to do with the friendship.  

²¹ It is a sin to belittle one’s neighbor; blessed are those who help the poor.

• God has commanded His people to love their neighbors (Matt 22:39) as themselves.  To despise our neighbor then is a sin.  God hates sin, so God hates when we harm our neighbors in any way.  
• God also tells us that we get blessed when we help the poor.  The generous and merciful heart towards the poor pleases the Lord, and as such, God blesses them. 

²² If you plan to do evil, you will be lost; if you plan to do good, you will receive unfailing love and faithfulness.

• God looks at and judges a person by the heart, and those who plan evil in their heart, sins against God and against  the ones they plan on doing evil to (Matt 5:21-32).  Since evil breeds evil, that person will continue in their evil which leads to destruction and death.
• For those who devise good in their heart, God knows, God protects, and God blesses.  

²³ Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty!

As a principle, hard work is always rewarded.  Those who do idle chatter don't have time to work because they are so busy chattering away about themselves or others.  That then leads to poverty.   Another proverb says if you don't work you don't eat.  Therefore, we need to work. 

²⁴ Wealth is a crown for the wise; the effort of fools yields only foolishness.

• Wisdom is demonstrated through hard work - focused, determined, and persistency will bring a wise person to get wealth.  Wealth then is a crown for the wise.

• For those who reject wisdom, the only crown they will wear is one that advertises they are a fool, which will be demonstrated by their foolish actions.  

 ²⁵ A truthful witness saves lives, but a false witness is a traitor.

• Again, a witness is someone who gives witness to the truth, like a reporter, representing the person or situation for whom or what they are witnessing on behalf.  Truth brings light, blessings, and freedom -
• Whereas a false witness is one who lies and gives a false report, and fails to do the right thing for the one, or the situation with whom or what they are lying about.  Where lies and false reports dominate, souls will be in darkness and bondge. 

²⁶ Those who fear the Lord are secure; he will be a refuge for their children.  ²⁷ Fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain; it offers escape from the snares of death

• Again, those who respect, honor, and give reverence to the Lord are the ones who fear Him with a healthy fear - for fear of the Lord is not to be afraid of what God can do to you, for He loves His children.  The only ones who have just cause to be afraid of what the Lord can do to them are unbelievers as they face their eternal judgment if they don't repent of their sins and come to know Jesus, God's Son. 
• So then, those who fear the Lord are confident, unafraid, and look forward to all that God has in store for His children - here on earth and in heaven.  While the unbeliever lives on this earth trying to do life on his own, but really is under the control of Satan, he then, in addition, faces an eternal judgment of punishment in the eternal Lake of Fire.  The believer knows that the Lord takes care of him in all situations, while he looks forward to spending an blessed eternity with Christ  forever.  As such, our life here on earth is hidden in Christ as a refuge, and on top of that, we look forward to our heavenly home, which is our eternal place of refuge.  

²⁸ A growing population is a king’s glory; a prince without subjects has nothing.

• A king's glory is having a large kingdom to rule over.  A king will focus on the strength of his kingdom.  The greater the kingdom, the greater the king's honor and glory.  
  
  
  • I can't help but think of King Solomon.  He wrote this verse as a king who had a growing population of a kingdom.  We also know that as he obtained all these foreign pagans as wives, his kingdom began to fall.  He lost respect of the people and he ended up a miserable old man who did not have much of a kingship to pass on down to his son Rehoboam.  Almost immediately after becoming king, the kingdom of Israel fell.  The twelve tribes of Israel split and Rehoboam ended up with only two tribes and the captain of his guard, who became is rival - Jeroboam -  fought against him and came out with ten tribes to rule over.  Thus, the Kingdom of Israel split in two - the two tribes of Judah in the south and the ten tribes of Israel in the north.  Israel, as it once was never came back to its glory.

Praise God, for when Christ comes back to earth at His second coming, Israel will retain its full glory spreading all the way over to the Euphrates River at one end and covering all the territory that was promised to Abraham and his heirs.

²⁹ People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.

• There is wisdom in the ability to control one’s temper.  In Godly wisdom, one has learned to trust in the Lord and let Him guide their way in life.
• The one, however, who is impulsively reactive and quick to anger shows great foolishness having many regrets. 

³⁰ A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.

• If "heart" here is meant as the physical organ that beats in the chest, any medical doctor would agree that a peaceful heart leads to a healthy body.  The medical field will also say that most diseases are stress induced.  Stress comes in all different forms, of which we live in and out of stress all day long.  It's when we add undue stress to ourselves, it eat away at our bodies, causing sickness and disease.  I once read somewhere that 85% of all cancer comes out of stress. 
• In this passage, however, I believe Solomon was speaking of the spiritual heart as being our innermost being and how we must have a healthy heart.  When we are walking in the ways of the Lord, filled with His knowledge and wisdom of God, it brings health and life to the whole body.  But when we find ourselves going back to fleshly thinking, adverse things begin to take place in our body.  Here Solomon used envy, jealousy and resentment as one of those adverse things that affect us not only physically, but spiritually as well. It eats away at our body just like cancer eats away at the physical body.  It corrupts and poisons our body in more ways than we would even want to think of. 

³¹ Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but helping the poor honors Him.

• God considers it a sin to oppress the poor.  Remember, anything that goes contrary to the will of God, God considers it wicked and evil, and it is a sin.  Therefore, to oppress the poor is an abomination to God as well as a sin against the poor.  When you are in a position of helping someone and you refuse, you are oppressing them in their time of need.  You have no idea by what help you could give to someone, or lack of help, could make a difference in their life - some to life and sadly, some to death.  Not helping the poor really does upset the Lord; but by us helping the poor then honors the Him.

³² The wicked are crushed by disaster, but the godly have a refuge when they die.

• Upon death, the wicked and the godly have two different kinds of future.  The wicked have no hope in their afterlife; whereas, the godly people have a hope in their death by spending their eternal future with God.  This is a promise given throughout the Old Testament for the Jews who believe in God who follow the Mosaic Law. 
• For believers in Jesus Christ under the New Covenant, spending eternity with Jesus is a promise from Scripture.  In that, heaven becomes a wonderful place of refuge promised to believers.   

³³ Wisdom is enshrined in an understanding heart; wisdom is not found among fools.

• Again, to gain wisdom - Godly wisdom, first comes knowledge, then understanding.  Then applied knowledge brings forth wisdom - God's wisdom.  When one applies knowledge and understanding down deep in their heart, wisdom lives within the heart of that person and others will recognize and respect that wisdom. 
• Fools, on the other hand, lack wisdom because they have not taken the time and energy, as well as desire to apply themselves to gaining wisdom. 

³⁴ Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

• When godly leaders run a nation, a nation prospers, and will be blessed, following in the ways of the Lord.  A Godly nation is a strong nation, and a leading nation in the world.  God's ways will affect every area of society, including government, politics, military, economics, culture, religion, and the sociology of the people.  To have a Godly nation, we need to keep praying for those in authority over us.  2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us that if God's people humble themselves and pray, God will heal their land.  
• Sin, however, is a reproach or disgrace to a nation as well as the people.  When the people reject God's righteousness, choosing sin, a nation will fall in all areas of their society.  As a result, all the people will suffer.    

³⁵ A king rejoices in wise servants but is angry with those who disgrace him.

• It has been noted all along that those who walk in Godly wisdom have the favor of God working on their behalf.  Even in the natural - from the human perspective, a wise person stands out in a crowd and will have favor from those in high places who carry power and prestige, as in this case - the king.  That kind of favor can bring many rewards.
• A king has a huge responsibility toward those in his kingdom and thus needs the respect of the people.  To be surrounded by anyone who would disgrace Him in any way would cause great angers with the king.  As such, a king, or anyone in high places should aways have wise people who give them the proper respect and loyalty surrounding them.    

Let's look at this verse from a spiritual perspective:

• Jesus, as part of the Godhead, sits on the throne of God in heaven and intercedes for us His Body here on earth.  He desires our respect and loyalty.  Shouldn't Jesus as our King of all kings and Lord of all lords have wise servants surrounding Him? 
• The last thing I know we would ever want to do is disgrace Jesus in any way to others by our words and actions.  We are His servants and He is expecting us to be wise servants.  As such, we are to lift Him up for He is really is - given the respect and loyalty He deserves.

There we have it for today.

Pastor Joyce Erickson
Believersbibleschool.com