Book of Proverbs

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 changes the subject entirely over chapter 5 as we continue to see nuggets of truth which we can take with us for a lifetime of wisdom.

King Solomon goes into the subject of finances and how you handle the situation if you have gotten yourself into being a surety for someone else.  For us today, we could say, we are dealing with co-signing a loan or borrowing money to someone with a promise of it being returned.

Proverbs 6:1  My son, if you become surety for your friend, If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, ² You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth. ³ So do this, my son, and deliver yourself;  For you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; Plead with your friend. ⁴ Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids. ⁵ Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,  and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Shaken hands in a pledge would be the same as co-signing a loan today.   Shaking hands in a pledge was a common practice that was done back in King Solomon's time, carrying the meaning that the agreement was binding.  So then you may ask, why does God frown upon helping someone out in a time of need? 

• Today, when someone co-signs for a loan, most people look at it as more of a formality in order for a party to get a loan.  Legally, however, co-signing a loan means you are responsible for that loan should the loan go into default.  When or if default comes about, the lending company will go after you for the balance of the loan.  That is where the danger comes into play. 
• If someone borrowed money to someone and that someone did not pay back the money, you again are the one who has lost the money.

Should any of the above ever happen, trust has been violated, and it causes a breach in the relationship between the lender or the co-signer and the borrower.      

• God is saying here - "Get out of it as fast as you can."  Waste no time - go to the person and say you want out of that responsibility.  Plead with them if necessary.  It's a trap that will ensnare you.
• In doing so, you may risk damaging the relationship between the two of you; however, if you don't, you run a greater risk should the load go into default.

Trust is an important factor in any relationship.  Believing one will honor the agreement when lending someone money or co-signing a loan isn't honored, it places a real risk on any friendship or relationship.  It is a dangerous combination.  Many friendships and relationhips have been severed between the lender or co-signer and the borrower when the lender or the co-signer has been "stuck" for the balance of the money due.  That trust is broken and then forgiveness becomes a factor in the heart of the one stuck for the balance due.  It would have been far better to have refused to borrow or co-sign in the first place than to have friendships severed over money.

Many years ago I co-signed a loan for a close friend.  Already knowing what the Bible says about co-signing and also knowing the person requesting me to co-sign was in a real need, I felt a real tug as to what to do.  So, I went to prayer.  I knew by the Lord I needed to help that person, so then I then had to make a decision.  I chose to co-sign the loan, but in my heart I made the decision that this money for the loan was a gift.  I also chose to have that decision between me and the Lord, and the borrower never knew anything about it.  If that person paid the loan, great.  If this person faulted on the loan, that too was okay because I had already made the decision that it was a gift.  There would be no need for anger or unforgiveness because in my heart that money was a gift.  That way, if there was any defaulting, which did not happen, it would not have caused any breach between our relationship.  I certainly did not want to put our friendship in any position that could cause a non-trust or unforgiveness factor.

Unless you decide that helping a person out by co-signing will be a gift, having no regrets if it doesn't get paid, don't do it.  God's Word is true - co-signing, expecting the person to pay the loan can be a set-up for a breach in trust, risking unforgiveness toward that person, and a breach in the friendship.  This is God's Word to us for our protection!

The Ant

King Solomon now begins an entirely different topic.  We don't know who his audience was at this time; however, he begins by calling his audience a sluggard.

Proverbs 6:6-11  Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, ⁷ Which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, ⁸ Provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. ⁹ How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep?¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep— ¹¹ So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.

Solomon was speaking pretty harshly at this point regarding a lazy person - about the value of hard work and how he should learn from the ant - the most laborious of all insects.   

• The ant has no leader or ruler, able to work on its own with no one to direct it.
• The ant never has to be told to work because the ant is always looking for work.  By instinct it plans ahead in the summer to collect the harvest that is needed for the winter.
• Hard work is instinctive within the ant.  That is how God created it to be.
• King Solomon was pointing out here that his son, or any Jewish young man has the inherited ability to work as a means of taking care of himself as well.  
• God created mankind to be industrious, self supporting, not needing to be pushed to go out and work.  That however, may not be the case for a young rebellious young man back in Solomon's day as well as a rebellious teen even today.

"How long will you sleep," King Solomon asks?  It seems to me that this could be a statement a parent would say today to their rebellious teen-age child to prod him or her in getting up in the morning.  Or maybe, it would be added by, "go out and get a job," or "how do you expect to pay for what you want if you don't go out and get a job?"

We all know that the difference between success and failure, between potential disappointment or fulfillment is often hard work.  So then, how do we instill the importance of hard work into our children?  Obviously, it is not by calling them a sluggard, accusing them of being lazy.  Once rebellion comes to a child, it will generally take the child having to suffer some consequence before he or she changes his or her ways.  The important thing is to reach a child BEFORE the days of rebellion in a loving and teachable way, praying that what you are teaching them is being instilled within him or her.  If, however, you do have a rebellious child, never underestimate the power of prayer - continuous prayer - allowing the child to suffer the consequences of his or her action, loving them through it, and then giving them over to the Lord for Him to take care of the child.  After all, God sees their situation, knows his or her future, and does know what is best for the child.

Seven Things the Lord Hates

We are now going to look at seven things that the Lord hates.  These are familiar things that God calls, in His eyes, wicked, but we as Christians think these actions only pertained to  wicked pagan unbelievers in the Old Testament.  Upon closer examination, however, we can see that this refers to anyone, Christian or unbeliever, and we are all guilty of doing these things that God hates.  So why do we as Christians think we don't fit into this category, thinking our actions are different - excuseable, and would not be classified as wicked, and certainly God would not called His own people wicked. 

Proverbs 6:12  A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth;  13 he winks with his eyes, he shuffles his feet, he points with his fingers;  14  perversity is in his heart, he devises evil continually;  15 therefore, his calamity shall come suddenly; suddenly he shall be broken without remedy. 

King Solomon was either speaking to his son or speaking from his throne to his own people - the Israelites, who were part of the family of God, giving them the wisdom of God on how to behave.  These people were God's people who followed the Mosaic Law, and were part of the covenant of God.  The question is then, would God call His own people worthless and wicked?  Well, yes, we see throughout the Old Testament that whenever God's people violated the Law of Moses, He called them wicked and an abomination.

This shows us that everyone, because of the sin nature in man, regardless of whether they are of the family of God or follow after Satan can do worthless, wicked things that God hates, and their heart and behavior will eventually bring on their own calamity.  If they do not repent, they will come to their own ruin. 

All this to say is - we are all vulnerable to the ploys of the enemy.  It begins in the heart and is carried out in the fruit of our actions.  None of us are obedient to all of God's law, no matter if we are under the Old or New Covenant.

We never judge the person, but we do judge the fruit of people's lives

Let's now examine these seven things that God hates and see how we as Christians are not so innocent here.  We already know that unbelievers act in this kind of behavior, but remember, this Scripture is written to God's people.  So then, this is a good time for you and I, as believers in Christ Jesus, to also examine our own heart and behavior because we are not without fault here.

1. Pride

2.  A Lying Tongue

• You can turn and walk away or change the subject.
• You can say "that is gossip, and that needs to stop."
• You can respond by saying "Does ____________ know you are talking about them in this way?  Do you have their permission to say this?
• Why don't we go together and talk to ___________________ to verify that what you are saying is the truth?   

3.  Hands That Shed Innocent Blood

3.  Hands that shed innocent blood:  Our minds automatically go to the thought of someone intentionally going out and killing someone.  But this abomination is far more than 1st degree murder.   God says, "hands that shed innocent blood."  That would mean any sort of killing of anyone who is innocent is an abomination to God. 

The only exception here I can see scripturally is in the killing of the enemy during war.  God often had and still has His people go to war with the enemy and bloodshed is shed.

Some things that Christians may not have thought of is abortion - the killing of vulnerable innocent unborn children.  While abortion may be legal in some states, and even some churches accepts it as a part of life, it is still murder of an innocent child, and it is murder in the eyes of God. 

What I say to you is if you have had an abortion, confess it to God as a sin and allow Him to forgive you, and then forgive yourself.  Remember, Jesus shed His blood for your sins and wants you to be free of those sins.  In the eyes of God, all sin needs to be repented of, and as you confess with your heart, He forgives that sin.  Then, as Jesus said so many times to those He ministered to - "go and sin no more!"

If you have been in or are involved in the medical field where abortions are performed (hospital, clinics, or otherwise) you too are involved in the killing of innocent blood.  Again, repent, confess it as sin, get out of that part of the medical field and seek to bring health and wholeness to those you treat instead of killing the innocent.

Recently, with the spread of COVID and vaccines, certain medical procedures have killed thousands upon thousands of innocent lives - infants to adults.  Again, check your heart.  If God convicts you of sin, repent, confess it as sin, stop it, and instead seek to bring health and healing to those who suffer.  Remember, you took an oath to heal the sick.  Also, never forget that Jesus died for your sins o you can live in His freedom as you travel through life.

4.  A Heart That Devises Wicked Plans

4.  A heart that devises wicked plans:  Again, here is one that most Christians will say "I do not devise wicked plans in my heart."  Think again!  How many times has someone hurt you, and in the middle of the night you are dwelling on that hurt, and in your mind you are planning how you are going to get even?  Granted, you generally do not follow through with those plans, but your heart was actively involved with devising wicked plans during the night, and God considers it an abomination. What you did was allow your flesh to try to get even by devising plans against someone who hurt you, never intending to follow through, but if you allowed those thoughts to continue, you could end up pursing that kind of damage.

Proverbs 4:23  NLT  Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

5.  Feet That Are Swift in Running to Evil

• For someone caught up in drugs, it could be looking for a dealer. 
• For someone caught up in promiscuity, seeking to have sex with someone outside of marriage.
• Or even seeking out to eat that extra piece of pecan pie, knowing that it was bad for our health, therefore, getting into gluttony. 

Do you get it?  While we may look at sin in varying degrees, and having that second piece of pie was just a little sin, except God still looks at sin as sin. There are no degrees of sin in the eyes of God.  Sin is sin!  

Repentance is a wonderful gift God has given us.  Living a life of repentance is an awesome way to live.  Everytime we sin, we confess it as sin, knowing God forgives us, but also purposing not to do this sin again.  While we may fail, Jesus is always there ready to receive our repentance again because He love us and wants the best for us.

6. A False Witness Who Speaks Lies

6.  A false witness who speaks lies:  According to Freedictionary.com, a false witness is a person who deliberately gives false testimony - a perjurer liar, prevaricator - a person who has lied or who lies repeatedly.

So then, a false witness is someone who has more than lied on the witness stand.  A false witness can also be someone who keeps lying over and over again.  It could be the same lie that is being told, just done repeatedly, or one who continuously lies about many things, for whatever reason.  Either way, God considers a false witness who speaks lies an abomination - and it is a sin against the one being lied about, sin against oneselves, and a sin against God.

Again, repentance is the antidote for this sin, knowing Jesus is ready to forgive us as long as our heart truly means to repent.

7.  One Who Sows Discord Among the Brethren

7.  One who sows discord among brethren:  Human beings never change - whether they belong to the family of God or out there in the world under the guise of Satan.  Sowing discord among those around us is an area where many believers fall short.  The world is continuously against one another; however, God commands the Church to get along, lift one another up, and not to sow discord among each other.

The Bible here is specifically talking about established sin in one's life, not a doctrinal disagreement, and the Word gives us instruction on how to handle this kind of discord in the Church.  In Matthew 18, Jesus tells us to 1) go to the person where there is any disagreement to try to work through whatever the issue is.  The purpose is for repentance of that one who sinned and for unity to be restored back into the church. 

If going to that person who sinned against you didn't happen,  then 2) go to the church to talk to the pastor/leaders to help this person who sinned to recognize that sin by the agreement of two or three witnesses as support.  If that does not happen, then, for the sake of the unity of the church, separation needs to happen so that the church does not get involved in that sin.  Often, it is best that the one who sinned quietly leave the church.

“Matt 18:15 NIV  "If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

To correctly understand these scriptures, it needs to be noted that we live in a day where many denominations and beliefs are accepted within the Church at large; however, they all disagree with one another in various doctrines.  That is why we have so many different denominations, and the discord keep getting larger the more people disagree.  Discord over Bible or church doctrine is not what this scripture is referring to, but since this can cause great discord within a church, we do need to talk about it.   

When there are people within the church who disagree with the leadership of the church over church or Bible doctrine, it can be very divisive for the whole congregation.  Since it is important to keep unity within the church, if you find yourself in a position of differing from the leadership of the church, and you believe in your heart that what you believe is the Word of God, the best thing to do is quietly leave and then find a church that supports your belief system of what you believe the Word of God is saying.  Church splits have happened when members of the church differ with the leadership of the church, bringing on gossip and lies, and it divides a church and sometimes even brings the church to total ruin.  God hates a divided church.

In our journey of faith, there may be times when we find ourselves in a position where the church we have attended no longer fulfills our spiritual needs or we discover scriptural error within the church.  Instead of trying to change the church leadership, causing division within the church, this is where prayer becomes so important, as we need to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit as to what to do.  If you have it in your heart that God is moving you on, seek God for His direction, seeking Him for the right church He has designed for you to be in.  Leaving the church needs to be done quietly and reverently, respecting one another as we continue our journey of faith.  God has a place for all believers because He instructs us to not forsake the assembling together as believers.

Hebrews 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

The church needs to be a place where we can grow in our faith, edify one another, holding each other up in times of trouble, bearing one another's burdens, encouraging one another, or just be there as a support to others.

I Cor 1:10-13  ESV  I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

The church plays a vital role in the advancement of the Gospel to the world.  The church plays a vital part of our own personal growth in our relationship with Christ.  We need the church and it needs to be united.  When the church is divided, this takes away from unity and the world sees the church as no different than the world.  This is something that none of us want. 

We can rejoice that the gift of repentance belongs to all of us believers in Jesus Christ, because none of us have to live in our sin, but be forgiven and walk in the freedom of being whom God has called each one of us to be.   If you have found yourself in any of these sins, I emplore you to repent so you can be forgiven so you can move on to walk in the freedom that Jesus has for you.

Proverbs 6:20-29   My son, keep your father's command, and do not forsake the law of your mother.  21  Bind them continually upon your heart; tie them around your neck.  2 When you roam, they will lead you; when you sleep, they will keep you; and when you awake, they will speak with you. 

While these words of instruction has been repetitively taught to his son, King Solomon is reminding his son again that his commands, supported by the law of his mother, are for his own good.  So for a parent to continuously remind his child of the responsibility that they carry in life, and in this case, in the preparation of becoming king over Israel one day, it is vital for the growth of a child.  What the child is learning will carry him or her through life wherever he or she would go. 

This reminds me of parents who have diligently taught their children how to grow up to be responsible adults and then at the right time they go off to college.  That child is now on his own, temptations are all around him, and he will encounter situations in life where he would not have to face when living under the roof of his parents.  If what was taught has been taught properly and the child is not a rebellious youth, his parents instructions will carry him through to become that responsible adult like the parents had intended for their child.  Whatever temptation he would encounter, he will know what to do to avoid and overcome whatever that temptation may be.

23 For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

By the time a child leaves the house of his parents, the instructions taught him will have become his thoughts and intentions for life and he would not want to sway away from his way of life.  It's so ingrained in him and these instructions are now part of his way of life, not wanting to sway away from what he knows is best for him.  His parents instructions are now his way of living and always on the forefront of his mind.

This reminds me of the scripture verse in Proverbs 22:6 where it says:

Proverbs 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Many people want to understand that this scripture means that if you train up your child right, and if he sways away as a young adult, he will return back to his roots to live the way he was brought up by his parents.  While that thought does hold some truth, and I certainly agree with it in principle, I believe what King Solomon was saying here is that if you train up your child the right way, he will never depart from his training in the first place - even when he is old.  That training will carry him throughout life.

Unfortunately, the young, even though he or she has had godly training, temptations are still ever before the child.  Again, we live in an age of grace where coming back to the Lord is there when the child recognizes his sin and so desires to repent and change his ways.

24 To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress.  25 Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids. 

While sexual promiscuity is the most attempting sin for a man, and in today's society for a young gal, or even a woman as well, the hope of parents is that their instructions will help their child overcome these temptations when they come - and guaranteed, they will come! 

But again, the cost of falling to that temptation is very costly.

26 For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread and an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.  27 Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?  28 Can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be sweared?  29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife; whoever touches her shall not be innocent.

Just as the temptation of sexual immorality, whether it is fornication or adultery, or any other sexual immorality, the guarantee of the temptation will most definitely come, and also, the, for sure, guarantee of getting burnt will also come if the child surcumbs to that temptation.  Either way, getting burnt from falling into sexual immorality is guaranteed.

In all these teachings, I have followed Proverbs verse by verse - primarily from the Old Covenant, under the Law perspective.  Let me say this:  King Solomon nor any other Old Testament Jewish believer were not under the New Covenant, having Jesus' shed blood given for their sins.  They strictly lived under the Law, and even though God so desired them to live by faith and trust in God, they did not have the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within to help them overcome the temptations of life.

So, again, let me just point out how blessed we are as believers today under the New Covenant in that we live by grace, God's love and forgiveness and redemption.  We do not live under the Law where judgment is continually facing us.  As believers in Jesus Christ, we have been given the ability to lean on the strength of the indwelling Holy Spirit to help us overcome any temptation that would come our way to pull us into the trap of Satan's devices.  And when or if we fall to Satan's temptations, we have a loving, forgiving Father who wants to forgive us and bring us back into communion with Him and freedom from our sins. 

Let me add here that Christian parents also have responsibility of not only teaching their children good from evil, and how to live their lives responsibly, which teaching them from the Book of Proverbs is wonderful, but parents also have the responsibility of leading their children to Jesus, so that they experience God's love and grace, so they too can learn to lean on that strength of the indwelling Holy Spirit within them to help them overcome any temptations in life that would come their way.  That's God's love poured out for His children.

A Starving Thief

King Solomon gave out over 3000 proverbs to his people while sitting his throne, and over 1000 are listed in this Book of Proverbs.  This next scripture passage seems to be a proverb given to his people from the throne, but then, he could have also taught this to his son. King Solomon makes a comparison between a starving man who steals and one who steals his neighbor's wife in adultery in pointing out the severity of adultery. 

He begins to give the law of what happens to a starving man who gets caught stealing food to feed himself. 

Proverbs 6:30  People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving, 31 yet, when he is found, he must restore sevenfold; he may have to give up all the substance of his house.