Bible Study for Today

How can we study and apply some of the Proverbs if we don’t understand them?

More often than not, those Proverbs that at first seem unclear or contradictory turn out, instead, to be elusive and deep. Proverbs sometimes do state obvious truths. Their meaning is crystal clear: “A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him” (17:25). But many proverbs require thoughtful meditation: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD” (16:33) or “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (16:25). The fact that we may have to search the rest of the Scripture or work at thinking ought to make Proverbs dearer to us. If God has chosen this unusual approach to help us grow, why would we hesitate to give our full attention to Proverbs?

Given the context that surrounds Proverbs—the rest of God’s Word—a student’s failure to grasp a proverb ought not to lead to the conclusion that there’s something wrong with this book. A better conclusion would be that the student doesn’t know enough yet or hasn’t paid enough attention. A wise person puts an elusive proverb on hold for further understanding rather than rejecting it as useless. God’s further lessons in that person’s life may well cast a new light on parts of the Bible that have been difficult to interpret.

Reading for Today:

Genesis 19:1–20:18Psalm 6:1-5Proverbs 3:1-4Matthew 8:1-17

Notes:

Genesis 19:5 know them carnally.They sought homosexual relations with the visitors. God’s attitude toward this vile behavior became clear when He destroyed the city (vv. 23–29). (See Lev. 18:22, 29; 20:13; Rom. 1:26; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10 where all homosexual behavior is prohibited and condemned by God.)

Genesis 19:24 brimstone…from the LORD out of the heavens.When morning came (v. 23) judgment fell. Any natural explanation about how the Lord used combustible sulfur deposits to destroy that locale falters on this emphatic indication of miraculous judgment. “Brimstone” could refer to any inflammable substance; perhaps a volcanic eruption and an earthquake with a violent electrical storm “overthrew” (v. 25) the area. That area is now believed to be under the south end of the Dead Sea. Burning gases, sulfur, and magma blown into the air all fell to bury the region.

Proverbs 3:3 neck…heart. The virtues of mercy (the Hebrew word for lovingkindness and loyal love) and truth that come from God are to become part of us—outwardly in our behavior for all to see as an adornment of spiritual beauty and inwardly as the subject of our meditation (Deut. 6:4–9). Such inward and outward mercy and truth is evidence of New Covenant salvation (Jer. 31:33, 34).