Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool. [Proverbs 19:1] Integrity is the quality of holding together under pressure, in all circumstances, as a whole. A building’s integrity lies in its ability to stay upright and undeformed through wind and storm and…
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. [Proverbs 18:24] In a world so rough and fractured as this we poor sons of Adam create, it is easy to despair of finding true relationship, to despise all search for it, to expect treachery…
The poor use entreaties, but the rich answer roughly. [Proverbs 18:23] Above all else, men desire to be rulers of themselves. This statement holds for the righteous and the wicked- except that these two understand rulership in very different ways. The righteous man would rule himself in stewardship, honoring and following God with all at…
He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. [Proverbs 18:22] The two great passions of mankind are marriage and death. In ‘marriage’ is gathered not merely itself but family, sex, and all relationship with our fellow man, all authority and cooperation, the smallest thing which society is…
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. [Proverbs 18:21] James 2 is the standard passage for pressing home the power and danger of the tongue, but God didn’t wait till the New Testament’s latter half to give us that knowledge. In the Garden,…
From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips. [Proverbs 18:20] Modernity is the domain of the expert. In the eyes of many, white lab coats ought to rule the world, deciding policy in government and running the church and regulating precisely how…
A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle. [Proverbs 18:19] Strong relationships hold strong, and when they break, they break like a thigh bone forced into a Z-shape: badly, brutally, and apparently irreparably. Few relationships are as strong, at their base and in their…
The lot puts an end to quarrels and decides between powerful contenders. [Proverbs 18:8] People are a study in contradiction. On the one hand, we tend to want control, to decide what happens to us and to everybody else. On the other hand, we hate responsibility, in our fallen state; we strongly dislike the realization that…
The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him. [Proverbs 18:17 ESV] Getting both sides of the story is an absolutely essential part of argument and judgement; it’s also something we are heavily inclined to not do. We get a first impression, and we stick with it, for…
A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great. [Proverbs 18:16 ESV] One principle of reading Proverbs is recognizing that recognition is not endorsement. The way things are is often not the way they should be. Proverbs deals with reality; Proverbs teaches us to deal with reality. Reality includes, thanks…