Proverbs 24:1-7

INTRODUCTION

Back in 22:20, Solomon writes that he has written “excellent things” to his son. Waltke, following other commentators, suggests that the word for “excellent” is better understood as a number, thirty. Thus, Solomon asks rhetorically, “Have I not written to you thirty sayings?” Those thirty sayings are contained in the following chapters, from 20:20-21 through 24:21-22. Waltke suggests they are arranged in groups of ten, and the first at least roughly follows the Decalogue. 24:1 begins the 20 ^th saying, the last of the second “Decalogue” of the thirty sayings. Fittingly, it ends with a reference to envy, a theme that matches the tenth of the Ten Words.

Chapter 24 also begins with a fragment of an acrostic structure. Verse 1 begins with the Hebrew aleph, verse 2 with bet, and verse 3 with a gimel – the first letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The alphabetical structure doesn’t continue in this chapter, but this introduction suggests that Solomon is delivering the “ABCs” of wisdom to his son.

PROVERBS 24:1-2

The Hebrew word translated as “envy” here is also used in contexts where the word means righteous jealousy, particularly Yahweh’s zeal for the attention and affection of His bride. Phinehas is rewarded with a perpetual priesthood for his “jealousy” for protecting God’s holiness, because he was gripped by the jealousy of Yahweh and became “jealous with My jealousy” (Numbers 25:11-13; cf. Deuteronomy 32:16, 21). Phinehas’s jealousy was righteous zeal that led him to impale a fornicating couple in the holy camp of Yahweh. What Proverbs 24 condemns is not the emotion or power of jealousy as such, but the object of jealousy. Being jealous for God’s honor is good and right, but being zealous to be among the wicked is evil.

Scripture frequently addresses the problem of envy or jealousy of the wicked. God knows that we are often tempted to question His justice and goodness when we see how the world goes. The wicked prosper; they are fat and sassy; they don’t have any troubles; their portfolios keep expanding. What point is there in being righteous when wickedness is such a profitable enterprise (cf. Psalms 37; 73). Proverbs 24:1 recognizes that our desires are inclined to join the wicked because their lives can look attractive. (Note, interestingly, that the Proverb prohibits a particular desire; we are commanded to expel certain desires from our souls.)

One of the Bible’s answer to this is that the prosperity of the wicked doesn’t last forever; they are like grass that will be mown down before they see what’s coming. Proverbs 24:1-2 gives a different answer. We are not to envy the wicked or desire to be associated with them because their lives are displeasing to God. Their hearts are directed to evil and their mouths express what they think in their hearts. We are commanded not to envy the wicked because they will lead us away from the ways of wisdom and righteousness. If we desire them, we will be inclined to imitate them; if we want to associate with them, we will be tempted to conform our ways to their ways, which are ways of destruction and mischief.

A couple of notes on the terminology of verse 2. First, the verb translated as “devise” in the NASB can mean “murmur,” and it is the same word translated elsewhere as “meditate” (Psalm 1:2). Meditation is “murmuring” or “talking” to oneself, and evil men meditate on evil things. Evil men are not just simpletons, who stumble into wickedness; they are not merely fools who don’t fear Yahweh as they should. They do deliberate evil, and before they do evil they’ve spent considerable time musing over, imagining, savoring, meditating on evil.

Second, the word for “violence” can be “destruction” but here more likely has the connotation of oppression, and particularly oppression of the vulnerable and needy (Psalm 12:5; Proverbs 21:7; Isaiah 16:4). At times, it refers to the spoil taken by a conquering army (Jeremiah 6:7; 20:8; Hosea 10:14). The evil men of verse 1 spend their time thinking up schemes to spoil the weak. Third, the word translated as “trouble” is often connected with the vexations of burdensome labor (Ecclesiastes 1:3; 2:11). The evil men of Proverbs 24 are probably not speaking in complaint about their own troubles, but rather making plans to trouble and vex others.

PROVERBS 24:3-4

Proverbs 8 describes the work of Wisdom, who was with Yahweh “at the beginning of His way” (v. 22) and who served as “master workman” at the creation (v. 30). Yahweh builds the world by His Wisdom, which is His eternal Word. Wisdom is skill, and is often associated with skill in building (cf. Exodus 31:1-6). “Understanding” is also associated with house-building (Exodus 31:3; 35:31; 36:1). Solomon’s wisdom was displayed in his judicial insight and his administrative ability, but also in his oversight of the temple construction.

Proverbs 24:3 is talking about a man building up his own house – literally, his own dwelling, but more figuratively his home and possessions – but the analogy with Yahweh’s house-building project is in the background. Note the sequence from building/establishing (v. 3) to filling (v. 4), the same sequence that we find in Genesis 1 (cf. Ecclesiastes 2:1-11). Every man who builds a house with skill is imitating the Creator, and is engaged in an act of creation.

When Yahweh had established His three-story house, He filled it with heavenly lights, with fish and birds, with beasts and cattle and things teeming on the ground. He filled it, in short, with “all precious and pleasant riches.” So too the wise man fills the house he builds with beautiful and pleasant things. “Precious” refers in the first instance to gems, gold, silver and other things of high monetary value; the word also connotes rare, dear, or beautiful. But elsewhere the Proverbs make it clear that there are riches more valuable than gold and silver and rubies. Proverbs 13:7, using the same word for “riches” as in 24:4, says that there is a man who makes himself rich and has nothing and another who is poor yet is full of riches. Several Proverbs warn that riches obtained unjustly will not last. The wise man’s house is filled with true wealth.

There are a number of allusions in this passage to the work of Joseph. He was filled with understanding and wisdom; he established and prepared for the famine; he filled chambers with food in view of the coming shortages. Joseph is a paradigmatic wise man, who foresees danger to come and organizes his house in preparation.

PROVERBS 24:5-6

p class=”MsoNormal”> Verses 3-4 associated wisdom with skill in house-building, and wealth. Verses 5-6 connect wisdom to strength. The word for “man” at the beginning of the verse is geber , a term that often emphasizes the strength of a warrior or a man of substance and high standing. What makes this man strong is, in the first instance, not physical ability or the number of troops at his disposal. The strong man is strong in his wisdom. Knowledge really does lead to power because knowledge includes the knowledge of how to do things, how to operate in the world.

But the emphasis of verse 6 is on the wise man’s willingness to take counsel. The history of war is full of examples of armies winning battles against the odds, against much larger and better-equipped troops. Wars are won not by having more troops but by having wise plans and counsel. So a man becomes powerful by accepting wise counsel, by depending not on his own insight but on a multitude of advisors. In a multitude of advisors there is “salvation” (the last word of the Hebrew text is a noun form of the verb that is behind the names “Joshua” and “Jesus”).

PROVERBS 24:7

Wisdom is not out of reach. Yahweh has revealed His word, so that it can be in the mouths and hearts of His people. In the new covenant, this is even more emphatically true, because the Word/Wisdom of God has become flesh and dwelt among us, and because the Spirit of wisdom has been poured out in abundance to be with and in us. God is a God of wisdom; God is Himself Wisdom. But He has graciously given wisdom to us. God is not proud; God is not envious; He does not protect His own prerogatives by preventing creatures from exercising wisdom as He does.

Yet, for fools, wisdom is out of reach. Fools don’t fear God, and they rely on their own resources of wisdom, which are meager. Fools ignore and reject the wisdom that is offered, because they are too proud to receive it.

Because of this, fools have nothing to contribute to public discussion. The “gate” is the place of judicial process in ancient Israel, the place where the elders meet to deliberate over judicial cases and to make decisions for the city. A fool has nothing to say. A closed mouth in the gate makes an ironic image – for the gate is the opening into the city – and this irony is underscored by a pun on mouth ( peh ) and open ( patach ). At the open gate, the fool doesn’t open his mouth.

Of course, there is another potential problem, which is that fools don’t realize they are fools and open their mouths at the gates and spout out idiocy. This describes the state of public discourse in our day. We are surrounded by fools who don’t even have the wisdom to keep their mouths closed in the gate. Can you say “blog”?