Responding To God's Wisdom And Understanding Will Result In Life, Peace And Security But Must Result In Positive Behaviour Towards Others, For YHWH Will Bless The Righteous, Lowly And Wise Whilst He Will Curse The Wicked, The Scoffers And The Foolish (Proverbs 3:21-35).
The first subsection of Proverbs 3:1-35 stressed the importance of trusting, fearing and honouring YHWH. In this is understanding and wisdom. The second subsection emphasised the value of wisdom as an important part of YHWH's activity of restoring man to his first estate. This final subsection of the passage now emphasises the positive moral behaviour which is to spring from wisdom and understanding, with its consequence being blessing from God.
The subsection is constructed on a chiastic pattern, centred on four ethical instructions concerning positive behaviour, as follows:
A My son, do not let them (wisdom and understanding) depart from your eyes, keep sound wisdom and discretion, so will they be life to your soul, and grace to your neck, then will you walk in your way securely, and your foot will not stumble, when you lie down, you will not be afraid, yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet. (Proverbs 3:21-24).
B Do not be afraid of sudden fear, nor of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes, for YHWH will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being taken (Proverbs 3:25-26).
C Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it, do not say to your neighbour, “Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give,” when you have it by you' (Proverbs 3:27-28).
C Do not devise evil against your neighbour, seeing he dwells securely by you, do not strive with a man without good reason, if he has not done you any harm (Proverbs 3:29-30).
B Do not envy the man of violence, and choose none of his ways, for the perverse man is an abomination to YHWH, but his friendship is with the upright (Proverbs 3:31-32).
A The curse of YHWH is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwellingplace of the righteous, surely he scorns the scorners, but he gives grace to the lowly, the wise will inherit glory, but shame will be the promotion of fools (Proverbs 3:33-35).
Note that A gives reasons why wisdom is to be followed, and centres around ‘grace'. It makes positive promises of life, grace, security and sweetness of sleep to those who follow wisdom, whilst the parallel also gives reasons why wisdom is to be followed and centres around ‘grace. It makes positive promises of blessing, grace and glory to ‘the wise'. B speaks of an emotion to be avoided (fear), and of desolation by the wicked, whilst the parallel also speaks of an emotion to be avoided (envy) and of men of violence. Centrally C gives two general injunctions to positive behaviour, and is centred around the idea of the ‘neighbour, whilst the parallel also gives two injunctions to positive behaviour, and is again centred around the idea of the neighbour.
‘My son, do not let them depart from your eyes,
Keep sound wisdom and discretion,
So will they be life to your soul,
And grace to your neck.
‘My son.' This is the usual indicator of a new section or subsection. Here it introduces the third subsection of this chapter. Solomon sees those on whom he is calling as his ‘sons'.
His son is not to allow ‘them' (the wisdom and understanding which YHWH used in creation - Proverbs 3:19-20) to depart ‘from his eyes'. This would appear to indicate a written record which the young man can see. He is to read it constantly (compare Psalms 1:2; 2 Timothy 2:15). And in doing so he is to ‘keep' (keep in mind and carry into practise) wisdom and discretion, especially as it has been revealed by Solomon. Wisdom and understanding in the things of YHWH will result in discretion (compare Proverbs 2:11), that is in knowing how to behave wisely and acceptably, something which will shortly be amplified.
And these will be ‘life to his inner self' and ‘grace to his neck'. Through receiving God's wisdom, as revealed by God Himself, he will be inwardly renewed by God (compare Psalms 1:2-4; Psalms 51:10; Psalms 119:50 b, Psalms 119:93; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23), and there will be ‘grace (spiritual beauty) to his neck', that is, he will display spiritual beauty as a necklace (compare Proverbs 1:9; Proverbs 3:3), in other words he will be made spiritually beautiful by YHWH in the eyes of God and men (he will have lovingkindness and truth bound about his neck - Proverbs 3:3). God will so work in them that they will appear spiritually beautiful. In Proverbs 3:24 this spiritual beauty given by YHWH will be ‘given to the lowly' (those who are in contrast to scorners), that is to those who humbly respond to God's wisdom. They will be made spiritually beautiful.
‘Then will you walk in your way securely,
And your foot will not stumble,
When you lie down, you will not be afraid,
Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.'
The consequence of receiving and responding to the wisdom that has been imparted by God is that he will walk securely and will not stumble. He will avoid things that may trip him up. He will not find the going rough. And he will sleep with confidence in his heart. He knows the way in which he should go and intends to go, and leaves all his worries with the God of wisdom. As a result when he lies down, he will sleep sweetly. Such sleep come to those whose trust is in God (Psalms 3:5; Psalms 4:8). In Isaiah's words, ‘in quietness and in confidence will be your strength' (Isaiah 30:15).
‘Do not be afraid of sudden fear,
Nor of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes,
For YHWH will be your confidence,
And will keep your foot from being taken.'
That having confidence in the wisdom and understanding revealed by God does not guarantee that life will be smooth is emphasised here. For that wisdom and understanding should enable its recipient not to be afraid even when outwardly things go wrong. Thus the young man who receives that wisdom should not be afraid of sudden fearful events. This brings out that it is not only the rejecters of God's wisdom who will be faced with sudden fears (Proverbs 1:26). Nor should he be afraid of the desolation of the wicked, including the devastations of invading armies, and violent activity by evil men. Such things will come on all men, but his confidence is to be in YHWH, for YHWH will be his surety, and will preserve him through it. In Proverbs 3:23 the promise was that his foot would not stumble as he walked through life, now the promise is that his foot will be preserved from harm. Note that his confidence is not to be in wisdom, it is to be in YHWH. True wisdom results in a personal confidence in God.
‘For YHWH will be your confidence.' Their full cause for confidence will be that YHWH is with them. A possible translation is ‘YHWH will be at your loin', in other words will be with them to support them through it. (The Targum translates ‘YHWH will be your help'). But the underlying idea is the same.
A Series Of Four Commands.
These four commands emphasise positive behaviour towards others. Those who respond to God's wisdom are expected to live it out before men. They form a small chiasmus within a chiasmus, ‘those to whom it is due -- your neighbour -- your neighbour -- a man in general'. The first two commands refer to a failure to do good (‘to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin' - James 4:17), the second to positive wrongdoing. The opening words of the two couplets confirm this, ‘do not withhold good -- do not devise evil'. To fail to do good is as wrong in God's sight as to positively do evil.
‘Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
When it is in the power of your hand to do it,
Do not say to your neighbour, “Go, and come again,
And tomorrow I will give,” when you have it by you.'
The principle here is that to be put in a position to do good to people puts us under a responsibility to do that good. The good may be physical, such as food and drink, or it may indicate positive behaviour, such as rendering physical or mental assistance. ‘Those to whom it is due' is probably the equivalent of ‘your neighbour', but takes into account that there are those who do not deserve assistance, the layabout, the lazy and the professional beggar. Or the idea may be that we should not delay in repaying our debts or fulfilling our obligations when we are in a position to do so. The point is that we have a responsibility for those among whom we live. But we are only under such an obligation if we have the wherewithal to do it. We are not called on to put ourselves in need (2 Corinthians 8:12; Galatians 6:10).
Above all we must not procrastinate. When we have the means to do good, delay is sinful. To put it off until tomorrow is wrong. ‘Do not say --.' It is easy to use words to give an impression of being willing to help. This may save our reputation in men's eyes, but it is totally unacceptable to God. Delay may indicate unwillingness, or simply laziness, or being too busy, but all are wrong (compare James 2:15-16).
‘Do not devise evil against your neighbour,
Seeing he dwells securely by you,
Do not strive with (bring an accusation against) a man without good reason,
If he has not done you any harm (evil).'
The idea of a failure to do good is now followed by the idea of doing positive evil. Evil is the opposite of good. To do evil is to do what is not good. Any planning to do what is not good to a ‘neighbour' (those among whom one lives) is forbidden. Your neighbour ‘dwells securely by you.' He is not anticipating trouble, and is to be allowed to live in peace (compare Leviticus 19:13). Note the assumption that the neighbour is neighbourly. (In the parallel he has not done you any evil). It might be seen differently if that neighbour is also ‘devising evil' against you. This therefore comes short of Jesus command to ‘do good to those who hate you' (Matthew 5:44, western texts).
The word used for ‘devise' technically means to plough, and therefore to prepare the ground, and thus to plan or devise..
The command is then particularised into ‘do not bring an accusation against --', thus having in mind the misuse of the judicial bodies in order to obtain our own way, or even the spreading of rumours to someone else's harm. Justice can be sought, but it must be justice. Truth can be told, but it must be truth. No accusation should be brought without good reason. It does not, of course, apply if he really has done evil against you, if he has harmed you in some genuine way.
The Young Man Is Not To Envy Those Who Use Wrong Methods To Get Their Own Way.
‘Do not envy the man of violence,
And choose none of his ways,
For the perverse man is an abomination to YHWH,
But his friendship is with the upright.'
A man may be ‘violent, unjust, selfishly forceful', by being over-forceful in order to obtain his own way or by being unjust, as well as by being physically violent. It is used of using wrong methods in order to get one's own way. There are those who will use any method to get their way. And they often prosper. The word translated violent is used by Sara in Genesis 16:5 of the ‘wrong' that she had done to Abraham by giving him her handmaid as a slave wife. She was confessing to using wrong methods for the carrying on of the Abrahamic line. It is used of witnesses when describing them as ‘false' (Exodus 23:1; Deuteronomy 19:16), those who do violence to the truth. But the man who follows the wisdom of God will not follow in such ways. Such people are not to be envied (compare Proverbs 1:10-19). We are not to wish that we could be like that. We are not to choose their ways. For they are an abomination to YHWH.
The contrast is then made between the ‘perverse (crooked) man' the man who is like the one described above, who uses devious methods, or one who strays from the right way (Proverbs 2:11-15), and the ‘upright' man, the man whose ways are straight. The former is an abomination to YHWH, the latter is His close friend. It is this strong language that then leads on to the strong language in the next verse.