THE
IMPORTANT TEACHINGS IN THE BOOK OF PROVERBS
I. TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. PREFACE
B. THE PIMPORTANT TEACHINGS
1.
Commentary
On God Fearing
2.
Commentary
On Filial Piety
3.
Commentary
On Wisdom
4.
Commentary
On Foolishness
5.
Commentary
On The Wise And The Foolish
6.
Commentary
On Counselling
7.
The
Prefiguration Of Wisdom
8.
The
Calls Of Wisdom
9.
Advices
Given To The Youths
10. Discipline The Children
11. The Two Kinds Of Home
12. Commentary On The Blessed Home
13. Commentary On The Kind And The
Faithful
14. Commentary On The Proud And The
Humble
15. Commentary On The Diligent And The
Slothful
16. Commentary On Mouth And Tongue
17. Commentary On Speech
18. Commentary On Hearing
19. Commentary On Quick Temper
20. Commentary On Gentleness
21. Commentary On Strife
22. Commentary On Friends
23. Commentary On Love And Hatred
24. Commentary On Trusting The Lord
25. The Two Ways
26. Commentary On The Righteous
27. Commentary On The Wicked
28. Commentary On Wealth
29. Commentary On The Rich and The Poor
30. Commentary On Alms Giving
31. Commentary On Wine
32. Commentary On The Eyes
33. Commentary On Cheerfulness
34. Commentary On Kings
35. The Two Kinds of Women
36. God Hates The Seven Things
37. The True Words Of Agur
38. The True Words of Lemuel
II. THE IMPORTANT TEACHINGS IN THE BOOK
OF PROVERBS
A. PREFACE
1.
The
Name of the Book
a.
It
is the book of wisdom in its third series.
b.
Proverbs
in Chinese carries the meaning to control and to advise.
c.
The
wisdom in Proverbs mainly refers to man’s understanding of God and the fearing
of Him (1:7; 9:10).
d.
Only
by having such true wisdom can man manifest his high moral and fine character
such as holiness, righteousness, goodness and gentleness.
e.
As
such, this book contains full of valuable advice worthy of indeed, a precious
book of Proverbs.
2.
The
Author
In Chapter 1 verse 1 in this book, it is stated
that, “The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, King of Israel.”
a.
Solomon
(1 Kings 3:7-12; -34).
b.
The
wise people (22:17; 24:23; Obad 8; Jer 18:18).
c.
The
men of Hezekiah (25:1)
d.
Agur, son of Jaheh
(30:1).
e.
King
Lemuel (31:1).
3.
The
Aim
a.
To
make men understand wisdom and words of insight (2).
b.
To
make men receive instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice and equity
(3)
c.
To
make the foolish prudent (4 first half)
d.
To
instruct the youths with knowledge and discretion (4 second half)
e.
To
enable the wise man hear and increase in learning (5 second half)
f.
To
enable the man of understanding acquire skill (5 2nd half)
g.
To
make men understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their
riddles (6)
4.
The
Special Qualities
a.
The
presence of sound instructions
b.
Can
be reached out far and wide
c.
Interesting
and exciting
d.
It
leads people to goodness and to God
5.
Paragraphing
a.
preface
(1:1-7)
(a) The names of the authors (1)
(b) The aim of the book (2-6)
(c) The theme of the book (7)
b.
the proverbs of Solomon (part one) (1:8-9:18).
c.
The
proverbs of Solomon (part two) (10:1-22:16)
d.
The
proverbs of the wise (22:17-24:34)
e.
The
proverbs of Solomon (part three) (25:1-29:27)
f.
The
true words of Agur (30:1-33)
g.
The
true words of King Lemuel (31:1-31)
B. THE IMPORTANT TEACHINGS
1.
Commentary
On God Fearing
a.
The
significance of God fearing
(a) To pay reverence to God
(b) To worship God
(c) To serve God
(d) To obey God
(e) To trust God
b.
The
manifestations of God fearing
(a) The hatred of evil ()
(b) To turn away from evil (3:7; 16:6,
17)
(c) Not to associate with the wicked
(24:21-22)
(d) To be humble (22:4; 15:33)
c.
The
good of God fearing
(a) Prolongs and strengthen one’s life (,29)
(b) Will have a refuge and strong
confidence (14:26)
(c) Will lead one to live a satisfied
life and that he will not be harmed (19:23)
(d) Will lead one to avoid the snares of
death (14:27; 19:23)
(e) There is a future and the hope will
not be cut off (23:17-18)
(f) There is no hatred but love will
prevail instead (15:16-17)
(g)
The
reward for fear of the Lord are richness, honour and a prolong life (22:4)
(h)
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge and is also instruction in wisdom (1:7; 15:33)
2.
Commentary
on Filial Piety
Filial Piety is a matter of course, it is only second to God fearing.
a.
The
four things we must not do
(a) Do not shame our parents (28:7;
29:15)
(b) Do not despise our parents (15:5;
23:22)
(c) Do not ill-treat our parents (19:26)
(d) Do not grieve our parents (19:13;
17:21, 25)
b.
The
two things we must do
(a) Listen to our parents’ instructions
(; 1:8; )
(b) Make our parents happy (-25; 27:11; 29:3)
c.
The
undutiful children
(a) Their lamp will be put out in utter
darkness ()
(b) Their eyes will be picked out by the
ravens (30:17)
d.
The
filial children
(a) They will enjoy the peace and their
life will be prolonged (3:1-2; )
(b) They are a fair garland of the head
and pedants of the neck (1:9; 3:22)
(c) When I was a son with my father,
tender, the only on in the sight of my mother. (4:3)
3.
Commentary
On Wisdom
a.
The
prize of wisdom
(a) The beginning of wisdom is to get
wisdom (4:7)
(b) The wise will inherit hour (3:35)
(c) There is nothing which can be
compared with wisdom (8:11)
(d) Everyone loves wisdom (23:24; 27:11)
(e) Wisdom guards people (4:6)
(f) One who is wise wins souls (11:30)
(g) Gains King’s favour (14:35)
b.
The
manifestation of wisdom
(a) Mightier than a strong man (24:5)
(b) A wise men scales the city of the
mighty ()
(c) The prudent man ignores an insult
(12:16)
(d) A prudent man is slow to anger
(14:29; 29:11)
(e) A wise man is cautious and turns
away from evil (16:14)
(f) A wise man listens to advice (12:15;
13:10)
(g) A wise man turns away wrath (29:8,
11)
(h) The prudent is cautious where he is
going (14:15)
(i) Wise men lay up knowledge (10:14;
14:18, 24)
(j) A man of understanding remains
silent (10:19; 11:12; 10:13)
c.
The
source of wisdom
(a) The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom (1:7; )
(b) One who heeds admonition gains
understanding (9:8; 15:5; 19:20; 15:31-32)
(c) Humble enough to receive
instructions (9:9)
(d) To seek and search (2:1-5)
(e) To walk with wise men (13:20)
4.
Commentary
On Foolishness
a.
The
manifestation of the foolish
(a) He who belittles others ()
(b) He who despises wisdom (1:7; 23:9;
15:5)
(c) Fools hate knowledge (1:22)
(d) A fool gives full vent to his anger
(29:11; 12:16; 14:17, 29)
(e) It is like sport to a fool to do
wrong (10:23; 14:9)
(f) The mouths of fools pours out folly
(15:2; 13:16)
(g) He who trusts in his own mind
(28:26)
(h) A fool will repeat his folly (26:11)
(i) A fool throws off restraint and is
careless (14:16)
(j) The simple believes everything
(14:15)
(k) A fool is ready to express his
opinion (18:2)
(l) The way of a fool is right in his
own eyes (12:15)
(m) Every fool likes quarrelling (20:3)
(n) A fool likes to give his answer
before he hears (18:13)
b.
The
harm of the foolish
(a) Is easily deceived (-23; -18)
(b) A foolish son is a sorrow to his
parents (10:1; 17:21, 25)
(c) The simple acquires folly (14:18,
24)
(d) The companion of fools will suffer
harm (26:6, 10; 13:20)
(e) Folly is the chastisement of the
fools (16:22; 18:6; 26:3)
(f) A foolish son is ruin to his parents
(19:13)
(g) A fool’s lips are a snare to himself
(18:7)
(h) The fool will be servant to the wise
(11:29)
(i) The complacence of fools destroys
them (1:32; 10:21)
5.
Commentary
On the Wise and the Foolish
a.
A
wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother
(10:1)
b.
On
the lips of him who has the understanding wisdom is found but a rod is for the
back of him who lacks sense (10:13)
