#BibleStudy Tuesday, March 4, 2014 ~ GraceDoctrine.org The Book of Proverbs, Pt. 202, Chapter 13:13 & 15 Lesson #14-021 Section 3: Vs 12-19, (continued, vs. 13-15) Verse 13: Prov 13:13, “The one who despises the word will be in debt to it, but the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.” Having noted the effects of frustration versus accomplishment in vs. 12, (despair versus happiness, +H), the next three verses expound on the consequences of rejecting or accepting God’s Word in terms of Divine discipline versus reward. Its design is as follows: The Negative – 13a The Positive – 13b The Positive – 14 The Positive – 15a The Negative – 15b Prov 13:13a – The Negative: “The one who despises” is the Qal Active Participle of the Verb BUZ, בּוּז (booz) that means, “despise, hold in contempt, or hold as insignificant.” The Participle tells us of “the one who” performs the action. We saw BUZ in Prov 1:30; 6:7; 11:2. It is used 12 times in scripture and primarily in the wisdom and poetry books. It is most often used in its negative sense, where the subject who despises is a fool or reversionistic believer who will be the recipient of God’s discipline. The thing this fool despises is “the word”, DABAR, דָּבָר (davar) which stands here for God’s Word, Bible Doctrine, as found in Scripture or spoken through another. The reversionistic believer despises God’s Word, that is he wants nothing to do with it, for whatever reasons, as does the unbeliever in their unregenerated state. The consequence for despising God’s Word is that the fool “will be in debt to it.” “Will be in debt”, is the simple passive Hiphal future Imperfect 3MS of the Verb CHABAL, חָבַל (chaval) that means, “to bind, pledge, destroy, or travail.” In the passive Hiphal the one who disregards, “it”, (the Preposition LO with the pronominal prefix that stands for Gods’ Word), receives the action of the verb, which means they are bound to it, indebted to it, destroyed by it, or travail from it. Regardless of their thoughts towards God’s Word, they are still held accountable to God’s Word. All of these words speak to the serious consequences of God’s Divine judgment towards the unbeliever, and Divine discipline for the reversionistic believer who rejects God’s Word in their life. Other proverbs make clear that the debt here is his “physical” life, the 3rd Stage of Divine Discipline for the reversionistic believer, Prov 1:24-27; 19:16; Heb 12:25. Prov 19:16, “He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is careless of conduct will die.” Heb 12:25, “See to it that you do not refuse Him (Jesus Christ, Bible Doctrine) who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.” The point is, even though they have rejected His Word they can not escape the judgment that comes from it and are still accountable for what it says. 1) In regard to The Word’s universal judging power, Heb 4:12 tells us, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” 2) For the unbeliever, they are accountable to heed the Gospel or else face The Word’s judgment, John 2:18; 12:48. John 12:48, “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.” John 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” 3) For the believer they are accountable to The Word’s principles and precept, otherwise they will face Divine discipline, 1 Cor 11:27-32. 1 Cor 11:31, “But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.” To “judge ourselves rightly” we compare our thoughts, words and action to God’s Word and determine if we are in violation or not. If in violation then we confess those sins for cleansing, 1 John 1:9. But if we do not judge ourselves rightly and confess any sins then the three stages of Divine discipline kick in. 1 Cor 11:29, “For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.” “A rotten attitude toward God and His Word will rot your life. Solomon describes the affliction of those who refuse and reject Gods Word with words like calamity, fear, desolation, destruction, distress, and anguish. In 13:13, he says the person who despises the Word shall be destroyed. Folks who consider the Word of God as insignificant, irrelevant, ineffectual, inadequate, insubstantial, and inferior will be heading for heartache, hurt, and harm. They will be destroyed. It means to be broken or ruined, to bind or twist, to spoil or corrupt. This is a fitting description of people who reject the Word of God. Many times they ruin their lives by becoming bound or addicted by sinful habits that shatter them and their families. Like a rope twisted into a knot, their lives are twisted, tight, and confined. Their passion for freedom to do as they wish, has robbed them of their freedom.” (Mattoons Treasures - Proverbs, Volume 1.) The Contrast! “But the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.” “But the one who fears” is the contrasting Conjunction WA with the Qal Active Participle of the Verb YARE, יָרֵא that means, “to fear, to respect, to have reverence”; cf. Prov 1:7, 29; 2:5; 3:7; 8:3; 9:10; 10:27. This is the believer who has awe and respect for the Lord and His Word, “the commandment”, MITSWAH, מִצְָוה that we noted in Prov 2:1; 3:1; 4:4; 6:20, 23; 7:1-2; 10:8. It stands for God’s Word, Bible Doctrine. So we have the believer who honors and respects God’s Word in their life with the result that they…. “Will be rewarded”, the intensive passive Pual future Imperfect of the Verb SHALAM, שָׁלַם (shalem) that means, “to be complete or at peace.” cf. Prov 6:31; 7:14; 11:31. Here it means to be made whole or repaid, as the believer who walks in God’s righteousness on a consistent basis will be rewarded for their Divine Good Production, 1 Cor 3:10-15; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 2-3. The future intensive passive strongly emphasizes this promise of God in that the wise believer will absolutely be rewarded in time and at the BEMA seat judgment of our Lord in eternity. 1 John 2:28, “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. 29If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.” 2 Cor 5:9-11, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.” Psa 119:161, “Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of Your words. 162I rejoice at Your word, as one who finds great spoil.” Verse 14: Prov 13:14, “The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, to turn aside from the snares of death.” In this entire verse we have a continuation of the positive message; receiving God’s Word and the benefits it has to the ones who do. Except for the first two words, this verse is identical to Prov 14:27, and between the two we see that “the fear of the Lord” is identified with “the teaching of the wise.” It also begins similar to Prov 10:11. So the principle is “how do you fear the Lord? By receiving His teaching! “The teaching” is the Noun TORAH, תּוֹרָה that means, “law or instruction.” Here, it too stands for God’s Word, Bible Doctrine. “Of the wise” is the Noun CHAKAM, חָכָם. This is the positive believer going forward in God’s Plan by the intake and application of Bible Doctrine on a consistent basis. “Is a fountain” is the Noun MAQOR, מָקוֹר that means, “fountain or spring.” We noted MAQOR in Prov 10:11a, in regard to the Word of God spoken and its benefits, “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.” “Of life” is CHAYYIM once again. Here we see that the teaching of God’s Word is a “fountain of life.” In vs. 12 we noted that application of Bible Doctrine is “a tree of life”, which meant that the resultant blessing of Bible Doctrine in your soul is to share in the happiness of God, +H. Now we see that the Word of God to the wise is a fountain of life, which it gives vigor to our life here on earth, as opposed to the destructive nature of sinful living to our bodies here on earth. As such, God’s Word resident within your soul at a minimum avoids Divine discipline and the destructive nature thereof, (i.e., weak, sick, asleep, 1 Cor 11:30), as also noted in the second half of this verse, and to a greater extent provides inner peace, happiness, contentment, vigor, enthusiasm, honor, material and spiritual blessing, etc. The Complement! “To turn aside from the snares of death.” There is no contrasting Conjunction WA here. Instead we have the complementary inclusionary preposition “LE” meaning “to”, with “turn” in the Qal Infinitive Construct of SUR, סוּר that means, “to leave, to deviate, to turn aside, to go away” that we noted in Chapters 3, 4, 5, 9, 11. In this use we see another benefit of receiving God’s Word; it spares us from disaster as noted in the next phrase. “From the snare of death” is the Preposition MIN with the Noun MOQESH, מוֹקֵשׁ meaning, “snare or trap”, and the Noun MAWETH, מָוֶת that means, “death.” In other words, when we receive and apply God’s Word we are spared of His Divine discipline, including Stage 3, the Sin Unto Death. “Snares” represent the many deadly agents that capture and kill the uncommitted gullible and stupid fool, like evil / sinful thoughts, speech, and deeds, wicked men and wicked women. When we learn God’s Word we become aware of these concealed traps that are waiting for us inside of Satan’s cosmic system and are instead fortified to resist them. There is only one fountain of life which is God’s Word (the mind of Christ), but there are many snares leading to death inside of Satan’s cosmic system, cf. 2 Tim 2:24-26. So by learning and applying God’s Word to our lives we will avoid many of the dangers and pitfalls of sin and Satan’s cosmic system, which in itself is a blessing; not having to endure self-induced misery and/or Divine discipline. Verse 15: Prov 13:15, “Good understanding produces favor, but the way of the treacherous is hard.” The positive message continues in the first half of vs. 15. “Good understanding” is the Adjective TOB (tov) for “good”, and the Noun SHEKEL, שֵׂכֶל that means, “insight, understanding, or wisdom” that we noted in Prov 3:4; 12:8. Here it speaks to the application of Bible Doctrine, and as Prov 23:9 tells us only fools despise this kind of intelligence. “Produces favor” is the Qal Imperfect of the Verb NATHAH and the noun CHEN, חֵן (khane) that means, “grace or favor.” It signifies God’s blessings on the life of the righteous, including having a sense of fulfillment, vs. 12, a long life, vs. 14, and other various blessings for both time and eternity. “Good understanding” in Prov 16:22 is likened to a “fountain of life”, suggesting a connection between “good understanding” and “fountain of life” also in vs. 14, as well as “good teaching” and “favor.” Therefore, when we receive the teaching of Bible Doctrine on a consistent basis and apply it in our lives we will be the recipients of God’s blessings in time and eternity. The Contrast! “But the way of the treacherous is hard.” “But the way”, is the contrasting Conjunction WA with the Noun DEREK for “journey, way, path, etc.” It speaks of the life style of the wicked in this verse, those who reject God’s Word. “Of the treacherous” is the Qal Active Participle of BAGAD, that means, “to deal treacherously with, to be traitorous, to act unfaithfully, to betray.” Cf. Prov 2:2; 11:3, 6; 13:2. This is the reversionistic believer who has left their first love, Rev 2:4-5. Rev 2:4, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.” “Is hard” is EYTHAN, אֵיתָן (ay-thawn’) that means, “perpetual, constant, perennial, ever-flowing.” Interestingly this is hard to translate because it seems oxymoronic, and “the way of the treacherous will be perpetual” seemingly similar to the blessing of the righteous. But there are two things here. 1. “The view that אֵיתָן (“lasting, perennial”) can here mean “hard” is unpersuasive. The LXX has ἐν ἀπωλείᾳ, “in destruction,” which suggests the emendation אֵידָם, “their calamity” (BHS). Alternatively, G. R. Driver (“Problems,” 181) proposes that the particle אִי (“not”) has fallen out before אֵיתָן due to haplography and reads, “But the way of treachery is not lasting”.” (New American Commentary.) 2. “A better translation for “is hard” would be “overflows,” meaning unrepented sin keeps overwhelming the sinner. (Complete Biblical Library Hebrew-English Dictionary) So whether a typographical error is here or not, it stands in contrast to the blessings of the righteous and means that there are consequences for the actions of the reversionistic believer that are not pleasant. In other words, they will be overwhelmed by their sin and Satan’s cosmic system to perpetually live in it during their time here on earth, which is synonymous with being bound up in their sin and indebted to the Word of God, as noted in vs. 13a. In contrast Waltke notes, “The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, and the one who heeds the teaching and drinks from that fountain gains such good moral perception and appropriate action that he wins favor with God and humanity, a desire of the heart, in contrast to the treacherous who perish.” (Waltke, New International Commentary) As Ironside notes, “The word of instruction brings favor with God and man, as was so abundantly proven by Joseph, Daniel, and a host of others. To despise this law of the wise is to expose oneself to shame now and loss in eternity. But he that fears the commandment, recognizing in it a fountain of life, will be preserved from the sorrowful way of the transgressor and the darkness of eternity. Pharaoh despised the word and fell beneath the avenging hand of the Lord. Saul despised the word and was put to grief before the Philistines. The last three kings of Judah despised the word and learned too late the terrible mistake made. The solemn example of these and many more in sacred and secular history should speak loudly to those bent on taking their own way and ignoring the Lord’s commands. The Lord has said, To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word, (Isaiah 66:2).” (H.A. Ironside Expository Commentary). Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard Property of: Grace Fellowship Church, Pastor James H. Rickard James H. Rickard Bible Ministries Copyright 2014 - All Rights Reserved
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 14:45:38 +0000
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