Month: September 2021

Proverbs 3:18: She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is everyone that retaineth her.

In this conditional promise the “she” and the “her” is Wisdom. The Wisdom of God is personified as a woman. This Person is also spoken of as the Son of God, even though Jesus is not a woman.

Wisdom and Jesus are regarded as a tree of life. Wisdom provides food for practical living during this temporal life. Jesus provides food for truly living eternally. Wisdom is in the Word of God; Jesus is the Word of God. We receive from the Word the Law of God which contains the wisdom designed to make one wise to live a happy life. We receive from the Word the Gospel which contains life, forgiveness of sins, and salvation.

There was a Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, which if a man should eat of it he would live forever. But when the man and the woman disobeyed God by eating of the other tree they were banned from ever approaching the Tree of Life and living in a wretched state of sin forever. The Tree of Life will appear in the New Jerusalem of the New Creation. Until then Jesus is now the Tree of Life for us to partake of now by faith and receive the eternal life.

Meanwhile, we listen to Jesus for He has the words of eternal life. We also pay attention to the Wisdom of God in order lead a pleasant and peaceable life.

Proverbs 3:17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

The ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness. The paths of wisdom are peace. We all want a pleasant and peaceful life, and we have such a pleasant and peaceful life when we have Wisdom. Jesus is the Wisdom of God. Believing in Jesus is gaining a heart of wisdom.

The truth of the promise is that Christians have a pleasant way of life. Our life is already filled with pleasantness and peace, but we also have with us the fears of death, the cares of the world, the lies of Satan, and the deceitfulness of sin that are trying to rob us of days of joy and nights of peace. But we have this promise that nothing can take away our peace, rob us of joy, or separate us from the love of God.

When we believe this promise that comes from the ways of Wisdom (Jesus) we are always on the ways of pleasantness, even if we don’t always see it clearly.

Proverbs 3:16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honor.

Wisdom is personified as a female, “in her right hand; and in her left hand.” The condition for this promise is “finding wisdom.” Many blessings and benefits come from Wisdom. Wisdom is practical living in everyday life. Knowing the right way to live and then doing it produces good things in life.

Jesus is the Wisdom of God, and happy is the man who finds Him. We do not know everything and often make bad decisions, but we have Jesus with us, and He knows everything and always makes good decisions.

Wisdom brings with herself, and promises us, a long life along with riches and honor. Length of days in Biblical terms always means a full, abundant, and satisfying life every day, no matter how many days there are. Riches are sought after by every selfish person on the planet. The promise of wisdom grants riches more valuable than material things. These are spiritual and eternal blessings, like love, joy, peace, etc., that money can’t buy. We all want to be honored and famous, but being honored by the world and famous to people is nothing compared to the honor of God and the esteem that He holds us in.

Proverbs 3:10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

The condition for this conditional promise is in verse 9: “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.” If you honor the Lord with your substance, then He will grant plenty and abundance. When you seek the Lord first then these things shall be added to you. Honoring the Lord with your substance must mean giving something of the wealth, money, and property that you control over to the Lord for use in His mission. When one gives substantially to the Lord’s work the Lord provides an abundance of wheat for the barns and new wine for the presses so that they burst with it.

Whatever form the “filling” and the “bursting out” will take, we can be sure that the Lord provides enough and more than enough. The return blessing may be material blessings, physical health, emotional stability, mental acuity, happy family relationships. All this abundance comes freely to the one who puts the Lord first and gives to the Lord’s work generously.

We cannot usually see the connection between our “giving” and our “receiving” but we believe there is a connection because God says so.

Proverbs 3:8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

The conditional promise is typical to Proverbs: listen to Wisdom (Jesus), keep the commandments, trust in the Lord, and fear the Lord. Basically, keep the first commandment: “Fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” The other commandments follow from the First. The general principle is still often true: good living leads to good health. The Book of Job proves that “the doctrine of retribution” is not always going to hold up. The Lord has other reasons (which He doesn’t tell us) for why He allows diseases to come upon us.

We are still sinners, born in sin, and the relentless consequence is that we will die, and suffer many “little deaths” of disease and injury. Job learned the only answer: shut your mouth and repent and fear (believe in) the Lord.

The Lord always knows what He is doing. For one thing, He is more concerned about our spiritual health and eternal welfare. He knows how to use every affliction of body and soul in this temporal life to work in us a solid and permanent weight of glory. Such inward spiritual strengthening positively affects the outward man with life and health and every good thing. We are free to focus on the one thing needful, listening to Jesus, and let Him take care of everything else.

Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

This is a conditional promise: if you acknowledge the Lord in all your ways, then He will direct your paths. The condition is further explained in the previous verse: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your understanding. It’s not so easy for selfish sinners to avoid trusting on one’s self, for we tend to assume that we are always right. But we can, with the Spirit’s help, believe the Gospel, which is certainly God’s way. We could never come with that idea. God’s ways are not our ways, and mercy is beyond our comprehension.

Acknowledging the Lord in all your ways is not something we can do, but we can learn to do it more often. We pray before meals, at bedtime, when we arise, when we face a difficult decision, and when we have a problem, but being aware of His Presence and guidance in every circumstance is a bit of a challenge.

We need to pray, “Thy will be done,” all the time. In order to “acknowledge Him in all your ways” we need to believe two truths: One, believe that I am a sinner and that I am wrong much of the time, that I can be mistaken and I do not know the best path; Two, believe that out Lord is always good and always right, that He makes no mistakes and knows the best paths.

In addition, we need to know that He will actually lead us on the right paths. This is where the promise comes in usefully. He will direct our paths. He cares. He will make sure we know.

Proverbs 3:4 So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

If you keep mercy and truth and write them on your heart, v. 3, then you will find favor and understanding, v. 4. Mercy and truth is in the Word of God, so we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it. The Word points to Jesus who is to us mercy and truth, so we listen to Him. John 1:17: “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

When we are in the Word we will find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. That’s a promise. Jesus has earned for us and given favor with God. Romans 5:1: “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” The favor of God is vital for living and life. Because of Christ the Lord forgives us, accepts us, and brings us into the heavenly places. We desperately need favor and good understanding with God, for we are miserable sinners who lost God and the good. Outside of Christ, the only thing we can find from God is wrath and displeasure, righteous judgment and deserved condemnation. But the Good News is that Christ brings us into favor and understanding.

The surprising part of this promise is that we find favor with humans also. The Lord works it out so that we find favor with other people from whom we need favor and help. It is easy to forget that the Lord works it out in the hearts of people to be favorable toward us. We need reminders to say, “Thank God for you.”

Proverbs 3:2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

The condition is stated in verse 1: “Forget not my law and keep my commandments.” If you do so, then long life and peace shall be added. But who is speaking “my law and my commandments?” Solomon, God, or Wisdom? Solomon is writing these proverbs and promises under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So God the Lord is actually speaking as Wisdom. The Wisdom of God (for NT believers) is Jesus, the Son of God [1 Corinthians 1:30]. Therefore, the Trinity is personally speaking to each of us as His children: Keep My Law and My Commandments and they will add long life and peace to you.

The conditional promise is explicitly stated in the Fourth Commandment, “If you Honor your parents, then you will live long in the land (Kingdom).” In Proverbs, God says we may enjoy the promise of a long and peaceful life if we keep all the Commandments.

The promise comes true for us in two ways: physically and spiritually, temporally and eternally. First, a long and peaceful life on earth means a full, rich, abundant, and meaningful life, no matter how many literal years it lasts. Second, a really long and really peaceful life in the kingdom of heaven means the eternal life of God that is ours now in the heart and lasts forever in reality. Thankfully, Jesus lived a perfect Law-keeping life for us, and on account of Christ God gives us perfect righteousness. Believers in Christ enjoy the blessings of a “long” life on earth for a short time and the joys of a “really long” life in the Kingdom for a very long time.

The bottom line in simple words: Listen to Jesus for a good life.

Proverbs 2:20, 21 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

The “if” condition for the promise is “not going in to the strange woman.” If you avoid the ways of the world and “walk in the way of good men,” then you will dwell in the Kingdom (land) and remain in it. This is the promise: God gives you the Kingdom of God, which is within you and in which you dwell, and He will see that you remain in it forever.

The Kingdom of God is placed in the hearts of the upright. By faith we are declared righteous for Christ’s sake. That faith and uprightness works out in our daily lives when we stay away from the “house” of the strange woman and walk in the way of good men. The strange woman is the way of the world; the way of good men is the way of the Kingdom of God.

The Christian lives in both worlds at the same time, as saint and sinner, flesh and spirit. Each of these worlds will be nourished by and affected by the company we keep. We are friendly toward “strangers,” but we do not bond with them or walk their way. Worldly people are actually strangers to us since we do not share eternal life in Christ. Avoiding one and fellowshipping with the other keeps us in the life of the Kingdom. Living in the Land = Enjoying the Kingdom. That is our promise.

Proverbs 2:16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattered with her words.

The promises based upon the condition of listening to God and His Word of wisdom continue. Wisdom is Jesus and wisdom is believing in Jesus. Seeking knowledge is studying the Bible, for in it we find Christ to whom the Scriptures testify. If you hear the Word of Law and Gospel God will use it to deliver you from prostitutes and whorish women who appeal to a man’s lust.

Refraining from illicit sexual relationships and shunning immorality may not seem like a wonderful thing to our sinful nature, but it is. Chastity does feel like a valuable and beneficial blessing, but it is. A “strange woman” is a metaphor for a person to whom one is not married who tempts his lustful desire for an illicit physical relationship. She is “strange” in that she is not a believer in Christ (or at least a Christian who is not acting like a Christian). She is outside the Christian fellowship. “Her paths incline unto death.” This is serious, and it is not a “victimless” crime.

There is no redeeming value in prostitution, no blessing in it, no promise of anything good. Avoiding sex outside of a committed marriage does hold the promise of a blessed life. Marital bliss is a wonderful blessing and a great promise.

In addition, the “strange woman” metaphor is more broadly speaking a metaphor for worldly pleasures of all kinds. And the world will try to lead us away from God, and that’s not good. So God is good to give us the Word and the Spirit to deliver us from the deathly evil of the world and it’s death and into the Kingdom and it’s life.