The Ambassador Group

The Book of Proverbs

1. Proverbs: The Call of Wisdom

0. Proverbs: Introduction to the Book of Proverbs

2. Proverbs: From Ears to Feet

3. Proverbs: A Matter of Life and Death

4. Proverbs: Divine Wisdom

5. Proverbs: The Blessings of the Righteous

6. Proverbs: What You See Is Not What You Get

7. Proverbs: Dealing With Fights

8. Proverbs: Words of Wisdom

9. Proverbs: Words of Truth

10. Proverbs: Behind the Mask

11. Proverbs: Living By Faith

12. Proverbs: The Humility of the Wise

13. Proverbs: Women and Wine

Welcome to Words of the Wise, an introduction to the Book of Proverbs by Dr.

Ducan, edited for audio by the Ambassador Group.

Dealing with Fights Better is a dry morsel with quietness than a house full of feasting with strife." Proverbs 17, verse 1, New King James Version.

Proverbs again denounces the deception of appearances.

We may seem to have everything the world offers—wealth, power, pleasure, and fame—yet behind the façade, tension and misery flourish.

It's even possible that the cause of this tension and misery is precisely the wealth and pleasure that people strive so hard for.

Miriam Lichtheim quotes an Egyptian proverb of instructions on page 156 of her book entitled Ancient Egyptian Literature, a Book of Readings, Volume 2, which advises, In the book of Proverbs, the first step to solve this problem is to recognize what our priorities are.

Peaceful relationships are more important than wealth.

What counts is not so much what we have, but who we are within ourselves.

The advice that we are about to explore will help in restoring this priority and lead You Sin and Friends Proverbs 17 verse 9 and Proverbs 19 verse 11 help to answer these 2 real-life questions.

What crucial point is being made in these texts?

And how should we deal with others who fall?

Proverbs 17 verse 9 says, He that covereth a transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

Proverbs 19 verse 11, The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.

So what is the crucial point regarding relationships in these texts, and how should you deal with others who fall?

When someone messes up, it's so tempting to spread the story, to tell others.

Though we might act as if we are appalled by the action, we still like telling others about what happened.

And that's what we're being warned against, because this behavior will generate contention, even between close friends.

After all, if a friend of yours messes up, what kind of friend are you if you go around telling others about it?

We are encouraged instead to cover the mistake.

This is not, however, to imply that we have to hide the sin, to act as if it never happened, as if the person never did wrong.

The sin that is covered is still present, even though hidden.

In fact, the Hebrew word for cover in that expression has the specific connotation of forgiving that we find in Psalm 85 verse 2.

Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin.

Love, not gossip, should be our response to someone else's mistake.

How does love help in coping with a friend's mistake?

Proverbs 17 verse 17 says, A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

First Corinthians 13 verses 5 through 7 describes the characteristics of true love which doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not evilly provoked, thinketh no evil, Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

1 does not love a friend or spouse because he or she is perfect.

We love in spite of their mistakes and flaws.

Only through love do we learn not to judge others, because with our own faults and shortcomings we could be just as guilty.

Instead, we can mourn with them over what they have done, and seek in whatever way we can to help them work through it.

After all, what are friends for if not for this?

Think about a time you messed up badly and were forgiven, ministered to, and comforted.

What does that tell you about how we should do the same for other people?

That we cover someone's mistake through love does not mean that we do not see the sin and do not recognize it as such.

The Hebrew word for justice, tzedek, also means love, charity.

We cannot have real compassion if we are not just, and we cannot be just if we do not have compassion and love.

For example, the exercise of charity toward the poor should not be done at the expense of justice.

That is why Exodus 23 verse 3 instructs us not to favor the poor in court.

Neither shalt thou countenance, a poor man in his cause.

If love obliges us to help the poor, it would be unjust to favor them when they are wrong, simply because they are poor.

Justice and truth should therefore go along with love and compassion.

It is this wise balance that characterizes the Torah, the law of God, and which is taught and promoted in the book of Proverbs.

Take a few minutes to acknowledge situations that would need the expression of justice and truth.

Such situations are described in Proverbs 17, verse 10 and Proverbs 19, verse 25.

What do these verses say about the need for rebuke and confrontation?

Proverbs 17, verse 10 says, A reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool.

Once again, what do these verses say about the need for rebuke and confrontation?

First we have the contrasting labels, wise and fool.

A Fool takes a lot more physical effort to educate and discipline.

They need to be rebuked and confronted with stronger sounding words.

Whereas a wise person listens and acts upon instruction that is directed their way.

The fact that Proverbs 17 verse 10 immediately follows the call to cover the mistake through love in Proverbs 17 verse 9 is not an accident.

This mention of reproof in connection with love places love in the right perspective.

John 8 verses 1-11 show Jesus dealing with open sin.

How does he treat the person being accused and condemned?

And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them.

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery, and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned.

This they said tempting him, that They might have to accuse him.

But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground, And they which heard it first, being convicted by their own conscience, went out 1 by 1, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last.

And Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers?

And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.

White on page 462 of The Desire of Ages provides a more detailed between-the-lines expansion of these verses.

It is as if you are watching, hearing, and feeling it all in real time.

In His act of pardoning this woman and encouraging her to live a better life, the character of Jesus shines forth in the beauty of perfect righteousness.

While he does not palliate sin, nor lessen the sense of guilt, he seeks not to condemn, but to save.

The world had for this erring woman only contempt and scorn, But Jesus speaks words of comfort and hope.

The sinless 1 pities the weakness of the sinner and reaches to her a helping hand, while the hypocritical Pharisees denounce her.

Though you will hear different themes, focus on what this chapter has to say about our words.

What important concepts are mentioned regarding what we do or do not say?

Proverbs 18 says, Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.

A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach.

The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the well spring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.

Series

The Book of Proverbs

7. Proverbs: Dealing With Fights

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