Boast, praise, anger, jealousy, rebuke
[Proverbs 27:1-6]
What do you think is our attractiveness as Christians? If we look at Titus 2:10, the Bible says, “and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” We are no longer attractive. We have lost our attractiveness. The church no longer has the power to capture the hearts of the world. What is the reason? The reason is because we aren’t obeying God's word. We obey His word with our lips, but disobey the word with our actions (Ref.: Tit. 1:16). We have a form of godliness, but deny its power (2 Tim. 3:5). In order for us to be attractive Christians, we must obey God's word. Therefore, we must make God's instruction shine in this dark world.
Today, I am going to think about five themes, focusing on Proverbs 27:1-6. The five themes are “boast”, “praise”, “anger”, “jealousy” and “rebuke”. While meditating on these five themes based on Proverbs 27:1-6, I hope and pray that we can obey the lessons that God gives us.
First, we should not boast about tomorrow.
Look at Proverbs 27:1 – “Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.” When I meditate on this word, I remember the lyrics of verse 1 of the Korean gospel song written by the pastor’s wife named Hee-sook Ahn, “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow”: “I don’t know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day. I don’t borrow from it’s sunshine, For it’s skies may turn to gray. I don’t worry o’er the future, For I know what Jesus said, And today I’ll walk beside Him, For He knows what is ahead.” I also remember reading her book "If I perish, I perish." As I meditated on the Bible Proverbs 27:1-6, I searched the Internet for a book titled “If I perish, I perish”, I came to think a little about the faith of Mrs. Hee-sook Ahn (Internet). At the end of Japanese colonial rule, when she was 31 years old, in 1939, when all school students went to the shrine jointly and visited the shrine, she refused to visit the shrine by showing an incision in faith that didn’t bow to any gods other than God. In addition, she delivered the ambassador of Jehovah God, ‘Japan is perishing by sulfur fire,’ at the parliamentary house during the 74th Japanese Imperial Assembly, and was arrested and imprisoned for six years in a Pyongyang prison. Not only did she personally practice the true love of the Lord in prison, but she also preached the gospel to prisoners and prison guards, and the amazing events that restored their love with God are described in “If I perish, I perish.” Interestingly, Mrs. Ahn Hee-suk, who not only wrote a book titled "If I perish, I perish," but also wrote the gospel song "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow," was released on August 17 along with 8.15 liberation, a few hours before the death penalty rally in 1945. So, she wrote “I don’t know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day ….” And we can know that she wrote this lyric of the gospel song from her experiences in life.
Do you know what will happen tomorrow? Are there any people who know what's going on in the future? The Bible Ecclesiastes 8:7 says, “Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?” The Bible says no one knows what will happen in the future. No one can tell us what will happen in the future. But when I think about the people who don't believe this word of God and go and see a fortune-tellers, who claims to know what will happen in the future, it's a foolish act. Personally, I don't think it is wise to believe that Christians who believe in Jesus go to other Christians who claim to receive the gift of prophecy and receive the prayer of prophecy. This is what Ecclesiastes 7:14 says: “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.” Obviously, the Bible says that God didn’t allow us to discover anything about our future. That is why God has made us to have both the day of prosperity and the day of adversity. For example, I think of a man named Joseph in the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 39, the Bible says that Joseph prospered because God was with him (Gen. 39:2, 3, 23). In Joseph's prosperous life, there was a temptation (vv. 7-12). And Joseph, who had fled from the temptation, was imprisoned with an unjust accusation (vv. 13-20). In other words, Joseph had not only the days of prosperity, but also the day of adversity (Eccl. 8:14). To be more precise, there were many adversities in Joseph's prosperous life even God was with him. When he was 17 years old, he was hated by his 10 older brothers and was about to be killed (Gen. 37), but was sold to the Egyptian house of Potiphar (39:1). And when he was 30, he suffered 13 years of hard work before becoming Prime Minister of Egypt. Joseph, who suffered prosperity and distress in this way, why did God allow Joseph to prosper and suffer in His sovereign will? The reason is because God wanted Joseph, who couldn't figure out the future, to believe in only Him. Then, in the end, when Joseph was 39 years old (about 22 years later), he knew God's will about why God sent him to Egypt. His will was “to save lives” (45:5), ‘to preserve the lives of Joseph’s brothers as a remnant on earth with a great deliverance (v. 7). Only God knows not only Joseph's future, but our future. Therefore, we must live by faith day by day while relying on only God.
Look at Proverbs 27:1 again: “Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.” The Bible tells us not to boast about tomorrow. The reason is because we don’t know what a day may bring forth. Nevertheless, we seem very foolish. An example is the parable of a rich man in Luke 12:16-21. The content of the parable is that a certain rich man with abundant crops in the field had no place to stock up on grain. So when he was contemplating what to do, he thought that he should break up his grain and make it larger, so that all his grain and goods should be stocked up. It's as if the world's rich, corrupt people, in addition to their legitimate bank accounts, set up a tax haven paper company to raise more and more money to satisfy their greed without paying taxes to the country. After doing so, the rich man tried to rest comfortably, eat, drink, and be happy (vv. 16-19). At that time, God said to the rich man, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (v. 20) And God said that this foolish rich man is a man who stores wealth for himself and is not rich toward God (v. 21). Another example is James 4:13-16: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.” The lesson we must learn from these verses is that we should not boast in our arrogance (v. 16). In particular, I think this word applies a lot to Christian businessmen. The lesson the Bible teaches us isn’t to boast of our riches (Ps. 49:6, Jer. 9:23) and not to rely on our own wealth (Ps. 49:6). Rather, the Bible tells us to rely on God.
The Bible says about “boast”: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord” (2 Cor. 10:17), “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (11:30). We should not boast of our strong things, we should boast of our weaknesses. And we must boast in the Lord. Look at Jeremiah 9:23-24: “This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.” We must boast of knowing God. God is pleased with this. In the midst of this, Christian entrepreneurs must make plans for doing business and making profits. But what they must not forget is that their life is always a fog that appears for a while and then disappears (Jam. 4:14). That is why the apostle James instructs us that we must have a heart attitude and habit of saying, “If the Lord's will, we will live and also do this or that” (v. 15). With this attitude of mind, we should not boast of tomorrow. The reason is because we don’t know what will happen during today (Prov. 27:1).
Second, we should not praise ourselves with our mouths.
Look at Proverbs 27:2 – “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips.” When I meditate on this word, I think of the phrase “self-praise”. It is said to be ‘a word that means to praise one's own paintings, to show that he is proud of what he has done’ (Naver dictionary). What if you and the other person you talk to keep praising himself? Do you feel that he is self-praising? Aren’t you tired of seeing and listening him praising himself? When I looked at a website, someone said, ‘I really want to say to him, Please stop. Go back to your own island, where you praise yourself’ (Internet). Then why do we praise ourselves? What is the psychology of a self-praising man? It may be because of his inferiority complex. In other words, it means that he praise himself because he feels that he is inadequate for what he has done. Outwardly, he who praises himself seems very confident, but in reality, he has more fear that other people and has more inferiority complex than anyone else. Also, if we know the psychology of the man who praises himself, it may be a reaction to hide anxiety and tenderness (Internet).
I personally think of two things when I think of the word “praise”. (1) Proverbs 27:21 says: “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives.” Another translation of the second half of this verse is translated as ‘We can know a man when we praise him.’ I think this verse is important. The reason is because I think we are very weak in people’s praise. We especially feel good and happy when we are praised by other brothers and sisters in Christ for serving the Lord's church. But there may be plenty of danger (temptation) that we will attribute to ourselves rather than to glorify God. In addition, we are in danger of serving to receive praise from people rather than serving the Lord's church to receive praise from the Lord if we are conditioned to compliment without our knowledge because of the praise of the congregation. That is why when I think of the word “praise”, I think of the words of Proverbs 27:21b, “… but man is tested by the praise he receives.” (2) I think I shouldn't be stingy in praising others. About 15 years ago, when I and my wife were living in Korea and serving the newly wedded couple group in Seohyun Church, I gave the a homework to the couples of the group to write down five things the husband wants from his wife and the wife wants from her husband. At that time, my wife and I also did that homework. So we went home and talked about five things we wanted from each other. Even though I have forgotten everything, there is one thing I still cannot forget. It was the first thing my wife wanted from me. It was “appreciation”. That much I didn’t appreciate my wife. Perhaps because of the lack of appreciation, I am sure the expression of appreciation was also stingy. When I look at myself, not only that I don't have enough expressions of gratitude, but also I don’t know how to praise my wife. That much, I am stingy with praise. The excuse I made to my wife was that as I grew up, I didn't get much praise from my father. I think the reason for that was because the elders of my father's generation had a method of nurturing their children by ‘whipping on a good running horse instead of stroking it.’ It means that instead of praising the child who does well, they pressure him to do better. So I still feel awkward when my father praises me. Perhaps the reason is because I am not used to my father’s praise. However, maybe because I grew up here in the United States, I believe that we, the Korean parents, need to praise our children like American dads. For example, when our children have done something well, it is necessary to compliment them by saying, ‘Good job!’ Then, even when they didn’t do something well, then we can say to them, ‘It’s okay. You can do better next time.' I think it’s important to encourage our children. So, I want to be a husband and father who praise my wife and my children. Particularly, in my relationship with my wife, I want to be like a husband in Proverbs 31:28 who praises his wife. Also, I want to see my three children arise in the morning and call their mother blessed. I want my family to be like this.
I still remember. When I was attending a seminary in Korea, I had a time to present a book that each person read in a practical theology class. At that time, I remember reading Pastor Dong-won Lee’s book ‘The Family Act’ and presenting it in front of the classmates. And after that, other students listened and critiqued my presentation. At that time, a classmate who was older than me said a word about my presentation, and I can't forget what he said. He said that my presentation sounded arrogant. Then he didn’t say anything about my presentation. Maybe he didn't want to. At that time, I was a little surprised. I read Pastor Dong-won Lee's book in my own way, and I wanted to share that with my classmates. So I worked hard and presented it with passion. But the first criticism was that my presentation sounded arrogant. So I lost my words. Then I can't remember what happened after that. Through that experience, I think that there was a cultural difference between I and that older classmate. From the standpoint of myself, who studied in the United States, it may not sound arrogant to present with confidence, the presentation that I prepared hard. But in his perspective who had been living in Korea, my presentation could be sounded arrogant. When I see my self still saying like this, I don’t seem to think that I announced to show off myself at the time. In other words, I didn't self-praise at that time. Maybe I was too confident to those who heard my presentation. But I would say that I was more passionate and had conviction about the book I read than my confidence. The reason is because I have a lot of interest in the family and there are many parts that relate to the contents of Pastor Dong-won Lee's book ‘The Family Act.’ But at that time, I was a little disappointed when my classmate said like that. I think the reason was because I felt that he didn’t understand my and I was misunderstood.
Look at Proverbs 27:2 – “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.” The Bible tells us not to praise ourselves with our own mouths, but let others to praise us. The first thing to think about here is that the word "praise" in Proverbs 27:2 and the word "boast" in verse 1 are the same Hebrew words. What this tells us is a lesson that not only should we boast of tomorrow (verse 1), but we should not boast (praise) ourselves with our mouths. Why can't we praise ourselves with our mouths? I looked for the reason in 2 Corinthians 10:12 – “We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” The reason we shouldn't praise ourselves with our mouths is because it is an unwise act as evaluating ourselves according to the standards we set. Yet another lesson that this word gives us is the lesson to make others boast (praise) us. That means we should be Christians who are praised by others. The reason I think so is because when I look at Proverbs 27:2, it says repeatedly twice “Let another praise you … someone else (praise you).
We must be praised by the church (2 Cor. 8:18). Also, we must be those who are praised by the Lord's servants (1 Cor. 11:2). In particular, the church officers should be godly people (Acts 22:12) and should be praised by the congregation. Also, they should be like the seven deacons in Acts 6 full of the Spirit and wisdom, praised by the church members (Acts 6:3). We must have (pure) faith (or disciplined faith) that can be praised not only by the people of the church but also by Jesus Christ who will appear in the future (1 Pet. 1:7). This is what 2 Corinthians 10:18 says: “Those who praise themselves are not accepted. Those the Lord praises are accepted” (NIRV). May we all be those who praise ourselves, not those whom the Lord approves, those whom the Lord praises.
Third, we should not be foolishly angry.
Look at Proverbs 27:3 – “Stones are heavy, and sand weighs a lot. But letting a foolish person make you angry is a heavier load than both of them” (NIRV). Personally, when I meditate on this word, I think about the words in the Book of Proverbs about “anger” that we have already meditated on. See, for example, Proverbs 12:16 – “A fool's anger is known at once, But a prudent man conceals dishonor.” Also, look at Proverbs 15:1 – “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” In addition to these words, when I think about “anger” Proverbs 17:12 comes to my mind: “Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.” Can you imagine that you meet a female bear whose cubs have been stolen?
In the movie “The Revenant” (the one who returned from death) starring DiCaprio, who received the Best Actor Award at the 2016 Oscars, there was a scene of a bear attacking DiCaprio to protect his cub. How frightening and fiercely the bear attacks DiCaprio, he was almost killed. Look at Hosea 13:8 – “I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs, And I will tear open their chests; There I will also devour them like a lioness, As a wild beast would tear them.” What a terrifying word of God? How terrifying is this saying that God will meet the Israelites like a lost bear, tear their heartaches and swallow them? Nevertheless, Proverbs 17:12 says that it is better to meet the bear robbed of her cubs than to meet the fool in his folly. What is the reason? The reason is because the fool is more dangerous than the bear whose cubs are being robbed. How is the fool more dangerous than the bear whose cubs have been robbed? This is because, according to Pastor John MacArthur, the fool is less rational in anger than wild bears (MacArthur). Can you imagine? Can you imagine a foolish person irrationally showing anger immediately (Prov. 12:16)? The foolish man not only irrationally expresses anger right away, but he also kills the other person after holding it in anger with perverse thoughts for a long time. For example, we take Absalom the son of David in 2 Samuel 13. He continued his anger for two years to kill Amnon, who raped his sister. In this way, if a man holds anger for a long time, he will surely commit a sin (Park).
Look at Proverbs 27:3 again – “Stones are heavy, and sand weighs a lot. But letting a foolish person make you angry is a heavier load than both of them” (NIRV). What does it mean? It means that a person with anger makes the other person unpleasant and intolerable for a long time. This is especially the anger of the fool (Park). The Bible says that it is better to carry a heavy stone or a heavy sand bag than to suffer unbearable suffering from such an angry foolish person. It means that the suffering that the angry fool gives us is heavier than stone or sand. So, who wants to meet such an angry fool. Therefore, we must not meet the fool who is angry. At all, we should not get close to such fool. The reason is because the fool pleasures in evil conduct (10:23). And the fool who pleasures in evil conduct strives for rebellion against the word of God. Such a fool only harms others. So we should not only be close to him, nor should we meet him.
Fourth, we should not be jealous.
Look at Proverbs 27:4 – “Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?” Personally, when I meditate on this word, I think of King Saul. First of all, when I think of King Saul's anger, I think of 1 Samuel 20:30-31: “Saul's anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, "You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don't I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he must die!” The background of these words is that when King Saul tried to kill David (v. 1), Jonathan, the son of King Saul, said to David “Whatever you want me to do, I'll do for you” (v. 4) since he loved David as he loved himself (v. 17). So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon festival, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. If your father misses me at all, tell him, 'David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.' If he says, 'Very well,' then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me” (vv. 5-7). And when it was the first day, when King Saul sat down and ate, David's seat was empty (v. 25), but King Saul didn't say anything (v. 26). But the next day, David's seat was still empty, so Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn't the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?” (v. 27) Then he answered Jonathan's father, King Saul: “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. He said, 'Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.' That is why he has not come to the king's table” (vv. 28-29). When King Saul heard that, he was very angry. Then he said to his son Jonathan, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don't I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?” (v. 30)
Look at Proverbs 27:4 again: “Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?” In this way, anger is cruel and destructive as it is said in Proverbs 27:4. However, the Bible says that such cruel and destructive anger is nothing compared to jealousy. I think the Bible speaks of two kinds of jealousy:
(1) The first kind of jealousy is a good jealousy that we Christians should have. That jealousy is God's jealousy.
A good example is God's jealousy of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the grandson of Aaron the priest. In Numbers 25:11, there is a scene where God repeatedly tells Moses that Phinehas was jealous with “My jealousy.” When the Israelites stayed at Shittim, they not only played the harlot with the Moabite women (v. 1), but they also ate and bowed down to their gods when they were invited to the sacrifices of their gods (v. 2). When “Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor” the Lord was angry against Israel (v. 3). As a result, the heads of the leaders of the Israelites were hung in broad daylight before God (v. 4), and 24,000 of the Israelites were killed by the plague (v. 9). Therefore, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel was weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting (v. 6). At that time, one of the sons of Israel (v. 6), Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s household among the Simeonites (v. 14), came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman (v. 6), Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian (v. 15), in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel (v. 6). Seeing this, with God's jealousy, Phinehas rose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after Zimri into the tent and pierced both Zimri and Cozbi through the body and killed both of them (vv. 7-8). As a result, God did not destroy the sons of Israel because He turned away His wrath (v. 11). This jealousy of Phinehas was came from heaven (Jam. 3:17) and it is biblical and worthy of God.
We must also have the jealousy of God that Phinehas had. And we must be jealous with God's jealousy. For example, the husband should be jealous in protecting his wife. In the book "Reformed Marriage," the author Douglas Wilson said six things about the husband's duties. Regarding the third duty, he says: ‘Husbands must be jealous and also protect their wives’ (Ex. 34:14). The husband's jealousy here refers to godly jealousy that should not be mixed with sin.
(2) The second kind of jealousy is a bad (sinful) jealousy that we Christians should not have and should avoid. That jealousy is murderous jealousy.
A good example is the murderous jealousy of King Saul. In 1 Samuel 18:9, King Saul says that he saw David, who was after God’s own heart, with jealous eye. The Korean Bible says, ‘He paid attention,’ but in the New International Version (NIV) of the English Bible, it says, “Saul kept a jealous eye on David.” The word's verb in the original Hebrew language means ‘to watch with jealousy eye’ according to The New Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words. Why did Saul see David with jealous eye? The reason was that when the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine Goliath, the women came out of from all the towns of Israel (v. 6) and sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (v. 7) and then Saul was very angry (v. 8). So King Saul said: “They have credited David with tens of thousands, … but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” (v. 8) “And from that time on Saul kept a jealous ey on David” (v. 9). Think about it. Imagine that King Saul, who was the main character of the drama, but David, the shepherd, who was not even a supporting actor became the main character because he killed Goliath, and received attention and loved by everyone. That is how David became noticed and loved by everyone. Saul's son Jonathan also loved David as himself (vv. 1, 3), and Saul's daughter Michal (vv. 20, 28) and all the people of Israel and Judah also loved David (v. 16). So what was Saul's heart like? In particular, Saul, who saw that God left him and was with David (vv. 12, 14, 28), saw David continually with jealous eyes because “an evil spirit from God came mightily upon him (v. 10). What is scary was that Saul, who looked at David with jealous eyes, eventually tried to kill David. He threw a spear in his hand at David when David was playing the harp with his hand in order to pin David to the wall (vv. 10-11). Although he failed, Saul continued to try to kill David from then on. In this way, jealousy can lead to even the sin of murder. In the end, Saul saw and knew that God was with David, so he “was even more afraid of David” and Saul was David’s enemy continually (v. 29). He tried to kill David all his life. However, as we know, David became king of Israel because God was with him, and King Saul died in war. Saul, who was jealous and tried to kill David, was rather killed. This is the end of sinful jealousy.
Therefore, we must listen to the words of Proverbs 27:4 – “Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?” Of course, when comparing anger and jealousy, this is saying that jealousy is crueler and more destructive than anger. But I thought about anger in relation to jealousy. The thought of doing so is that an angry person may not be jealous, but a jealous person can be angry. Therefore, I think jealousy is more dangerous than anger. Look at Proverbs 6:34 – “For jealousy enrages a man, And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.” From this word, we can see that a jealous husband is angry. And such husband avenges. And in fact, we sometimes hear in the news that a jealous and angry husband revenges. So Song of Songs 8:6 says, “… Jealousy is as severe as Sheol; Its flashes are flashes of fire, The very flame of the LORD.”
How can we overcome a sinful jealousy that Saul had? I looked for the answer in Psalms 73. When Asaph the psalmist saw the prosperity of the wicked, he was jealous of the arrogant (v. 3) and his steps had almost slipped (v. 2). But he overcame jealousy by realizing the end of the arrogant when he went into the sanctuary of God (v. 17). That is, when Asaph realized how holy and just God would judge the wicked when he put his eyes on God (vv. 17-20), and when he realized that there was no one on earth that he desired beside the Lord (v. 25) he overcame the sinful jealousy. This is it. We should not look at people with the eyes of sinful and murderous jealousy. But we should see only the Lord with the eyes of God's jealousy. Then we can overcome the worldly, lustful, demonic jealousy that permeates our hearts. We will win because God is watching us with His jealous eyes, neither slumber nor sleep.
Fifth and last, we should rebuke in love.
Look at Proverbs 27:5-6: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” Personally, whenever I meditate on the words of Proverbs 27:5-6, I feel a little worried and even feel guilty. The reason is because even though the Bible says that “Better is open rebuke than hidden love,” I haven’t been able to obey His word, and I am still not able to keep this word right now. Since I can't even do hidden love properly, I also cannot rebuke in love. So every time I encounter this word, I worry and feel remorse. Especially in the pastoral ministry, I still see myself disobeying this word when I think about the time when I should have obeyed God's word and rebuke in love if I truly love the flock that God has entrusted to me. Even after seeing it, I still think that they would not have listened even when I had rebuked them in love. However, I also think that God wanted me to rebuke them in love whether they listen or not. Like this, every time I deal with Proverbs 27:5-6, I worry. In the midst of this worry, I desire to seek one word of rebuke in love than ten thousands words of praise without heart. I don't want to listen to the word that is like a kiss on the lips by people around me when I'm committing a sin outside the bounds of the written word of God. Also, I would like to be a person who prefers a friend who rebukes me in love for my sins in order to make me walk the right path than a friend who expresses love by just covering up my sins. Isn't this a friend sharpens me like iron sharpens iron (v. 17)?
Look at Proverbs 27:5-6 again: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” In another Korean Bible translation, it is translated as better to rebuke face to face than hidden love. Who do you think of a person who rebuke face to face in the Bible? I remember the prophet Nathan who rebuked King David face to face. This biblical story we are familiar with is the words of the prophet Nathan rebuking King David for his sins. King David slept with Bath-sheba, Uriah's wife. And knowing that she was conceived, he tried to cover up his sin, and eventually committed the murder of his loyal soldier Uriah. Because David had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord (1 Sam. 11:27), God sent the prophet Nathan to David to rebuke him for taking the wife of Uriah by the parable of the rich and the poor in a city (12:1- 4). “Then David's anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, ‘As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die’” (v. 5). David didn't know that he was “the one who ought to die maybe because he even covered up his conscience when he tried to cover up his sins. At that time, the Prophet Nathan rebuked David directly: “You are the man! ... ” (v. 7). What a shocking rebuke this was? David himself apparently didn’t think that he was the man who deserved to die. How surprised it would have been when the prophet Nathan rebuked him, saying, “You are the man!”? Wouldn't our conscience be shocked when the holy God reveals that the things we have done are sin when we don’t consider sin as a sin?
There is a similar word in Ecclesiastes 7:5 – “It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man Than for one to listen to the song of fools.” Here, King Solomon's “song of fools” refers to ‘the false consolation of the wicked’ (Park). Now King Solomon is telling us to guard against the false comforts of the wicked. Why should we guard against the false comforts of the wicked? King Solomon tells the reason why in Ecclesiastes 7:6 – “For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool; And this too is futility.” In a word, the reason why we must guard against the song of fools, the false comfort of the wicked, is because it is futility. That futility is what King Solomon said, it is like the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot. What does it mean? What do you think of “the crackling of thorn bushes”? When a thorn bushes burns, doesn't it make a loud noise? But, can't it get the heat to boil water in the pot? In this word, “the thorn bushes” often refers to the wicked (2 Sam. 23:6; Na. 1:10) (Jamieson). King Solomon is saying that the false comforting sound of the wicked while enjoying the physical pleasures seems to be comforting for a moment, but it will soon disappear. There is no comfort. In a word, it means that the comfort of the wicked is meaningless. Therefore, King Solomon teaches us that what we need to hear is not the song of the fool, but the rebuke of the wise. The lesson that King Solomon wants to give us through this word is that the whipping of the wise is better than the praise (encouragement) of the fool.
Have you ever rebuked a person face to face? What we're used to, I think, is to have a hidden love rather than to rebuke the person face to face. However, the Bible says that it is better to rebuke face to face than hidden love. What is the reason? Look at Proverbs 27:6 – “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” The reason why it is better to rebuke face-to-face than hidden love is because even though it hurts our hearts when our friend rebukes us face to face, that wound is trustworthy (v. 6). The Bible says that this is better than the false kiss of the enemy. What is the reason? The reason is because our enemy hates us and tries to break us down, even through false kisses, while our friends whom we love tries to build us up with sincere rebuke. We need to know that our friend rebukes us because he loves us. And we must know that the wound of the heart that come from our friend’s rebuke in love is good for us. Even this beneficial wound we should be able to give to our friend through loving rebuke. Then we will be able to sharpen our friend. A wise person humbly listens to the rebuke of his beloved friend and uses it as an opportunity to further develop himself and become more and more like the Lord. May we all become such wise people of the Lord.
We have thought of five things based on Proverbs 27:1-6: (1) We should not boast about tomorrow (v. 1), (2) We should not praise ourselves with our mouths (v. 2). (3) We should not be foolishly angry (v. 3). (4) We should not be jealous (v. 4). (5) We should rebuke in love (vv. 5-6). Like these instructions, let us not boast about tomorrow, let us not praise ourselves with our mouths, let us not be foolishly angry, let us not be jealous and let us rebuke in love.