“A man who loves wisdom”
[Proverbs 29:1-5]
Personally I am asking God for a certain power. That power is the power of the word of God and the power of love. However, as I continued to meditate on the books of wisdom in the Bible, I began to long for another power. That power is “the power of wisdom.” The motive for asking God for the power of wisdom was that as I have meditated on the books of wisdom, I have been forced to ask God for wisdom because the words of God has been exposing my own folly. In particular, one of the reasons I long for the power of wisdom is to hate evil. In other words, one of the reasons I ask God for the power of wisdom is because I hate evil that God hates, and I love good that God loves more and more.
When we look at Proverbs 29:3a, this is what the Bible says: “A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, …” Focusing on this verse, under the title “A man who loves wisdom,” I would like to receive the lessons from the man who loves wisdom by meditating on what or whom they long for in three ways.
First, the man who loves wisdom desires reproof rather than flattery.
Look at Proverbs 29:1, 5: “A man who hardens his neck after much reproof Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy. … A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps.” Do you like to hear reproof or flattery? If you know that he who flatters you lie only in front of you to please you for his own benefit, to get what he wants, would you still want to hear his flattery over and over? Or, although you may feel bad at the time you hear the rebuke, if you know that the person loves you and is rebuking you for your sake (to build you up), would you rather listen to that person's rebuke?
We've already meditated on the words of Proverbs 28:23, “He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor Than he who flatters with the tongue.” This verse exhorts us to be “He who rebukes a man”. Why? The reason is because he who rebukes others will afterward find more favor (v. 23). But in reality, our instinct is to want to be favored more now than to be favored more later. And the way we are now more favored by the others is to flatter in order to please them, rather than rebuke them for their sin. The Bible Proverbs 29:5 says, “A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps.” Here, the word ‘flatters’ his neighbor means to say a smooth thing to the neighbor. And it is to speak in a pleasant way to fit the sinful nature of the other person (Park). A good example of this is the 400 false prophets who flattered Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, in 1 Kings 22. At that time, King Ahab told King Jehoshaphat of Judah to go with him to Ramoth Gilead to fight the Aram (v. 4). At that time, King Jehoshaphat asked King Ahab to first seek the counsel of the Lord (v. 5). So King Ahab gathered about 400 prophets and asked them, “hall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?” (v. 6) Then the prophets flattered King Ahab, saying, ‘Go, for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand’ (v. 6). Another example is that during the time of the prophet Jeremiah, false prophets made a false prophecy that were pleasing to the ears of the people of Israel. The false prophecy was that “Peace, peace … when there is no peace” (Jere. 6:14; 8:11). How could there be peace for the people of Israel, who were sinning and had not repented? It was the false prophecy of the false prophets and the lie to the ears of the people of Israel. Why were the false prophets so flattering? Why did they speak pleasantly to King Ahab or to the people of Israel? The reason was because King Ahab and the people of Israel, who were listening to the pleasant sound, were sinning, so their sinful nature and the flattery of the false prophets matched their sinful will and interests.
To flatter people like this is to spread a net for one's feet (Prov. 29:5). What does it mean? Why do hunters spread their nets? Aren't they doing this to catch the animals they hunt? The saying that a man who flatters his neighbor spreads the net at his own feet, even though it may not seem like a problem at first when he flatters his neighbor. Eventually he gets caught in the net. In a word, “a flattering mouth works ruin” (26:28). In Jeremiah 9:8, the Bible says this: “Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks with deceit. With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.” The flatterer's tongue is like a deadly arrow. The flatterer always lies with his mouth. He speaks kindly to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he sets a trap to catch him. Such a flatterer speaks lies with a double heart (Ps. 12:2). Therefore, we must be wary of the double-minded people and those who flatter us. The wise are wary of flatterers. Of course, first of all, we ourselves must never, like the apostle Paul, use flattery (1 Thess. 2:5). In particular, we must not flatter others for our own advantage (Jude 1:16). Flatterers, whom we should be wary of, deceive the minds of naïve people with smooth talk and flattery (Rom. 16:18). They never speak the truth. They even cleverly mix truth and lies and flatter us, making us to go astray and sin in our pride. Therefore, we must refuse to listen to flattery, but be quick to hear the rebuke of those who reprove us out of love (Prov. 28:23). Those who long for wisdom desire reproof rather than flattery.
However, the problem is, as in the words of Proverbs 29:1, we harden our necks even after much reproof. Here, a person who hardens his neck refers to a very stubborn person. Such a person has an unteachable spirit (MacArthur) that is he is difficult to teach. Who can you think of in the Bible of such a very stubborn and stiff-necked person? It reminds me of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, from the book of Exodus. Until God gave ten plagues, King Pharaoh hardened his heart and insisted on his own will instead of listening to God's words through Moses and Aaron. He didn’t let the Israelites go. Then, after receiving the 10th plague, his stubbornness was broken and he sent the Israelites out of Egypt according to God's word. But, besides this king, when I think of a very stubborn man in the Bible, I also think of the prophet Jonah. When God saw the deeds of the people of Nineveh, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them (Jon. 3:10). But the prophet Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry (4:1) and he wanted to die (v. 3). The reason was because Jonah insisted on his will, even though God relented. What was Jonah’s will? It was “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (3:4). That was why “Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city” (4:5). What did Jonah expect? It was the fall of the city of Nineveh (3:4).
We must be very wary of hardening our hearts. In order to do that, we must soften our hearts by diligently cultivating our hearts as we break up our unplowed ground. Also we must melt and break our hearts with the word of God, which is like a fire and a hammer. We must soften our hearts by piercing our hearts with the word of God, the sword of the Spirit. That is why we should listen with humble learning attitude to the words of those who rebuke us with love and soften our hearts. This is the attitude of those who long for wisdom. In particular, we should humbly hear the Lord rebuking our iniquities (Ps. 39:11). When the Lord rebukes us and reveals our sins before our eyes, we must accept them with humility (50:21). Therefore, I hope and pray that we will all have the grace to confess and repent our sins by going to God by relying on the blood of Jesus on the cross.
Second, the man who loves wisdom desires justice rather than bribes.
Not long ago, I met a colleague from college and we had a meal together. And I saw him lamenting, saying, ‘These days, the world seems to be all about money and power.’ I think maybe that colleague isn't the only one who laments like that. Many people seem to think that when they look at the world, they can live for their own benefit as long as they have money and power. And they would think that if they had money and power, they could make a mistake and get out without punishment. How can you get out? One of those methods is probably a bribe. For example, if a judge is supposed to give a fair trial, what will happen to that trial if he shows partiality? (28:21) He will never make a right judgment. But why is that happening in court today? The reason is ‘bribery’.
There seem to be more people in this world who have the idea that money is everything. They seem to believe that money is power. So they are willing to pay bribes to fulfill their selfish ends and ambitions. An example is found in Ezra 4. When the Israelites who returned to their homeland of Judah after their captivity in Babylon tried to rebuild the temple of God, the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard the news (v. 1) and came to Zerubbabel and other Jewish leaders (v. 2). They told Zerubbabel and the Jewish leaders to let them also build the temple with the people of Judah (v. 2), but Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and other leaders refused: “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, …” (v. 3). From that time on, “the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building” (v. 4). One of the ways they hindered the building of the temple was bribery (v. 5). “They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia” (v. 5). In Nehemiah 6, Tobiah and Sanballat, enemies of the people of Judah, bribed Shemaiah to prophesize falsely against Nehemiah (v. 12). The content of the prophecy is, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you--by night they are coming to kill you” (v. 10). Upon hearing this, Nehemiah replied to Shemaiah, “Should a man like me run away? Or should one like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” (v. 11) Nehemiah then learned that Shemaiah had not received the word of God, but had received a bribe from Tobiah and Sanballat and had prophesied this thing to him (v. 12). Why did Tobiah and Sanballat, who opposed the people of Judah, bribe Shemaiah to prophesize falsely? Look at Nehemiah 6:13 – “He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.” Ultimately, the purpose of the bribe was to frighten Nehemiah, the leader of the people of Judah, to sin against God.
Look at Proverbs 29:2, 4: “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan. … By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down.” What would happen if politicians in power imposed bribes on citizens? What will happen to this country if its leaders, especially the president, force people to bribe? Today's Bible says that the one who is greedy for bribes tears the country down (v. 4). Actually, as in the second half of verse 2, among many nations in this world, aren't there leaders (presidents, kings) who have the power of the wicked to rule over the country and force people to pay bribes? (v. 4) What are such evil leaders if they aren’t ruining their own country (v. 4), and what will the citizens think when they see the leaders of their own country ruining their own country? Won’t they groan as verse 2 says? In Ecclesiastes 7:7, the Bible says, “Extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.” Just imagine. If the heart of a bribed king or president is corrupted, will such a leader be able to rule his country properly? Rather, such a king will oppress the poor citizens with his corrupt heart. In the days of the prophet Amos, the judges took bribes to oppress the poor (Amos 5:12). If this is happening in court because of a corrupt judge, what do you think will happen in that country because of a corrupt president? Wouldn't that corrupt president take bribes from the wicked rich and despise and oppress the poor? So, in Proverbs 29:2b, 4b, the Bible says this: “…when the wicked rule, the people groan. … but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down.” On the contrary, as Proverbs 29:2a, 4a says, “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice … By justice a king gives a country stability ….” Here I am taught that those who long for wisdom that pleases our Heavenly Father (v. 3) don’t long for bribes, but for justice (v. 4). In fact, it is no different from the time in which the writer of Proverbs lived and now, there was a time when evil men forced to pay bribes took power, and there were times when righteous leaders who fortified the nation with justice took power.
I think there are always these two kinds of leaders. Of course, our desire is that the leaders of this country we live in aren’t evil people who bribe or force us to pay, but that they are all righteous people who strengthen the country with justice. However, when I see the politicians who are the leaders of our country taking bribes and being punished on the news often, I can't shake the thought that real money can deceive people and make them commit crimes. Look at Proverbs 17:8 – “A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it; wherever he turns, he succeeds.” It seems that there are people in the real world who treat bribes like a magic wand. Some people seem to believe that they can do anything with a bribe. These people hate to do justice (21:7). But we must yearn for and love justice. Rather, we should hate bribes. We must put aside the false belief that we can do anything with the bribe. And we must neither give nor accept bribes. I think the society we are living in now is a society where justice isn’t enforced like the society that the prophet Habakkuk lived in. Look at Habakkuk 1:4 – “Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.” The prophet Habakkuk appeals to God, but complains that a just God doesn’t punish the wicked. The complaint is that the law is paralyzed and justice never prevails. Because the law was ignored and paralyzed, there was no justice at all. Because the wicked hem in the righteous, justice is perverted. Since there were more wicked than the righteous, and so many wicked people surrounded the righteous, injustice was prevailing. But the really serious problem is that justice aren’t practiced even in the church. A quick share of what I wrote last December: ‘When justice isn’t done in the church, the righteous souls will be deeply wounded and will suffer heartbreak. Then the righteous Judge and Head of the Church, the Lord, will rebuke, warn, and lovingly discipline the Church. Before receiving that discipline, we must take the Lord's rebukes and warnings seriously in the fear of God.’ We must take this matter seriously and do justice and righteous before the Lord disciplines us. The reason is that our God is the God who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth (Jere. 9:24).
When we pray for our nation's leaders, let's pray that they can become leaders who do justice and righteousness like God. When our leaders do justice and righteousness, our nation can be established (Prov. 29:4). Then our citizens can rejoice (v. 2). Even though the number of the wicked increases and surrounds the righteous, and it becomes a nation where justice is perverted, let us continue to cry out to God like the prophet Habakkuk. At that time, God answered Habakkuk's prayer, saying, "The righteous shall live by his faith" (Hab. 2:4). Let's not forget that God who answers our prayers wants us to live only by faith in Him. Even if this society ignores laws and no justice is enforced at all, by faith in God who does justice and righteousness, we pray that we may all be those who please God by doing justice and righteousness (21: 3).
Third and last, the man who loves wisdom desire God the Father rather than prostitutes.
Now in the US, the “Me Too movement” continues. Here, the “Me Too movement” is a movement in which people who have been sexually assaulted break their silence and expose “Me Too”, saying, ‘I suffered like this too’. On December 6, 2017, the American weekly magazine Time magazine selected ‘Silence Breakers’ as Person of the Year. These are a large number of unspecified women who participated in the “Me Too” movement and exposed sexual violence by influential people, saying, ‘I suffered like this too.’ When selecting them as Person of the Year, he explained that from the first molestation accuser against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, to the many people who shared their stories of harm using 'Me Too', especially women. The New York Times reported on the ‘Weinstein Scandal’ in early October. Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein allegedly sexually harassed dozens of women. Afterwards, famous celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Lady Gaga followed, and in the end, Weinstein was kicked out of his film studio. Actress Alyssa Milano started the "Me Too" campaign, where women who were sexually assaulted after the "Weinstein scandal" reported their experiences by adding a hashtag to "Me Too", meaning ‘I was also a victim’ on social media. This campaign sparked a ‘sexual assault accusation craze’ throughout American society, and millions of sexual assault victims were exposed and reported in various fields, including politics, business, labor, and the media, beyond the film industry (Internet).
Why have there been so many millions of victims of sexual violence? Victims of sexual violence like this will continue to happen now and in the future. What could be the causes?
(1) I think the cause is “the lust of the eyes” (1 Jn. 2:16).
Satan is stimulating the lusts of our eyes to become sexually sinful. Satan arouses greed within us and makes us covet other women too much. If we succumb to Satan's temptations, we are drawn to the lust of the eyes to look at a woman other than our wives. But our eyes aren’t satisfied with how many women we see. Look at Ecclesiastes 1:8 – “All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.” Because the lust of the eyes cannot be satisfied, we covet another woman by looking at her over and over again.
(2) I think the cause is “the cravings of sinful man” (1 Jn. 2:16).
Satan tempts our fleshly lusts into sexual sin. Satan makes us covet women other than our wives. Satan is always dissatisfied with our wife's breasts and makes us not to be captivated by her love (Prov. 5:19). As a result, Satan compels us to commit sexual offenses such as molestation, sexual assault, and rape. Greed is the cause of our infidelity. Greed aren’t satisfied (Isa. 56:11). Therefore, greed makes us dissatisfied with our wives (Prov. 5:19) and makes us covet our neighbor's wives (Exod. 29:17). The desires of the flesh on this earth eventually lead to sexual sin through fornication, impurity, lust, evil desire, and excessive greed (Coloss.3:5).
(3) I think the cause is ‘foolishness’.
A good example of this is “a youth who lacked judgment” or a fool in Proverbs 7. That fool is one who has fallen into the temptation of the seductive words of the adulteress (v. 5). How did Satan tempt this fool? I thought of three things:
(a) Satan tempts the youth who lacks judgement to walk along in the direction of the adulteress’ house.
Look at Proverbs 7:8 – “He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house.” When the fool was going down the street near the adulteress’ corner (7:8), he shouldn’t set his foot on that path and walk in that way. Rather he should turn away from that path and left (4:15). But the foolish young man didn’t turn away from the adulteress’ path. Rather he walked closer to the corner of her street and walked along in the direction of her house (7:8). When the sun sets and twilight, as the dark of night set in, the foolish youth walked along in the direction of the adulteress’ house (v. 9). Why did the young man walk in the direction of the adulteress’ house during the dark night, not broad daylight? It was because he didn’t want anyone to see him. In other words, the foolish young man went secretly to the adulteress in the deep night to hide his actions from others (Park).
(b) The adulteress comes out and greets the youth who lacks judgement with hidden intentions.
Look at Proverbs 7:10 – “Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.” When the foolish young man without wisdom fell into the Satan’s temptation and passed through the street in the twilight, in the evening, in the middle of night and in the darkness and went near to the adulteress’ corner and took the way to her house (vv. 8-9). She dressed as a harlot and greeted the foolish young man with cunning of heart (v. 10). The cunning adulteress hid her true intentions in meeting the foolish young man who lacked judgment. In fact, the literal meaning of the original Hebrew word ‘to be cunning’ here is ‘hidden’ (MacArthur). What was her hidden intention? Look at Proverbs 23:27-28: “For a harlot is a deep pit And an adulterous woman is a narrow well. Surely she lurks as a robber, And increases the faithless among men.” The hidden intention of the adulteress in greeting the foolish young man in dressing like the prostitute was to set a trap and render him faithless in marriage. In other words, the adulteress’ hidden intention is to force many married men to break what they had promised at marriage (Park).
(c) The adulteress seduces the youth who lacks judgement with her flattering lips.
Look at Proverbs 7:21 – “With her many persuasions she entices him; With her flattering lips she seduces him.” How the adulteress seduces and corrupts the young man who lacks judgement:
(c1) The adulteress seduces the young foolish man by being seen.
Look at Proverbs 7:10 – “And behold, a woman comes to meet him, Dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.” When the Bible says the adulteress ‘dressed as a harlot’, it means in these days that the adulteress is dressed like a prostitute. It seems that prostitutes wear clothes seductively and the exposure is severe. But they are dressed enough to sexually stimulate the lust of men’s eyes and the lust of their flesh. I think it's really stimulating to seduce foolish men.
(c2) The adulteress seduces the young foolish man by touching.
Look at Proverbs 7:13 – “So she seizes him and kisses him ….” Can you imagine a heavily exposed prostitute rushing at the foolish young man, squeezing him tight with her arms and kissing him with her lips? At that time, the foolish young man would have already felt sexual excitement visually when he saw the adulteress’ clothes worn like a prostitute. But if he was held by here and even was kissed by her, then he would have had to feel sexual impulse at that time. This cunning adulteress even uses physical contact in seducing the foolish young man who lacks judgement. If the adulteress touches and even kisses the foolish young man, how can it not sexually arouse the young man?
(c3) The adulteress seduces the young foolish man by being heard.
In other words, in seducing the foolish young man, the adulteress seduces "with persuasive words" and "with her smooth talk" (v. 21). I think that women are the same, but especially men seem to have weak sense of sight, of touch and of hearing. In other words, when a man is seduced by a woman, he may be tempted not only because he sees a woman's body, or he may be seduced through skinship, but he can also be tempted by listening to what the woman says.
Look at Proverbs 29:3 – “A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.” The Bible tells us that he who is a companion of prostitutes squander his wealth. In other words, he who hangs out with a prostitute is wasting his fortune. And if the wealth belongs to the father, how would the father feel if his foolish son wasted and lost his property by dating a prostitute? He will never be happy. The parable of the prodigal son of Jesus in Luke 15 of the Bible comes to mind. A man had two sons (Lk. 15:11) and his second son received his portion from his father and went to a distant country, where he led a prodigal life, squandering all that he had received from his father (v. 13). In the end, the prodigal son used up all he had, and a great famine came in the country. And he began to be in need (v. 14). He was starving to death (v. 17). If the father of the prodigal son had known about this, how would he have felt? Therefore, the Bible advises not to be a companion of prostitutes (Prov. 29:3). We must not long for the prostitute. Rather, the Bible exhorts us to love wisdom (v. 3). We have already thought about a person who loves for wisdom is based on the words of Proverbs 29:1-5. That is, we have been taught that he who loves wisdom not only desires reproof rather than flattery (vv. 1, 5), but also desires justice rather than bribes (vv. 2, 4). It is said that those who love wisdom make their father happy (v. 3). In Proverbs 27:11, the Bible says, “Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart; ….” According to this word, when we become wise people, we can make Heavenly Father's heart rejoice. Why does a man who loves wisdom please his father? I have thought of three reasons for this: (1) The man who loves wisdom pleases his Father God by fearing Him and hate evil (8:13). (2) The man who loves wisdom pleases his Father God by obeying His word (3:1, 3). (3) The man who loves wisdom pleases his Father God by experiencing His love through His discipline (3:11-12).
Let us all become those who love wisdom that pleases our Heavenly Father. Let us desire reproof rather than flattery, and justice rather than bribe. Let us be those who love wisdom who desire God the Father rather than prostitutes, and please Him.