Proverbs 24:13-22

TEXT Proverbs 24:13-22

13.

My son, eat thou honey, for it is good;

And the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to thy taste:

14.

So shalt thou know wisdom to be unto thy soul;

If thou hast found it, then shall there be a reward,
And thy hope shall not be cut off.

15.

Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous;

Destroy not his resting-place.

16.

For a righteous man falleth seven times, and riseth up again;

But the wicked are overthrown by calamity.

17.

Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth,

And let not thy heart be glad when he is overthrown;

18.

Lest Jehovah see it, and it displease him,

And he turn away his wrath from him.

19.

Fret not thyself because of evildoers;

Neither be thou envious at the wicked:

20.

For there shall be no reward to the evil man;

The lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

21.

My son, fear thou Jehovah and the king;

And company not with them that are given to change:

22.

For their calamity shall rise suddenly;

And the destruction from them both, who knoweth it?

STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 24:13-22

1.

Why give this instruction (Proverbs 24:13)?

2.

Is Proverbs 24:14 connected with Proverbs 24:13?

3.

Is the righteous aware at the first of such lying in wait for him (Proverbs 24:15)?

4.

Does down necessarily mean out for the righteous man (Proverbs 24:16)?

5.

How was David a good example of Proverbs 24:17?

6.

What all does God see (Proverbs 24:18)?

7.

What previous verse in this chapter is similar to Proverbs 24:19?

8.

What are the prospects for the evil man (Proverbs 24:20)?

9.

What two sovereigns are mentioned in Proverbs 24:21?

10.

What kind of change does Proverbs 24:21 have in mind?

11.

What is the meaning of the second clause in Proverbs 24:22?

PARAPHRASE OF 24:13-22

13, 14.

My son, honey whets the appetite, and so does wisdom! When you enjoy becoming wise, there is hope for you! A bright future lies ahead!

15, 1

O evil man, leave the upright man alone, and quit trying to cheat him out of his rights. Don-'t you know that this good man, though you trip him up seven times, will each time rise again? But one calamity is enough to lay you low.

17, 18.

Do not rejoice when your enemy meets trouble. Let there be no gladness when he fallsfor the Lord may be displeased with you and stop punishing him!

19, 20.

Don-'t envy the wicked. Don-'t covet his riches. For the evil man has no future; his light will be snuffed out.

21, 22.

My son, watch your step before the Lord and the king, and don-'t associate with radicals. For you will go down with them to sudden disaster, and who knows where it all will end?

COMMENTS ON 24:13-22

Proverbs 24:13. The people of that day depended upon honey for their sweetening, and a good sweetener it was! Its properties are still highly acclaimed by health-people. Palestine was a land with an abundance of natural honey (Exodus 3:8).

Proverbs 24:14. The father would urge his son to seek, find, and know wisdom with the same eagerness with which he enjoyed the sweetness of honey. The sweetness of the wisdom found in the Word of God is compared with the sweetness of honey: Psalms 19:10; Psalms 119:103. The ending of this verse is much like Proverbs 23:18. It shows the great reward and the hopeful life that wisdom brings to its possessor.

Proverbs 24:15. The wicked are described as lying in wait for the righteous, seeking his ruination (Psalms 37:32). Whoever does this qualifies for the title wicked man used here. Every persecutor of the righteous would be included in what is said here.

Proverbs 24:16. The righteous will have many trials, but he will prevail through the special help of God. Notice these interesting verses: Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But Jehovah delivereth him out of them all (Psalms 34:19); Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For Jehovah upholdeth him with his hand (Psalms 37:24); Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, Jehovah will be a light unto me (Micah 7:8); He will deliver thee in six troubles; Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee (Job 5:19). In other words, as our expressions go, you can-'t keep a good man down; he may be down, but he isn-'t out. But notice that when the wicked fall, he is not promised to come back, for he has no personal God to whom to look for restoration.

Proverbs 24:17. The natural man has a tendency to rejoice over his enemy's troubles (Psalms 35:15). Obadiah 1:12 told Edom not to rejoice over Israel's fall. David prayed that his enemies would not be given the chance to rejoice over his calamities (Psalms 35:19). Job said he had not erred in this field (Job 31:29). And David was a good example of one who did not rejoice over his enemies-' misfortunes: see him as he weeps over the death of Saul (2 Samuel 1:11) and over the death of the revolting Absalom (2 Samuel 18:33).

Proverbs 24:18. God sees everything that takes place on the earth. He saw Adam and Eve's sin in the beginning, and He has seen every sin since. Rejoicing over an enemy's troubles or fall is displeasing to God to the point that in some way He will deal mercifully with him in the future as a result.

Proverbs 24:19. Here we go again with the same instruction that must be more needful that we would realize (see Proverbs 24:1 and Psalms 37:1 and Proverbs 23:17). Psalms 73:3 shows the tendency toward doing this: I was envious at the arrogant, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Proverbs 24:20. Really there is nothing about the prosperous wicked to envy when we consider their end (no reward and his lamp put out). Both Bildad (Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, And the spark of his fire shall not shine. The light shall be dark in his tent, And his lamp above him shall be put out (Job 18:5-6) and Job (How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? Job 21:17) realized that God would deal with the wicked. Other passages on the light of the wicked going out: Proverbs 13:9; Proverbs 20:20. The Psalmist in Psalms 73:3-16 quit envying the wicked when he went into the sanctuary and considered their latter end (Proverbs 24:17).

Proverbs 24:21. Man is to respect both God's government and that government that is over him: Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's (Matthew 22:21). 1 Peter 2:17 also says, Fear God. Honor the king. We are to fear God because He possesses primary authority, and we are to fear the king because He possesses delegated authority from God: Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers...the powers that be are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the ordinance of God (Romans 13:1-2). Those given to change are anarchists, revolutionists, who instead of being in subjection to the established power are found guilty of resisting it to the extent of trying to overthrow it.

Proverbs 24:22. Whoever resists God, and whoever resists the government will ultimately be brought face to face with those whom they are resisting. And, oh, the severity of the ruin that will come as punishments from God and from civil authority! Who can describe it when it cannot be fully known?

TEST QUESTIONS OVER 24:13-22

1.

Comment upon honey as food, both then and now (Proverbs 24:13).

2.

How pleasant, how desirable, was wisdom to be to the son (Proverbs 24:13-14)?

3.

What is a persecutor of the righteous called in Proverbs 24:15?

4.

Comment upon the righteous prevailing over trials (Proverbs 24:16).

5.

What natural tendency toward an enemy is one not to give in to (Proverbs 24:17)?

6.

What might happen if one rejoices over his enemy's calamity (Proverbs 24:18)?

7.

Proverbs 24:19 warns against envying what class?

8.

Why is it foolish to envy the wicked (Proverbs 24:20)?

9.

We are to fear God because he possesses ...... authority and the king because he has ...... authority (Proverbs 24:21).

10.

What is the end of those who revolt against properly constituted authority (Proverbs 24:22)?