Proverbs chapter 3

vs 1

These things are worth remembering and valuing.

vs 2

If only that could be a promise you could hold onto literalistically! The chances are they will do both, though.

vs 3

Two important values in wisdom - love and faithfulness. Not what you would expect. You might expect tenacity and brains, or coolness under pressure and openness to correction, or any other host of things. But no, love and faithfulness. The relational aspects of those elements says a lot about the value of relationships in the culture, and to God.

vs 4

Notice that these things will give you both favour with God, but also with humanity. That's the best kind of value. Sometimes values like righteousness get us in good with God, but people get antsy about them. Doesn't mean we shouldn't value them, of course. I'm just saying that love and faithfulness pretty rarely do you wrong.

vs 5

This is the typical memory verse, along with v6, that often gets quoted. And you can see why. It's a good, solid bit of information. Another important part of wisdom - to trust God, rather than yourself.

vs 6

You can see how this has been broken up, and probably also written - you get a couple of statements about something you should do or follow, and then a statement about how valuable it is. Trust God and submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Not like those knotted, windy paths of the evil people.

vs 7

A bit of repetition there.

vs 8

But with a new applicator - this time, shunning evil seems to have direct health benefits. I wonder if some people out there link this to the following of the food laws?

vs 9

So we've spoken generally about trusting God. Now we talk about honouring God, first of all financially. There is a lot of economic advice given in Proverbs, I'm led to believe. Which should instantly tell us how limited in scope it is, for the most part.

vs 10

The resultant blessing is an economic one. That doesn't mean the only reason to honour God economically is for economic gain, although it does point out this rarely-pointed out feature of how the world works - that if you are generous, you are usually also repaid in kind.

vs 11

A new point now. You will recognise it from Hebrews, methinks. What does God's discipline and rebuke represent here exactly? Is it the way we think of it - bad things happening in our lives? Or is it something more direct, something related to the priesthood? No idea.

vs 12

The same message found in Hebrews. You heard it first here in Proverbs. Or possibly elsewhere first, like Deuteronomy. In any case, whatever the discipline is, note that even one who is trying to follow the wise path is likely to come a cropper on it, because it's not about punishment, it's about discipline and relationship.