Proverbs chapter 11

vs 1

God desires justice, and dishonest scales are unjust. This picture is used to describe injustice regularly in the prophets.

vs 2

I don't think disgrace and wisdom are polar opposites, although you'd hope one protected you from the other. I think humility leads to wisdom because of the essential nature of life - that we get everything from God, so we need to recognise that and be humble.

vs 3

It's like that old adage, "Always tell the truth, then you don't need a good memory." When you lie a lot, you will eventually get caught out. Of course, it's the same for all wrongdoing - no point telling the truth about doing wrong, if you know what I mean.

vs 4

That's a sweet memory verse. We often talk about the wages of sin is death, and how you can't take money with you and all that. Here it is nice and neatly summed up.

vs 5

Doing the right thing will often make life more bearable. Not necessarily easy, but liveable, uncomplicated to an extent.

vs 6

I think you can see the pattern here. Righteousness good, wickedness bad. There is a freedom in righteousness that wickedness doesn't bring. It's hard to see, because our culture tends to look at doing the right thing as a constriction, and doing what you want as a freedom.

vs 7

I really like the TNIV here, but it depends on what manuscript selection process you go with. The TNIV wraps up the entirety of the gospel - there is no hope in mortality. We might think we're powerful, but we're weak.

The NIV is a little more direct and specific - wicked people might think they are powerful, but they still die. They're not really that powerful, then, are they?

vs 8

Even though we know that the rain falls on the just and the unjust, we have to remember that wisdom is god-centred, and understands that the world isn't random. God allows all people to live, but he will occasionally crack out a great little encouragement to the righteous. Sometimes that means sticking it to the wicked.

vs 9

If you've ever said something dumb, and then seen that one stupid comment snowball into the total destruction of a relationship, then you know what this means. It would seem the only way to escape such destruction is through wisdom - I guess because it lets you see through such destructive comments?

vs 10

No-one really likes to see the wicked doing well. That's why the rich bad guy is always a villain. That's why good guys get the girl, or the company, or whatever. Obviously in tragedies it doesn't work that way, but then that's why it's a tragedy. Sure, bad guys do get good things in this world, but it doesn't make people happy to see it. People crave justice, just like God desires it. This is one of the key points of modern apologetics againt athiesm - the fact that everyone knows how much they crave justice, and there is no justice in athiesm, because there is no righteousness.