Proverbs chapter 24

vs 13

You heard it here first, people - honey is the food of wisdom, and why? it's good and tastes sweet. I think chocolate is the wisdom food of the 21st century. People will probably try and sell you on the medical benefits of honey - just ignore them.

vs 14

I'm not quite sure how wisdom is like honey - I assume because it is good and sweet, as above. The thing being that if you've found honey (wisdom) then apparently that is a good thing for you. Finding honey brings hope. Finding wisdom brings a hope that can't be taken away. Except perhaps by dementia.

vs 15

I mean, damn, do you need to be told this? Don't rob people! But that's actually not the point here. The point here is to not rob the righteous. In fact, don't target them with your foolish actions at all.

vs 16

Why? Because righteous people always dust themselves off and get moving again. They come back for more. But wicked people, when they get taken down, they go down hard. And if you just robbed a righteous guy's house, guess which you are.

vs 17

Note here that your heart will want to rejoice. Because everyone loves watching those against them fall. You have to fight against that natural feeling.

vs 18

So if we gloat, God stops punishing. You really do have to leave punishment to God. When we start doing it ourselves, God pulls out. And he does it better! Probably partly because he can do it right, whereas when we gloat, we really just want to add insult to injury and see someone hurt. Why do something God disapproves of... except of course that there's a perverse pleasure in it. But it doesn't pay off, as shown here.

vs 19

We're already told not to hang out with the wicked, so what do you do when you don't hang out with people? You begin to worry about them, or you get jealous of them. But apparently we're not meant to do that either. So don't cuddle up to them, and don't wish you could do what they do, and don't look out your windows at them wishing the police would come. Unless they're doing something wrong, at any rate.

vs 20

There's no hope for evil. Even in this world evil does not endure - people eventually gang up against it, or it runs out of steam, or the end of the world comes and wipes it all clean.

vs 21

God and king are obviously in charge, so they can't rebel. But other officials can. Remain loyal, says God, to God and to the ruler God put in place. Remember though, this is wisdom, so it's not saying never ever rebel (obviously never rebel against God). But it's a good rule to follow.

vs 22

God and king are two rulers you don't want to mess with. Destruction and calamity are tools of the trade for rulers. Not the best things to be on the wrong side of. And that is a very fine 30th saying of wisdom, I think.