22
📚A good name is moreto be desired than great riches,
and loving favour rather
than silver and gold.
2 📚The rich and poor have this in common:
the LORD is the maker of them all.
3 📚An understanding man
foresees disaster and hides himself,
but the simple pass on, and are punished.
4 📚By humility and the fear 📖
of the LORD are riches 📖 and
honour and life.
5 📚Thorns and snares are
in the way of the perverse;
he who guards his soul will be far
from them.
6 📚Train a child in the way
he should go,
and when he is old,
he will not depart from it.
22:6 A great encouragement in the training of children. But parents themselves must know the right way (Gen 18:19; Deut 4:9-10; 6:7; Josh 24:15; Eph 6:4).⚜
7 📚The rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is
a servant to the lender.
22:7 Debt is a great burden and difficulty in a person’s life. Therefore Rom 13:8.⚜
8 📚He who sows wickedness
will reap trouble,
and the rod of his anger will fail.
9 📚He who is generous
will be blessed,
for he gives of his food to the poor.
22:9 Prov 11:25; Deut 14:29; 15:10; Ps 37:26; Luke 6:38. Notes and references on giving at 2 Cor 9:15.⚜
10 📚Drive out the scorner,
and contention will go out,
yes, strife and insult will cease.
11 📚He who loves purity of heart
and whose speech is gracious,
will have the king as his friend.
12 📚The eyes of the LORD see
that knowledge is preserved,
and he overturns the words
of the transgressor.
13 📚The lazy person says,
“There is a lion outside;
I will be killed in the streets”.
22:13 Prov 6:6-11. The lazy man will seek any excuse not to work.⚜
14 📚The mouth of strange women
is a deep pit;
he who is abhorred by the LORD
will fall into it.
15 📚Foolishness is bound
in the heart of a child,
but the rod of correction
will drive it far from him.
22:15 Alas, we all come into the world with a nature that is bent toward sin and foolishness (note at Ps 51:5). And every child needs much discipline and correction. Prov 3:11-12; 13:24; 19:18. Compare 1 Kings 1:6.⚜
16 📚He who oppresses the poor
to increase his riches,
and he who gives to the rich,
will surely come
to poverty.
17 📚Turn your ear and listen
to the words of the wise,
and apply your heart to my knowledge.
18 📚For it will be pleasant
if you keep them within you so that
they are ready for your lips.
19 📚So that your trust may be
in the LORD,
I have taught you today, even you.
20 📚Have I not written
to you excellent things,
words of counsel and knowledge,
21 📚So that I might cause you
to know the certainty
of the words of truth,
that you might give truthful words
in answer to those who send to you?
22:17-21 These verses are an introduction to a new section of the book which ends at Prov 24:22. This section can be divided into thirty sayings – six of them are of one verse; eighteen are of two verses; four are of 3 verses; one is of 4 verses; and one is of 7 verses. These sayings were probably collected by Solomon. Their purpose is to encourage trust in God (v 19), and to equip us with wise words and ready answers (vs 18,21). The New Testament also speaks of being ready to give answers to others (Col 4:6; 1 Pet 3:15).⚜
22 📚Do not rob the poor because
he is poor,
nor oppress the afflicted in the gate,
23 📚For the LORD will plead their cause,
and plunder the soul of those
who plunder them.
22:22-23 Verse 16. The God of the Bible, the only God there is, is always on the side of the oppressed poor, and He will pay back oppressors in their own coin.⚜
24 📚Make no friendship with an angry man,
and do not go with a hot-tempered man,
25 📚So that you do not learn his ways,
and get a snare to your soul.
26 📚Do not be one of those
who strike hands in pledge,
or who put up security for debts.
27 📚If you have nothing with which to pay,
why should he take away your bed
from under you?
28 📚Do not remove the ancient boundary stone
which your fathers have set.
29 📚Do you see a man diligent
in his work?
He will stand before kings;
he will not stand before obscure men.
22:29 See examples of this in Gen 39:3-4; 1 Sam 16:21-23; 1 Kings 7:14; 11:28. God the King also looks for those who will do their work well.⚜