The second part of this proverb seems to indicate that the fool is trying to swindle their way into wealth by speech which takes advantage of others.
What’s best, to be blameless in life or to be wealthy? Remember to be blameless doesn’t mean we are sinless, blameless means to do what God has required for us to be right with Him, Philippians 3:6.
The impulsive person who acts without thinking will fall into sin. The saying is true, ‘fools rush in where the devil dares to tread’. The apostle Paul was zealous for the right reasons when he persecuted the church but after he received knowledge from Christ, he had even more zeal because of the knowledge he received. Philippians 3:1-6.
The new catchphrase on television is ‘no blame, no claim’, the idea is that lawyers won’t take on a claim case if they don’t think they can win it for you. Everyone needs to take responsibility for their own actions. We cannot blame God for our faults, Genesis 3:12-13 / Ezekiel 18:20.
In a materialistic world, people want to be seen with other people with lots of other materialistic goods, it’s an attraction. Solomon was realistic about wealth. This is not the way it ought to be, even though in reality it is the way it is.
Isn’t it hard to see who your real friends are sometimes? Solomon is probably showing the difficulty a rich man has in distinguishing those who are his friends from those who want to use him and his wealth.
The idea here is that anyone who develops their mind is their own best friend. In other words, we are to look after ourselves both spiritually and physically.
What’s Solomon saying here? The ancients believed there should be a correlation between social order and moral order.
We live in a society that considers it a virtue to be quick to fight for your rights and refuse to allow a personal offence to go unanswered. The Bible teaches Christians are to act otherwise, Ephesians 4:32 / Colossians 3:13.
Do you ever thank God for your husband or wife? We should thank God daily for our husband or wife. Wise men recognise there is a considerable amount of uncertainty in the choice of a wife. Thus, a good wife is accredited to God.
A person who is lazy is always lethargic and bored, they would rather go hungry than feed themselves.
We’re not sure what these commandments are referring to, it could the be commandments, of the teacher, or the father. Whatever the commandments are referring to, they are to be obeyed. We all have certain traits of our fathers or mothers, good and bad.
The obligation to care for the poor is stressed here. God takes care of the needy and repays the man who helps them, Hebrews 6:10 / Matthew 25:31-46.
We must discipline our children while there is still time to influence the life of a child. But there must also be a limit to the discipline.
What does Solomon mean here? Sometimes we have to let people fall, because if we help them not to make mistakes all the time, they will never learn from their mistakes. God’s purposes are worked out regardless of the plans and purposes of men.
The real measure of a person is their character, not what they own.
There is a measure of security for the person who fears God. Fear of the Lord can bring sweet, peaceful sleep. Is Solomon saying that Christians will have a trouble-free life? No, he’s saying we will have a better life because of wiser decisions, wiser living, wiser benefits.
What does He mean when here? This was the custom of the time; this is a lazy person who won’t even feed themselves. A person who has understanding is the person who needs no such process of learning, such as seeing the punishment of others. They can accept and utilise correction directly.
The punishment given to a person provides a learning opportunity for another person. We could learn something even if someone is telling us off for something we have said or done.
People today feel that this is a modern problem only where their kids bring trouble to them but Solomon says it was like this in his day.
If we stray from the truth of God and the wisdom we’re reading about every week, we will have to pay the consequences, Joshua 1:7-8.
Someone who spreads evil loves it because evil is their favourite food. Notice that the word penalties is plural, this infers that all types of punishments are available, and will be used, for these types of people.
"Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."