A Layman Considers Wisdom

Copyright © 2012 Marshall Lenne

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Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7495-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7496-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7494-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012921302

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WestBow Press rev. date: 11/28/2012

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Sources

Preface

An uncle of mine called me shortly after my sixteenth birthday to inform me he had a car he wanted to give me. I thought for a moment, stunned by the generous gift offered to me. I thanked my uncle and told him I had to refuse his generosity. Though at sixteen I wanted a car like any other boy my age, I told him I could hardly afford the extra expense of insurance on the car my mother owned and gasoline when I used it. He calmly asked if I was sure, and I confirmed that I was.

My father died when I was thirteen. My mother was disabled, so my sister and I worked as much as we could. God blessed us with employment. He also blessed me with a decent brain and a body that was good at sports. Therefore, I studied, worked, played sports, and occasionally had enough money for a date in my mother’s car.

Some people would say I used common sense when I rejected my uncle’s offer. Because I know many young men and women who had a car at sixteen and who are fine people, I would differ with the term common sense. Was their common sense better or worse than mine was at that time? The decision just made good sense to me at the time. In retrospect, it was a wise decision, certainly wise beyond my years. Seven years after making that decision, I was pilot-in-command of a United States Air Force aircraft. Because of my circumstances at sixteen, being a pilot was not even a remote dream. However, God rewarded a wise decision.

Unfortunately, not all my decisions have been wise. Fortunately, God is loving and forgiving. It was the unwise decisions that prompted me to study, meditate, and journalize the considerations God placed on my heart as I studied Proverbs, the wisdom God expressed through Solomon.

I have no religious academic degrees. I have not studied theology, divinity, hermeneutics, or eschatology. I am a born-again Christian who was invited to join a group of Christian men studying Proverbs for the purpose of becoming better men in their Christian lives. I have received many blessings because of the wise decision to attend. Another wise decision, to be faithful in the study, led to this journal of considerations.

If you are looking for a book written by a well-known religious leader, lecturer, teacher, or prophet, stop reading now and put down this book. In fact, if you do not own a Bible or have not been reading it, put down this book and pick up a Bible and read it instead. However, if the consideration of what God brings to the heart of an everyday Christian could inspire you to seek to know Him more fully as it did me, this book will be of value to you.

May God bless you as you read it, and may the Holy Spirit direct you to open your heart to God’s Word by studying the Bible.

Acknowledgments

My first acknowledgment must go to God. Without His grace and mercy, His love, His Word, and His faithfulness, I would not know Him, nor would this book exist. I hope it is pleasing to Him.

My parents, Midas and Mary Ellen Lenne, greatly influenced my early development as a Christian. Certainly, the pastors and religious teachers of the congregations in which I have worshipped as a youth and an adult brought perspective to my spiritual growth and a desire for understanding. Their names are not among the famous or financially well-off spiritual leaders known to the world. I am, however, confident their names are famous in the Lamb’s Book of Life of Revelation 20. I appreciate the encouragement I received from Reverend James Buttram, my pastor at the time of writing.

I sincerely thank Don Truza, who invited me to the first Proverbs study group I attended. There I met and became friends with many men seeking to become better men spiritually. The leader, Hallerin Hilton Hill, by his faithfulness in following God’s direction to provide a platform for the study of wisdom and his love for God’s Word, was inspiring. His enthusiasm was contagious. He suggested and encouraged the journal I kept, which is the heart of the considerations detailed in this book. I cannot fail to acknowledge the many other brothers with whom I studied Proverbs, their transparency as they shared their walk, struggles, and victories through God’s Word.

Helene Morgan and Meg Schreiber provided first-reading insight as well as initial technical editing and encouragement for which I will be eternally grateful.

My final acknowledgment is not the least acknowledgment. It is probably the most important next to God. I acknowledge the influence of my wife in my spiritual walk as well as being my suitable mate, friend, and confidante. She knows me better than anyone else on this earth. In spite of that, she not only encouraged my study and writing, she listened to my rambling and offered insightful advice.

Introduction

Why consider wisdom today? Why consider wisdom at all? According to Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, wisdom is:

» accumulated philosophic or scientific learning.

» the ability to discern inner qualities and relationships.

» good sense.

The first and second definitions place no value on wisdom. Philosophic learning has no intrinsic value. It is an exercise in forensics, often about morals, without a defined moral value system. Scientific learning is man-valued learning based on the observance of presuppositions with no predisposition to any moral value. Inner qualities and relationships depend on culturally clarified values. Good sense, on the other hand, bears the descriptor good. This definition alone presupposes that good exists and that evil exists.

Knowledge of philosophic meanderings and scientific discovery are central to a liberal education in the world today. The skill to discern inner qualities and relationships from a strictly secular sense are also part of the liberal curricula in the form of behavioral sciences, psychology, and psychiatry.

Common sense, a term we in the United States use often, is a culturally clarified value. Common sense is not necessarily good sense. It may have value for one party in a relationship but no value for another. Common sense may inform me how to protect myself yet endanger another. Wisdom is good sense. Now this definition requires consideration! For this definition to make sense, we must come to grips with, we must wrap our arms around good.

Solomon, acknowledged to be the wisest man to live, left a journal of the wisdom he learned—Proverbs. In Proverbs 1:1–6, he clearly defined why he left the journal.

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; To give prudence to the naïve, To the youth knowledge and discretion, A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles.

Solomon also clearly defined in verse 7 how he knew the good in good sense. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Lord in verse 7 is the Hebrew Yahweh, the Lord God. Solomon clearly states what it takes to gain knowledge about wisdom. He clearly tells us who it is that determines good in good sense.

Consider wisdom because it makes good sense, because it is good sense. Consider wisdom in the light of good. My hope is that this book of considerations will inspire the reader to study Proverbs with a heart open to God’s instruction for discernment, understanding behavior, justice, equity, prudence, knowledge, and direction. These considerations have weighed on my heart as I opened myself to the study of wisdom and its consideration for my life.

The considerations did not necessarily come about in numerical order of verse. After much consideration and advice from my editors, I have arranged them in numerical verse order as near as practical. May they be a catalyst for you to study Proverbs and consider what wisdom means for your life.

The translation of the Bible I study is the New American Standard Bible. All Scripture quotes are from the New American Standard Bible, The Open Bible edition unless specifically noted. When referencing specific Hebrew-Aramaic or Greek words, I used the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries as my source for translation.

Chapter 1

CONSIDERATION 1.1, PROVERBS 1:1–7

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; To give prudence to the naïve, To the youth knowledge and discretion, A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Mashal is the Hebrew/Aramaic word for proverb and translates a proverb, a parable. Solomon presents wisdom to us in proverbs, short statements that are often comparative. Some are parables of several sentences to demonstrate the difference between the wise and the foolish or between the rewards of a wise man compared to the penalty of the foolish. In verse 6, I wondered if the word figure was our colloquial figure of speech. In a manner of speaking, it is. However, it is far more. The Hebrew/Aramaic used is melitsah, a satire, a mocking poem. It derives from lits, which translates to scorn. Riddle is the Hebrew/Aramaic chidah, an enigmatic, perplexing saying or question.

One purpose of Proverbs then is for instruction concerning wisdom in understanding proverbs or parables, the what ifs? of life, the comparison of alternatives, and the circumstances surrounding them. Another purpose is to understand what brings the taunting and mocking our way and why we may taunt or mock others.

Sometimes wisdom is not so straightforward. We need to understand the way a wise man speaks and learn from his words of wisdom the consideration and resolution of perplexing sayings. The beginning of knowledge derives from the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7). Fear, the Hebrew/Aramaic word yirah, translates awesome, extremely awesome, fear, fearing, reverence. It derives from yare, a verb meaning, to fear. The words of the wise man that follow his proverb, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, are a melitsah, a scorn. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. It is a warning in scorn. The word fools translates from the Hebrew/Aramaic evil as stupid.

The irony, or the mocking, is, if we despise wisdom and instruction, we are choosing to be stupid in earthly and spiritual matters. The first thing necessary to rejecting stupidity and accepting instruction is fear of the Lord, reverential respect for His very Being. Without that fear, we will think stupid thoughts, say stupid things, do stupid things, and we will not learn from them.

CONSIDERATION 1.2, PROVERBS 1:10–19

My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. If they say, Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause; Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit; We shall find all kinds of precious wealth, We shall fill our houses with spoil; Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse. My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, For their feet run to evil, And they hasten to shed blood. Indeed, it is useless to spread the net In the eyes of any bird; But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors.

In Ecclesiastes 4, the Preacher tells us that every evil done under the sun is the result of rivalry. The results of all kinds of precious wealth … spoil, and one purse happen by taking them from someone else. Taking is the key word. It means to seize, capture, steal, and remove by treachery. Taking is different from receiving. God gave Adam the garden and all the food except the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Genesis 3:6 says about Woman, She took from its fruit and ate. God did not give it to her, nor could Satan give it to her, for it was God’s fruit. It was God’s fruit to give or to keep.

Ego drives us to take. Solomon understood taking. He understood it from a personal, practical sense. He understood it from a political sense. He warns us not to take, seize, capture, steal, or make alliances with those who do, who elevate themselves, or who oppress by power to remove others. They promise to share the purse—a useless promise among men of treachery. They will turn and prey upon themselves. They ambush their own lives.

God beckons us to learn from Solomon’s experience and not consent to the temptations. He calls us to keep your feet from their path. Not only are we to learn, but we must also be as diligent as Solomon to teach our children.

Taking is only good when taking becomes receiving. Taking becomes receiving only when receiving is an act of acceptance of what is given. Giving is an act of love. Anything taken when love is not given ambushes the taker.

CONSIDERATION 1.3, PROVERBS 1:20–21

Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts up her voice in the square; At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city, she utters her sayings:

Cities are the centers of commerce. With commerce comes competition and rivalry. Market share and profit margins are the temptations of the vendors. Foods, baubles, cloth, rooms for rent, and entertainment are their fare.

Things during Solomon’s time were not much different from today. Today, supercenters, malls, motels, and nightclubs of every sort replace the vendors. Planes, trains, buses, and cars replace the donkeys. The temptations are the same today; the only change is the intensity and availability in the modern world. Modern-world life is less agrarian and more city-centered. Therefore, those who live in or near cities face temptations of the city constantly. The invitation to try the fruit of sin presents itself everywhere.

What can man do? For those who will accept Jesus as Lord, Wisdom is everywhere. Wisdom is in the street with us as we are being tempted. She shouts; do we have ears to hear? She cries out at the head of the streets; do we have ears to hear? As we enter the world, she is already there to teach us; do we have ears to hear?

Wisdom is there by God’s grace. In John 17:15, Jesus prayed to His Father, I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. The wisdom of the Holy Spirit shouts, cries out, utters to our souls. What we must do is pay attention. Jesus also promised to be with us always and everywhere. Thus, when we are tempted, Wisdom and His Holy Spirit is there. We must ask the Holy Spirit to open our ears to hear Wisdom’s words. Then we will live in His love and can walk in the streets of the city able to resist temptation because of the integrity of God’s love and grace.

CONSIDERATION 1.4, PROVERBS 1:23

Turn to my reproof; Behold I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.

The word of imploring is turn. The Hebrew/Aramaic word shub translates to turn back, return again. This imploring offers the chance for repentance, an opportunity to forsake the path of the fool and return to wise living. Turning is a choice, a change in direction. The implication is that the words speak to one who once knew wisdom. The big picture is that man knew Wisdom intimately in the garden of Eden. However, he chose not to pay attention to Wisdom’s command. God is Wisdom!

The root word in the Hebrew/Aramaic for reproof is yakach, a verb translating to decide, to adjudge, to prove. Wisdom here is imploring us to pay attention to her decisions, arguments, and proof of what is good for us. God’s reproof, His decision and judgment, was that to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil would lead to death for man. God is teaching man what happens when he does not pay attention to God’s wisdom. He also offers man the opportunity for intimate relationship. Walk wisely, turn to my reproof. When we submit to God’s judgment, God’s argument for what is good, He will pour out His spirit on us. A spiritual happening occurs. God’s spirit, the Holy Spirit, envelops us. He can then make His words known to us.

What is man to do? Recognize our foolishness, repent of the sinful way, and turn to His reproof. Accept Jesus as Lord, understanding He is the Father’s reproof. He is the one sent, judged for our sins, proved by His resurrection. Turn to Him, accept Him, and He sends us the Holy Spirit who makes God’s words known in our hearts to lead us in wise living.

CONSIDERATION 1.5, PROVERBS 1:23, 33

Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my Spirit on you; I will make my words known to you … But he who listens to me shall live securely, And shall be at ease from the dread of evil.

Joel 2:28 says,

And it will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.

Isaiah 43:1–13 says,

But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made. Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, And the deaf, even though they have ears. All the nations have gathered together In order that the peoples may be assembled. Who among them can declare this And proclaim to us the former things? Let them present their witnesses that they may be justified, Or let them hear and say, ‘It is true.’ You are My witnesses, declares the LORD, And My servant whom I have chosen, In order that you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. I, even I, am the LORD; And there is no savior besides Me. It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses, declares the LORD, And I am God. Even from eternity I am He; And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?"

CONSIDERATION 1.6, PROVERBS 1:32

For the waywardness of the naïve shall kill them, And the complacency of fools shall destroy them.

We enter life wayward. People talk about how innocent a baby is, but it is simply not true. We all enter life bearing the burden of humanity, the burden of Adam’s sin. Unless taught to love, to sacrifice for others, we focus on only one thing—satisfying ourselves.

The first word a child understands is no and with good reason. Children enter the world self-centered and receive what they need and want from loving parents until the parents’ love for them has to include denial, the great rejecter, NO! Waywardness of the naïve suggests that the child has not accepted teaching and has focused on his or her own desires instead of paying attention to the one who teaches. That great rejecter, NO, always has a purpose. It occurs to teach safety, love for others, sacrifice, and what is wise to say or do or not to say or do. Those who are wayward have rejected the very wisdom that will speak softly and wisely to them before they speak or act. They have not developed their consciences.

The fool is different. The fool has learned of wisdom, about wisdom, maybe even learned some wisdom. Nevertheless, the fool chooses complacency when it comes to wisdom. The Hebrew/Aramaic word translated complacency here is shalvah, which comes from shalah, or shale, which translates to be quiet or at ease. The fool chooses to be quiet, at ease, to be inactive. Fools do not act on the wisdom they have. They do not act on the knowledge and understanding they have available. They know what leads to sin but do not take the action to change, to turn away from what they have done. There is a saying, If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you always got. Complacency in sin means the fool will always sin. We begin life naïve. But as we mature, we can choose to be complacent or not. However, if we choose complacency, there is the promise that complacency will destroy us.

Choosing spiritual wisdom means we do what the Lord requires. Micah 6:8 tells us what the Lord requires, He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. There is no waywardness, no complacency in what God requires. We cannot remain naïve and wayward; we cannot remain complacent. We must repent, turn, and actively walk in spiritual wisdom or else we will spiritually die.

Chapter 2

CONSIDERATION 2.1, PROVERBS 2:1–5

My son, if you will receive my sayings, And treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD, And discover the knowledge of God.

What will wisdom do for us, for you, for me? We came into this world with nothing. We cried and complained until we got what we wanted. Then our parents said, No! We had to learn to love as opposed to being loved. It takes a long time, and it takes wisdom to do this. Love is sacrificial. It has no guarantee of reciprocation. If you Love to be loved, you love to Be Loved! This leads to emotional and spiritual disaster. Wisdom gives discernment, the Hebrew/Aramaic word binah with bin as the root word. Bin is variously translated as understand, understanding, discern, pay close attention, diligently consider. Binah includes truth in its meanings.

What then does the teacher, the parent, the king say we are to do in order to discern the fear of the Lord? We are to cry for discernment. We must desire discernment so much that our heartaches, and we recognize we cannot do it on our own, so we call out, we weep. It does not stop there; we lift [our] voice for understanding. We must want the added depth of discernment. Knowing something and truly understanding it are dimensionally different. Understanding implies intense intimacy. As a student pilot, I learned the aircraft I flew for a specific purpose. I knew its systems, and I knew how to operate it. I also knew how to leave it, bail out. As an instructor, I learned much more about the aircraft. I experimented beyond the box, and I understood the systems and relationships not always explained in books. I could still leave the aircraft; however, I had a different relationship built on intimate understanding.

Wisdom, God’s Holy Spirit, gives us intimacy with God. We must diligently seek Wisdom; our hearts must pine for Wisdom. It does