1 Kings 13 - Beware of old prophets!

This is a very interesting and intriguing chapter with several lessons to teach us. It starts off fairly conventionally (at least in God's terms!). God send His word to a prophet to go and confront Jeroboam with his sin, and foretells the coming of King Josiah. It was some 300 years before this was fulfilled. He also gave a sign that this word was true. Jereboam rebels but is then struck with leprosy and the altar is duly split in two. Jereboam then becomes somewhat more contrite. The prophet prays for him and he is healed.

So far so normal.

Jereboam then wants to make friends with the prophet. However, God had told him not to return the same way home, and not to eat or drink, so he refuses.

So far so good, but on the way home an old, and somewhat corrupt, prophet meets him. This old prophet then tries to get the young one to come home with him, claiming that God had told him to say this. The young prophet now agrees to this. The word of the Lord then genuinely came to the old prophet and God pronounced judgement upon the young prophet who was duly killed by a lion. The old prophet seemed to have had some sort of respect for the young prophet and took care of the body and wanted to be buried with him when he died.

So what are we to make of all this. First there is Jeroboam, and here things are straight forward. He has sinned against God, he receives a word of judgement but did not repent, so he, and the nation, would suffer judgement. Note that Jereboam received his position as part of a prophecy, and was part of God's means of bringing judgement upon Solomon. This does not mean that he was not responsible for his own actions.

Now, let's turn to the young prophet. Some might think it a little unfair that he is so harshly judged for being deceived by this older prophet, but there is a valuable lesson for us here. All of us are responsible for our own actions, and our own response to God's word. The young prophet had received clear instructions from God, he disobeyed them.

Moreover, no matter who might give you a "word" or a "prophecy", the action you choose to take or not take is entirely your responsibility. I cannot say "I only did this because so and so said they believed it was God's will". My actions are my responsibility.

Note also how the young prophet passed the "big test" (rebuking to the king), but failed the "little test". We can easily be deceived.

1 Kings 12 - Disintegration

Disintegration of the kingdom happens pretty quickly after Solomon's death. Rehoboam was made king but he followed very bad advice. The elders recognised that Solomon had put the people under hard labour and there was some resentment against this. They urged Rehoboam to lighten the load on the people and to serve the people. However, the young men whom Rehoboam had grown up with told him to be even harsher with the people. We can see this lack of respect for the advice of older people in our own society, and an ever increasing burden is being placed on people in all sorts of walks of life. This is the path of foolishness. We also need to beware of listening only to a certain group of people.

So Rehoboam refused to listen to the people and so they rebelled against him, thus fulfilling the word of Ahijah, and the kingdom was torn in two. Jereboam was made king of the northern kingdom. Rehoboam wanted to fight to get the kingdom back, but the Lord told him not to and at least he obeyed this word.

Although Jereboam was now king of most of the kingdom he felt far from secure. So he set up places of worship at Bethel and Dan.  He tried to imitate the religious practices of Israel, but of course just set up idols. It is strange that Israel seems to have this predilection for worshipping golden calves.

So Israel and Judah were now on the road to their eventual conquest by other nations.

1 Kings 11:14-43 - The price of disobedience

Trouble now started for Solomon and he suffered many adversaries, this was all a result of his disobedience. The first adversary that God raised up was an Edomite, and this was partly payback for Joab's behaviour. God weaves all sorts of things together in His plan. God's plans are not one dimensional. Rezeh was the next adversary to be raised up.

Trouble also arose from within Solomon's own officials in the form of Jereboam, a man who Solomon had admired and promoted. A prophet met Jereboam and told him that God was tearing ten of the tribes away from Solomon, leaving only one (plus David's own tribe). This was happening because of the idol worship. This would happen after Solomon's death.

Solomon evidently heard about this and tried to kill Jereboam but failed. Solomon died after reigning for forty years and his son Rehoboam succeeded him.

We need to understand that it is our trust and obedience to the Lord that counts more than anything. None of Solomon's wisdom could save him from what was happening. The troubles all came about because of his faithlessness. No doubt many political, economic and military explanations could be found, but the root of it all was Solomon's worship of false gods. We need to apply this to our own lives, and to the nation as well. The most important thing in our lives is our love for God. All sorts of details will sort themselves out if our hearts are committed to God. This does not mean we can live like fools exhibiting no common sense whatsoever, but we need to have true perspective on things.

1 Kings 11:1-13 - So many wives, so much trouble

Now we come to the downfall of Solomon. Deuteronomy 17:17 clearly instructed that a king should not have many wives as this would result in him being led astray. Moreover, the Law stated that Israelites must not take wives from pagan nations. Now Solomon was probably led astray not just by lust, for many of these wives would be acquired for the purpose of cementing international relations (though they can't all have been for that surely?). Maybe he used this as an excuse to justify his excess to himself. We all need to be on our guard against lust and the self-deception of the heart. So Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. It really is hard to square this with him being a man of great wisdom. Perhaps it is just an example of how the sin that is deeply ingrained within us will always come to the fore and destroy us unless we repent and turn to Christ.

Sure enough, Solomon was led astray by his wives so that his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord. Note that David sinned as well, yet he managed to remain devoted to the Lord. What was the difference? David repented. Now this does not mean we can do what we like, repent, and then be forgiven. For every time we sin we risk our heart becoming hardened and finding there is no way back. Moreover, repentance involves a deep recognition that what we did was wrong, true sorrow over the matter and genuine will to change our ways. So Solomon ended up worshipping foreign gods. Worship of Molech included child sacrifice. Solomon set up high places for these various gods. So Israel became a sort of theme park for all the regional idols.

So Solomon comes under judgement. The kingdom will be taken away from his sons, and the split will come about.

1 Kings 9:13-10:29 - Solomon's wealth

We now read of the other things that happened in Solomon's reign. He had apparently become indebted to Hiram of Tyre and gave him twenty of the Phoenician-Galilee towns. Apparently Hiram was not best pleased with these towns, his attitude seems to have changed somewhat since the early days.

Solomon made slaves of various people to do his work, but verse 22 makes it clear that he did not make slaves of the Israelites, showing that he observed the law in this respect. Solomon also established a sizeable trading fleet of ships and went and obtained more gold.

The Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon with a vast array of luxury goods. She had heard of his reputation and came to test him. Sheba was in Arabia. She was impressed with all the wealth of Solomon. She also seemed to recognise that the Lord was the source of this blessing, and she gave Solomon many of her goods. Solomon also gave gifts to her.

Solomon received 666 talents of gold. Don't know if this has any bearing on the number of the beast!

So Solomon had built up a vast trading force, had built up the army, and established great wealth. Yet he was about to head for a fall.

1 Kings 9:1-9 - Temple futures

After all this work the Lord appeared to Solomon again. Note that this was many years after the Lord had last appeared to Solomon. In our Bibles it is just a few chapters, but in reality it covered many years. Now, through the Holy Spirit, we have direct contact with the Lord daily. Even so, there will be times when we are more aware of God's presence than others.

God promises Solomon that if he continues to walk faithfully with Him as David did his throne would be established forever. This raises one or two questions. First, David was not perfect in many ways, and there are two key failings in his life (the Bathsheeba episode and the census). Secondly, Solomon did not, indeed could not, walk faithfully, so what was the point of the promise? Maybe it is all to demonstrate the utter failure of man. We are so convinced that we can make it on our own. Yet Solomon was not set that high standard (David), but he could not attain even to that.

The converse is that if Israel turns away from God then they will be cut-off from the land and the Lord would reject the temple. Indeed the temple will become a heap of rubble. These words about the temple are very significant. In the time before the Babylonian invasion the people were convinced that God would not abandon the temple, they should have paid heed to these words given at the birth of the temple. Moreover, they are relevant to Jesus' words about the temple in Matthew 24:2.

1 Kings 7,8 - Dedication of the Temple

It took seven years to build the temple, but thirteen years to build the palace. Is this a case of Solomon devoting more effort to his own glory than that of God? How often do we devote more effort to our own well-being than God's well-being? Haggai 1:2,3 are an example of this. The reality is that if we do devote more effort to ourselves than to God then we will actually be worse off.

We then get some details on the design of the palace, and it was made of all the best materials.

Skilled craftsmen of various kinds were brought to work on the temple furnishings. Many valuable items were brought into the temple.

Finally the ark of the covenant was brought into the temple. For this all elders of Israel were assembled and the priests carried the ark into the covenant. Solomon was being careful not to make the same mistake that David made. Many sacrifices were made at the same time.

After the priests left the Holy Place the cloud of the Lord's presence filled the temple. This cloud was important to demonstrate to the people that God was indeed dwelling amongst them. 

Solomon seems rather pleased with the outcome, and then makes a declaration to the people. He is declaring to them that the Lord has been faithful to fulfil His promises. We need to lay hold of this, for when times get difficult we forget that our God is faithful, that we can always trust Him. Then when we lose faith we can easily fall into disobedience, just as the Israelites frequently did.

Solomon then makes his prayer of dedication. In this he seems to realise that the temple, magnificent as it was in human terms, could not really be God's dwelling place. For the temple could not contain God. Yet the temple did have an important place in God's dealing with Israel, but it did not limit or contain the full extent of His presence of work. We have churches and organisations and projects which sometimes God works through. when this happens we should rejoice, but we should never imagine that our project or grouping can possibly contain the whole working of God, the whole presence of God. This is a mistake that we make again and again.

Then we get various features of God's work among the people. 

• It is to be a place of prayer, where God will hear the cry of His people. (8:30)
• It is a place of judgement. (8:31,32)
• It is a place of mercy. (8:33,34)
• It is a place of teaching. (8:35,36)
• It is a place of forgiveness (8:37-40)
• It is a place where God's greatness and goodness will go out to all nations (8:41-43). This is not something that Israel was good at remembering!
• It is a place of strengthening. (8:44,45)
• It is a place of restoration for repentant people =. (8:46-51)

Solomon then concludes his prayer. He recognises also that we are utterly dependent upon the Lord to turn our hearts towards Him.

The dedication was concluded and there was great joy amongst the people.

1 Kings 5,6 - Temple Building

Solomon received much favour from surrounding nations. This is a further foretaste of the coming kingdom, for it speaks in Isaiah of nations bringing their riches to Israel, eg Isaiah 60, particularly poignant in that it speaks of the cedars of Lebanon. Hiram contacted Solomon and Solomon requested that he send much cedar to help build the temple. Hiram was delighted to do this. Note that the prophecy came after Solomon, Solomon's reign was a precursor of what was to come, a mere shadow of the true kingdom.

There was peace between Tyre and Israel, this came on Israel's terms.

Solomon then conscripted labourers from Israel to go and work in Lebanon. This quite clearly described as force labour, though the conditions were quite good, with one month on, two months off. However, this forced labour was to be another seed of the later rebellion.

The building work then began. The data given is about 966 BC. We can then get various details of the temple. The design was similar in pattern to the tabernacle and other temples of the time, being divided into three main areas: the Most Holy Place; the Holy Place and the outer courtyard. It is interesting that we precise instructions for the temple are not given by God, whereas they were for the tabernacle and for the second temple (Ezekiel 40 onwards).

The most important aspect is given in verse 12: "if you follow my decrees ..." Obeying the word of the Lord is the key.

Then we get further details. I wonder why there were cherubim? They were made of gold so could do nothing, unless they were meant to signify something.

Finally the temple was completed after 7 years.

1 Kings 4 - Running the kingdom

Solomon's rule was established. The officials are listed and they come predominantly from those who faithfully served David. 

Solomon then appointed twelve district governors. In some ways this is a wise way to do things, but it also laid the seeds of later division. First, they were to provide supplies for the royal household, secondly the districts were chosen largely for administrative reasons and did not match the twelve tribes.

Verses 20 and 21 paint this as an idyllic time, a fulfilment of the promises to Abraham. The Israelites were numerous, and they had all they needed, the territory over an extensive area. Clearly this is not the final fulfilment, but there are some parallels to Jesus kingdom. In God's kingdom we are provided with all that we need, and it will cover the whole earth. The twelve governors could be seen as akin to the twelve apostles. The people all lived in safety. "everyone under their own vine and fig tree" is a phrase that appears in the prophets to signify a time of peace and contentment.

Solomon's wisdom grew. He did not just know how to rule the nation, but also had great knowledge of plant and animal life. He uttered many proverbs, and nations came to him to learn from his wisdom. Again, this is a foretaste of Jesus' kingship. One day the nations will come to seek wisdom from God.

1 Kings 3 - Wisdom

We now come to Solomon's famous wisdom. Solomon is perhaps the most extreme example of a king who started off so well and then went so bad. However, the seeds of destruction and trouble are there right at the start. Solomon made an alliance with Egypt and married one of Pharaoh's daughters. Israelites were not meant to marry foreign women nor make alliances with Egypt. Moreover, the people were still worshipping at the high places. While David's rule had been effective in military terms, it had paid limited attention to the religious aspects, though of course the ark had been brought to its rightful place. However, there is some debate about whether they were allowed to worship at these places at this stage, ie since the temple had not been built. Once the temple had been built the "high places" were a definite no-no. Verse 3 does seem to indicate that they were a "bad thing" even a this stage, for Solomon's worshipping at the high places is given as a negative. Apart from this, Solomon was walking in obedience.

Solomon goes to Gibeon and offers many sacrifices to the Lord and the Lord appeared to him there. Gibeon was a "high place", so God responding positively to him further adds to the confusion. Perhaps we should take it as a warning that just because God blesses us in some way does not mean that what we are doing is good. The high places were definitely not part of God's long term plan. Today God may bless us in our denomination or church grouping, but denominations are definitely not part of God's long term plan. We may also find that we seem to "get away" with somethings for a while, and then later God insists that we get rid of them.

However, let's move on to the main point, Solomon's wisdom. God tells him to ask for whatever he wants. Solomon responds with humility and wisdom, recognising what God had done for David, his own weakness and what is truly important. So he asks for wisdom, or more accurately a "discerning heart".

God is pleased with Solomon's request, and promises to give him amazing wisdom, and with it wealth and honour as well. This is an example of seeking first the kingdom and all these things being added as well. 

Finally in this chapter we get the well known incident of the two prostitutes coming with a dispute of who the baby belongs to, and Solomon gets to the truth of the matter by using his wisdom. This served to establish Solomon's ability to rule the nation.

1 Kings 2:13-46 - Throne established

Adonijah goes to Solomon's mother with a request. For all that Israel was a patriarchal society the women have a significant influence. He wants Solomon to give him Abishag as his wife. Bathsheba agrees to this. The fact that Adonijah takes Abishag as a wife is the reason that the first verses of 1 Kings point out that David did not have any sexual relations with her.

Solomon reacts angrily to this as he sees the request as an underhand attempt to take the kingdom. Seemingly innocent requests can be often hide something more sinister underneath. So he had Adonijah put to death. Abiathar was removed from the priesthood, fulfilling an earlier word given to Eli.

Joab saw the way the wind was blowing so he, like Adonijah, went to take hold of the horns of the altar. He had good reason to be afraid for Solomon sent someone to kill him. In the end Joab was struck down by the altar, and so David's instructions concerning him were fulfilled.

Solomon then deals with Shimei and seems to give him a way out, though David's instructions were "may his grey head go down to the grave in blood" (verse 9), and it is a little ambiguous what David wanted. Shimei agreed to stay in Jerusalem. However, Shimei did not stick to the agreement and eventually killed.

All this has been to show how Solomon got rid of all the elements that posed a threat to his kingdom.

1 Kings 2:1-12 - David's last words to Solomon

David had made Solomon king, he now gives him instructions and guidance. This is based on his own vast experience and his walking with the Lord. Solomon is to act like a man and to live in obedience to the Lord observing all his commands, as written in the Law of Moses. These are key principles that we would do well to observe today. We are to act like men, ie we are to be the people God has made us to be. God created us to have dominion. Now sin has corrupted all that so that we tend to go one of two ways, and sometimes a mixture of them both. On the one hand we become self-seeking, exploiting others. On the other we become weak and enfeebled. Instead we are to live in a godly manner, using whatever authority and abilities we have for the good of others, building others up, executing justice and mercy. And the key guidepost in doing all this is to follow the commands of the Lord as they are written down. Today our society, and much of the church, is doing the exact opposite.

If we do these things then we will prosper. And Solomon would never fail to have a successor on the throne.

David then urges Solomon to make sure that Joab pays for his behaviour, mainly the shedding of innocent blood. This does lead one to ask why David did not do something himself? Maybe it is just another sign of the weakness of all men. No matter how good a leader we may or may not be, we will always have failings, there will be somethings that we do not address properly. Conversely, the sons of Barzillai are to be shown kindness for their standing by David during the Absalom insurrection. Shimei, he of the stone throwing tendency, is to be killed. Again, the morality of David in all this is questionable at best.

David then died.

1 Kings 1:28-53 - Solomon made king

David meets Bathsheeba and declares that he will ensure that Solomon becomes king. Clearly relationships between David and his wife were a little more formal than they are today!

David called his trusted officials and instructed them to have Solomon declared king. Riding on David's mule would be a sign that Solomon had the approval of David and was not just a self-appointed king.

An interesting point to note is that Bathsheeba became David's wife only as a result of his adultery and murder (for which he was duly judged by God). On a lesser level, Leviticus did not allow cross-breeding of animals, so a mule was technically against the Law. Yet these infringements, very serious and less so, did not stop these matters playing a part in God's plan.

So Solomon was made king and received the acclamation of all the people.

Meanwhile Adonijah was celebrating his own "kingship", then news of what was happening arrived. His "followers" quickly dispersed realising they had backed the wrong horse. Adonijah knew he was in trouble and went to the alter. In grabbing holds of the horns of the altar Adonijah is seeking a sort of sanctuary and protection. He asked that he not be put to death. Solomon agreed to this unless evil was found in him, and Adonijah bowed down to Solomon.

1 Kings 1:1-27 - Struggle for the throne

We begin with Solomon's reign, covered in the first twelve chapters of the book. There is often an important literary structure to Old Testament writing and this is true of these  first chapters. There are nine key elements in the story of Solomon (thanks to my study Bible for laying this out neatly):

1. Solomon's succession
2. Establishment of his reign
3. Solomon's wisdom
4. His reign described
5. Building projects: temple and palace
6. Solomon's reign described
7. Solomon's folly
8. His reign threatened
9. Rehoboam's succession

The largest of these sections is the middle one. Solomon started off so well, but then deteriorated badly. This is a very human condition. Many church projects or movements start off well but then ossify or become corrupt. We need the Holy Spirit and it is only under His guidance that we can be true to God. We need to start with the Spirit and to continue with the Spirit.

We start with David's last days. He was very old. It was a common practice to use the warmth of a healthy person to provide for one who was ill. Abishag was the virgin chosen for the task. The text is careful to emphasise that no sexual relations took place, though given David's physical state this was unlikely anyway!

People knew that David's days were coming to an end and people were manoeuvring to take the throne. The first of these pretenders was Adonijah, he was the fourth son of David. David had not disciplined his sons properly. All people, no matter how great in some respects, have enormous failings in other areas of their lives. David does not seem to have been a very good father.

Adonijah made his move for power. Nathan the prophet told Bathsheba what was happening, she was the mother of Solomon. He gives her advice on how to ensure that Adonijah's efforts come to nothing and that Solomon becomes king.

1 Kings - Introduction

1 and 2 Kings are considered as one book in the Jewish tradition. They cover the historical period from the death of David right up to the Babylonian conquest, and much of it is depressing, with one or two bright spots. It includes the division of Israel into two kingdoms, north and south. "Israel" was the northern kingdom, and Judah the southern kingdom. The two kingdoms were often opposed to each other as well. Israel was the more apostate of the two, and fell to Assyria after about 200 years. However, the history if the two kingdoms is interwoven, and God clearly has a single plan for Israel.

While there are a few kings who do good, they mostly fail at the end as well. There are also a number of prophets. Elijah and Elisha are the two most famous ones who figure in 1 and 2 Kings. The other prophets, though occasionally mentioned, have their own books elsewhere in the Bible (eg Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc). The prophets and kings are often in conflict with each other.

The time frame represented is roughly 970 BC to 586 BC.

The author (or authors) are not known. The books were probably written around 550 BC, this was during the time of the Babylonian exile. There are references to the annals of Solomon, annals of the kings of Israel, annals of the kings of Judah. So clearly the author(s) made use of other written materials.

One of the recurring themes is the demand for purity of worship. There is one place of worship, the temple, and all other worship was evil. Likewise, there is only one to the Father, and this is through Jesus Christ. There can be no mixing with the ways of the nations.

The primary purpose of the books is to show how God worked in the history of the nation.

Proverbs 9 - Wisdom or Folly?

Both wisdom and folly invite us to follow them. Wisdom makes her call loud and clear to all. In particular she calls the simple and those with no sense to come to her and learn. Now we should not interpret "simple" in purely academic terms. Wisdom here is not defined as an academic subject. Rather it is better to look at it in terms of Jesus calling sinners to repentance. Jesus calls all of us to repent and follow Him, to learn from Him. Our current state of righteousness (or rather lack of it) is no obstacle to that, for His blood has paid for our justification. If we continue in our folly we will die, if we instead turn to Him we will live.

Jesus gave a saying about not giving pearls to pigs. Here we have similar advice on the risks of seeking to correct mockers. There are those who are are so stubborn, so lost in their sin, that they will not respond in any sensible way to reasoned argument or correction. 

Conversely the wise man will respond well to correction. They will learn from it and so enhance their lives. The sign of a wise person is not how much they know, but how prepared they are to learn more.

Again we get the refrain of Proverbs that the fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. There are many supposedly clever people who deny God, they will in the end bring only suffering upon themselves, and their so-called wisdom becomes increasingly foolish.

Just as wisdom calls out, so does folly. She claims to offer sweet delicacies, but anyone who takes of her wares will receive only death.

Proverbs 8 - Wisdom and Creation

Wisdom calls out to be heard, to be paid attention to. The problem is not that wisdom is hidden, but that men ignore her call and prefer the way of folly. The same is true of Christ. He has not hidden Himself, but has made Himself visible to all nations. Christ calls us to follow Him, to learn from Him.

There is a close relationship between Jesus and Wisdom, which is personified here. Jesus speaks truth and justice, all that He says is trustworthy. Following Jesus is more fruitful than following silver and gold.

Wisdom dwells with prudence, knowledge and discretion. We know this to be true. If we fear the Lord we will utterly reject all evil.

Wisdom has sound judgement, insight and power. Good rulers use wisdom with which to rule. This brings honour and prosperity. Justice is the hallmark of wisdom. 

Wisdom is seen in some ways as created, so we should be wary of drawing too close a parallel with Jesus, though it is not absolutely clear that wisdom is created in the normal way. Wisdom came about before the physical elements of creation. The whole universe was created with wisdom. 

Wisdom underlies the whole of creation and do well to pay heed to wisdom, otherwise we only do ourselves harm.

Proverbs 6:20-7:27 - Adultery

We now get another chapter and a half of warnings against adultery. Sometimes people say the church focuses too much on sexual sin. There are various things can be said about this. First, we don't focus on sex half as much as society in general does! Secondly, the reasons there are frequent warnings against sexual sin of various sorts are that it is very prevalent, it is a temptation we particularly subject too, and it is very destructive.

The section starts with a repeat of the advice to heed your parent's instruction. Older people will have seen a bit of life, and will hopefully have learnt something from it (though this is not always the case!). We should learn from their experience. 

There is a warning not to lust in our hearts nor to be captivated by her. The sermon on the mount was not the first mention of our heart attitudes being important (in fact most of the sermon on the mount is reflecting what is already in the Old Testament).

Adultery is even worse than going with a prostitute. For adultery involves another man's wife, so you will endure the wrath of the other man as well as everything else that goes with sexual sin. The punishment will be great.

Then we are called on again to keep wisdom close to us. Then the writer tells a tale of the effects of adultery, describing how the temptation of adultery works. It uses smooth talk and tempting looks. When a man gives in to sexual temptation he becomes a fool.

Proverbs 6:1-19 - Folly

Now we get warning against folly. Just think how much of our present economic woes we would have been spared if we had exercised a little common sense. This ranges from the leaders of international banks and companies to the man and woman on the street. Supposedly intelligent people make decisions which bankrupt previously sound businesses. Today the trend is to always find someone else to blame. It is far wiser to take responsibility for ourselves. Here is a simple truth: you do not need to listen to stupid advice.

First the writer warns us against putting up security for someone else, and if we have done so, then he advises us to get out of it as quickly as possible, for this is a serious trap. There is a key lesson here, and that is people have to take responsibility for themselves. When someone is in need it right for us to help them, but they are still responsible for their own lives.

We also need to realise that a lot of trouble we experience is our own fault, and that a little hard work, a little application, a little common sense can solve or avoid a lot of problems.

Troublemakers are to be avoided, for trouble is all they will produce. They plot evil, but disaster will overtake them in an instant.

Then we get a list of things that the Lord hates, and essentially it is deceitfulness and pride and a wicked heart.

Proverbs 5 - Sex

We now begin a series of "warnings". Wisdom involves both knowing the right things to do and knowing what to avoid. The first warning is against adultery, and I don't think it is pushing things too far to take this as a warning against all forms of sexual sin. Most people would have been married in those days so any sexual sin would most probably have been adultery. 

I have just googled "discretion" and one of the definitions is "The freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation". If we sin sexually we can be sure that one thing we will lose is freedom. Suddenly life becomes much more complicated, lies and deception start to rule. Sexual temptation may seem sweet but if we give in it will turn into a bitter poison. God created sex for one situation alone, marriage between a man and a woman. It is a very powerful thing and the marriage relationship is the only one that can contain it. Within marriage sex is creative and upbuilding, in all other situations it is utterly destructive. And those who are tempting others do not know what they are doing, they too are on the road to destruction.

So we must be careful to avoid sexual temptation. We need to steer far clear of it for it can easily draw us in.  If we do fall we lose dignity and honour. In the end we will regret it if we do not receive and learn from discipline.

Now this is not an anti-sex talk. Wisdom then urges the man to find sexual pleasure from his wife. Indeed it speaks highly of her beauty, and it expresses the wish that a man might find delight in his wife's breasts at all times (interestingly the Message translation doesn't even mention breasts). Can't say I have heard too many sermons on this verse, but the Bible really does have a very different perspective on sex to what most people think.

Finally, this chapter closes with a warning that all that we do is done in the full sight of God. We think some things are done in secret, but in reality all is done in full view of the Lord.

Proverbs 4 - Guard your heart

We are not just receiving academic advice or a formal training course. When we read the Bible and apply ourselves to understanding we are receiving instruction from the Father. When we listen to Him we will gain understanding. And His teaching is reliable, unlike the rubbish the world teaches.

Verses 3 and 4 are interesting. It could be read as Solomon telling of how he learnt from his father David, which no doubt he did, It can also be looked at as the Father teaching the Son.

We need to make sure we do not forget what we have learnt. The church is all too good at forgetting what it has learnt, as we see today in all too many ways. Wisdom will guard our lives, but we have to pay attention to her. We need to dedicate our lives to wisdom. 

Jesus told a parable about the pearl of great price, here we have the same sentiment expressed about wisdom. We need to seek to understand life.

Wisdom will extend our life. We can see that foolishness can quickly reduce our years, but the converse is also true. For wisdom will help us to walk in good ways and to avoid many pitfalls. We must avoid evil at all costs, for it will only bring destruction upon us.

Wickedness leads to darkness and confusion, wisdom leads to light and clarity.

We are to guard our hearts above all else. The health of the core of our being is vital, and this is not the physical heart we are talking about, but our soul. We need to feed on good teaching, so that good things may flow from our lives. We also need to watch our tongues, it is so easy to talk rubbish.

Wisdom will teach us to walk in a straightforward manner.

Proverbs 3:13-35 - Generosity

We should seek wisdom far more than money, it brings are far greater and deeper blessing than money ever can, and will give a far better return in life. Silver and gold actually have virtually zero intrinsic value, and the money we have these days is mostly electronic and has zero intrinsic value. Yet we devote so much time to it. It is not money itself that is valuable, but what we can do with it. If we focus on the money we make an idol of it and encounter all the attached problems, including judgement from God. Wisdom shows us what is truly important and valuable in life. Paradoxically, this may sometimes result in us becoming financially better off, but the moment we put the focus on the money itself we are in trouble. 

Wisdom provides protection and honour, for it affects, in a good way, the very heart of our being.

One of the key features of Godly wisdom is that it makes us generous. God is a giving God, so if we really do know Him generosity will become an increasing part of our nature as well. So we should delight to give and to help. 

The negative side is also given, do not plot harm, do not falsely accuse. We might think it is pointless to give this advice. If we have the positive, then we will not need to worry about the negative. But this is to live in unreality. We have not been fully sanctified yet, there is still sin lurking in us, so we need to be on our guard against it. Have you noticed that sometimes after you have done something really good you will then do something really stupid or bad very soon afterwards? We need to be on our guard.

The Lord judges and acts against the perverse, wicked and proud.

Proverbs 3:7-12 - Do not be wise in your own eyes

"Do not be wise in your own eyes". If we listen to so many of the new atheists and various secularists and humanists being wise in their own eyes is so clearly what they are doing. We need to bear this in mind in arguing with them. Logical arguments can get so far and have a role to play, but the root of every man's problem is rebellion against God. When we ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we became "wise in our own eyes". We need to repent of this. We also need to apply this verse to ourselves. We have been completely forgiven, but the work of sanctification is ongoing, so there is still lots of sin residing in us. At times it will show itself by leading us to become wise in our own eyes. When we spot this happening we need to repent and humble ourselves before God. And this will be beneficial to our health!

We are to honour the Lord with our wealth, and giving to God should be the first item in our budget, not an afterthought (which was Abel's problem). When we do this our wealth will increase. Now does this mean that in all circumstances at all times we can expect financial blessing in a legalistic sense? No, for two reasons. Proverbs is not giving laws but principles, and it is only part of the story. We are called to share in Christ's sufferings. However, the wisest financial move we can make is to be generous, and this will actually increase our financial security. If we make money our goal (which really means making it our god), then we are heading down a wrong road. If we seek first the kingdom of God then money will take care of itself.

The wise man is not the one who gets everything right, but the one who is willing to learn, both from God and from others. The Lord disciplines those whom He loves, because He has high hopes and expectations for us.

Proverbs 3:1-6 - Peace and prosperity

Godly wisdom brings peace and prosperity. Now while there is much about the "prosperity gospel" that needs to be treated with at least caution, and some with outright rejection, we do need to ensure that we do listen to what Scripture actually says, and it is clear that part of the teaching of the Bible is that a godly life will bring peace and prosperity. This works in both very practical ways and in direct-intervention-by-God ways. This nation would be economically better off if it followed a more godly path, that is a simple fact. If we had not had the greed, foolishness and pride of the financial industry we would not have had the financial crash. If we had better moral standards, with Christian commitment to marriage, with people taking responsibility for their lives and actions, we would be far better off in all sorts of ways. And these things apply to individuals as well. Moreover, God acts directly as well, and we can only be heading for a fall if we continue along our current path.

Love and faithfulness are the essential elements. Contrast this with what the world tells us we need in order to succeed. But even though the world's ways are so much at odds with God's ways, it still recognises true virtue when it sees it.

We are to trust in the Lord with all our heart, not depending on our own understanding. We are to submit our ways to Him, then He will direct us. Now this does not mean we do not use our own understanding, but we use it recognising that:

1. We do not and cannot know everything.
2. We submit everything to God.

When we do this our own understanding will become truly valuable instead of a snare.

Proverbs 2 - Seek Wisdom

Wisdom involves listening, but it is more than that. It also involves applying our hearts to understanding. Wisdom does just not change our actions, but our attitudes and minds as well.

These things do not come automatically, we need to actively seek them. Just as we are to thirst for God we are to thirst for wisdom. This wisdom includes understanding the fear of the Lord. So there is a virtuous circle. The fear of the Lord brings wisdom, and wisdom brings understanding of the fear of the Lord.

Knowledge and understanding come from the mouth of the Lord. This means that we should listen to and read the word of God. It makes sense to seek the wisdom of God, for He holds success in store for us, and guards our lives. There is protection in the wisdom of God.

The wisdom of God is not an ephemeral thing, it enables us to judge what is right and just and fair, ie to apply it to life. It changes our hearts, ie the soul of our being.

Wisdom saves us from the ways of the wicked. Wickedness is deceptive and will seek to entice us down wrong paths, wisdom is the antidote to this.

It will also save us from the adulterous woman. Sexual temptation is very dangerous and can lead to all sorts of trouble.

In the end it is the wise who will inherit the earth, not the foolish.

Proverbs 1:8-33 - Heed Wisdom

People should listen to their fathers and mothers. Conversely, a sign of the disobedience at the end of the age is a rebelliousness against parents. Now in reading Proverbs we should remember that these are proverbs, they are not laws. This means that Proverbs is not saying that we should do or follow absolutely everything that our parents say, for they do sometimes say wrong things. Rather it is an attitude of mind, a willingness to learn from them, for while somethings they say will be wrong, there is much we can learn.

Conversely, there will be people who seek to entice us to sin. The example given here is of killing and robbing someone to get their goods. There are communities where this takes place in a very literal sense with muggings etc. It also happens on a more "sophisticated" level with fraud. In the end such people lay only a trap for themselves. Evil leads to foolishness.

Wisdom is personified in Proverbs. It is also notable that it is a female personhood that she is given, rather countering the supposed misogyny of the Bible. Wisdom calls out. People cannot say that they have never been called to be wise. Yet people continue in foolish ways. 

Verse 23 gives a call for repentance, then we can learn. The call to repentance in the gospel works in the same way. Christ calls us to repent so that He can pour His life into ours.

A refusal to repent means that only judgement can come. These closing verses of the first chapter describe how the judgement will work. People have had plenty chance to put things right, to admit their guilt and to repent, but they refused to do so.

Those who listen to wisdom will live in safety.

Proverbs 1:1-7 - Wisdom

Proverbs is an amazing book. Its self confessed purpose is to make wise the simple, and to make the already wise even wiser. The book is largely a result of the work of Solomon. One thing that puzzles me is how this man could produce such timeless wisdom then made such a pig's ear of his own life. One seriously has to question the "wisdom" of any man who takes 700 wives and 300 concubines (and helpful comments on this would be greatly appreciated).

The early part deals with two prime temptations: (i) to make money by exploiting others rather than by honest hard work; and (ii) the dangers of sex outside marriage. Our own society would do well to pay heed to these instructions. The whole of the West is still suffering from the banking crisis, partly as a result of pursuing the false god of money; and the results of sexual sin and all the suffering it causes all too evident.

There are two keys to gaining wisdom given in the first 7 verses. The first is to listen. We need to listen to God, and we need to listen to others. The other is that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When we put God first instead of our own cleverness we are making a good start. When we become proud we are on the road to foolishness.

Luke 6:43-49 - True faith

What our lives produce is a result of what is in our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to guard our hearts, for everything else flows from it. This is essentially what Jesus is saying here, and is another illustration that Jesus was effectively just teaching what the Old Testament had already said. Our tendency is to focus on the outside, on the results. We do this religiously when we focus on outward form, as the Pharisees did. We see it in society. Whenever there is a major failing, scandal or disaster there are always new rules and regulations put in place to "solve" the problem. What happens? A few months or a year or two later another scandal occurs. Why? Because the root of the problem lies in the human heart, and rules do nothing to change that. Jesus came to change the heart of man. And what is in our hearts comes out in what we say as well.

Next we come to the famous parable of the wise and foolish builders. Why do we focus on the outside? Because we can see it, we can see that "something has been done" (even if nothing has really changed). Anyone can say there heart has changed. However, it is the heart that needs to change, but this parable makes it absolutely clear that a true change in heart will result in action. It is no use calling Jesus "Lord, Lord" if it results in no change in our lives. The change of heart that we need is a heart that is committed to doing God's will, to obeying God. By the way, heart here does not just mean emotions, it includes our mind and our will as well.

Obedience to God is the best foundation for life, indeed the only foundation. If our "religion" is outward only then when trouble comes we will not be able to stand. But if we do live a life of obedience we will be able to withstand any storms that come. Hearing Jesus' words is not enough, we need to do them.

I am going to do Luke in sections, so we will now take a break from Luke for a couple of weeks or so and do some Old Testament stuff.

Luke 6:37-42 - Do not judge others

There is clear teaching here on not judging others, yet this teaching is one the most misapplied in Christianity. It is used as a pretext for not saying that anything anyone does is wrong. It is used as an excuse for saying it is OK to have sex before marriage, that homosexuality is OK etc. This is not what Jesus is saying. What Jesus is saying is that we should not judge someone else to be a worse person than ourselves.

Let's take an example. In the early 1990's some of the Serbs in Bosnia committed terrible atrocities against Muslims. Now we are absolutely right to say that there actions were wrong, indeed it would be morally reprehensible not to do so. What we cannot do is say that we are better people than they were. If I had been brought up a Serbian in their environment how would I have acted? In their situation would I have committed the same atrocities? I sincerely hope not, but I cannot say for sure, only God knows. 

You see, we use other people's wrong doing as a reason to do them down, and to "prove" that we are better than they are. This is what Jesus is teaching against. If we have a judgemental attitude, then we ourselves will be judged and will certainly be found wanting. The kingdom is a kingdom of forgiveness and we must have an attitude of forgiveness. Now forgiveness does not mean ignoring wrongs or pretending that they did not happen. On the cross Jesus did not pretend that our sin does not matter, but died for the very reason that our sin most certainly does matter.

So instead of looking for faults in other people, we should focus on sorting out our own lives first. Then we will be in a far better position to truly help others.

Luke 6:27-36 - Loving your enemies

The people were familiar with the concept of loving your neighbour, Jesus now tells them that this includes loving your enemy. We are to do good to them, bless them, and pray for them. This is the exact opposite of our natural inclinations. Jesus then tells us to turn the other cheek, and to give to whoever asks. Then closes this section with "do to others as you would have them do to you". Now it is important that we do not treat these as laws, but as principles, and Jesus is probably using some hyperbole to get the point across. At the same time, it would be equally wrong to effectively neutralise the meaning of these verses. We must remember that Jesus went to the cross, and did indeed turn the other cheek. There will be times when following these principles go against all our human nature, but even so we must do it.

Jesus then explains what He means. It is straight forward common sense to love those who love us. Everyone does that. There is nothing wrong with this, indeed it makes the world work, but there is nothing particularly virtuous about it, just common sense. Jesus calls us to love those who will not love back, to give to those who will not give back. 

Why are we to do this? Because it is the nature of the Father. He loves and is merciful to all, and most do not react with gratitude. It is part of living as children of God. Note also that Jesus says "your reward will be great". We will be truly rich if we do this.