Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20111030.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Proverbs: Motivating Teens And Adults To Align With God's Fixed Moral Order
Part III: Solomon's Proverbs Reflecting God's Fixed Moral Order For Blessing, Proverbs 10:1-22:16
A. Contrasting Wise, Righteous Living With Foolish, Wicked Living, Proverbs 10:1-15:33
9. Studying Proverbs 11:28-12:5
  1. Introduction
    1. Solomon's actual proverbs hop from one subject to another, likely "to force readers to grapple with and meditate on the thoughts of one verse before moving on to the next," Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 925.
    2. We thus focus on each one to draw out its deeper insight that Proverbs 1:5-6 implies exists (as follows):
  2. Studying Proverbs 11:28-12:5.
    1. Proverbs 11:28 asserts that he who trusts for his security (batah, B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 105) in his riches, he (emphatic pronoun, Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1168) will fall, but the righteous send out buds, sprouts (parah, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 827) like foliage (aleh, Ibid., p. 750). Trusting in riches for security without uprightness is futile, but righteousness keeps one blessed with new opportunities for gain.
    2. Proverbs 11:29 teaches one who stirs up, troubles (akar, Ibid., p. 747) his own family, kin will inherit the wind (nothing), and the arrogant, flippant (ewil, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. K. C., O. T., p. 908) will be servant to the wise at heart. Arrogant flippancy leads to a loss of influence and wealth even with one's kin, but the wise in heart who are humble and careful in life tend to gain great influence and wealth with family.
    3. Proverbs 11:30 claims the fruit (consequences, peri, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 826) of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who takes (to rescue from death, laqah , Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 543) souls is wise. Righteous people produce consequences in their thoughts and words that become a source of life to others, and as such, they deliver others from death, being very wise. Righteous people are very valuable!
    4. Proverbs 11:31 claims: "Behold! The righteous shall be recompensed, how much more (ki ap, Ibid., p. 65) the wicked and the sinner." If we witness with our own senses how the righteous have been paid back for their righteousness, the wicked and sinners will be that much more judged of God! Our great accountability to the Lord drives us to shun wickedness and sin in our lives to function in righteousness.
    5. Proverbs 12:1 teaches that He who loves corrective discipline (musar, Ibid., p. 416) loves knowledge, but he who hates rebukes (tokahat, Ibid., p. 407) is brutish, stupid ( ba'ar, Ibid., p. 129). Knowledge is the product of being teachable, and being teachable in turn is the product of heeding discipline. Hating even being strongly rebuked keeps one from being teachable, and that leads to b rutishness and stupidity.
    6. Proverbs 12:2 claims a wholesome (tob as in Genesis 1:31; Ibid., Kittel, p. 1168, 2) person brings forth, elicits (puq, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 807) favor from Jahweh, but a nobleman (ish, Ibid., Kittel, p. 1168; Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament, 1973, p. 49) of evil devices (mezimot, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 273) Jahweh will condemn as guilty (Hiphil active causative of rasha', Ibid., p. 957)
    7. Proverbs 12:3 in concert with Proverbs 12:2 claims that no human being (adam, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., Girdlestone, p. 45-46, be he a nobleman or a common man) is firmly established (kun, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 465-467) by wickedness, but the root of the righteous (ESV) will not be moved, shaken (mot, Ibid., p. 556-557). Wickedness keeps any man regardless of class or station from being ever firmly established where the righteous are not only firmly established, but their roots cannot even be shaken. At all levels of society, there is a huge contrast in stability between the very unstable wicked and the very stable upright.
    8. Proverbs 12:4 asserts that a wife of (moral in the context) strength is her husband's crown (of honor, atarah, Ibid., p. 742), but like rottenness in his bones is she who causes shame ( bosh, Ibid., p. 101-102). A husband is dramatically affected either to his honor or to his demise even of his health (bones) by whether his wife is morally strong or weak. A man must marry a morally strong woman or he will only destroy himself. Equally true, a woman must wed a morally strong man or otherwise destroy herself.
    9. Proverbs 12:5 claims that the plans (hashav, Ibid., p. 362-363) of the righteous are just (ESV, NIV), but that the advice, counsels (tahbulah, Ibid., p. 287) of the wicked are treachery, deception ( mirmah, Ibid., p. 941). Mere plans of the righteous are just in relationships where not only the plans, but even the advice given in apparent friendship or alleged good faith by the wicked only intend to deceive in treacher y.
Lesson Application: May we align with God's fixed moral order in each of these realms for blessing.