Day 310: Proverbs 25-27 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Welcome to the Bible Department podcast powered by Arma. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebaldapartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (camera shutter clicking) - Hey, Emily, welcome to day 310. We are almost at the end of the book of Proverbs. Can you believe it? It feels like that has flown by. Well, we got today and tomorrow left to dig into the book of Proverbs. I've been loving our time together, studying this book of wisdom. Today we've got three Proverbs, Proverbs 25, 26 and 27. If you haven't done the reading, this is your chance to stop the video, pause the audio. Go get the reading done. We want this podcast to supplement your Bible reading, not substitute for it. So go get Proverbs 25 through 27, done and read. Let's cross it off the to-do list. Not like a chore, but you know what I mean. We're gonna cross it off the to-do list and then come back and we can enjoy the episode together. For everyone who's done the reading, let me jump into context clues, then nerdy nuggets and then our time was truth. I wanna kind of give a big picture. So one of the Proverbs actually doing, okay? Obviously we don't have like historical context

or author context or audience context or anything like that today. But what I do wanna do is just give you a 30,000 foot idea of what the Proverbs are trying to accomplish. And I think I can say it in this one sentence, that the goal of the Proverbs are to teach you, train you, instruct you on how to think, not what to think. I actually think that's the goal of wisdom, generally speaking, that wisdom doesn't just tell you what to think, but how to think. I don't know if you've ever interacted with someone who's truly wise and you've asked them for advice. If someone's really, really wise and you asked them for advice, they'll ask you a million questions. And they'll kind of lead you to an answer. And by the time you get to that answer, you'll feel like you discovered the answer on your own. I do that all the time, okay? My goal isn't to make people dependent on me. And if I just tell people what I think, but never help them to understand how I think I've trained them to just be dependent on asking me for wisdom. But the goal is not to be wise in my own eyes. The goal is to help another person to actually be wise and attain wisdom. And so we can see that in two little lines that we've got from today's reading.

And I wanna like highlight this. We're gonna get into my top, we'll try to do top seven, maybe top eight. We'll see, we'll see, we'll see. I've got 10 written down, but you know, yeah, I don't want this episode to be too long, okay? But I wanna give us a proverb that really unlocks what the book of Proverbs is doing as a whole. And that's Proverbs, chapter 26. So this is our context clue for the day. Proverbs, chapter 26, we're gonna read verse four and then we're gonna read verse five. And from the outside, it's gonna look like these lines don't agree with each other, okay? Proverbs, chapter 26, verse four, says this. Do not answer a fool according to his folly. Pretty clear, do what? Do not, do not, don't, don't, do not. And, nope, don't do it. Do not answer a fool according to his folly or you yourself will be just like him, all right? Verse five, answer a fool according to his folly or he will be wise in his own eyes. What, how do we have two verses here that contradict, that disagree? Well, it's because the goal of wisdom literature is not to tell you what to think, but how to think. And Proverbs can't teach you how to think unless it gives you two pieces of advice that are in contradiction to each other.

So what is Proverbs, chapter 26 actually saying? Well, it's saying sometimes you shouldn't answer a fool and then sometimes you should, which means wisdom is not one size fits all. Wisdom actually requires that you know the circumstance, know what's happening, know what's going on, that you have an intimate awareness of, you know, a scenario and then can apply not just general wisdom but specific advice for specific scenarios. So there are times where answering a fool according to his folly, bad idea. Sometimes answering a fool. It's a good idea. Depends on the situation. That does not mean that truth is relative, that doesn't mean any of that. That's wild, that idea is crazy. But what it does mean is that I don't have the same answer every time for the seemingly similar situations. I as a leader have to take into account that there are different nuances that require nuanced answers and responses from me. And I would say this verse, or these two verses, are proof that what Proverbs is really trying to get you to do is to learn how to think, not what to think. 'Cause that is what it means to actually be wise. - Family, the weight is over. My brand new book, "Crushing Chaos" is out now.

And available everywhere books are sold. Literally today, I walked into a Barnes & Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes & Noble or you can go to a books a million, or Amazon, or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy if you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective. If you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. All right, let's dive into our, we're gonna say top 10. We'll see how many we can get through. Our top 10, top 10, air quotes, top 10. We'll see how many we can handle today. Proverbs, chapter 25, verse two, says this, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter." So God likes to conceal stuff, okay? It's the glory of God to conceal a matter. To search out a matter is the glory of kings.

Okay, now here's another thing that I do when I read Proverbs, obviously we don't live in a world with kings. So I just kind of substitute the word leader. Leader, by subbing out the word king and putting in the word leader, it actually helps me to contextualize the Proverbs in a really, really helpful way. So Proverbs chapter 25, verse two, what does it mean? It means that God hides stuff and we seek it out. That's right, hide and seek. Okay, so wisdom is worth having. It's worth digging up, unbearing. Wisdom is always gonna be buried. It's always gonna be hidden. The best things in life have to be revealed. They have to be searched out, okay? And you gotta kind of know that, that like the best ideas aren't just going to appear out of thin air. Like you're gonna have to search for the truth in that there's glory in that. God's glory is in hiding stuff. Our glory is in finding stuff. And that should shape your life. When you're frustrated, you should actually realize or remember, now it's the glory of a leader to find the answer. Discovery. That's, there's glory in just discovering things.

How lazy would we be if God just gave us all the answers to everything, really, really easy? The muscles that it takes for a little baby bird to break out of its shell, those are muscles that are necessary for its growth and development. I just watched a chiropractor, you know, help kids that were C-section babies because when kids come out of the birth canal, they're actually like shaping their head and their muscles like right here in the forehead. But in a C-section, by removing the struggle, we actually could weaken the child. And so I love this. God could just give you answers. But it's the glory of a leader to seek it out. I'm enjoying figuring out how to plan a church. Sure, God could just wave the magic wand and dip any bopity boo the answers into my brain, but that's not the glory of, there's no glory in that for God and there's definitely no glory in that for me. So of course, God could give me the cheat codes on marriage, but there's no glory in that for him. There's no glory in that for me and my wife. So the glory of a leader is to find the answers, discover it 'cause who you become on the process of trying to find those answers is actually the goal of wisdom. All right, Proverbs chapter 25 verse 11, it's another good one.

Says this, like apples of gold in settings of silver is a ruling rightly given. So I'm gonna contextualize this one too because I don't give a rulings, And I can experience decision fatigue. So the same way that I'm taking out the word king and I'm putting in the word leader, I'm gonna go ahead and take out the word ruling and put the word decision. So like apples and sorry, like apples of gold in settings of silver is a decision rightly given. I make a lot of decisions every day, I bet you do too. And when you make the right decisions, oh man, it's a glorious thing. And so what you wanna do is you wanna grow your capacity. How do you grow your capacity? Well, that's your ability to make good decisions. The moment I know like when I think about someone's capacity, I think about their ability to make decisions, okay? Elijah Gaither is higher on the org chart than Cam because of Elijah's ability to make decisions, okay? The moment Cam is able to make the level of decisions that Elijah can make, he is gonna get moved up in the org chart, okay? Your ability to make decisions, it's a glorious thing. It's a good thing. And it's an indicator of your capacity, okay? Next one, Proverbs chapter 25 verse 15,

through patience a ruler can be persuaded. So let's say, let's sub out the word ruler, let's put it in the word pastor or leader, okay? Through patience a leader can be persuaded and a gentle tongue can break a bone. That means that you can do more with a gentle spirit than you can with trying to dominate a leader, right? Especially if you're leading in an organization and there's someone who's above you on the org chart. And that means you don't have authority over that person but you do have influence. And you wanna use that influence the right way. It's funny, on our team, Tess Gaither does a brilliant job of this. She's actually done it two times in the last meetings that we've been in, you know, whereas, you know, sometimes I can tend to go over time when it comes to preaching. And the way that she leads up, somehow it gets me to agree with her, but it's not by strong arming me. It's finesse, man, it's killing them softly. Literally, you know, we were talking about a service series idea and her ability to like say something that is her getting her way but she's saying it in a way that's honoring and that makes my guard go down. And that's a wise way to lead. Especially when you have influence with someone but you don't have authority over that person.

This is a great proverb, okay? Through patience, a ruler can be persuaded. Through patience, your pastor can be persuaded. Through patience, you know, a police officer in your neighborhood can be persuaded. You know, through patience, okay? Think about someone who is in authority over you and you may have some influence there but no authority, that person can be persuaded and a gentle tongue can break a bone. I mean, a gentle tongue can do more damage than yelling or screaming and getting an attitude or disrespecting or dishonoring that person. Okay, next, Proverbs chapter 25, verse 28. This is a life verse for Dr. Manny, okay? Chapter 25, verse 28. Like a city whose walls are broken through, okay? Like a city with no walls is a vulnerable city. That's a city that's about to get sacked. That's a city that's about to get pillaged. That's a city that's about to get attacked. That's a city that's about to have its citizens carted off in the slavery. That's a city that's under captivity, all right? That city is in failure. Big trouble if your walls are broken through. Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control. So if you have no self-control, you're like an unarmed city.

You're like something with no safety. Man, you're a threat to yourself with no self-control. That's what that's saying. That's a good verse, man. Tattoo that one on your chest. That's a good one right there. Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control. Very, very, very good verse. I don't even need to say anything else about that. Proverbs, chapter 26, verses four to five, is again, two verses that seem like they contradict, but they don't contradict. They're actually telling you how to think, not what to think, we already looked at those, okay? Number six, Proverbs, chapter 26, verse seven, says this, like the useless legs of one who is lame is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. Whew, man, the Bible is dangerous in the hands of idiots. That's what that's saying. A proverb in the mouth of a fool? Oh, man, 'cause anyone could quote the Bible. It's easy to quote the Bible. And there's a whole bunch of people who quote the Bible and they're still fools. Somebody asked me recently about a family member in my life. And I said, yeah, man, that person was manipulative and then they got saved. Now they're spiritually manipulative. They've always been manipulative since I've known

they've been manipulative. Now they manipulate scripture, okay? So this proverb is that's good, man. It's saying, giving people the Bible is not the thing that's actually going to help them. The Bible is a tool for discipleship. And really people need to be discipled. And once people are discipled, this will no longer be a weapon in their hands. So the Pharisees had the Bible and it didn't make them any better off, you know? So you would think that on the Bible department, we would say, no, the Bible is the answer. I don't know. Jesus is the answer, adopting a God-like attitude is the answer. And the Bible, you're just gonna, if you're a mean and we give you the Bible, now you're just gonna be a mean person who quotes the Bible, okay? If you're manipulative and we give you the Bible, now you're just gonna be a manipulative person who quotes the Bible. So a proverb in the mouth of a fool is like useless legs of one who is lame. It's like, okay, you have legs, but you're paralyzed. And so they, yes, you have the Bible, but the power of the Bible is actually in surrender in the person who's using the Bible, having a surrendered heart before the Lord. That's a good proverb right there. Proverbs chapter 26, verse 11,

"As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly." That's a good visual. Can you imagine a dog going back to its vomit, licking it up? Can you imagine, you know, let's take, say, and this is the point of Proverbs, by the way, to sear a mental image on your mind so that you can't forget it. You may forget a law, you may forget a story, you're not gonna forget the image of a dog on the sidewalk, licking up its vomit, okay? So here we go, imagine, imagine, you know, you dated someone who was an idiot and it ruined your life and you were under their spell and then, you know, you broke up and you got free. You were free for six months, eight months, ten months. And then all of a sudden, they DM'ed you out of the blue and now in 48 hours, you're back under their spell. Well, guess what? You're a dog licking up vomit. That's what you are. A person who goes back to their dumb ways, a person who goes back into a relationship that God rescued them from, you're vomit, vomit, vomit. Vomit liquor, that's, you're a vomit liquor. You're licking up vomit. Can you imagine, can you imagine, you know, just imagine the last time you threw up, imagine the last time you vomited. Okay, imagine you go to the toilet, you vomit.

And then imagine you go get some Tupperware, scoop the vomit up out of the toilet and then later on, you were hungry. So you microwaved the vomit, got it all hot. You know what I'm saying? And then you got a spoon started, started eating your vomit. Yep, that's what a lot of us are doing. You got free from porn, now you're back to porn. You're licking up vomit, you microwaving vomit. You got free from a relationship, now you're back in that same dumb relationship, you're licking up vomit. You got free from, you know, spiritual abuse at a church, now you're back at that same church, licking up vomit. Just someone who returns to their vomit, that's the image that God wants you to have when you return back to foolish ways that he, through his providence of power, has rescued you from. That's good, this is the point of proverbs, to say things in such a way that's like, ah, I can never forget that. That's, that's, that is a memorable image, man. That is seared onto my mind. You never gonna forget microwaved vomit, never gonna forget it. Scooping up vomit out the toilet, putting it in the microwave, getting a spoon, slurping that, join up like a soup,

you never gonna forget that. That's the whole point, that's the whole point. That's what wisdom does. All right, 26, 17 says this, like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears, aka you about to get bit, is someone who rushes into a quarrel, not their own. So this is essentially the Bible saying, my your business, mind your business, unless you need to intervene, you know, for godly purpose, but no need to enter yourself into a quarrel that has nothing to do with you. We keep moving, 27 verse six, says this, wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses, wounds from a friend can be trusted. One of the ways that you know that someone's actually your friend is that they should wound you with their words, they should tell you things Hey, man, like you got an attitude problem. Yo, you be late for work. They about to fire you. A good friend tells you about you. And if you're insecure, you'll surround yourself with yes men. You'll surround yourself with hype men. You'll surround yourself with people who never wound you, who only ever kiss you, but what does the Bible say wounds from a friend can actually be trusted and an enemy multiplies kisses. Enemies love to flatter you. They love to tell you all the things that you're awesome at.

You know, and that's not the culture. I'm nothing wrong with encouragement, but, but anytime someone's like overly flattering, there's a small part of me that's like, yeah, what are you, what are you trying to convince me of? You know, why are you trying to win favor with me? What do you want? What's your angle? Whereas when people are able to share harsh truths with me right there, that tells me this relationship's got some substance. This is, this got potential for, for a real friendship. I don't want the kinds of friends who, you know, can watch me, you know what I mean? With my zipper down and something in my teeth and not say nothing. If you're around me and I got something in my teeth and my shirt is, is misaligned or the buttons ain't like, help me out. Cut me. The wounds of a friend can be trusted. Cut me. I'd rather you wound me than let me be out here. Looked them crazy, but there's a lot of people who they don't want wounds of a friend. They just want everybody to tell them how awesome they are, which means there's insecurity there, that person not secure enough to handle the wounds of a friend. OK, here we go, twenty seven, six, last one, twenty seven versus twenty three to twenty seven. We get a parable here at the end of chapter twenty seven. And for a second time, I won't read the whole thing. But what it's saying is, hey, man, the economy goes up and down. But if you're going to create financial stability, then there's got to be some things that you have financially that are predictable. OK, there's a level of unpredictable. That's OK, but then there's a level of predictable. Before I started the guard, I felt like starting a church was about to be financially

unpredictable, and it is it is financially unpredictable. I didn't know how large the church is going to be. I didn't know whether or not how much teaching I was going to have to do. Getting people to adopt and understand tithing, just unpredictable, unpredictable. You know, we don't know how much a venue is going to cost. We didn't know this. We didn't know unpredictable. Everything's unpredictable. So you want to know what I did? I did a three book deal. I did a book deal for three books because I needed to create some predictable income because this area is unpredictable, great leaders, great people. Good stewards are always mixing in predictable with unpredictable. OK, and as an entrepreneur as someone who runs multiple businesses, who now is starting a church, who's got, you know, book deals and like, you just want to make sure it says this, be sure you know the condition of your flocks. Give careful attention to your herds for riches. Do not endure forever and a crown is not secure for all generations. OK, it's saying this, hey, there may be a day where this basket that you got your eggs in that the bottom falls out. You got to make sure that are your flocks good? Like are your herds good? I know you're not out in the field every day because there's some other things. There's some other irons you got in the fire, but you got to be someone who makes sure that you never abandon the main thing. OK, what is your bread and butter? What makes you money? OK, and that thing you got to make sure that that thing is secure, that it's that it's OK. You can't overextend yourself and neglect the core basis of how your business makes money. Man, what good wisdom?

All right, Proverbs, this is our Thomas tree. I got through all 10. That's crazy. We're over time, but says this, Proverbs chapter 25 verse six and seven is a warning around where to sit when you're at a banquet or an event with the king. Proverbs chapter 25 verse six, seven, do not exalt yourself in the king's presence and do not claim a place among his great men. It is better for him to say to you come up here than for him to humiliate you before his nobles. Well, guess what? Jesus says the exact same thing in Luke chapter 14, verses seven through 11. So that's our Thomas truth for the day, because Jesus was clearly familiar with this passage here in Proverbs and interpreted like beefed it up a little bit. And I think it's a great passage. And I'm just gonna read to you, Jesus' version, okay, of this. Here's what it says in Luke 14, starting in verse seven. "When Jesus noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told him this parable. When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor. For a person more distinguished in you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, give this person your seat, then humiliated, you will have to take the less important place. But when you're invited, take the lowest place so that when the host comes, he will say to you, "Friend, move up to a better place."

Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests, for all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. And that right there is the timeless truth. So Jesus clearly was familiar with Proverbs 27, and re-interprets it, puts it in a parable form, and then adds a timeless truth at the end. That those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. That's our timeless truth for today. Tomorrow is our last day in the book of Proverbs. We got day three, 11 tomorrow. We're gonna be looking at Proverbs, chapters 28 to 31. I am super excited, cannot wait to camp out tomorrow with Proverbs and then be done. And then after that, I think we got the book of Joe. It's gonna be fantastic. I'll see you right here, same time, same place. Can't wait to see you, proud of you, love you. 'Til next time, peace. - Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend, and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show, head to thebobaldapartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.