Day 311: Proverbs 28-31 | 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 thebobledapartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (electronic music) - Family, welcome to day 311. Can you believe it with 311 days in? I don't know how many days left, I guess, what, 54? I think 54 plus 311 is 365. Maybe, anyway, my degree is not in math, it's in Bible. I am so excited that you're here with us today. We are finishing up the book of Proverbs. That's right, today we've got chapters 28, 29, 30, and 31. If you have not done the reading, how about you stop the video, pause the audio, go get the reading done. Solid reading today. You've got a good mix of authors, contributors, writers, and so we're gonna talk about that when we get into our context clues, but if you haven't done the reading, I promise you, it's a little bit longer than normal, right? We've been doing about three proverbs a day, so this is four proverbs, but you're good. I promise it's not gonna take you that long. All right, for those of us who have done the reading, let's dive in, okay? Let's do context clues right up at the top. I actually wanna start in maybe an odd place today or surprising place.

I actually wanna read Jeremiah 1818 to us today, okay? Jeremiah 1818. Dr. Mandy, why are you reading Jeremiah 1818? Well, because it is gonna tell us about three groups of teachers that Israel has, and one of these groups is directly connected to the content that we have here in the book of proverbs, okay? So Jeremiah 1818, the people of Judah are wanting to silence Jeremiah, not a big fan. All the stuff that Jeremiah's got to say is not popular, okay? So here's what they say. In Jeremiah 18, chapter 18, verse 18, they said, come, let's make plans against Jeremiah to persecute him, to ensnare him, to imprison him, okay? Let's make plans against Jeremiah for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, okay? The teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets, three distinct groups. The teaching of the law by the priest, nor the counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let's attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says. So Jeremiah 1818 gives us three groups, okay? Three groups, priests who teach the law, prophets who give oracles, spoken words, the Ramah word of God, and then counsel from the wise. So you just wanted to figure out, okay,

like what do we have in the Hebrew scriptures? Like in the Hebrew Bible of the Old Testament, well, I would say you've got the teaching of the law, right? Like that's the Torah, the section of the Bible that we know as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. And then we're gonna have a ton of prophetic content. We've gone through a lot of that. So the Torah, the Nevine, okay? And then the Ketuvim, the writings, but really it's the counsel of the wise, okay? This wisdom literature that we've got comes to us from the counsel of the wise. And so wisdom is seen as an authoritative source of God's word, okay? So the wise men of Israel, okay? The wise men of Israel, just wisdom, okay? There's in the same way that you know how to categorize someone as a priest, or you know how to categorize someone as a prophet. As you enter into the world of the Bible, I want you to begin to realize that there's a category of just wise people, that they're not priests, they're not prophets, they're just people with wisdom. And so we've got entire books of the Bible that come from this school of wisdom or this source of wisdom, or wise people, okay? So we're gonna get a little bit of that today. We've already been exposed to that as we've been reading Psalms and Proverbs.

Both of these are considered wisdom. Ketu-vene, the writings, Ketu-vene, Tanak. Okay. Remember, Torah never even Ketu-vene. All right. Let's dive into some nerdy nuggets. Okay. I'm going to give you my top five proverbs for the day. Okay. My top five verses for the day. You know, we've done five, we've done seven, we've done 10, but we're going to end off with the book of proverbs with my top five. And I'm going to make sure that we've got at least one from every contributor for these last four chapters of the book of proverbs that we got here. Okay. Chapter 28 is going to be more content from Solomon. Now, the cool thing about everything from yesterday and today. Okay. So starting in chapter 25, I believe, starting in verse 25, it says these, it says, "These are more proverbs of Solomon compiled by men of Hezekiah, king of Judah." Okay. That means that in the same way that the book of the law was rediscovered or found in the time of Josiah, I don't know if you remember that, the book of the law had just gone missing. And they found it during Josiah's reign. And Josiah's reign is kind of known as a time of repentance and revival. Josiah makes sure that the idolatry is wiped out of the land. He causes the people to repent from their evil ways and return to the Lord. And there's a revival. Okay. And it's centered around the discovery of the book of the law, the discovery of the word of God. So the same with that is what happens during Josiah's reign. I want us to just go up three notches in the family tree. Okay. So Josiah's dad is Ammon, Ammon's dad is Manasseh. Manasseh's dad is Hezekiah. Okay. So Josiah's great, great grandfather. No, great grandfather. Hezekiah. Similar kind of revival is going to happen in Hezekiah's time. Okay. So it's not all that crazy that old proverbs from Solomon are found and rediscovered during Hezekiah's reign. So chapter 25 starts off with this. These are some proverbs of Solomon compiled by the men of Hezekiah, King of Judah. And that's probably the wise men of Hezekiah, King of Judah, the group of men who would have been responsible for giving counsel and advice to King Hezekiah. So in the same way that we see a repentance, return to the Lord, revival during Josiah's reign, and the book of the laws found, we're going to see that same thing during Hezekiah's reign. But in Hezekiah's reign, it's not the book of the law that is found, but all these proverbs from Solomon and the men in Hezekiah's court who are wise are going to compile them. And that's how we get Proverbs chapters 25, 26, 27, all of which we studied yesterday, and 28. Okay. So that's context. That's a ton of context. And that's also where we get chapter 29. When we get to chapter 30,

we've got the sayings of a man by the name of Agur, okay? Agur. Agur has got a lot of things to say to us. And then when we get to chapter 31, we're going to get the writings of King Lemuel, okay? And he's got to learn a bunch of things from his mom. Now, I think this is really cool because the tone so far through the book of Proverbs has been a father wanting to instruct his son. But what we're going to have from King Lemuel is a mom giving instruction to her son because wisdom doesn't just come from men. Wisdom comes from moms to their boys to their daughters as well, okay? So that's enough context clues. Let's finally dive into our nerdy nuggets for the day. I'm going to try to give you five, okay? First is Proverbs chapter 28, verse 1. And it says this, I actually have this tattooed on my deck. So the wicked, I know it by heart, the wicked man flea though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as lions. I love that the wicked man fleas though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as lions. This verse is saying two things. The first thing, sin will make you paranoid. The wicked man fleas though no one's pursuing. Whenever they're sin in your life, it just makes you suspicious and paranoid. And like you just, you always got to keep your head on a swivel because you just don't know what's going to happen because you really are struck with a guilty conscience. So the wicked man fleas, they're running away, even though no one's running after them. You never just feel guilty about sin, just kind of like, you know, you just feel like everyone knows. You walk into church and you... They can see sin on me. You know, it's like, no, that's a literally just a guilty conscience. That's you, no one's looking at you. Somebody one time, I was preaching, I'm preaching like, you know, who knows them? Seattle or Alabama or California, wherever. I'm on the road, which means I'm talking to people I don't know. And someone walked up to me and was like, yeah, like there was this point where you were talking about, you know, sleeping with your boyfriend and you looked right at me. Did you know how to sleep with my boy?

I was like, no, I don't, I don't know you. And I was like, I don't think I was looking at you, ma'am. Like, I think, I think you're fleeing though no one pursues. I think that's what's happening, okay? So the wicked man flees, no one pursues, but the righteous, bold as lions. So that means sin doesn't just take away, you know, your ability to relate to the Lord, but it also robs you of confidence, boldness. The kind of confidence that you really need in order to go after the things that God's promised you. So that's a good verse, man. Chapter 28, verse one, Proverbs chapter 28, verse one. The wicked man flees, though no one pursues them, but the righteous, they're bold. There's a certain amount of boldness. If you're living in sin and can still be bold, ooh, that's bold, man. That's, ooh, that's that, hey, power to you, you know? But most people, if there's a boldness issue, there may be a guilt issue or a sin issue, and it's important to address that, okay? Anyway, all right, Proverbs chapter 28, verses 20 and 22. I wish that they weren't interrupted by verse 21. We don't need verse 21, we just need chapter 20. Sorry, verse 20 and verse 22 of chapter 28 says this, "A faithful person will be richly blessed." Praise God, "A faithful person will be richly blessed." And just when you may be thinking to yourself,

"Ah, that doesn't mean it's necessarily talking about money." Well, here we go. But one eager to get rich will not go unpunished. Okay, a lot there. So the confirmation that we have in the second half of the verse means that the first half of the verse is talking about finances, okay? It's not just blessed richly, it's richly blessed. That means like riches of monetary value. But one eager to get rich, okay? So there's a difference between stewarding wealth to get rich and being eager to get rich. And the Bible says being eager to get rich is an issue. If you're eager to get rich, it'll lead to impulsiveness and patience or kinds of things, okay? So you shouldn't be eager. Desire, awesome, eager, not so awesome. Okay, let's go to verse 22. The stingy are eager to get rich. So who's eager to get rich? Stingy people, but Proverbs has already told us. Like stinginess, boo. Generosity, yay. Okay, stinginess, boo. Okay, stingy people are eager to get rich. They're always looking for a way to get rich quick. They're always looking for a hustle. Stingy people are eager to get rich and are unaware that poverty awaits them.

The very thing that they don't want is what they're gonna have because a lot of times excelling in life, succeeding in life is counterintuitive, okay? And you don't get a lot of money by eagerly pursuing money. You get to a mass wealth by stewarding wealth with wisdom. All right, Proverbs chapter 28, verse 13. We're gonna back just a little bit. Says whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, okay? But the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Does it just, I mean, you can just take the proverb at face value, don't conceal sin. Confess sin and renounce. It's one thing to confess sin. It's a whole other thing to say, nope. What, that was wrong, that was sin. I, I'm, I repent. I'm not just asking God for forgiveness. I'm asking that He would help me to transform, change. I renounce. I, I declare that's not me. That sinful behavior, that was not me. 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 to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to 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. Now, our last two, okay, I told you I'd give you five. My top five favorite verses of today's reading. My next two are going to be from Agir and Lemuel, okay? So, let's take Agir. He says this, or he writes this in Proverbs 30 verse 5. And man, I love this. Chapter 30 verse 5. Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Every word of God is flawless. The word of the Lord is flawless. Like, that's such a good word. That's such good vocabulary. God, I'm flawed, but your word is flawless. And not only is your word flawless, every one of your words is flawless. God, I misspeak. You never misspeak. I say dumb things. You never say anything that's wrong and correct. Dumb, short-sighted, anything. Your word is flawless. So, why wouldn't I read it every day? Why wouldn't I study it every day? It's flawless. It's flawless. It has, it has no fault. It has no flaw. It has no fault in it. Proverbs chapter 31, so last one. Proverbs 31 verses 4 to 7 is, again, king Lemuel. So, this is a secular ruler. This is not a Christian ruler. This is not a Jewish ruler. Secular ruler. And what does king Lemuel have to say? Here we go, starting verse 4. It is not for kings Lemuel. This is mom giving him advice. It is not for kings Lemuel. It is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. Let beer be for those who are perishing. Wine for those who are in anguish. Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. Hey, Lemuel, wine, beer, not for you. Why? Not because it's a sin. Proverbs chapter 31 verses 4 to 7 does not say that Lemuel should abstain from wine and beer because it's a sin. It says because it's not what rulers do. It's not what kings do. I want to just sub out the word king and put the word leader. It's not what leaders do. So the reason I would ask people who serve at the garden, hey, if you're going to be a director, if you've got to be a team lead, no alcohol, has nothing to do with it being sin, has everything to do with their certain things leaders don't do. This has nothing to do with sin, has everything to do with leadership. What does it say? It is not for kings. Lemuel, in the ancient world, kings actually got the best wine. The choices of wines was reserved for

kings. So this is counter-cultural. This isn't just counter-cultural. Like for our culture today, it's counter-cultural in the actual culture that it comes from that a mom would tell a son, tell her son, no, no, no. If you're going to be a king, if you're going to be a ruler, there are certain sacrifices that you have to make because the leadership is all about sacrifices. It's not about privileges. If you're in leadership because of the privileges, oh, you're not going to be a leader long because you're going to realize all leadership comes with scrutiny. It comes with people watching you. It comes with responsibilities. It comes with you having to be exemplary. Leadership is not just about a reserved parking spot and a title in a reserved seat. No, no, no. Don't get it twisted. Leadership is about restraint. It's about all the things you can't do anymore because now you're a king. Now you're a ruler. Now you're a leader. And maybe you were thinking yourself, I can't wait to be king, man. I get to drink the best wine. And here comes mom with some advice. Hey, even though it's available to you, I'm going to tell you right now, it's not for kings, not for kings. No, no, no, no, no, because the whole nation is dependent upon you making good decisions. And what happens when you need to make a good decision and let's say a poor person needs their rights defended and you deprive them of their rights unintentionally. You was just trying to go have a good time. You're just trying to drink. And now you've had a domino effect of not loving the people or the subjects of your kingdom. Wine, beer, not for rulers, not for kings, not for leaders. So the real question is not, can I drink alcohol? Is drinking okay? That's not really the question. The question is, how foreign leadership do I wanna go? How high up the kingdom ladder, not the corporate ladder, how high up the kingdom ladder do I wanna climb? One thing to climb a corporate ladder is the whole other thing to climb the kingdom ladder. To climb the kingdom ladder? Oh man, it means that you become a servant, it means that you become humble,

it means that you become teachable, it means that you become someone who give up, I'll give up alcohol, sure, easy, whatever, I don't care. I'll give up anything because nothing compares to being used by God, nothing. And I'll never let anything, any pleasure of the world, any privilege, any right come in between me and being used by God in a great way. I wanna be used by God in a great way. Okay, those are my five verses that I think. I can't drive by those. We gotta stop, we gotta get out, we gotta take a picture. Can't just drive past it. It's like, oh, those are the five verses that I'm just like, yeah, man, get out the car, come on, get your arm around that verse, put up your peace sign, let's take a picture, let's post that on Instagram. That's a good verse right there. All right, time to shoot for the day. This entire book is gonna end with a wife of noble character. Now, there are two ways to interpret this. First, it's talking about a literal woman, which is possible. However, I know a lot of women who read Proverbs 31 and just go, this is no way this can be talking about a real woman. Actually, when they read it, they feel inadequate 'cause they're like, what woman could actually live up to this? And there's some women who are like, nope,

I'm a Proverbs 31 woman and it becomes a standard for them. So not all women feel the same. But I just wanna throw maybe a curveball and say, could it be that what the writers of Proverbs want is for you to marry wisdom? And when wisdom becomes your wife, wisdom will bring all the benefits of a wife and noble character. Maybe wisdom is the wife of noble character. Once you get wisdom in your life, once you marry wisdom, it's like wisdom will begin to conduct the affairs of your life, wisdom will do all kinds of stuff. And regardless of how you interpret this, I would say that God doesn't choose spouses for anybody. He doesn't do it anywhere in the Bible. And every time I tell people that God doesn't do that in any way in the Bible, they're like, yeah, but it didn't for me, it's like, okay, cool, got it. So your experience is how we know God? No, it's not. The Bible is how we know God, okay? So you can't use your own personal experience as a way to disprove the Bible. That still means that there's no place in scripture where the Bible tells somebody who can marry. We want God to tell us who to marry because we don't want the weight of the responsibility of making that decision for ourselves. That's a whole nother problem for a whole nother day. He has my timeless truth for the day. My timeless truth for the day is this,

that if you actually marry wisdom, then you and wisdom will make a wise decision on who you should marry. That's it, God wants you to actually make a decision on who to marry, why? Because your decision on who to marry will actually reveal the level of wisdom that you have. And I would make a decision about marriage until I was sufficiently wise because it's the ultimate test of whether or not you're a wise person. I wouldn't make a permanent decision while I'm still an idiot. I wouldn't do that. That sounds dumb to me. It's like when I see some people with tattoos and I'm like, what's that a tattoo of? And they're like, oh, it's pick at you. I'm like, got it. You got a tattoo while you were still stupid. Got it, I understand. I don't know why you got pick at you tattooed on your elbow, but that is dumb, that's stupid. You may want to wait until you're smart before you start getting things tattooed on you. You may want to wait until you're wise, until you do things that are permanent. And you may want to wait until you're wise before you make the decision to marry somebody because there's a lot of divorced people running around here. And that means there's a lot of people who got married

to people before they got married to wisdom. And I think if you marry wisdom, wisdom will protect you from making your short-sighted decision when it comes to an earthly relationship. And that is a timeless truth. That's not just good advice for Lemuel or Solomon's sons or anybody who has a direct link to the context of these proverbs. That's good advice for you, for me, and for every single person on the planet. - All right, tomorrow we've got day 312. We're in the book of Job. We did it, Job. Anyway, we're gonna be in Job chapters one, two, and three. It's gonna be fantastic. Day 312. The only question is, will you be here? If you're on a streak, I'm so proud of you. Even if you're not on a streak, I love you. I see you tomorrow as we start our journey through the Book of Job. 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 thebobbledepartment.com.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.