NOTES for Pro 14:27

We are used to connecting fear only with negative sensations. Fear makes our life unbearable, binds us hand and foot, paralyzes every initiative; because of fear people end their lives by suicide, and driven by fear, they kill others. Fear is one of the most terrible consequences of the fall, almost death. And suddenly it is said that fear is a source of life, turning one away from the snares of death. Could this be speaking of another kind of fear?

Yes, there is a clarification here: the fear of the Lord. How is it different, and why does it help one live? All our fears are the dread that something bad will happen to us (or be done to us). From this comes paralysis or something still worse, for "fear has big eyes." But the main biblical Revelation consists in the fact that God is good, He is love. Therefore only good can be expected from Him. The fear of the Lord is not that if we do or fail to do something, things will go badly for us, but that if we act wrongly, something good will not happen. And that is an entirely different matter. It frees rather than enslaves; it leads to fullness of life. More than that, since God is almighty, there is no need to fear anything else. And in this again are life and freedom.

But does it not happen to us that we fear even God as if He were a thunderstorm or a fire? Do we really believe in the goodness of God?

Wise actions are contrasted with foolish ones. But what if a fool imagines himself wise and is certain of his own infallibility? Yes, his undertakings will certainly collapse, but until they do, he will assure himself and others that everything is proceeding as it should. (And when all his efforts prove fruitless, he will begin to blame those around him for not warning him about the consequences.) Therefore we must remember, already while choosing them, that some ways which seem right may lead to death. And when making a choice, we should remember that we have already been warned of the consequences.

Here too we have an example of how unreasonable it can be to tear a proverb out of context and consider it without relating it to other proverbs, or indeed to other passages of the Bible. If one wished, the words about a poor man hated by his friends and a rich man who has many friends could be taken as preaching the normal order of relations in human society. But immediately afterward we read words about the sinfulness of despising one’s neighbor and the need for mercy toward the poor. Words that state a reality do not necessarily approve it. Even if evil is present in the world and its reality has to be reckoned with, it still should not be treated as the norm.