NOTES for Pro 21:3-21

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³To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

⁴An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.

⁵The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.

⁶The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.

⁷The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.

⁸The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.

⁹It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

¹⁰The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.

¹¹When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.

¹²The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness.

¹³Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

¹⁴A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.

¹⁵It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.

¹⁶The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.

¹⁷He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.

¹⁸The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.

¹⁹It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.

²⁰There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.

²¹He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour.

To uphold truth means not only not to deceive, not to hide, not to act hypocritically, not to flatter. It also means not to hide ourselves. Very often we hide our sins and our feelings from people and from ourselves. To uphold truth means to stand before people and before Christ. Not to try to hide our face behind a mask of self-justification.

This is hard. It is almost impossible if we are aggressive. If we expect people's judgment and fear it. Our turtle-like ability to hide in our shell makes us constantly expect judgment and accusation. We close ourselves off from mercy. We do not surrender, like criminals who are sure their guilt will not be proven. That is why there is the feeling of being constantly cornered, the constant fear with which it is impossible to live and from which we lock ourselves into depression. Because of it, we also constantly accuse everyone and everything around us.

The mercy we are called to practice is the ability to see other people worn down by fear of condemnation, fear that their real self will be exposed. It is the ability to receive people without distorting real feelings and relationships by this fear. Fear of human warmth. Fear of someone else's love, attention, and patience, which we think we do not need.

We agree to distance ourselves from all that is best in people, driving ourselves into a far and cold corner of the universe. There, it seems to us, the light of Christ, the light of His love that illumines people, will not reach us and will not make us suffer from shame and our own smallness. But when, through the pain of having the mask of deceit torn from us, we gain the whole world, then we gain life, the truth about ourselves, the image of Christ in every person, and the glory of those who have overcome sin and despair.

Other notes

For Pro 21:10-13

¹⁰The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.

¹¹When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.

¹²The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness.

¹³Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

The words are harsh, and they may seem frightening to us: “When a scoffer is punished, the simple become wise.” It sounds as though this were a public execution: let us take a bad person and punish him as a lesson to everyone... Is this what the Wise Man means? In any case, his words contain no sadism. But it is important for us to understand clearly the consequences of sin, the consequences of rejecting God, and always to remember that our actions have definite consequences and that we are answerable for everything we do. And if a simple person—that is, someone unlearned and unwise—manages to understand this “without learning from his own mistakes,” that is truly the beginning of wisdom.

For Pro 21:1-31

¹The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

²Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.