SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
12/25/2012 10:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Who Wrote Proverbs & How it is written
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Introduction
Material
Message of the
verses: As stated in yesterday’s SD we
are taking a few days to look at the introduction to the book of Proverbs by
looking at five different questions from Warren Wiersbe that he poses before
beginning a study of any book. We looked
at “What is the Major Theme of Proverbs” in yesterday’s SD and today we will be
looking at “Who Wrote the book of Proverbs and How it is Written.”
Proverbs 1:1“The proverbs of Solomon the son of
David, king of Israel.” Proverbs 10:1 “The
proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a father glad, But a foolish son is a
grief to his mother.” Proverbs 25:1 “These
also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah,
transcribed.”
Why
is it that God would give such wisdom to Solomon in order for him to be able to
write so many proverbs, for it is said that he has written 3000 proverbs, but
not all are found in this book. “5
¶ In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon
in a dream at night; and God said, "Ask what you wish me to give
you." 6 Then Solomon said,
"You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father,
according as he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of
heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great lovingkindness, that
You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 "Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in place of
my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or
come in. 8 "Your servant is
in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too
many to be numbered or counted. 9 "So give Your servant an
understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For
who is able to judge this great people of Yours?" 10 It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that
Solomon had asked this thing. 11 God
said to him, "Because
you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have
asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but
have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words.
Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no
one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. 13 "I have also given you what you have not
asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings
like you all your days. 14 "If you
walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David
walked, then I will prolong your days." 15
Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem
and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt
offerings and made peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants
(1Kings 3:5-15).”
We
know that the Holy Spirit is the Author of Scripture and so it was He who chose
which proverbs would go into this book in so that the people of God in all
generations should understand and obey the Lord.
We
have already seen from Proverbs 25:1 that the men of Hezekiah also had a part
in the writing of this book. Proverbs 30-31
we meet Agur the son of Jakeh and also King Lemuel who also have taken part in
the writing of this book. Some believe
that Lemuel is another name for Solomon.
I
suppose all who know anything about Solomon, and most people remember that he
had a great many wives and concubines, also know that he started out very good
but in the end he did not finish well and is not even mentioned as one of the
good kings of Israel. “How tragic that
Solomon didn’t even obey the precepts he wrote in his own book!” (Warren Wiersbe)
Approach: “’Always do
right—this will gratify some and astonish the rest.’ Mark Twain said that, and President Harry S. Truman
liked the quotation so much he had it framed and placed on the wall behind his
desk in the Oval Office.” The word “astonish”
can mean “render speechless.” Sayings
like this one that Mark Twain said kind of stick in one’s mind and so it is
with the proverbs that Solomon writes in his book.
In
his commentary on Proverbs Dr. Wiersbe quotes four proverbs from different
countries and then challenges his readers to write a paragraph on each one of
those proverbs in order to give an explanation of them. I will quote these four proverbs latter, but
first I want to quote his definition of what a proverb is: “Proverbs are pithy statements that summarize
in a few choice words practical truths relating to some aspect of everyday life. The Spanish novelist Cervantes defined a
proverb as ‘ a short sentence based on long experience.’ From a literary point of view, that isn’t a
bad definition.”
Now
we will look at the four proverbs from Dr. Wiersbe. 1. “Every
invalid is a physician.” (Ireland) 2. “If
vinegar is free, it is sweeter than honey.”
(Serbian) 3. “When you want a drink of milk, you don’t buy
the whole cow.” (Crete) 4. Centuries ago, the Romans smiled at timid
politicians and soldiers and said to each other “The cat would eat fish, but
she doesn’t want to get her feet wet.”
Proverbs
# One: People who are sick think that they
know more than the physician they pay money to in order to get healed from
their illness.
Proverb
# Two: This proverb has to do with money
because we know that vinegar does not taste sweeter than honey, but if it were
free then we can make believe it does because it costs us nothing.
Proverb
# Three: This is a wise proverb also
about money stating that if all you want is a glass of milk then do not spend
your money on buying a cow in order to get that glass of milk.
Proverb
# Four: If you want to accomplish
something then you have to make the effort to accomplish it even though it may
cause you to do something that you really don’t want to do.
We will continue to look at
“Who Wrote the book of Proverbs and How it
is Written.” In tomorrow’s SD. Merry
Christmas!
12/25/2012 12:10 PM
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