The pith helmet and beekeeper screen once belonged to my mother's father, Pawpaw. When I was five or six, he wanted to make me his beekeeping buddy.

July 17, 2024 / 0 comments

Vespers – Proverbs 16:17-24

The highway of the upright avoids evil;
    those who guard their ways preserve their lives.
Pride goes before destruction,
    a haughty spirit before a fall.
Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed
    than to share plunder with the proud.
Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers,
    and blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.
The wise in heart are called discerning,
    and gracious words promote instruction.
Prudence is a fountain of life to the prudent,
    but folly brings punishment to fools.
The hearts of the wise make their mouths prudent,
    and their lips promote instruction.
Gracious words are a honeycomb,
    sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

  • Proverbs 16:17-24

Proverbs 16:21 sweetness of the lips ” ‘Honeyed words,’ which reflect intelligence, judiciousness, and discernment in speech. This refers to eloquent discourse from the wise (cf. v. 24).”

  • John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

We have three themes in these verses, and they are a bit jumbled.

If you can imagine that the person who stays on the highway or the right path in Proverbs 16:17 is being prudent, then it ties in well with verses 22-23.  The person who stays on the right path preserves their life, and the prudent person is a fountain of life.  Verse 23 talks of the lips of a prudent mouth.  You get such lips from following the instructions of the wise.

Verse 23 provides an exclamation point to verses 21 and 24.  Rev. MacArthur talks about verse 21 above, but the image of ‘honeyed words’ is driven home in Proverbs 16:24.  I have written a few times that my best breakfast ever was as a small boy.  PawPaw took me to the hives, and we collected honey.  When we got back to the kitchen, MawMaw had just gotten some biscuits out of the oven.  We broke open the biscuits and dug into a huge tin of butter from the commodity store.  Then we poured the honey over the top.  As verse 24 says, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

The remaining verses, Proverbs 16:18-19 speak of pride.  Pride leads to destruction.  Pride leads to a fall.  It would be better to suffer with the oppressed than enjoy the spoils of the proud.  But why does God hate the proud?  Basically, what do they have to be proud of?  They may think they have more than someone else, but comparisons almost always get you in trouble and the only thing we can take into Heaven is our love of Jesus.

C. S. Lewis talked about it as when you are looking down upon everyone else, you cannot see something above you.  You cannot see God, and see God’s glory, which will humble the proudest man when we see God face-to-face.

But I have heard the direction of the gaze differently.  When you have your snoot (your nose) stuck in the air, thinking that you are better than everyone else, you don’t see the ripple in the carpet, and you trip and fall.  Proverbs 16:17 talks of the proud being destined to fall, and that is how I see it happening.

And now let us sing.

The following song is The Wonder of it All.  It comes from a Billy Graham Homecoming album.  Produced by Doug Oldham.  This hymn was written by George Beverly Shea.  This is a lyric video.  So, you can sing along with the words that are displayed on the video.

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Help us when we stumble from the highway.  Help us stay on that highway.  One reason to stumble is being proud.  Show us that You love us, but show us that we have a long way to go.  And help us use our words for Your glory.  When wise words are said to us, let us devour them like sweet honey, accepting Your wisdom into our daily lives.
In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.

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