Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

The Lord detests differing weights,
    and dishonest scales do not please him.
A person’s steps are directed by the Lord.
    How then can anyone understand their own way?
It is a trap to dedicate something rashly
    and only later to consider one’s vows.
A wise king winnows out the wicked;
    he drives the threshing wheel over them.
The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord
    that sheds light on one’s inmost being.
Love and faithfulness keep a king safe;
    through love his throne is made secure.
The glory of young men is their strength,
    gray hair the splendor of the old.
Blows and wounds scrub away evil,
    and beatings purge the inmost being.

• Proverbs 20:23-30

Proverbs 20:25 ”To declare something sacred, i.e., promising it to God in consecration as an offering, was irreversible and, therefore, serious.  See. Ecclesiastes 5:4-6; cf. Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23; Psalms 50:14; 78:11.”

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

The Message

Again, Solomon talks about God not liking differing weights.  This also applies to pressing your thumb on the scale when the butcher or the checkout clerk at the grocery store is weighing food purchased by the pound.

I have been accused of shoplifting twice at a particular grocery store, by the same checkout clerk (once when I was in self-checkout, but the machine froze).  Yet, when this same checkout clerk checked me out, I had purchased three apples.  She placed them on the scales in a hurry, and one apple rolled off the scales.  When she put the apple back on the scales, she knocked another apple off the scales.  Now, frustrated, she holds the apples on the scales by pressing down on them.  When I got home, I had paid for over five pounds of apples, one pound of apples and four pounds of beefy fingers from the checkout clerk.  God may not like false accusations, but in Proverbs 20:23, Solomon is saying that I should not have paid for apples that I did not receive.  And with this woman’s fixation on customers stealing from the store, did she go through the idiotic pantomime to have an excuse to press down on the scales?

God directs our steps, according to this proverb.  In accepting that, we really have little influence about how we go on our way.  But we have free will.  So, aren’t we directing our way down our own path?  But I have seen times in my life where I veered off the path that God wanted in my life and one catastrophe after another redirected me, with a lot less resources of my own left to help, but I was back on the path God had wanted in the long run.  In looking back, I have not made great strides in going the way that I had wished to go, but I am right where God wants me to be.  In the end, for the believer, we walk in faith.

Now, we get to the verse that is featured in the Rev. MacArthur quote.  We have rash vows in the Old Testament that lead to trouble.  In Judges, Jephthah sacrificed his daughter because Jephthah claimed to God that he would sacrifice the first thing that emerged from his home.  Some scholars think that she was given to God’s service, never to bear a child, rather than killed, but there was that loss regardless.  King Saul swore that no one would eat anything until the enemy was destroyed, and Jonathan, his son, ate some honey.  Jonathan was not killed on the spot, but this was a sad time in the history of the Israelites.  Jesus said that it was better to not make a vow at all but be known to be someone that was trustworthy whenever we speak.

And Proverb 20:26 is the second mentioning of “winnow” in this chapter of Proverbs, the only mentions of “winnowing” in the book of Proverbs.  Winnowing uses the act of tossing or dropping grain over a threshing floor to have a breeze blow the lighter chaff away.  Modern mechanical equipment does the winnowing for the harvester of grain, using the same concept.  The grain drops while the chaff blows away.  And here Solomon is talking about winnowing the wicked away.

The human spirit is a lamp.  But if you do not have the light from God within you, you cannot shine light on the world.  That is the point here.  Our spirit shines what is within us, whether darkness or light.

How is it that loving rulers, kings or the boss of a little company, have no fear, no need to look over their shoulder.  The love they show is returned in full.  But the grumpy, angry, tyrant is constantly looking over his shoulder, for he may make a few friends who like having a feared person backing them up, but for the most part, there is uneasiness.  Their tyranny comes at a cost, and they must distrust everyone, making the tyranny more severe.  I knew a boss like that in the military.  My old platoon sergeant went to work for this tyrant after he and I left the platoon, and he laughed about it years later.  Here he was, a mere sergeant first class, but it was as if a general had walked onto the construction project.  They feared what the sergeant would tell the major.  But of the nearly nine hundred men that were tormented by the major, none of them liked him and they only showed respect out of military courtesy.  Without the uniform, the respect would have not been present.

Proverbs 20:29 talks about growing old.  The young man focuses on his strength.  But the only way for the young man to grow old, and get gray hair, is to develop some sense of self preservation and wisdom along the way.  You do not see too many strong and reckless people who are still being reckless in their old age.

While in “sparing the rod” might be interpreted as a softer punishment, here Solomon is talking about how strong blows may be required to get the evil out.  Yet, we must be careful and loving in our punishment, even when the punishment is severe.  For a beating, taking it too far, removed the inmost being.  If that inmost being is rotten, what will refill that space after the leaving of the inmost being leaves a vacuum behind?  Possibly something much worse.  And if the beating was not deserved, you might drive out the inner being of a good child who had made an honest mistake.  I am in favor of corporal punishment, but wisdom must be applied.  And I tried as hard as I could to never be angry when I meted punishment, regardless of the method used.  Vacating an inner being usually does not end well.

And now let us sing.

The following song is O Perfect Love.  This is sung by the Joslin Grove Choral Society.  Whether we are talking about honest scales at a grocery store, a ruler making judgment over the subjects of that rule, punishing a naughty child, or simply trying to reach a comfortable old age, we need to love people with as close to a perfect love as we can manage, trusting in God to lead us on our way.

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Whether we are the big boss or the person throwing out the trash, we need Your wisdom, and from that wisdom, we need Your Love.  Only through wisdom that You provide can we deal with others in love, showing kindness, dealing with others justly, and providing comfort and care to all.
In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.