Proverbs 3 Verses 1 to 4 Surrender Your Time July 21, 2024

Proverbs 3 Verses 1 to 4 Surrender Your Time July 21, 2024 Lesson 3

The Search for Wisdom Class Presentation Notes AAAA

Background Scriptures:

· 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NKJV) 14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we arethe aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leadingto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

· Ephesians 5:15-16 (NKJV) 15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Main Idea:

· We should submit to Christ as a conquered slave.

Study Aim:

· To understand that total surrender means spending time with God and for Him

Create Interest:

· Starting this week and for the follow two weeks we will look at three conditions for receiving God’s guidance😊.

· The first condition for receiving God’s guidance is that we learn God’s truth (vv. 1–4). The will of God is revealed in the Word of God (Col. 1:9–10), and the only way to know His will is to study His Word and obey it.

· By receiving the Word within our hearts, we experience growth in godly character so that mercy and truth (“love and faithfulness,” NIV) become beautiful ornaments in our lives (Prov. 3:3; 1:9).

· It isn’t enough for believers to carry the Bible in their hands; they must let the Holy Spirit write it on their hearts (3:3; 7:3; 2 Cor. 3:1–3).

o Obedience to the Word can add years to your life and life to your years.[1]

· Next week we will look at the second condition for receiving God’s truth in verses 5-7: Obey God’s Will. Let’s glean this wisdom together😊.

Lesson in Historical Context:

· You could say that these early chapters of Proverbs are about trust in wisdom, not about trust in Yahweh, but the wisdom that they urge is Yahweh’s wisdom, and paying attention to wisdom is Proverbs’ equivalent to paying attention to Yahweh—Moses speaks of paying attention to Torah and the Prophets speak of paying attention to Yahweh’s word, and they are all referring to the same thing.

· The Torah and the Prophets would agree that the opposite of trusting Yahweh is trusting in oneself or leaning on one’s own understanding. The Hebrew word for “lean” can refer to someone literally or metaphorically leaning on someone else’s hand or arm.

o Proverbs invites us to lean on the arm of Yahweh that grasps us.

· To put it another way, trusting in one’s own understanding is to be wise in one’s own eyes. Proverbs 26:12will declare that making this mistake puts someone into a worse situation than simply being a fool. Admittedly, one may not realize that one is falling into this trap.

o The phrase refers to people who have acquired a little wisdom, and know it, and think they have arrived.

o There’s at least the possibility that a fool may “come to his senses,” as we say, and seek wisdom, but someone who thinks that they have already found it may have less chance to do so.

· The chapter refers twice more to trust. It declares that people who pay attention to wisdom will go their way with trust.

o Their trust will not turn out to have been misplaced; their foot will not trip.

o It makes the same point in different words when it promises that Yahweh will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.

o The Hebrew word for “confidence” is also one of the words for being stupid—it’s related to the word for “fools” in the last line.

§ Trust in God can look stupid, but it’s the most sensible thing in the world.

· Trusting in yourself and following your hunches can seem sensible, but it may be stupid.

o Urging people to trust in a crucified Jew looks really stupid, but it’s the most sensible thing in the world, whereas the world’s wisdom is actually stupid (so Paul will note, nuancing Proverbs’ point).

· The other reference to trust comes when it talks about the neighbor who is living trustingly with you; you’re not to make some plan against him.

o One definition of love is making the world safe for the other person, who can then know it’s possible to count on you to do so.

§ So, trust isn’t only key to our relationships with God but key to relationships with other people.

· Wisdom is a tree of life, it says. The phrase recurs in other Middle Eastern works. In an Old Testament context, it’s a striking promise. You know how Adam and Eve could have gained eternal life if they had not eaten the tree of life?

o Well, paying attention to wisdom can give you a really fulfilled and fulfilling life.

o Proverbs goes further. You know God created the world. How do you think he did so? He used His wisdom. Just look at the world and how amazing it is. It’s the kind of thing you can achieve if you pay attention to wisdom.[2]

Bible Study:

Proverbs 3:1-2 (NKJV) 1 My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands; 2 For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you.

· 3:1–2. The son (cf. 1:8, 15; 2:1; 3:11, 21) is urged—both negatively (do not forget) and positively (keep)—to heed what he was being taught. As in 1:8; 4:2; and 6:20, 23 teaching translates tôrâh. (On commands; cf. 2:1; 4:4; 6:20.)

· If these instructions are part of one’s inner life, two benefits will be realized:

o longevity (cf. 3:16; 4:10; 9:11; 10:27; 14:27; 15:24), a sign of God’s blessing (cf. Ex. 20:12), and

o prosperity. The word for prosperity, šālôm, is often translated “peace.” Though it includes peace and prosperity, it is broader in meaning.

§ It also suggests wholeness, health, and harmony.[3]

· Vs. 1: The father first anchors the son in my teaching(or catechism, tôrātî, see 1:8), which refers in the final edition of Proverbs to all its instructions, whether in the prologue (e.g., 3:27–35) or in its collections of proverbs and sayings (10:1–31:31).

o The father is the mouthpiece of its final editor. The collective “my teaching” is unpacked as my commands (miṣwôtay; see 1:8; 2:1).

o Do not forget (ʿal-tiškāḥ; see 2:17) prohibits the son from dismembering himself from Israel’s values to join the apostates/defectors (see 2:13, 17).

o Guard(keep) (yiṣṣōr; see2:8) implies living out the probably memorized commandments (see 1:8; 2:8).

· Vs. 2: For introduces motivations similar to those in Deut. 5:33 and orients the audience to interpret the volitional forms in at least 3:4 and 8 as vivid and emphatic promises.[4]

Let’s dig a little deeper

· The father emphasizes that these commandments are God’s commandments.

o They are not merely his personal ideas and opinions. What he is teaching his son carries the full authority of heaven.

o Obedience to these commands opens the windows of heaven for God’s blessings to be poured down upon a person’s life.

§ How will God bless those who keep His commands?

· God will bless the person who obeys His Holy Word (law) with a prolonged life (v.2a). This promise is repeated throughout Proverbs:

o Proverbs 3:16 (NKJV) 16 Length of days isin her right hand, In her left hand riches and honor.

o Proverbs 4:10 (NKJV) 10 Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.

· Longevity is a sign of God’s blessing. It is mentioned as the specific reward for honoring one’s parents (Ex. 20:12). As a general rule, those who obey God live longer. This is true for natural reasons. Those who keep God’s commands spare their bodies and souls the physical and emotional diseases that contribute to an early death. While there is no guarantee of this in the Bible, common sense/wisdom would suggest that accumulated secular and Bible knowledge would support the above average chance of living longer.

o Like all the proverbs, this is a general principle rather than a guaranteed promise. Everybody knows an exception to this rule—a faithful and obedient believer who died at a young age due to an accident or tragic disease.

o However, when this principle is extended beyond this mortal life, it can be claimed as a promise. True life—eternal life—begins when an individual trusts Christ. In this sense, the location is irrelevant.

§ Whether God chooses earth with longer life and/or heaven eternally, life is long for those who fear Him. Discuss!

· God will also bless the person who obeys His law with a peaceful life.

o Certainly no one desires an extended lifespan of misery, unhappiness, and turmoil.

o So, keeping God’s Word results not only in a long life but also in a good life, a life lived at peace with self and with God.

Proverbs 3:3-4 (NKJV) 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, 4 And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.

· Hesed (One of the most important words in the Hebrew Bible is che sedh, meaning “kindness,” “mercy,” “loyalty” or “steadfast love, especially in relation to being faithful to covenants and true to his word[5])is used in the Old Testament of the covenant love of God for His people.

· It is the believer’s love for God that is prescribed here as the basis of his obedience to God’s law.

o Obedience is the outward behavior of the Christian’s inner devotion to the Lord. This devotion keeps the believer true or faithful to Him and His Word. This is what is meant by truth in this context.

o It is the devoted believer’s steadfast loyalty to God and His Word.[6]

📷 Hebrews 8:10 (NKJV) 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them” (Heb. 10:16).

📷 Jeremiah 31:33 (NKJV) 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

· The odd verses give the obligations that we are called to live up to if we are in a covenant relationship with the Lord. Solomon starts in verse 1 by saying, “My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands.”

o Again, the father is King Solomon, and the son is the crown prince. He exhorts his son to obey the law—his teaching (Hb torah) and commands.

o We’ve seen throughout the Proverbs that there is a strong connection between the law and wisdom.

§ Deuteronomy 4:6 says that keeping the laws is the wisdom of Israel.

§ Deuteronomy 6 commands parents to teach the law to their children

§ Deuteronomy 17 commands the king to be a man of the law.

o Solomon is obeying all of this in Proverbs by showing how wisdom is obeying the law in daily life.

§ He is training his son in this so that he can establish the messianic kingdom.

· But the law must be internalized in order to be obeyed. There has to be inward transformation where the law is written on the heart (Jer 31; Ezek 36).

o Theologians call this “regeneration.” We see this not only in verse 1 with “let your heart keep,” but we also see it in verse 3: these teachings must be written on the “tablet of your heart.”

o This is covenant language. “Loyalty and faithfulness” are words that are associated with the covenant and the royal rule of the king (Prov 20:28).

o The covenant must be written on the heart of the king and the people for the kingdom to flourish. Solomon says to “bind them around your neck” (v. 3), which recalls the language of Deuteronomy 6 where the law was to be bound on the hand and inscribed on a frontlet for the eyes.

o The command to write it on the “tablet” of your heart connects much Old Testament expectation. The Ten Commandments were written on stone tablets, and the people didn’t obey them (Exod 20; Deut 5).

o Scripture promises that a day is coming when the covenant will be written on the tablet of the heart so that one can obey. The Lord will perform this. In Jeremiah 31:33 the Lord says,

§ “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts.”

· So, as anticipated by the rest of the Old Testament, Proverbs recognizes the need for inward-out transformation, not behavior modification.

o Proverbs isn’t exhorting us to behavior first and foremost; it’s advocating our need for regeneration before these things can be followed.[7] Discuss!

Proverbs 3:3 (NKJV) 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart,

· In Proverbs 3:4 there is an announcement of the results of hiding God’s Word in our hearts: “ Andso find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.”

· “When the Lord Jesus was twelve years of age His understanding astounded the doctors of the law, and after that incident in Jerusalem He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

· When Moses built the tabernacle, one of the most important furnishings was the ark. God Himself sat enthroned there in the holy of holies.

o All the details of the ark and mercy seat spoke, in type and shadow, of Christ. Jesus was God’s sacred ark.

§ Within the ark of the covenant resided the unbroken copy of the law of God, and within the heart of Jesus,

§ God’s law found its resting place, unbroken and loved.

📷 No wonder He grew in favor with God and man. He was the living incarnation of the symbolic ark.[8]

· The blessed, obedient life is magnetic. It enjoys the favor of God who it honors and attracts the favor of man.

o “Favor (hen, see 1:9), the common word for ‘grace,’ here denotes the positive disposition of heaven and earth toward the son because of his attractiveness.

§ Like ḥesed, it cannot be compelled; it is extended voluntarily and unilaterally to preserve a valued relationship.” (Waltke)

§ “This means that others will recognize the competence and intelligence of the wise individual.” (Garrett)

§ Trapp on having favor before man: “As did Joseph, Moses, David. He was a man after God’s own heart, and whatsoever he did pleased the people. It is God that gives credit; he fashioned men’s opinions, and inclined their hearts, as Ezra often acknowledged with much thankfulness. [Ezra 7:27–28]”[9]

Notes before closing:

· We must have a continual regard to God’s promises, which go along with his precepts, and are to be received, and retained, with them (v. 3):

o “Let not mercy and truth forsake (leave) thee, God’s mercy in promising, and his truth in performing. Do not forfeit these, but live up to them, and preserve your interest in them; do not forget these, but live upon them, and take the comfort of them.

o Bind them about thy neck, as the most graceful ornament.” It is the greatest honor we are capable of in this world to have an interest in the mercy and truth of God.

o Write to them upon the table of thy heart,

“as dear to thee, thy portion, and most delightful entertainment; take a pleasure in applying them and thinking them over.”

Proverbs 3:4 (NKJV) 4 And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.

o To encourage us to do this we are assured (v. 4) that this is the way to recommend ourselves both to our Creator and fellow creatures: So shalt thou find favor and good understanding………...

§ A good man seeks the favor of God in the first place,

§ Is ambitious of the honor of being accepted of the Lord,

§ Shall find that favor, and with it a good understanding.

§ God will make the best of him and put a favorable construction upon what he says and does.

📷 He shall be owned as one of Wisdom’s children, and shall have praise with God, as one having that good understanding which is ascribed to all those that do his commandments.

📷 He wishes to have favor with men also (as Christ had, Lu. 2:52), to be accepted of the multitude of his brethren (Esth. 10:3), and that he shall have; they shall understand him correctly, and in his dealings with them he shall appear to be prudent, shall act intelligently and with discretion. He shall have good success (so some translate it), the common effect of good understanding.[10]

Closing thoughts

· Mercy and truth should adorn our necks and warm our hearts. We should bind them to us and write them on the tables of our hearts. If we find ourselves afraid of truth, and shunning mercy, we are to be pitied, indeed.

· In this word the Proverbs are in line with many Scriptures.

o Read Second and Third John, and you will discover how vital truth is to the saint. John writes, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”

o In First Johnwe are taught, in chapter 4, how to discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Then in chapter 3, we read: “Hereby we know that we are of the truth.”

· It is the same with mercy. If we have the spirit of God we will have the spirit of mercy. Mercy is also set forth in John’s Epistle when he speaks of our shutting up our bowels of compassion.

· James tells us that the wisdom from above is full of mercy. He also tells us, “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoices against judgment.”

· Truth and mercy will cause us to find favor in both the sight of God and of men. Even men of the world, and, above all, men of God, will praise those who walk after truth and follow after mercy.

o God will grant favor to such, for He is Mercy and He is Truth. Following error and showing judgment may give us a sway among devil-deluded men, but not so with true men and with God, where favor is most worthwhile.[11]

📷

[1]Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Skillful, “Be” Commentary Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 38. [2]John Goldingay, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs for Everyone, Old Testament for Everyone (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press; Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2014), 17–19. [3]Sid S. Buzzell, “Proverbs,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 911. [4]Bruce K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 1–15, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004), 240. [5]Thoralf Gilbrant, “(1) חֶסֶד,” The Old Testament Hebrew-English Dictionary, The Complete Biblical Library (WORDsearch, 1998). [6]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Proverbs, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2012), 66-67. [7]Jonathan Akin, Exalting Jesus in Proverbs, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2017), 41–42. [8]John Phillips, Exploring Proverbs 1–19: An Expository Commentary, vol. 1, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Pr 3:1–4. [9]David Guzik, Proverbs, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2017), Pr 3:1–4. [10]Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume(Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 959. [11]R. E. Neighbour, Wells of Living Water: Old Testament, vol. 5, Wells of Living Water (Union Gospel Press, 1939–1940), 145.