BIG IDEA:
THE PATH OF WISDOM WILL RECOGNIZE AND AVOID THE COMMON PITFALLS THAT ARE MAJOR LIFE WRECKERS
I. (:1-5) AVOID ASSUMNG FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANOTHER’S DEBTS
(This would be one quick path to poverty)
A. (:1-2) Recognize the Trap of Unwise Debt
1. (:1) Trapped by Assuming Unnecessary Debt
“My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
If you have struck hands in pledge for another”
2. (:2) Trapped by Rash Commitments
“If you have been trapped by what you said,
Ensnared by the words of your mouth”
B. (:3) Seek Deliverance from the Bondage
“then do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor!”
C. (:4-5) Escape with a Sense of Urgency
“Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.”
Goldberg: The Folly of Overextended Debt: Unlimited debt is a foolishness for which Wisdom has some severe warnings. The Mosaic Covenant encouraged people to help one another, especially those who had unexpected financial difficulties. When loans were involved, no interest was to be charged (Leviticus 25:35-38). In particular, land sales were carefully regulated because the family plot of land was never to be sold. All a purchaser could buy from a needy farmer was the crop value to the next year of Jubilee, at which time the use of the land reverted back to the family who owned it (Leviticus 25:13-16).
II. (:6-11) AVOID LAZINESS BY CHOOSING DILIGENCE
(This would be a second quick path to poverty)
A. (:6-8) Study the Model of Diligence in Nature = the Ant
1. (:6) Model of the Ant Commended
“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!”
2. (:7) Takes Initiative Without Direct Supervision
“It has no commander, no overseer or ruler”
3. (:8) Maximizes Opportunities (vs. Procrastinating)
“yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.”
B. (:9) Shun Laziness by Rejecting the Snooze Button
“How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?”
Getting started is half the battle;
“just give me 5 more minutes” = repetitive refrain
C. (:10-11) Seize Every Opportunity – Because Procrastination = Stealing From Yourself
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest –
And poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.”
III. (:12-15) AVOID THE TRAP OF DECEPTIVE SCHEMERS
A. (:12a) Their Mask Unveiled – seeing them for who they really are
1. “a scoundrel”
2. “and villain”
B. (:12b-14) Their Methodology Exposed – what you see is not what you get
1. Mouth
“who goes about with a corrupt mouth”
2. Eye
“who winks with his eye”
3. Feet
“signals with his feet”
4. Fingers
“and motions with his fingers”
5. Heart
“who plots evil with deceit in his heart –
He always stirs up dissension”
C. (:15) Their Apparent Prosperity Overturned
“Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;
he will suddenly be destroyed – without remedy.”
IV. (:16-19) AVOID THE SEVEN PILLARS OF WICKEDNESS
“There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:”
A. Arrogance – “haughty eyes”
B. Lying – “a lying tongue”
C. Murdering – “hands that shed innocent blood”
D. Planning Wickedness – “a heart that devises wicked schemes”
E. Executing Wickedness – “feet that are quick to rush into evil”
F. Bearing False Witness – “a false witness who pours out lies”
G. Capstone: Spreading Family Strife – “and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers”
V. (:20-35) AVOID SEXUAL PROMISCUITY
A. (:20-24) The Foundation of Parental Guidance is Your First Line of Defense
1. (:20-21) Priority of Obedience
“My son, keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Bind them upon our heart forever; fasten them around your neck.”
2. (:22-23) General Benefits: Guidance / Protection / Correction
“When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life.”
3. (:24) Specific Benefit
“keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.”
B. (:25-29) Playing with Fire Will Only Get You Burned
1. (:25) Don’t even start down this slippery slope
“Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes”
2. (:26) The Stakes are High
a. Poverty – Prostitute out for financial gain
“for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread”
b. Ruin – Adulteress sucks out your very life (bored with her marriage)
“and the adulteress preys upon your very life.”
3. (:27-29) The Consequences are Inevitable
“Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.”
C. (:30-35) No Amount of Money Can Bail You Out of the Consequences
1. (:30-31) Inexcusable Offense
“Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.”
2. (:32-33) Idiotic Self Destruction
“But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away”
3. (:34-35) Impossibility of Compensation
“for jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse the bribe, however great it is.”