At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.

Proverbs 21:4

This proverb cuts to the heart of all ethical evaluations. The rightness or wrongness of any particular act cannot really be measured from the outside in. In other words, an action might be innocent in itself, that is to say, unobjectionable as a discrete action, and yet be evil for two reasons—because of its context and because of its intent.

This proverb is talking about intent, as identified by the first half of the proverb. A high or haughty look demonstrates a snooty or supercilious spirit, and a proud heart is, well, proud. Arrogant. Conceited. Puffed up. These attitudes contaminate an otherwise unobjectionable action, which would be the plowing. Plowing in itself is good, honest work, and it is commended in Scripture over against sleeping in, or watching television all day. 

But when someone plows all day because of envious competition with an older brother, or because a lust for riches has him by the throat, or because the owner of the field left the country for a couple of years and his neighbor thought to steal a crop or two from him, then the intent is all wrong, and contaminates this otherwise honest work.

The last example shows how bad intent can drive otherwise honest work into the context of sin. Because his intent was to get the produce off land that was not his, he wound up stealing from his neighbor.

High morale for a crew is a good thing in itself, but not on a pirate ship. Skilled seamanship is a good thing, not with a pirate crew. Dauntless courage is a good thing, but not when you are a pirate. 

And a moment’s reflection should reveal that the only thing that can drive good actions into bad contexts would be the self-willed nature of sin and pride.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: But every fool will be meddling.

Proverbs 20:3

There is a principle here that has applications in multiple directions. We necessarily look out at the world with our own eyes, and cannot do anything differently. We must look at the world through our own eyes. That’s why God gave them to us.

Problems arise when we do not recognize the limitations involved. Problems arise when we do not realize the need that we all have to see the back of our head. And that requires reliance on the wisdom of Scripture (which is a looking glass—Jas. 1:23), and the fellowship of the saints, who can help you see things that you can’t see (Matt. 7:1-5). In order for this process to work rightly, we all must recognize that we all have the propensity to the disobedience of looking out for our own interests. “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4). Paul reminds the Philippians that Timothy was not like that (Phil.2:20-21). This is basic Golden Rule stuff. You can’t obey the Golden Rule if you don’t know how to step into someone else’s way of looking at the world. 

In this proverb, the buyer doesn’t see how hypocritical he is being. When he is negotiating the purchase with the seller, all he can talk about is what a bag of rags the object is, and how it is astonishing that he, a sophisticated shopper, would even deign to look at such garbage. Then, having bought it, and when he is safely around the corner, he wants everyone to know that he clearly knows how to spot value. In short, he is talking in contradictory ways, and does not see how two-faced he is being.

It all depends upon which side of the bread the butter is on. It all depends on whose ox is being gored. The greenness of the grass depends on which side of the fence you are on. We have many ways of pointing at this phenomenon. Upton Sinclair captured the problem when he said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: But every fool will be meddling.

Proverbs 20:3

A lot of wisdom is crammed into this short proverb. First we are told that walking away from a fight can be honorable. The reason many men quarrel or fight or contend is that they believe that it is necessarily dishonorable not to. They think that a masculine response has to confront every insult or slight, and yet we are told here that it can be honorable to just walk away.

We are taught this elsewhere in Proverbs.

“The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult.” (Proverbs 12:16, ESV).

The AV has “covereth shame” here, meaning that the prudent man is carrying the shame of the man who insults. The insulting one is the shamed one. He disgraces himself by his behavior, and the prudent man overlooks it.

At the same time, there are times when a man’s office and responsibility are all tied up in the insult, and when that happens, a prudent man draws a firm line. “These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee” (Titus 2:15).

There is a stark difference between running away from a conflict like a coward, and stepping away from a conflict like a judicious Christian man. It is our responsibility to know and practice the different. There is a difference between getting beat up and turning the other cheek, in other words.

The second half of the proverb is also instructive. While it is honorable for a man to step away from strife, there is another kind of man who meddles. He is a fool. He doesn’t have strife on his hands yet, but he is going to in a minute. 

The wise man knows what makes strife go away, and the fool does not know what makes it come.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: And he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

Proverbs 17:28

We have a proverb in English that points in the same general direction as this one. “It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt.”

The principle is that silence can be constructive and helpful. Notice that this proverb says that the silent fool can be “spotted” some wisdom. Not every fool looks like a fool. We can be credited with wisdom and understanding that we don’t actually have if we only have sense enough to keep quiet.

Moreover it is hard to learn while you are talking. It is difficult to observe what other people are doing, or how they are reacting, when you are trying to think of what you were going to say next. 

Even a fool, when he is quiet, can be credited with wisdom, and he might even learn something in the meantime. 

Because folly is bound up in the heart of a child (Prov. 22:15), this is one of the reasons why children need to be taught the discipline of silence in company. Sometimes the parents of a verbally precocious child take more pleasure from that fact than they ought to. Where words are many, sin is not absent (Prov. 10:19), and consequently it is not wise to allow someone who is not yet wise simply to chatter on.

Even a child might be thought wise if he knows enough to keep quiet. And unlike the thoroughbred fool, his folly is not a permanent condition, which means that as he keeps his silence, he can learn to observe what is going on. And by means of that observation, he is in a position to learn wisdom.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

Withhold not correction from the child: For if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die

Proverbs 23:13

When it comes to spanking our little ones, conscientious parents should of course look to Scripture for their guidance and protection. Not only is it guidance and protection for them as parents, but it is also protection for the child.

It should go without saying that godly discipline should be judicious and calm, and not the result of mom or dad flying off the handle. We are told to correct fellow Christians (which would include our children) in a spirit of gentleness, considering ourselves, lest we also are tempted (Gal. 6:1). The one who corrects a fellow believer must be “spiritual,” Paul says. That means when a parent is irritated and annoyed, they are not qualified to discipline their child, although they are (through the irritation) motivated to do so. And when they are qualified to do so (not being annoyed), they are not motivated. It is quite true that the discipline of children should not be the result of parental exasperation.

But with that said, parents are required by Scripture to maintain their qualifications for correction. They are told to “withhold not correction,” and the correction being spoken of is a beating with a rod. This is plainly a pretty serious situation because the child spoken of here (na’ar) is not a toddler, but rather rather “a lad.” He is of an age where it might be thought by his mother that a beating might kill him, although Solomon assures us that it will not. It might sound like he going to die, but he is not going to die.

And so when it comes to parental discipline, we have the foundation for an a fortiori argument, a “how much more” argument. If it is legitimate to beat your 16-year-old son with a rod (because he was joy-riding in the neighbor’s car without permission), then how much more would it be legitimate to switch that same boy 14 years earlier in order to head off that incident entirely?

There is a movement out there called Gentle Parenting, which wants to draw attention to the fact that many of the passages in Proverbs are not talking about discipling preschoolers. This is quite true, but if Proverbs commends bending the trunk of the tree when it fifty feet high, then wouldn’t the Lord also commend bending the sapling? And besides, does anybody honestly think that Gentle Parent advocates are really urging us to withhold corporal punishment until the teen years? Not likely.  

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