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

The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: But the substance of a diligent man is precious (KJV).

The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, but diligence is man’s precious possession (NKJV).

Proverbs 12:27

Proverbs about laziness can be pretty colorful. We have one about the time it was raining porridge, and one poor fellow had forgotten to bring his bowl. Or you could be as lazy as Ludlum’s dog, who had to lean his head against the wall to bark. 

This ancient Hebrew proverb captures much the same idea. The lazy man might be prevailed upon to go hunting, but if he manages to catch his food, he is too lazy to feed himself with it. Cooking looks suspiciously like work, and there is always the clean up afterwards. 

The contrast here is to the industrious man. His diligence is his precious possession, which is the central reason why he has any other possessions. To be the owner of diligence is to own a number of other fine things as a consequence. This relates to another proverb I once saw on a poster in a business that is renowned in our area for its industry—“everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.” 

The indigent often wonder (complainingly) about how some people seem to get “all the breaks.” Now sometimes there really is a lucky break, and the ball bounces just right. But Scripture teaches us that diligence messes with these averages.

We need to remind ourselves that these are proverbs, meaning that they are not universally true, the way an axiom in geometry is universally true. Parallel lines do not meet, and this is not generally true. It is simply true. But there are times when layabouts win at Powerball, and there are other times when men are as hardworking as they come, and they still struggle to make ends meet. That said, proverbs are generally true, and diligence really is a prize possession.

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

He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: But blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it (KJV).

The people will curse him who withholds grain, But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it (NKJV).

Proverbs 11:26

A generous heart can be revealed and manifested in a number of different ways. This is surprising to some because it is easy to assume that generosity is manifested simply and solely through giving. But if we look at the sweep of scriptural teaching, we should be able to see that a generous heart can be revealed through giving on your own initiative, through giving when asked, through loaning when asked, through loaning with no expectation of a return, and through selling. The Bible does not have a “one size fits all” approach to this.

“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 6:1).

“Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away” (Matt. 5:42).

“But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:35).

But a generous spirit can also be manifested when a merchant with grain to sell does not try to be too clever by half trying to manage the futures market. If the people need grain, and you have grain, then a generous spirit sells it now. A generous spirit does not try to manipulate the price through hard dealing now.

So there is a way to give that is selfish and a way to give that is not. There is a way to loan that is selfish and a way to loan that is not. And there is a way to sell that is selfish, and a way to sell that is not. A commercial transaction can be a manifestation of a righteous demeanor.

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

Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; A stranger, and not thine own lips.

Proverbs 27:2

This particular doctrine is one that has gained widespread recognition in our culture, and even acceptance (on paper). In the ancient world, it was possible for a well-bred man, according to Aristotle, to be very open about his virtues.

But Scripture teaches us that it is perilously easy to be self-deceived, misguided, or delusional about our virtues.

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3).

Because of the teaching of Scripture, the expectation that we should avoid too much self-praise has been incorporated into our manners. For those who have been taught good manners, they do avoid this blunder in speech. But only the Spirit of God within us can mortify the silent wish that others would notice us more.

Now while we are the closest witness to our thoughts, efforts, intentions, and deeds, we are also the witness who has strong incentives to inflate the splendor of what was actually accomplished.

And so this proverb says that we should leave the task of praising us to others. Let someone else do it. This creates a problem for us, because it immediately occurs to us that these others might fail in their responsibility of praising us. They might not pick up the ball, and they might not run with it. It is like the two people conversing at the party, where one says, “Well, enough of me talking about me. Time for you to talk about me.” He gives the other a nudge because it turns out that others cannot be relied upon when it comes to how much praise should be lavished on us.

But this proverb would have us contented to receive whatever praise came naturally. And by contented I mean really content.

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

The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, Yea, four things say not, It is enough: The grave; and the barren womb; The earth that is not filled with water; And the fire that saith not, It is enough (KJV).

The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough”: Sheol, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water, and the fire that never says, “Enough” (ESV).

Proverbs 30:15–16

A leech is a worm that has suckers on both ends. Many of them are parasitic, blood-sucking worms, while the remainder are predators. If you like, you may file the next thing under the category of things you were not expecting to learn today, and that is the remarkable fact that a leech has 32 brains. The worm is divided up into 32 sections, and each one has its very own brain. Apparently getting blood out of your ankle after your dip in the pond is a more complicated task than you thought.

The point of this proverb is that a leech has two daughters, and each one of them is named Give. In modern English, we might be tempted to nickname each of them as Gimme. They are the Gimme Gimme twins. These two daughters are never going to say anything like “that’s enough,” or “that’s satisfying,” or “enough for me, thanks.” It is not in their nature.

Agur then gives us a short list of the sorts of things he has in mind. He does this in the typical Hebraic fashion of giving us an enumerated list, and starting with the penultimate number. “Three things I have in mind—no wait, there are four actually . . .”

The four ravenous things he lists are Sheol, a barren womb, parched earth, and fire in search of more fuel. Sheol has been receiving the dead for a long time now, and will continue to do so until the day of resurrection. A childless womb does not want to forsake the hope of becoming fruitful. And when you pour a jug of water into the desert dirt, a moment later it is like you have done nothing at all. It is as dry as ever. And fire goes out, not because it is tired of burning, but rather because the combustible material is no longer available.

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

“A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; And a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.”

Proverbs 17:4

One of the things we really need to understand is that in a world so affected by the prince of liars, and given the essential deceitfulness of this world and its baubles, there must be an economy of lies. Put another way, there is a marketplace of lies. And put yet another way, when it comes to liars, lies, and lying, there is a supply and demand curve.

When talking about household goods, if no one buys something, then the factory will stop producing them. If the market for purchasing something heats up, then it is not long before the factory heats up.

In this proverb, we are told about the sin of buyers, and not just the sellers. What does a wicked man do? He gives heed to false lips. He went out into the market to buy. And what does a liar do? He gives ear to someone with something negative to say?

It is obviously lying to tell lies, and this is something that pretty much everyone should grant. But it is also a form of lying to listen to them. It is a sin to behave in such a way as to create a market for lies, because someone is going to be there to fulfill the demand.

How does this work? It happens whenever a “buyer” wants to hear something negative. When he hears a juicy bit of gossip, he wants to treasure it under his tongue. And because he is after the sweetness of a lacerating report, it does not matter to him whether or not the report is true. He gets the same kick regardless. The same thing is true of words published online. The satisfaction of circulating truth is not the satisfaction he was after.

This is also the motivation for not caring to learn what the Scriptures teach about the principles of justice. Learning those principles would be tiresome.

So the bottom line is this: being a consumer of lies is a sin, and it is what keeps the devil’s factories humming.

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