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

He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: Therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.

Proverbs 20:19

We sometimes believe that the wisdom found in Proverbs is clankingly obvious. Stay away from painted ladies, don’t be a lazy bum, and make sure to rotate your tires.

But there are often shades of meaning to be found in the simplest proverbs, and this one provides a good example.

A gossip or talebearer is not simply one who gets the news out. It is not just a matter of information circulating. The first thing this proverb tells us that the person who “goes about” as a talebearer is not just someone who spreads the news. He is also one who reveals secrets—telling things that ought not to be told at all.

The second thing is that one of the “tells” of a talebearer is the fact that he is a flatterer as well. In other words, one of the ways he gets his hands on the information he wants to circulate (and to reveal) is by means of flattery. He butters you up, you begin to trust him (for how could someone with such fine insight into your character be untrustworthy?) and so you confide in him. You can keep a secret—its the people you tell who can’t. Suffice it to say that talebearing and flattering are sins that go together. They pair well, in other words.

The last thing we can draw from this proverb is that we are supposed to avoid certain kinds of people. In this case, we are told to avoid a person who is constantly telling you how wonderful you are. That’s a real danger sign, right there. That kind of thing can be fun to listen to (particularly if you believe you are not getting the respect you deserve in other departments of your life), but it gets kind of thin and pale after just a bit. But even if it didn’t get old for you, you are likely going to pay a price for that flattery when your secrets start to circulate.

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

He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: But he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.

Proverbs 12:11

If you work hard enough, you will have bread enough. As a proverb, this is a general statement, and that makes it generally true. If you search diligently, I am sure you can find someone who tilled his land industriously, and yet had a crop failure. That kind of thing does happen.

But as a general rule, the Bible confirms what common sense tells us. If you work hard, you will do well. This is not universally true, but it is true enough to be a safe bet.

The world is not risk free, and there are hazards. But because a sovereign God is “the house,” He has seen to it that the odds are in our favor. Not only that, but everyone who comes into this “casino” is given a manual which, if read, will sweeten the odds even more. Till the land and the wheat will grow.

Guard the flock and the wolves will go hungry. Keep equal weights and measures in your business, and watch God bless it.

But the fool wants to bet against the house, and even though the results are fairly predictable, he can still manage to get people who are void of understanding to follow him. A vain person lures the stupid people to follow him, and all of it is based on what has been called a “will to fiction.” In this vain world, people want intentions to guarantee effectiveness. At base, all of this boils down to a revolt against reality.

But effectiveness is determined by the way the world actually is, and is not at all under the authority of daydreamers. And the way the world is requires that the soil be tilled before the wheat can grow.

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

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: But he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (KJV).
He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly (NKJV).

Proverbs 13:24

Hatred can be sentimental, and within tangled family situations, it frequently is. To love someone is to treat them lawfully, from the heart. To hate someone is to treat them unlawfully, whether or not you have certain soppy emotions going on while you do it.

Scripture says that sons require corporal punishment, as the occasion requires. Some Christians have reacted against this teaching (or, more likely, have reacted against an ungodly misapplication of this) and have argued for childhood training that does not involve spanking. The emotions that seem to require this may be soft, tender, and kind, but Scripture says that at the end of the day it all reduces to hatred. If someone grew up under cruel or inept corporal punishment, that is certainly sad, but it doesn’t change what Scripture says here.

So the Bible teaches that if a father refuses to discipline his child, this is equivalent to disowning that child—treating him as an illegitimate bastard. “But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons” (Heb. 12:8). God corrects us, and He is a true Father. So we also should correct our children, and thus imitate the true Father as we do. God does not disown us through lack of discipline, and this means that we should not disown our own children through lack of discipline.

Some in the anti-spanking contingent might want to say that this verse is talking about a rod for the back, not a spanking spoon for the bum, and that it is not talking about spanking at all. But this is an objection that proves too much. If it is legitimate to beat a recalcitrant teenagers with a rod, according to their reading, how much more would it be appropriate to spank a two-year-old with a spoon, thus averting the drastic punishment over a decade later? 

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

Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.

Proverbs 26:12

Folly is often bred in the bone. Conceit is something that frequently comes from a flattering education followed by a couple of years of graduate school. The folly is a severe deficiency, and as the book of Proverbs tells us in multiple places, it really is bad. But here we are told of something that is akin to folly, and belongs in the same general family, but it is somehow far worse.

Notice how it is described. He is wise in his own conceit. The ESV has “wise in his own eyes.” The NASB and NKJV have the same. What we see here is some kind of mental construct. He has woven a framework of cognitive assumptions together, at the end of which is his glorious conclusion that he is the intellectual hero of the day. He is wise in his own eyes, meaning that he occupies a seat that he was appointed to, and the one who appointed him was his very own self.

Who can remove him from that place? Who can challenge the chancellor who appointed this coxcomb a regius professor? This is difficult to do when the chancellor and the regius professor are all the same person. That same person is also the chairman of the tenure review committee.

Even so, what is impossible for men remains possible for God. If God can make sons of Abraham out of blocks of stone, then He can certainly do it if the block of stone is sitting on top of a fool’s neck.

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

It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house.

Proverbs 25:24

This is a form of reasoning that is very common in Proverbs, and it is particularly Hebraic way of helping us set our priorities. I will begin with the meaning of this particular proverb, illustrate how it works in this instance, and then expand it to other areas.

It would be better to live in a tiny hovel with a sweet woman than to live in a spacious mansion with a cantankerous woman. The form of the statement is that we should “rather this than that,” and the this and that are made up of two variables—in this case, a big or small dwelling, and a contentious woman and (implied) a non-contentious woman. A wide house is mentioned, a little attic corner is mentioned, and a brawling woman is mentioned.

So with these variables fixed, we find that we have four basic options.

1. A spacious house and a sweet woman;
2. A spacious house and a brawling woman;
3. A narrow corner and a sweet woman;
4. A narrow corner and a brawling woman.

Now this is basically a counterfactual thought experiment, and in that experiment it is crucial to stipulate something like “everything else being equal.” We are trying to sort out our priorities with regard to just a handful of things. We don’t want to complicate the math to a point where it is beyond our capacity even to consider. “What about if you have live in a narrow corner with a sweet woman, but you have crippling migraines every day and your only child is dying of leukemia?”

How does this principle apply to other areas? Take any two things that you are evaluating. Would you rather be rich and stupid, or wise and poor? Would you rather be beautiful and ungodly, or plain and godly? Would you rather be a satisfied cow or a dissatisfied man?

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