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

The poor useth intreaties; But the rich answereth roughly (KJV).
The poor man uses entreaties, But the rich answers roughly (NKJV).

Proverbs 18:23

The poor man is in the natural position of a supplicant, and the rich man is in the natural position of one who bestows. Not surprisingly, these two places give rise to two very different temptations.

The poor man is in a place where he must ask for things. This by itself is not dishonorable, but the entreaties must be watched carefully so that they do not turn into a wheedling, or complaining, or flattering kind of speech. The asking must also not be considered as a substitute for actual willingness to work (2 Thess. 3:10).

The rich man’s temptation is to be brusque and no-nonsense. “No, of course not. I don’t have time for this. We are burning daylight. Just get a job, man.” 

Too often the poor expect the whole world to extend sympathy. Too often the rich refuse to extend any kind of reasonable sympathy at all. 

The poor man’s temptation is to look to the rich man for his deliverance. The rich man’s temptation is to the look to the rich man for his deliverance. In both cases, they are looking at the wrong source. And what this means is that the poor man is looking to some fallible “god” who is himself tempted to be ill-tempered, short, harsh, brusque, sharp, blunt, gruff, and tart. Who wants to offer up requests to a god like that?

The rich man is in a position to remember the poor, which he ought to do. He should do this so that God will remember him. 

“Blessed is he that considereth the poor: The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble” (Psalm 41:1)  

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

Speak not in the ears of a fool: For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

Proverbs 23:9

There are times, Scripture teaches us, when we should save our breath for cooling our porridge. There are occasions when it would be more fitting to save our breath for walking uphill. There are circumstances when we should save our breath for some future occasion, when we are no longer talking with a fool.

One of the common mistakes that reasonable people make is the error of attributing intelligence to anyone we may happen to meet. This is appropriate as a matter of good manners, but we should also be aware of the fact that it might not be the case, and when we get feedback indicating that it is not the case, we must be prepared to cut our losses and go.

The fact that a reasonable explanation would satisfy you does not mean that it will satisfy someone who has no intention of listening. 

Now remember that in Scripture a fool is not someone with an IQ deficiency, but rather someone who is morally bent. Folly is rebellious at the core. A very simple man can be pious and devout, and a very intelligent man can be a fool. What this proverb is telling us is that conversation won’t fix a fool. Argument won’t fix him. Wisdom cascades off his back and does not go down into the inward parts. 

This is a variation on what Jesus taught, when He said not to cast your pearls before swine. Wisdom is not appreciated by the fool. He does not want it. So once it becomes apparent that he has no interest, stop trying to capture his interest with words. Words won’t fix this problem. Until the Spirit of God has addressed the heart of the problem, which is the heart, it is not possible for the Word to get through. But when that happens, then real communication becomes possible. 

Or as the sage once put it, never try to teach a pig to whistle. It is a waste of your time, and it annoys the pig.

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

Rob not the poor, because he is poor: Neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

Proverbs 22:23–24

For those graspers who are cruel and greedy, the poor are certainly a tempting target. They obviously do not have deep pockets, and so those who would milk them have to make it up in volume. This is why the mistreatment of the poor is so often systemic. Wealth is skimmed off the poor as a class. An enterprising thief cannot seize on just one poor man, empty his pockets, and make off with anything much, and so he deals with the poor in the aggregate.  

This is why a proverb like this one is necessary. Precisely because the poor do not have a lot of resources, they do not have a lot of resources to defend themselves against entities, companies, institutions that have teams of lawyers. If you doubt what I say, drive through a poor neighborhood, and count the payday loan establishments. I wonder what the interest rates are? 

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation” (Matthew 23:14).

Of course, it is just as sinful to steal from a rich man, but at least the rich man has a sporting chance. He has enough wealth to provide a jackpot for the person who succeeds in robbing him, but he also has enough wealth to pay for safes and locks and fences and offshore accounts and lawyers of his own. It is at least something of a fair fight. 

But when the poor are pillaged, it is often the case that they don’t even know that it is occurring. And when they discover that it is happening, they do not know how to identify whoever is responsible. Things can get so inverted that they turn to the thieves to provide them with the much needed protection, which is why their congressman keeps getting reelected.   

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

Make no friendship with an angry man; And with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, And get a snare to thy soul.

Proverbs 22:24–25

In this proverb, we learn two important things at the same time. The first is that anger is a big deal. Having a bad temper is not a bagatelle, not a trifle. The second thing we learn is that we have authority over the friendships we make. Let’s consider these things in turn. 

First, anger is like a fire in the attic. You don’t want that in your house at all, not even a little bit. “An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression” (Proverbs 29:22). A lot of damage follows in the train of anger. And because the ancient proverb is true—that anger is a brief madness—the damage that is done is often senseless, demented, and irrational. Anger destroys, and it frequently destroys things that it had no intention of destroying. 

If a man is given to anger, it does no good for him to say, after the fact, that the results were not what he wanted. This is like setting that fire in the attic and saying afterwards that you never intended for the whole house to burn.

But notice that the injunction given in this proverb is that we are to avoid friendships with men who have this problem. Christians are supposed to love everyone, including their enemies, but we are not supposed to be friends with everyone. Scripture forbids being friends with certain kinds of people. Bad companions corrupt good morals (1 Cor. 15:33).

We should be friendly toward all. So when you happen to sit next to an angry man on a plane, sure, go ahead. Have a friendly demeanor. But you are not supposed to settle into a friendship with such a man, and why? The “evangelism” will go the wrong way. You stand a better chance of becoming like him than he stands of becoming like you.

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

Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation (KJV).

Though his hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness will be revealed before the assembly (NKJV).

Proverbs 26:26

Those who are guilty of sin will always want to hide the fact. This has been the case since our first parents heard the voice of Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8), and they immediately took it upon themselves to hide. That was not exactly the smoothest of moves—“Quick! The omniscient one is coming. Let’s hide behind this bush.”

But even though our natural impulse is to hide sin, the Scriptures also teach us that some sins are more angular than others, and so parts of them stick out from their hiding places. Some sins are obvious, in other words, and some are not. “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after” (1 Timothy 5:24). And in other cases, the sin appears to cooperate with being hidden, but then later, at an inopportune time, tumbles out in front of everybody. This is the kind of thing that this particular proverb is talking about. Just like two chemicals might be volatile when mixed together, so also it is with hatred and deception (about the hatred). If a man carries hatred in his heart toward someone, it is like magma in a volcano, the kind near the top, the kind that wants to come out. You can’t fix that kind of thing by putting a tarp over the top of the volcano.

Moses told the people that their sin would find them out (Num. 32:23). This is true for all sin, in some way, shape or form, but certain sins give themselves away far more readily. You don’t have to go far to find people denying that they are bitter, or malicious, or spiteful, or envious, when that is the most obvious thing about them.

What this proverb promises us is that when people deceive themselves in this way, and seek to cover over their hatred with fair words, the truth is going to become obvious to the whole assembly. The truth will out.

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