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

He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: But whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

Proverbs 28:26

If our secular age were to settle on a formulation of a great Secular Shema, it would certainly be something like “Follow your heart.” This is the central catechetical lesson that is drilled into the heads of our young people——whether in the curricula of our government schools, in our music, in our movies and sitcoms, and in the secular equivalent of Vacation Bible Schools.

Scripture teaches the opposite lesson, more than a little bluntly. The one who trusts in his own heart is a fool. This means that he is trusting in a fool’s heart. Just as man who represents himself in a court of law has a fool for a client, so also it is with a man who goes out into the world with his heart for an advisor. 

The man who walks wisely, it says, shall be delivered. Delivered from what? Well, delivered from all the snares, traps, pits, or deceptions that the fools walk right into. Whatever it is that a fool does not anticipate, the wise man anticipates—and guards against. 

If we remember what Scripture teaches us elsewhere, and if we consider the nature of the case here, we should be able to see that the mainspring of all the traps will be some form of flattery. 

“For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise” (2 Cor. 10:12).

The fool is someone who tells himself all manner of lies, all of them with a sweet smelling savor. That is the kind of sacrifice you offer up to a deity, right? The thing they don’t have is any kind of outside, objective check. That objectivity must come from somewhere outside the sinner’s ego. This should of course be Scripture ultimately, but it can also come from the unbending nature of reality, or the forceful rebukes of family and friends.

We live in a generation that does not understand what a grace it is, what a gift we have been given, in the possibility of being wrong.  

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

For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: But by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.

Proverbs 28:2

Scripture teaches us that there is an ethical interaction between the rulers of a land and those who are ruled. When the wicked rule, the people mourn (Prov. 29:2), but it is also the case, as we see here, that when the people are wicked, the rulers mourn.

More specifically, lack of integrity in the populace results in instability, and that instability extends upwards to the princes of the land. Inability to hold a government together is the result of a land’s transgressions. When there is an earthquake, the top floors of the skyscrapers would be the more exciting places to be. When high winds come, that is not the moment for climbing to the top of a tree.

This is why, when a state is in turmoil, repentance is appropriate everywhere. A radically unbiblical way of thinking is to say something like “don’t blame me, I voted for the other guy.” When judgment falls, it falls on the entire nation. The nation of Judah was taken into exile for their sins, but Daniel—a godly young man—was included in it. And then, as an old man, when it came time to pray for the return from exile, Daniel offered up a prayer of repentance that did not exclude himself. 

The flip side of the proverb is that a man of understanding and knowledge can head such a disaster off. One prince after another is a prelude to collapse, but a man of understanding knows what it will take to prolong the days of a nation. And when a people is caught in the grip of various follies and frenzies, as we most certainly are right now, the prayer of the godly should be for God to raise up a Dutch uncle, who will talk sense to us.

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

A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel (KJV).

A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel (NKJV).

Proverbs 12:10

This proverb is telling that that kindness of a righteous man extends into everything, including his treatment of his animals. On the flip side, the cruelty of a wicked man extends into everything, even into those things that he would call merciful. 

A man is what he is in all of his relationships, in other words. He reveals who he is in all of his dealings, whether great or small. 

When we are living in a delusional state, we like to believe that we can turn our behavior on and off, like it was on a switch. Kindness is called for “here,” and so I will leave the switch on. It is not so necessary over there, because I am just alone at home with my dog, so I don’t have to worry about it. But life doesn’t work in that way. Wherever you go, there you are.

You may treat someone cruelly, and call it something else—“necessary firmness,” for example—but Scripture speaks to us with necessary firmness. The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. And a righteous man may do something thoughtful for his cattle, and not think anything of it.

This is the basic difference between the righteous and the wicked. The righteous do good things that they don’t even notice. ““Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?” (Matthew 25:37, NKJV). Their righteousness was displayed in their kindness to the “least of these.” And the wicked will try to justify themselves because they did not recognize that their “tender mercies” to the downtrodden, which were actually cruelties, were reckoned by Christ as having been done to Him.

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

When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: And when the wicked perish, there is shouting. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

Proverbs 11:10–11

Most of the time, individual proverbs take up one verse. There are others that are more extended, but most of the time it is one verse to a proverb. Then there are other times, like perhaps this one, when two individual proverbs address the same basic theme, such that they can be addressed together, which is what I am going to do here.

Poor governance is a trial to the people, and when the rulers are righteous, it is a cause for rejoicing in the city. When the righteous are doing well, the city rejoices. In the next verse, when the upright are in a position to bless, the city is exalted as a result. 

When wicked rulers are thrown down, there are shouts of jubilation. There is, as our saying would have it, dancing in the streets. But when a city is under the chastisement of God, He permits them to be overthrown through the lies of the wicked. 

If we put all this together, we see that when the people listen to liars, it goes ill with them. But when the people listen to the righteous, and heed the upright, the city is prosperous. It is unfortunate, but this is a lesson that must usually be learned in the school of hard knocks. When the people vote in scoundrels, miscreants, charlatans, and socialists, they soon enough begin to feel the hurt. Then when these arrogant rulers are toppled from their places, the people breathe a sigh of relief, and go out into the public square to celebrate.

But prior to the shouts of jubilation, and after the groaning that comes with oppression, the people need to learn the foundational lesson in all of this. Heed and heed carefully those who will tell you the truth. Turn a deaf ear to the blandishments of liars.

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

A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which betrayeth itself (KJV).

A continual dripping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike; Whoever restrains her restrains the wind, and grasps oil with his right hand (NKJV).

Proverbs 27:15–16

A problem wife is a chronic problem, not an acute one. Like a dull toothache, it throbs all the time, but life staggers on nonetheless. She is described here as an annoyance, or an on-going irrigation—and not as a definitive calamity. Some might take this as the irrigation of a dripping faucet, the irritation coming from drip drip drip of the sound. But it appears to me that the annoyance is caused by a very rainy day, and the continual dropping is the problem of a house that leaks. What should be kept outside is intent on coming inside, and the difficulty that is caused is constant. 

This is the kind of observation that causes some to complain about misogyny, as though this common sense take is somehow rooted in a complaint against women in general. But a virtuous wife is to be prized above rubies (Prov. 31:10), she is the crown of her husband (Prov. 12:4), and her children praise her in the gates (Prov. 31:31). Arguing that to say that “nagging wives are a pain” is misogyny is like saying that “men who pick pockets are a nuisance” is to play the role of a misanthrope. We do not object to men, we object to men who steal. In the same way, we do not object to wives, we object to wives who nag.

But it is a safe bet to say that women who think that an objection to nagging wives is an objection to wives in general are likely to be the kind of women who cannot tell the difference, and so it is best to steer clear. 

This relates to the other thing to note about this proverb—it appears to say that the best defense against this is preventative. In other words, restraining her after the fact is like to be futile, like holding oil in your hand. The best advice is to take care who you marry. Seek a wife from the Lord (Prov. 18:22). Do not lean on your own understanding (Prov. 3:5). Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain (Prov. 31:30), which is not way of saying that you cannot tell if the house is going to leak if the day is bright and sunny.    

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