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

“The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: But he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh”

Proverbs 11:17

In this proverb, the merciful man is contrasted with the cruel man. The cruel man is the one who inflicts pain on others, and takes pleasure from the fact that he has the opportunity to do so. The merciful man does the opposite. He does not inflict pain on others, even when it could be just and right to do so. 

Mercy is not giving someone something that they deserve. Grace is giving someone something they don’t deserve. Mercy operates in the context of something that has been demerited. Grace operates in the context of something that has not been merited. If one of your children was standing around waiting for dinner, and you slipped them a twenty, that would be grace. They had not earned it, but they hadn’t demerited anything either. But if that same child had carelessly broken something that cost twenty dollars, and agreed to pay to replace it, but then you intervened and said that you would take care of it, that would be mercy. 

Now it is obvious that the merciful man is doing good to the one to whom he shows mercy. And it is also obvious that the cruel man is doing harm to the one upon whom he is visiting his cruelty. But that is not the point of this parable. 

The merciful man is doing something good for his own soul. Extending mercy is a grace that offers kindness kickbacks. And in an analogous fashion, cruelty boomerangs. Kindness to others is nourishing to the one who is kind. Cruelty to others is destructive to the one who is being cruel.

When someone is cruel to others, one of his punishments is found in the fact that he has to be . . .  him. 

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

“The crown of the wise is their riches: But the foolishness of fools is folly”

Proverbs 14:24

We are all aware of the warnings that Scripture gives, in multiple places, about the dangers of mammon. Rich men and the eye of the needle. The Pharisees loved their money. Solomon was led astray by his great blessings. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Those who want to get rich are frequently drowned in “destruction and perdition.” If we don’t have the practical side of this down yet, we are certainly aware of the teaching. We remember the warnings.  

We are less aware of the many places in Scripture where we are taught about the goodness of affluence. It is a sin to forget God, who gives us so many rich gifts, but the sin is in forgetting, not in the getting. “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).

In this proverb we are flat out told that wealth is one of the contrasting points between the wise man and the fool. The crown of the wise man would be found in his riches. When a wise man is wealthy, as Abraham was, it is not unbecoming. It is a complete incongruity when a fool comes into riches. His proper crown would be his foolishness and folly. It is striking that in this parallel, Solomon has foolishness in place of the crown. The crown of the wise, the foolishness of the fool. The crown of the wise is made up of wealth, and the “crown” of the fool is made up of tin foil. It is his folly. 

The practical application is that the wealthy should certainly remember the warnings. This is why we would call a wise man wise . . . he remembers the warnings. And, having remembered them, he can sit comfortably with the blessings given to him by God.

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

“He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.”

Proverbs 28:23

There is an advantage that straight talk has over fawning and flattering talk, but it is a slow-growth advantage. There is a great temptation we face in conversation, which is the idea that immediate offense is to be avoided at all costs. We have made “politeness” the be-all and end-all of all conversation.

But when this tendency has become enshrined in a culture’s verbal habits and customs, the downside should be obvious. All the conversations are pleasant enough, but nobody knows whether or not anything is sincerely said. Everybody is nice, but are they really? The chatter at the party was great, in that no fights broke out, because why did everything seem so superficial? It seemed superficial because it was superficial.

This proverb tells us that a straightforward rebuke can be the way to a man’s heart. He knows that this person at least is saying what he believes to be true. This is particularly true of people of great influence—the kind of people that attract flatterers. I am talking about politicians, celebrities, millionaires, and so forth. Can you imagine how tedious it would be to have everyone in your life telling you lies all day?

The point is obviously not to go out of your way to say something thoughtless and rude. Rather the point is that we should not glibly assume that to bring a rebuke to someone will automatically cost us that relationship. Obviously, there are some people who won’t accept a rebuke from anybody, but there are others who are hungry for an honest word. 

This is another way of saying that honesty is the best policy, and that flattery is a strategy that undermines its own stated purposes.

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

“Scornful men bring a city into a snare: But wise men turn away wrath.”

Proverbs 29:8

This proverb provides us with a good example of how parallelism can really flesh out the meaning of a proverb. In this one, the two halves of the proverb contrast with each other, and each side sheds light on its opposing half.

Scornful men bring a city into a snare, on the one hand, and on the other wise men turn away wrath. This is a contrast, and so we are learning that wise men are not scorners, and that scorners are not wise men. That is the first thing. The second is that when a city is ensnared, that is described as wrath, and the turning away of wrath is the city avoiding a snare. 

Scripture takes a dim view of what it calls mockers, or scoffers, or scorners. This does not mean that the wise man never mocks anything, because it is necessary to mock folly and every form of spiritual stupidity. We see multiple examples of this in Scripture, but one should suffice. The Lord Jesus goes on an epic takedown of pharisaical hypocrisy through the entire 23rd chapter of Matthew, and He doesn’t really stint. 

Those who do not like this kind of insightful analysis will frequently tell the godly to lay off, because nobody should ever, ever “sit in the seat of the scornful” (Ps. 1:1). But here is the thing. If we refuse to mock folly, we are not stepping into a world where there isn’t any mockery. What we are actually doing is stepping into a world where absolutely anything can be mocked and scorned—except for the sin that is currently in the ascendancy.

The city fills up with cynics and late night comedians, where everyone knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, and the city falls into a snare. And when the city falls into this sort of a snare, they are headed for the wrath of God. God may try to spare them, sending them wise men, but they are all told to shush.   

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

“He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.”

Proverbs 28:22

There is a snare in wanting to get rich quickly. Wanting to accumulate wealth over the course of forty or fifty years is a normal, healthy, and well-adjusted desire. The person in that position is wanting to do things God’s way, and is cultivating the virtue of patience. Someone who is a short term thinker is someone who is trying to make it all happen now. 

The proverb here says that the person who is hasty about getting rich has “an evil eye.” This is a Hebrew idiom for a covetous, envious, or greedy person. It is an eye that is always glancing sideways at what the other fellow has. 

Because he is so busy looking at what others have, and which he wants to acquire quickly, he does not look ahead. Because he does not look ahead, he does not see what is coming for him. Poverty is coming for him. 

The haste creates more opportunities for mistakes. The haste creates an incentive for the person to cut corners, which in turn causes his partners in business to back away, or to avoid him entirely. In short, the short term gain comes with a long term loss. Penny wise, pound foolish. 

The thing he is so hasty to get away from is the very thing that he is causing to hasten toward him. He is hasty to get out of poverty, and is hastening the time when poverty will land on him. To refer to another proverb, that poverty will come on him like an armed thug. Not what he wanted, but when people tried to tell him, tried to warn him, he was too hasty to listen. 

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