Proverbs 1:6 - Homiletics

Proverbs

It is not surprising to see that proverbs, which are found more or less in the traditional lore of almost all nations, and flourish most abundantly in the East, also enter into the circle of the inspired literature of the Jews. The general characteristics of this portion of the sacred Scriptures are well worthy of our study.

I. THE PROVERBS ARE ALL CONCISE UTTERANCES . In the present age, when time is more precious than ever, it is to be wished that public teachers would correct their prolixity by following the example of these sayings, which certainly contain "the soul of wit."

1 . The conciseness of the proverbs renders them striking. It is not enough to state a truth; we must make it tell. Men's ears are dull to spiritual ideas. In order to penetrate, words must have point, incisiveness, force.

2 . The conciseness also greatly assists memory. Proverbs can be handed from one to another like coins. A truth that is worth uttering is worth remembering.

II. MANY OF THE PROVERBS ARE ILLUSTRATIVE SAYINGS . They are "figures." The proverb runs into the parable; indeed, a parable is but an expanded proverb. Either by way of arbitrary illustration, or by reason of real correspondence between the material and the spiritual nature, a proverb will often afford lessons of spiritual truth which are more fresh and interesting than bare abstract statements. The popular mind naturally turns to the concrete. What strikes the senses is felt to be most forcible. How well our Lord knew this fact of human nature, and how graciously he condescended to accommodate himself to it, is seen in his own rich picture gallery of parabolic teaching. He who can discern "sermons in stones" and "books in the running brooks" will have his eyes opened to see "good in everything."

III. SOME OF THE PROVERBS ARE SUGGESTIVE rather than direct teachings. They are "dark sayings"—possibly because the truth is so profound that it can only be approached by those who grope after it in difficult research. But more simple truth may be wrapped in enigmatic phrases for the express purpose of testing the genuineness of the desire to possess it, exciting interest, exercising the powers of thought in the learner, and becoming itself a more intelligible and more valuable thing when it is once found (see Matthew 13:10-17 ). Let no man think that the best treasures of thought are scattered prodigally on the surface of life for swine to trample underfoot. They lie deep, and must often be sought with toil and anguish of soul. Yet to the honest seeker after light, if only he follow the Light of the world, it will surely dawn, though for a season

"The intellectual power, through words and things,

Went sounding on, a dim and perilous way."

IV. THE PROVERBS TREAT OF HUMAN CONDUCT .

1 . Next to theology, the highest knowledge is that of human life and duty. The triumphs of physical discovery seem to have thrown us into the opposite extreme from that to which Socrates tended. Surely whatever other studies we may pursue, "the proper study of mankind is man." No other topic is more profoundly interesting, none requires so much light, none is so replete with practical issues.

2 . The wisdom of the proverbs is practical. It deals with conduct—which, as Mr. Matthew Arnold says, "is three-fourths of life." What we know is of service to us chiefly as it affects what we do.

3 . This wisdom concerns itself with the moral and religious guides to practice. We find here no Machiavellian maxims of dishonest expediency, no mere worldly advice in the school of Lord Chesterfield, no Jesuistic cesuistry. Righteousness among men and the fear of God are the leading principles set forth. The least exalted precepts are pure and honest. The highest reach the level of Christian ethics. Though much of the Book of Proverbs falls short of the lofty requirements of the New Testament, many passages in it read like anticipations of the Sermon on the Mount. Thus are we taught that the highest wisdom is one with the purest morality and the noblest religion.

V. THE PROVERBS ORIGINATED IN WISDOM , AND NEED WISDOM FOR THEIR INTERPRETATION . They are words of the wise. Inspiration does not dispense with intelligence; it quickens it. Wisdom is itself a gift of the Spirit of God ( James 1:5 ). The most simple truth is often the product of the most difficult thinking which has triumphed in thus making plain what was previously obscure. Let us see, however, that the clear utterance is a word of the wise; for there is a tendency to accept a saying because of its neat and apt form, without regard to its truth or falseness. Wisdom is therefore needed in understanding proverbs and in "discerning spirits." It is not enough that the grammarian explains the words. Higher wisdom is necessary to see where the isolated truth fits into other truths, by what it is qualified, and how it is to be applied; for it is one of the disadvantages of the proverb that its very terseness gives to it an unnatural isolation, and excludes the addition of counterbalancing truths.