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You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you Isa 26:3 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Saturday, April 26, 2025
Today's Passage : Today'sPassage:The Wisdom of Solomon - Wise and Foolish People in Proverbs (2) BibleVerse:Proverbs 5 "My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it. And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless, lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.” Delilah Delilah Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths. The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray. " Message:
After praising the general benefit of godliness and wisdom, Proverbs 2 teaches two more specific evils that the wise will avoid, but the fool will embrace: First, the evil man walks in darkness. (Prov. 2:11-15) Just as in Psalm 1 — “Blessed is the man that walketh not in counsel of the ungodly . . . “ — the first specific advice Proverbs gives is to avoid the blandishments of evil men, to turn a deaf ear to them.
Donkey from Book of Hours
French Book of Hours
ca. 1054
Second is the evil woman, who flatters with words. (Prov. 2:16-19) This first reference to the seductress applies to simple adultery, sleeping with a woman other than one’s wife. In other verses, however, the instruction is more aimed at liaisons (including marriage) with women from idolatrous indigenous tribes in Canaan, an act specifically forbidden by Jehovah (Deut. 7:3-4). This was a constant source of problems throughout Hebrew history. So critical is the avoidance of liaisons with the “strange woman” that Proverbs returns to it repeatedly, including today’s passage (the entirety of Proverbs 5).
The advice still applies to us, today, but like so much of the Old Testament has undergone transmutation because of the New Covenant. There is no longer any discouragement of marrying outside one’s “tribe”; rather, since God’s grace is now open to all who confess His name, we should read this as advising against marriage to non-Christians. (E.g. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
Proverbs differentiates between the God-fearing Hebrew woman and her idle sister, as well; this distinction forms the magnificent finale of Proverbs, in Lemuel’s famous paean to womanly virtue: “her price is far above rubies.” (Prov. 31:10-31) Again and again, Proverbs warns the wise against adultery and prostitution in the more general sense of sleeping with another’s wife or a prostitute, whether she be Hebrew or Gentile. In Chapter 7, the style even veers into the narrative, as it draws the scene of a fool slipping into a harlot’s room.
In the intermediate bulk of Proverbs, the reader is treated to a host of more specific attitudes and actions that the wise will follow to their benefit, and the fool will ignore to their regret. The wise man, for example, like the ant, is industrious; the fool, a sluggard. (E.g. 24:30-34; 26:15-16) The fool is a drunkard, the wise man abstemious. (E.g. 23:29-35) The fool loves to talk at length, while the wise man listens and learns. (E.g. 18:2)
In today’s society, gender roles are not nearly as well-defined as in ancient Israel! They did not often have wives running away with tennis pro’s, or women being primary breadwinners by choice. But rather than letting us off the hook, this simply increases the applicability of Proverbs to both genders.
Underlying all of the specific advice in Proverbs is the fear of God; it is the root difference between wise and foolish people. It is like the trunk of the tree, and all of the many specific areas of advice are like limbs and branches, supported by and originating in this first principle.
Meditation : Prayer : Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. |
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