Tuesday 05 November 2013

Background

Today's proverbs can be broken down into two parts. Verses 31-35are linked by the theme of righteousness and its rewards contrastedwith sin and its penalties, which is a common theme throughoutProverbs. And verses 1-8 is are linked by themes ofspeaking and hearing.

The end of chapter 14 brings in a common theme in Wisdomliterature and in Scripture, one not simply of God's care for thepoor but of God's intimate connection with the poor. To fail tocare for the poor is not simply to fail in a religious duty, it isto insult God who is their maker. The point seems to be strongerthan just that care for the poor and weak is a good thing: it isthat God created us all and therefore is related to us all. Thissense of an intimate connection between God and the poor reminds usof Jesus challenge that to fail to care for the poor and weak is tofail to care for him (Matthew 25:31-46).

The second part addresses the theme of both speaking andlistening wisely. In verse 4 the NRSV Bible does not quitetranslate the Hebrew, which actually reads, 'a healing tongue is atree of life'. The Jewish tradition knows perfectly well that goodspeech is not automatically gentle - notice how often Proverbscommends a rebuke. In talking about the "tree of life" this verseis pointing us back to the story of Eden in Genesis 2 (one of the very few times that theHebrew Bible (the Old Testament) does this) perhaps as a reminderthat God used speech to create and the serpent used it to leadastray. As so often with Proverbs, the advice here might feel alittle obvious at times, but it is easier to say than to live by.It reminds us of James' comments about the power of the tongue andhow difficult it is to tame it (James3:1-12).

Verse 8 reminds us of the constant challenge to ensure that wedo not live out our faith only in prayer and worship, but also ingenerosity, kind speech and wise listening described in earlierverses.

To Ponder

• Is there a particular proverb from today's passage which youcan take with you to ponder during the rest of the day? What is it?And why do you think it jumps out at you?

• What is there in this passage that you know to be true but findhard to live by? You might wish to pray about this.

• What (specifically) can you do to honour God by being kind tothe needy?