Some people are too lazy to put food in their own mouths.
Arrogance should be punished, so that people who don’t know any better can learn a lesson. If you are wise, you will learn when you are corrected.
Only a shameful, disgraceful person would mistreat his father or turn his mother away from his home.
My child, when you stop learning, you will soon neglect what you already know.
There is no justice where a witness is determined to hurt someone. Wicked people love the taste of evil.
A conceited fool is sure to get a beating. (Good News Translation)
I believe one good practice is to ponder the biblical proverbs and write them in our own words. So, here is today’s Proverbs lesson in my own colloquial words, with a brief bit of commentary:
There are folks who have gotten so used to laziness that they don’t even use their hands to feed themselves.
It’s important not to enable such persons to be this way by bringing them food and feeding them. It reinforces bad behavior, and will only frustrate you if you give-in to the rationalizations from the lazy person.
Arrogant fools need sense enough to see that foolish stupidity leads to punishable consequences; but a person with good sense learns the humility of being corrected without having to be harshly punished.
Part of what makes a person foolish and arrogant is that they honestly believe they’re an exception to the rules, that they can do what they want and not suffer the consequences. Conversely, the wise person doesn’t always need to learn the hard way. They listen to correction and accept it, thus avoiding adverse consequences from continuing in a particular way.
Kids without any sense at all are a disgrace to their parents; they steal from mom and dad and refuse to care for them in their need.
A parent’s greatest shame is when one of their children ignore what they’ve been taught and use the parents to get what they want. And then when mom and dad have a need, the kid has every excuse in the book to not help them. Unfortunately, there are times when a parent must take action to protect themselves from a wayward child. It isn’t healthy to let your children use you with impunity.
If you have no inclination to learn, you will eventually become as dumb as a brick.
Anyone who doesn’t take the stance of being a life-long learner will end up losing what little knowledge they have. That’s because memory is tied to actionable learning. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.
A witness who lies brings harm to both the court system and the persons involved; he is just like a criminal who commits crimes and revels in a lie as if it was a delicious meal.
Sadly, there are some people in this old fallen world who take delight in lying, cheating, and stealing. It gives them a twisted feeling of superiority and control to manipulate a person or a system. So, beware of the one who has no conscience.
The only thing an arrogant fool can expect to get in this life (and the next) is punishment.
A fool is a fool because they neither learn a lesson from observing what happens to others, nor learn from their own mistakes, misplaced words, and bad behavior. Although they shouldn’t be surprised whenever they are fired from a job, arrested by the police, or have a spouse leave them, they are; somehow they feel entitled to live as they please and have others accommodate to their life.
The biggest chunk of the Book of Proverbs (chapters 10-22) are wise sayings framed mostly in couplets. The majority of the verses are a contrast between the wise and the foolish, the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad.
The contrasts are meant to demonstrate consequences. If we make decisions and live our lives in a good and right way, then it is likely that we will be successful and have some overall happiness.
However, if we choose to go through life like the fool, then we should expect some rather adverse consequences.
For example, both parents and children need to make some responsible choices in order to live well. Parents are to put a great deal of effort into raising, training, and loving their children so that they can be successful in life. Children are to respond by accepting parental teaching and seeking to live into the wisdom taught to them.
And yet, there are parents who are uncommitted to preparing their children for adulthood. And there are adult children who want nothing to do with anything their parents tell them, believing their mom or dad to be stupid or out of touch. However, sooner or later, they will learn a hard lesson.
A happy family is a beautiful thing; a contentious bunch of relatives always walks away hurt.
Every day is an opportunity to build on a wise foundation of life. The sorts of decisions we make, and why we make them, is of upmost significance for a good, right, and just way of living. And this wisdom, ideally, is to be passed on by both words and actions.
No matter who we are – whether parents or children, community leaders or citizens, managers or employees, neighbors or nations, we are all to grow in maturity by learning to make wise choices in life which bless others, and thus, bless yourself.
We are neither to live arrogantly and selfishly, nor are we to allow bad attitudes and behaviors to exist within our families, communities, and workplaces.
The beginning of wisdom in living a good life is to know God and be a life-long learner of sacred wisdom literature. This is the first and most important choice of all.
All-wise and all-powerful God of the universe, you have given dominion over this earth, in order that we may steward good and right living which allows all life to thrive and flourish. Give us wisdom to use all that you have given, so that no one may suffer from our foolish stupidity, and that the generations yet to come may know that there is a good God in heaven who blesses those who do right and forsake evil. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 