This chapter contrasts the difference between judging on the basis of human perception versus relying on the heart to grasp divine moral justice.
1. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whoever goes astray by it is not wise. As a historical note, “strong drink” was likely something akin to beer. This verse is a favorite of the temperance folk who completely fail to grasp Hebrew logic. This does not justify prohibition against beverage alcohol, since there are passage in the same Bible promoting such consumption. In fact, a later proverb openly recommends you drink it precisely for its inebriating quality (ch. 31:6). The point here is to avoid being led astray by that quality by failing to understand our human weakness. Booze is bad company when you have to make a decision.
2. The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion; whoever stirs him up to anger sins against his own soul. The English translation carries connotations that miss the point, made worse by our modern Western assumptions about political authority. The moral context is radically different between our world and Solomon’s. In general, you should treat manifestations of political power with some respect. It’s the nature of things. There’s nothing that says you can’t go after a needless threat, like you would a lion too close to your herds, but be aware that provoking a lion for amusement morally forfeits your life — “soul” refers to your mortal existence, not your eternal destiny. You might win the battle, but be ready to die.
3. It is an honor for a man to cease from strife, but every fool exposes himself. Beautiful imagery here: You make yourself morally substantial by quashing silly conflicts. The second phrase is badly translated. You mark yourself as a fool when you obstinately insist on having your way. The implication is the folly of standing on mere logic and principle against the greater moral demand of social stability.
4. The lazy one will not plow; after the autumn he shall beg in harvest and have nothing. This requires you understand the seasons in Palestine, and the KJV is actually a better translation. The cold season comes in October, which is the time for plowing and planting grain. The lazy whine about having to work in cold and damp weather, and would surely avoid actually working someone else’s fields in harvest, so all they have left is begging. Given it’s likely their community knows them for what they are, what they receive isn’t much.
5. Wisdom in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. An ancient figure of speech, this depicts the heart as the deep aquifer of moral perception. We are encouraged to get comfortable with the process of dipping into it so that the mind will not struggle with false priorities.
6. Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find? Without an ongoing and strong connection to the heart, the human mind is wired to seek a sense of stability, regardless how fragile. When it doesn’t plunge into despair and false guilt, it still tries to reason that we are no worse than anyone else. We call this “moral projection” — painting our normal as universal. That’s how the human mind works. It requires the power of heart-mind moral wisdom to actually explore our moral failures and seek God for resolution. Even in ancient times, it seems it was depressingly rare to find folks who were enough at peace with God to be trustworthy long term.
7. The just walks in his integrity; his sons are blessed after him. We lose much in translation here. Picture a man going about his daily business. Where he goes and what he does is driven by his moral maturity; we rightly call him “just” in the sense of manifesting God’s moral character. Whether literal progeny or not, anyone who takes after that model inherits God’s blessings on that man.
8. A king who sits in the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes. The word for “scatter” also carries the idea of winnowing grain. Again, this presumes a godly political system that no longer exists in our time. Rather it serves to define what is godly government by how it works: It sees things from the divine moral perspective and judges accordingly.
9. Who can say, “I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin?” Moral purity describes a process, not a product. It’s the never ending search for improvement; you live in the Land of Repentance. This has nothing to do with a clear conscience, which is fleeting at best. Your conscience is merely the interface between your brain and your heart; your brain is always learning and will never actually arrive.
10. Different kinds of weights, different kinds of measures, both are hateful to the LORD. In literal terms this applies to commerce, but even Western minds recognize scales as a symbol for justice. A literal translation “a stone and a stone” — two sets of weights and two different sets of dry or liquid measure. In the context of Hebrew society, a significant portion of those in any marketplace would be powerless to protest if they were cheated, but God is always watching.
11. Even a child is known by his own doings, whether his work is pure and whether it is right. Westerners tend to hold a very perverse notion about childhood, so the issue is not linguistics but cultural translation here. This refers to any person in the apprentice stage of life, not in the ritual sense of bar-mitzvah, but in the social sense of engaging in social contacts outside the home (age 9+) prior to adulthood. They are held to a different standard, stricter in some areas, looser in others. Still, their moral character is pretty obvious from their actions within that context and they are taken seriously as future pillars of society. The implication is that we should give others a sporting chance to prove themselves and not judge hastily.
12. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the LORD has made both of them. And why is it that God gave us these faculties? This is an obvious metaphor for paying attention to the moral context, not boasting in your talents.
13. Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes and you shall be satisfied with bread. This is a companion to the previous verse. While the literal meaning is true enough, the moral implication is a call to awaken the mind’s link to the heart so you can be aware of your convictions and strive to fulfill them.
14. “It is bad! Bad,” says the buyer; but when it is left to him, then he boasts. Literally, the buyer proclaims the item evil twice, in the sense that is does more harm than good. Once he gets his hands on it, though, he turns around and boasts what a marvel it is. Common enough in a market where haggling is accepted protocol, this is actually a comment about how people make so much noise over the moral failures of others, only to assert the same actions are righteous when they do them.
15. There is gold and a multitude of rubies; but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel. That last word is better translated as “artwork” — something skillfully made. This is a play on words, as both the lips and artwork are symbols for containers, so the image is someone holding up a golden vase encrusted with precious stones (the word for “rubies” is rather ambiguous) and telling us that saying what people really need to hear at the right moment is far more valuable.
