Prayers for the New Year

Posted on December 31, 2015 by ehurst

I’m striving to be accountable to God and His people.

As we adjusts our thinking to what God actually said, one of the most difficult things we do is get a grip on His promises. When He said things about “prosperity” it was seldom with any of the baggage we associate with it in our Western culture. We have been taught to expect a steady-state in all things, as if this were optimal. It is not. Indeed, it is fundamentally wrong to think so. Roller-coasters and cycles are reality.

My household starts the year in a very tough position. I’d rather not whine about how things got this way, as if someone else were responsible for making sure we our financial situation retains some mythical steady state. Sure, my donate page here still works and we recently received a donation that will surely help. I’d rather have your prayers, though. I’d rather we all exchange our deep affection and the miracles of God helping us see His hand more clearly.

That’s because we are headed for even more difficulty — all of us. In one way or another, the hand of God will bring wrath and cleansing, and that’s never fun for our human existence. At the minimum, you’ll go through some inner turmoil just trying to understand what you see, trying to make sense of it as we all strive for a clearer moral grasp.

So on the one hand we could wish our world hadn’t gotten so very far away from God’s ideals for us, but we are stuck in a world that ignores His revelation. That means sometimes I have to eat stuff that will offer at least some margin of harm and at other times just skip eating to avoid it, and trust God for the difference any of it makes. If walking in His will means surrendering some health ideal, then we have to rely on the broader general promise that He will take care of things. Don’t put God in a box, particularly one designed by Western mythology.

So I’m praying for you to find a place where you can stack those moral priorities with clarity. Don’t make a donation here for all the wrong reasons we have thrown at us by every other form of begging so common in our world. The only reason you should even think about it is that God won’t leave you in peace any other way. Brother Ed is going to make it one way or another, so that’s not the issue. Rather, it’s most important that we all recognize Who owns us and gets to make the final decisions in everything.

What I will not do is exaggerate the problem to jerk tears from your eyes. To symbolize it for you, I’ll be making smaller pots of coffee for a while, and could end up drinking tea before it’s over (because that’s cheaper around here). So for every one of you who doesn’t want to hear about it, I’d also face the irritation and censure from those who wanted to know. Pray first and make sure you know what God wants from you. We all will have a lot on our plates in one way or another all too soon.

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Disavowing Seen and Unseen

Posted on December 30, 2015 by ehurst

The title is a reference to a couple of services run out of Iceland — Seen.is and Unseen.is — that I didn’t know were such nitwits about networking and encryption. I once recommended them, but grew increasingly annoyed at their inability to do some of the simplest things when it comes to customer service.

So here’s the lowdown: Their encryption is home-brewed. Never, ever do that unless you know at least as much as the NSA specialists. Let’s just say that there are so few people of that caliber today that none of them would have time to work with the folks at Unseen. There are so very many good, publicized encryption algorithms out there that you simply cannot justify rolling your own.

Other problems: They don’t know how to do webpages. I’ve told them there were problems and things haven’t changed in six months. The offer apps for various platforms and I’ve never gotten any of them to work for more than a day. Their latest offering for Linux is based on the ancient Ubuntu 12.04 (14.04 is the last stable release almost two years ago; 12.04 four years old). Their site has been in “beta” since it opened. When paid customers request support, the response is often condescending and pointless.

Their other project is a site called “Before It’s News.” I won’t even give you a link; it’s one of the wildest wacko conspiracy “news” sites you will ever see. I’m the first to tell you that there are genuine conspiracies out there, but these folks are way off in La-la Land. They report stuff that makes you wonder if it’s linked from a parody site. At first I thought this might not matter too much, but apparently they apply some of the same thinking to their “deep knowledge” of networking. Recently I found out that network technicians are shocked anyone lets them own a server.

I apologize for not checking more carefully before recommending any of their services.

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Hack Yourself

Posted on December 30, 2015 by ehurst

It is not a question of in-the-heart versus in-the-head. It’s both at the same time — and more. It may not be easy for us coming out of a binary-linear-thinking culture, and it’s not much better with the current trend toward branched logic, but we are wired by our Creator to operate on multiple levels of awareness simultaneously. I’m trying, but I confess that I’m not very good at it just yet.

I believe I’ve noted here before that we lack the lore and habits of mind that heart-led cultures would have considered common sense. Sometimes a realization hits my brain so hard I wanna get up and dance and shout it the world, except those times when I wanna run and bellow in terror. And just how much of that is meant for me alone? That’s the hardest part for me, and I wonder how much some of you struggle with it, too. It’s easily the biggest reason we should learn not to take ourselves too seriously.

We can offer only what we have, and folks should take only what they can use.

I believe most people see a hard future bearing down on us. And it is, but I simply can’t buy most of the warnings and predictions, at least not in any significant detail. It’s not a question of lying but a complete lack of heart-logic. They start from the wrong place, so it’s no surprise they end up in another wrong place. Or perhaps the image should be that many are in the right place but gazing in the wrong direction.

Most people can sense doom on some level, even if they just can’t connect it with their conscious awareness. The heart is never silent, but a lot of folks have been taught to ignore it, or to filter out some of the most important parts.

For example, what happens if the banking system suffers some kind of trauma? First, you have to understand that most “money” is just a virtual possession. Even cash currency is subject to fluctuating evaluations of it’s value against real property, but most of what we are told we have is really just conceptual or notional, not real. Your name is associated with some digits in an accounting system somewhere. It works — until it doesn’t. So you should expect that most of your notional “deposits” in the bank can evaporate without notice and without anything resembling accountability. When the banking system declares some kind of crisis, what the rest of us experience really depends on the individuals involved outside the banks.

Some business managers will decide they have no choice but to shut down. Others will simply do the best they can. Government officials will tend to be more uniform in declaring that they can’t stop governing but will likely cut out most of everything that resembles public service. So you and I will be caught in the middle. For the most part, almost every agency (public and private) that we depend on will deny any further responsibility to us. A lot of folks will panic, so violence is quite likely to rise initially. Some will continue because that’s what a few would do anyway were it not for the current restraints. Depending on your local culture, most will likely regret the panic when they realize the world hasn’t ended and life is still possible.

So maybe your current job will disappear and maybe not. I suspect most pensions will disappear, but some elements in the current system will be run by folks with enough sense to realize something has to keep working because nobody can afford total chaos. In other words, God alone knows what you as an individual will face. But in general, most folks will try to keep things going as close as possible to what it was before. Much of it will depend on what the bankers decide they have to do, what kind of actions they must take, because the banking system — at the top where real decisions are made — is run by people totally unlike you and I. Their calculus is very difficult to predict in the first place. They don’t typically publicize their sense of priorities, and some of the trouble coming is totally new in scale, if not in nature. However, we should never underestimate their actual power over the system.

You should start praying for a certain internal flexibility and adaptability. Because we cannot know for sure what they have up their sleeves, we have to train our brains to let the heart decide in that moment of decision what really matters.

The information I’ve seen is spotty, but there is likely some kind of binding agreements between governments and certain common carriers and utilities. That is, emergency planning is quite certain, though the contents are still secret as to what government officials won’t allow to collapse and how they plan to keep it working. I’d say: Keep your cellphone and at least one computer if you can.

I still believe that networked communications is the fundamental element of what arises afterward. The whole system is moving in that direction, and this impending chaos and partial collapse of the old will have a strong impact on where things are steered in the future. Those who are left to pick up the pieces when stuff breaks will probably have a lot to say about how it all gets put back together. For example, a major thrust within the current system is roping in as many people as possible to the existing computer network in terms of fixing their identity and amassing data. The exercise of control is the primary issue here. Even folks who are off the grid will be indexed in one way or another. It’s an unspoken necessity, a fundamental instinct of those who govern to seek a full accounting of humans in terms of assets and liabilities.

Everything is a matter of bureaucratic convenience. There is no specific spite most of the time, except as some bureaucrat has latitude to exercise a moment of leverage against resistance to their convenience. It’s all so horrifically dehumanizing that we just don’t have the words for it. But the siren song of even greater convenience through attaching as many humans as possible directly to the network is something bureaucrats can’t ignore. Whatever little humanity is possible to eke from the system will, in some ways, require that you have a networked identity, a virtual persona that the system recognizes. Whatever advantages that exist at all for you and I will likely be available only through the virtual communications network. Without a device you will receive the most negligent treatment possible.

So you should expect nearly universal device ownership, with massive efforts to commoditize and standardize things down to a very narrow range of what’s available to individual users. Automated monitoring will be obligatory and ubiquitous. The only folks left with some measure of self ownership will be the techies who know how to take advantage of the ever-present holes in any system. Technological expertise is the new “license to kill.” These will be the new class of cyber-alphas riding atop the mass of virtual nobodies.

That’s not a call for you to consider becoming a hacker. I’d much rather recommend you learn how to work with your own heart, a sort of self-hacker, if you will. Only your heart can tell you whether it matters what kind of identity you should embrace in this looming future world. And we who walk by the heart-mind will become yet more alienated than ever. Then again, I see more opportunity than ever before. That’s because the virtual world will not eclipse meat space in terms of reality, but only in terms of human perception at-large. We need active and conscious heart-led people throughout the entire fabric of society. Yes, heart-led is what God intended for the whole human race, but “narrow is the path and few who find it.”

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Proverbs 26

Posted on December 29, 2015 by ehurst

The advice to nobility continues, with an emphasis to watch out for certain kinds of people. We remind ourselves that “fool” and “folly” refer to a failure to subject the mind to the supremacy of the heart. Thus, it is more about the lack of moral discernment as the cause for acting silly.

1. As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not becoming for a fool. The cited weather conditions are completely out of place in Palestine, as is treating a fool as a substantial member of society.

2. As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse without cause shall not come. This is not the best translation. The first is more like a sparrow flitting about, the second a swallow that darts back and forth and never seems to perch anywhere. Thus, a curse uttered contrary to God’s moral character will never alight.

3. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back. In the minds of ancient Hebrew people, you wouldn’t ride a horse without whip to urge them when they tired, and you certainly couldn’t maintain control over an onager without a bit and bridle. The rod was both symbol of authority and punitive implement. The obvious point is that you can train, but cannot educate a fool.

4-5. Do not answer a fool according to his foolishness, lest you also be like him. Answer a fool according to his foolishness, so that he may not be wise in his own eyes. This is not a self-contradiction if you catch the second part of each statement for context. Hebrew figures of speech could be ambiguous, same as in most other languages. Thus, don’t take a fool seriously or he’ll draw you into his folly. Rather, answer in such a way that you make it clear you think he’s a fool.

6-9. He who sends a message by the hand of a fool cuts off the feet and drinks down damage. The legs of the lame are not equal; so is a parable in the mouth of fools. As he who binds a stone in a sling, so is he who gives honor to a fool. As a thorn goes up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. We can never be completely rid of fools, so they do have their place in this world. These are examples where they don’t fit. Trying to use a fool as messenger is like cutting off your feet or drinking poison. Even if you teach a fool the meaning of a parable, they’ll use it wrong. Taking a fool seriously is about as smart as stitching a stone into the pocket of a sling. And just how well can a drunk pull out a thorn? Don’t empower a smart-aleck.

10. Great is the Former of all, but he who hires a fool is like one who hires one passing by. The Hebrew is ambiguous and translations vary. It seems the common essence is that a fool is the threat you recognize; treat him with the same care and suspicion you would some random foreigner.

11-12. As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to his folly. Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. The only dogs a Hebrew encountered were dangerous sly predators, so we have a large cultural gap here. Yet even Westerners are repulsed by this behavior in dogs, and science has no good answer as to why they do it, beyond the mere fact dogs just don’t care. They’ll eat anything and this is the point of the Hebrew reference. Thus, a fool learns nothing from bad experiences, and should be as repulsive as dogs were to ancient Hebrews. Bad as that is, a conceited man is even worse.

13-15. The lazy one says, “There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.” As the door turns upon its hinges, so does the lazy man turn upon his bed. The lazy man hides his hand in his bosom; it grieves him to bring it again to his mouth. While we’ve seen these before, the context of advice for nobility adds a new dimension. Don’t pamper even your own kin; provide for them according to their willingness to get their hands dirty with the work of the household.

16. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can give a reason. Some people are simply efficient, having paid attention and thought about what they do. Best of all, they can tell you when inaction pays off. Lazy people can only offer lame excuses as if they were the wisdom of seven wise men combined.

17. He who passes by enraging himself over strife not his own is like one who takes a dog by the ears. When you run upon a conflict in progress, you aren’t likely to have a clue which side is just. Jumping in on either side will almost surely get you hurt. It’s best to cultivate a repulsion for public disputes.

18-19. Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “Am I not joking.” The risk to life from the first is comparable with the risk to social stability (shalom) with the latter. This refers to people who would play head games for their personal amusement, not at all the same thing as a sheikh testing people under his authority.

20-22. Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no talebearer, the fighting ceases. As coals to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man to kindle fighting. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. The rich imagery here translates poorly. A talebearer is someone who keeps pushing something until it starts to come apart. The word translated “quarrelsome” is a general term for stirring up trouble. We’ve all met people with souls so empty that their only source of entertainment is manipulating others into fighting. It doesn’t matter what excuse they claim to justify this, you can tell by the results that they are a threat to shalom. It’s not a bad idea to run off such folk because the wounds can be long term.

23-26. Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a broken piece of pottery with silver waste. He who hates pretends with his lips and stores up deceit within him. When he makes his voice gracious, do not believe him; for seven hateful things are in his heart. He whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shown before the congregation. It’s easy to miss the point of the pottery image. A potshard, while useful in some few cases, like skimming dross off of molten silver, is still just a chunk from a shattered vessel. It might be interesting to look at with the shiny coating, but it has no value. So in other words, it’s just junked coated with pretty junk, the same as someone with a talent for persuasion hiding a predatory soul. Expose such a fraud.

27. Whoever digs a pit shall fall into it; and he who rolls a stone, it will return on him. The translation misses a figure of speech. More than a pit, it’s a trap. And it’s not just any stone, but one big enough for building. Those who use traps will eventually get caught in their own deceptions. People who try to destabilize social structure will be crushed when it collapses.

28. A lying tongue hates those afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin. The subtle point here is that there is no difference between flattery and outright lies. This is a warning to those with a needy ego that there is always someone willing to butter you up to destroy you.

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Moral Order of Things

Posted on December 28, 2015 by ehurst

Eternity is not merely time without end; it is life without time.

God’s will is not some static and inexorable destiny for all Creation. His will is the moral fabric of reality itself. Even our freedom within this realm of existence is constrained in ways we could never comprehend, but we do have a range of choice open to us that includes ignoring God’s revelation of His moral character.

Some particular action or choice that was right yesterday is wrong today and we may never comprehend on this side of Eternity what was involved in changing it. Nor could we pretend, even in theory, that there is some calculus we could know if God were simply more forthcoming, or if we were simply more precise in following His revelation. Creation itself is alive and morphing around us constantly. It’s not a calculus but Life itself.

When I bought that Dell Studio it seemed proper at the time. Maybe it was, but now it has become a millstone. Not just the keyboard, but all kinds of little things that are simply not consistent with the way God calls me to work. Then again, all of that was surmountable until some recent shift in the winds of moral discernment in my soul.

Can you not see how this is an answer to the prayer request? Maybe not the one I expected, but an answer nonetheless. It’s not that such news holds any significance in itself, but this is one more implication of the lesson on condemnation. When you approach any question, including those arising from the mere mechanics of human activity, you cannot let yourself become a slave to human reckoning.

Consider this: Some issues in my life are a simple matter that I can’t get there from here. I have to go somewhere else first. There’s this thing called pre-positioning — getting myself in a better place to see something that was previously out of the line of sight. Passing through this or that particular hassle helps me ditch habits that won’t fit the new situation. Because I’m so flaky in the first place, God has a chore on His hands getting me straightened out. You can say I’m flighty and unreliable, but God still calls me to feed His sheep.

Oh, and I still have my netbook (Latitude 2120). It’s not as fast, and certainly has a smaller screen and keyboard, but it’s much more reliable. After all, it’s only a matter of tools for His glory. While some tasks are challenging on this thing, there are always other computers in this household I can use. Ideally I would have a desktop for certain functions, something that doesn’t have to do much but sit there and work when I need it. When it comes to serious writing, which seems the most important task for now, this netbook is fine.

We take what God provides and keep our eyes on His glory.

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Wise Silence

Posted on December 27, 2015 by ehurst

In our study in Proverbs, we are told repeatedly that you cannot teach a fool. You can help them keep their folly to themselves only if you hold dominion and are prepared to use violence. For most of us, we seldom have dominion and violence is a real chore anyway. Thus, we end up often keeping our peace.

Easily the single biggest folly I face is people defending the modern State of Israel. Here in Oklahoman, very few people represent any opposition to Israel. I do see more support for, say, the Palestinians on the Net. However, I’m not sure all of those defending voices are genuine. I’m pretty sure at least a few of the more popular ones are controlled opposition.

Here’s the moral position: There is no single right answer. There are as many answers as there are Palestinians and Israelis combined. In other words, the moral consideration is that we are all individuals and even the people living there in that part of the world may not have a clear moral perspective. What they claim to want may not have any connection to reality in the first place.

God says in His Word quite bluntly that He is personally in control of all human politics. He also says flatly that it’s really none of our concern if we seek to serve Him. He is writing human history, so mucking about in politics distracts us from His calling and mission. That’s not to say we can have no personal moral reaction to this or that event, but that there is no one right answer. All human governments violate His revelation, so He isn’t working with any of them under any of the Law Covenants that He revealed. He doesn’t work with governments any other way, except to herd them like mindless beasts.

Is the State of Israel evil? Absolutely. Are the Palestinians good people? Not particularly. Even then, I’m using only relative terms. If you go to that land and deal with particular individuals, you’ll find things you can tolerate and things you cannot. And different folks there will find us varying degrees of tolerable in return. But outside of a personal encounter, we have precious little moral grounds for having much say in any of their conflicts.

As a scholar, I suppose I can tell you that Israel could easily drive the Palestinians out, but it seems there is some crazy government policy that requires they keep them around and abuse them. Do you wonder why the Palestinians stay when people suffering far less difficulty are stampeding out of that part of the world? There is no simple answer to that, I assure you. As a scholar of the Bible, I would assure you that God alone can change this awful situation. He alone can decide when it’s time to move things and people, same as He does with all the rest of the human race in other parts of the world. They don’t see His hand because they refuse to know Him.

Whenever I encounter a rabid fool spouting off about supporting Israel or defending the Palestinians, or just about any other brand of activism, I usually say nothing unless I can discern a moment when God wants me to speak.

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Hidden But Not Secret

Posted on December 27, 2015 by ehurst

We are not a secret society, but a mystery society. That is, if we use common English translations of the Bible to guide our terminology, then what we promote is a mystery difficult for outsiders to grasp. It is certainly not hidden by intention.

In fact, we would much rather the whole world participate; the more the merrier. This is what we were made for, our best hope in this life. Yet we have seen with our own eyes just how hard it is to bring the mind to a place where it can surrender to its natural superior, the heart. It took us long enough to get here ourselves.

Secret societies build barriers and use some consciously constructed mechanism to deny access to outsiders. Many of them use code language to discuss their common affairs. There is some sense of elite superiority over those denied access. We did not create any boundaries; we discovered them in the process of crossing. We fall on our faces once inside because we can’t get inside without coming to a realization of just how unworthy we are. And the joy is based on immeasurable gratitude and relief, not exclusivity.

We feel so powerless to help others. Paradoxically, we are driven by the confidence that God insists we get the word out, and the calm assurance He will work through us. But it’s not the glib assurance at seeing them enter in droves. We see a tiny trickle and rejoice over each one.

For all of this we cannot avoid the appearance of being closed simply because access is very highly restricted. It’s just that the restriction is the hand of God, nothing in our hands. And how could we begin making accommodations to this new reality without changing the words we use? So it sounds like secretive code language. We aren’t speaking the language of minds, but the language of hearts. Even when we explain it, we find ourselves forced to use terminology that makes it sound suspicious to those who can’t see the truth.

Should some government authority take an interest, it would only be that people who join us are impossible to govern on the terms the authority desires. We make no promises that our choices won’t contradict government edicts, but we find it highly unlikely that officials would notice. Still, it is a certainty that we will discern and act on a loyalty that can rest in no human entity. That’s the undefined threat to human authority. Worse, our undefined threat has been known to spread “like cancer” at times. We most certainly make a conscious effort to get more people to join us, and to get more of those who join more thoroughly alienated from human concerns.

We don’t fight government so much as lack enthusiasm for the demands of officials. At best we play along, and we cannot possibly hide our cynicism. The bottom line is that we don’t care about their bottom line.

Our biggest headache at this point is not secular government concerns, but the unacknowledged politics of religion. Our presumed allies are often anything but. Some of us were never a part of their work, so they pay little attention to us. However, those of us who left that system are viewed as traitors. We know too much about what we left behind, and that makes us a threat. While I do get some respect and fellowship from those who understand from within the religious establishment, organizational leadership is typically the biggest hassle I face.

On a human level, I can understand that. What we are discussing are matters of eternal importance. Get it wrong and you “burn in Hell.” Tell it wrong and others may join you there. Offer something too enticing and those on the margins will be “lost” before they can be “saved.” Yes, I understand their concerns all too well.

So when it comes down to such discussion, I ask: “And what if you are wrong about all of this?” Insofar as I get an answer, it’s usually along the lines that they must follow their convictions. Of course, so do I. But then they have the resources to marshal against me and have done so more than once. About all I can do is simply stay out of their reach. To the degree they don’t understand what we do, it’s not that hard most of the time. Coming under their authority is currently voluntary. My choice doesn’t have to be yours, though. If you can still remain within that system and serve the Lord, that’s a good thing.

Each of us comes into this with our individual experiences. We belong together because no one of us has the whole bag of marbles. We are family, hard-wired for interdependence. Modern secular government knows that’s a threat to their power, even if they never say anything directly about it. Government’s full intent is to render the individual isolated and powerless by creating a false sense of belonging to structures that offer only the illusion of power. You know the saying: If it really makes a difference, it’s illegal. Our Creator made very real power to rest in the hands of family, and of all the family types, the very most powerful is the covenant family. It is so very powerful because it is so very fragile in human terms. It rests entirely upon some higher power.

We associate and fellowship in the Spirit precisely when there are so few human reasons to do so. Would any of us have found each other had we not been searching for something much higher? The power of God is manifest most gloriously beyond the limits of human power.

We have little use for the encryption of technology because neither technology nor human nature is able to grasp what we do. It’s hidden on their end, not on ours.

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Psalm 81

Posted on December 26, 2015 by ehurst

While this sounds somewhat like the call to the Feast of Tabernacles, the whole seventh month (Tishri) is consumed in various celebrations following the olive harvest: Trumpets (1st), the Day of Atonement (10th) and then Tabernacles (15th). The psalmist mentions both the New Moon and Full Moon rituals, as well. Then he takes on a prophetic note in this celebration: Can we just this once remember to celebrate the Lord by obeying Him? In doing so, he focuses on commemorating the Exodus.

The psalm begins with a lyrical call to observe a ritual of celebratory music. He goes on to note that there are other observances commanded in the ritual law to stir up the natural joy of gratitude we owe to our Creator and Lord for all His blessings. He notes the first deliverance was before Israel was a nation, when Joseph became viceroy in Egypt where people speak a totally different language. God placed Joseph there to protect Israel from His wrath falling on the various nations in Canaan Land.

And when the time came, Israel was rescued from slavery. When God saw the fruit of things was ripe, He answered their prayers and put them through the necessary testing any sheikh used to prepare his servants. They were so used to life in Egypt that they weren’t yet ready to bear His revelation to the world.

Asaph focuses on the signal element of loyalty in the divine call at Mount Sinai. The first of the Ten Commandments is entirely normal. A covenant of adoption as the family of any great sheikh required that they swear blood loyalty to him, the same as he would require of natural born kin. In return for that loyalty, He will supply more than they could take in, so open wide!

But they refused to keep faith in Him. His revelation was the ultimate reality of all things, but they preferred their own imaginations. So He let them have what they really wanted, and with it all the suffering of human moral blindness.

When will they ever wake up? If only they could render a genuine commitment to Him, no enemy could come against. Even those with a rabid spite for Jehovah would be forced to kneel before His authority. Not that it would do those enemies any good eternally, but God has always been ready to humble outsiders who threaten His servants. Israel could not imagine just how great a harvest they could have, both from their work and from random wild provision.

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Proverbs 25

Posted on December 26, 2015 by ehurst

We have already seen how the unnamed final editor of this volume never saw fit to reduce duplication, but faithfully pieced together several collections as they were.

1. These are also proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out. We should hardly be surprised that periodic revivals of wisdom literature came and went in the history of Israel, particularly arising from the legendary reign of Solomon. King Hezekiah ruled almost two centuries after Solomon. His reign was characterized by a grand effort to recover the legacy of greatness, in part through a sincere and concerted search for oral and written records long neglected. Not just a catalog, but these were republished in fresh copies. Chapters 25-29 are the results of their efforts to ensure nothing from Solomon’s proverbs was lost. This collection offers the theme of calling for a sense of perspective and not taking oneself too seriously. We get the strong sense Hezekiah’s time saw a bad habit of self-indulgence among members of the ruling class.

2. The glory of God is to hide a thing; but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. God emanates a blinding glory from His Person. Among other things, His glory demands that we leave our fallen nature behind lest it devour us. The path out of destruction is His revelation, but it requires something of us to reach beyond our plane of existence into a boundary layer between Spirit and Flesh where we can explore His moral character. Thus, insofar as we can know Him, it is found with some effort, a measure of self-death undertaken through the various Law Covenants. It is “hidden” in that sense. The mission of a king is to lead the way in clarifying what can be known of God on our level through Covenant Law. A king who does not know God in that sense cannot rightly claim the honor God invested in the mission.

3. The heavens for height, and the earth for depth, but the heart of kings is without searching. This is a pragmatic statement following on the previous verse. Should a king take his mission seriously, he will be changed. You should expect to find him rather mysterious, full of surprises to the day he dies.

4-5. Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the refiner. Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be founded in righteousness. The first line reflects a common mistranslation. If you refine silver, you typically get an ingot, not a vessel. The ingot goes to a craftsman (“finer”) who makes it into things like vessels. The point is that these are two entirely separate skills at work. A king is still human and needs the support of genuine heart-led servants, not a bunch of courtesans seeking self-advantage, if he’s going to rule in wisdom and justice.

6-7. Do not put yourself forth in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of the great; for it is better that it should be said to you, “Come up here,” than that you should be put lower in the presence of a noble whom your eyes have seen. Most people will recognize that this is where Jesus got his comments for castigating rabbis who jockeyed over precise social rankings at dinners, as if the host had no say in the matter (Luke 14:7-14). Don’t presume; don’t take yourself so seriously or you will end up with even less social status than before. More broadly, play that part given you by those with higher authority, because they have to explain to God how they wasted His blessings.

8. Do not go forth quickly to fight, lest you know not what to do in the end of it, when your neighbor has put you to shame. Debate your cause with your neighbor; and do not uncover a secret to another, lest he who hears it put you to shame, and your evil report turn not away. It may not be obvious that this refers to dragging people into court simply because you are personally offended over some private incident. The effort to expose and shame someone else for petty grievances can backfire. When your mind runs in that direction, it’s very hard to estimate what you will expose of yourself that may be even more shameful.

11-12. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. As a ring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon a hearing ear. Two nearly identical proverbs, the translation of the first is a little clumsy. The word “pictures” also refers to mounting or setting in fine craftsmanship. The image is a discrete warning to someone who might have forgotten, or never been quite aware, of the context as they prepare to act inappropriately. By the same token, don’t be a fool in assuming everyone is stupid and can’t make it without your supervision.

13. Like cold snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to his senders; for he makes return to his master’s soul. Scholars tell us this isn’t snow falling during harvest, something both disastrous and highly unlikely. Rather, it refers to a servant hustling down from the mountains a vessel of refreshing clean snow for everyone who is working so hard. Western culture would emphasize the thrill of being a recipient of this pleasure, but Hebrew culture points out what a blessing it is to receive back the gratitude of those who were blessed.

14. A man boasting himself in a false gift is like clouds and wind, but no rain. Contrasted against the previous parable, this image helps us understand the whole picture. What use is someone who makes all these warming promises and never delivers? It’s better to go unnoticed than to be remembered for something like that.

15. In being slow to anger a ruler is won over, and a soft tongue breaks the bone. Most Eastern potentates would engage in testing those who entered their presence; it was protocol in some contexts. Witness how Joseph handled his brothers when they visited Egypt during his time as viceroy (Genesis 42); Joseph’s behavior was entirely typical. Someone who handled pressure well was a candidate for promotion to court service. Even if you had no such ambition, having any hope of influence starts with acting noble, not like some entitled, spoiled brat. It was not a matter of steel will in denying your emotions, but a moral refinement of knowing when it was proper to show them.

16. Have you found honey? Eat only as much as is enough for you, lest you be filled with it and vomit it. Stumbling across a hive with honey was common enough in ancient Palestine. If you lacked the time and patience to get more than a taste, that was sweet enough. If you manage to harvest the whole thing, can you keep in mind that this is a blessing from God meant to be shared? You should already have a fair idea how much is appropriate to eat at one time; that’s a critical part of gratitude to God for His blessings. Those without restraint will end up harming themselves in an attempt to hoover up the whole thing.

17. Withdraw your foot from your neighbor’s house, lest he be weary of you and hate you. This is the same as the previous verse, warning about being so wrapped up in yourself that you lack empathy. It’s not the Greek’s philosophy of moderation in all things, but the Eastern sensing with your heart what is morally appropriate in the context. A real man of God always leaves his audience wishing for more because he gives more than he takes, but is humble enough to imagine that he always received more than he gave.

18. A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow. This rests fully upon the image of shalom as the broader moral justice of seeking social stability. How long can you live in a community where you keep stirring up trouble? All the more so is this critical when most of your neighbors are kinfolks, as it would be in the Ancient Near East.

19. Trust in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint. Again, a close corollary of the previous parable. Civil existence requires trust. The word “unfaithful” here is based on the idea of sneaky and covert. Everyday life around sneaky people seriously hinders normal social stability.

20. As he who takes away a garment in cold weather, as vinegar upon niter, so is he who sings songs to a heavy heart. This is a much more obvious warning about being self-absorbed. We’ve all dealt with people who cannot possibly imagine that folks around them might not feel the same about a situation. Whatever it is they feel is mandatory for others, which strips away the humanity of everyone else.

21-22. If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you shall heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward you. Paul quotes this directly in Romans 12:20 and the meaning is obvious to most people. Jesus referred to it in His Sermon on Mount in opposition to the false Jewish teaching of His day (Matthew 5:43-48). Your response to hatred must meet the test of moral necessity instead of nursing your bruised ego.

23. The north wind drives away rain; so does an angry face a backbiting tongue. The text here is ambiguous and the translation disputed. Our source probably gets it backward here. The big issue is not whence rainy weather comes, but the relationship between social habits. Backbiting is an ancient concept of going around behind someone’s back and disparaging them to others out of spite over some imagined offense. It’s petty social politicking. An angry countenance is a figure of speech for being out of someone’s favor. Thus, as easily as you can predict storms from the wind’s direction, you can predict that backbiting will get you in trouble with the powerful.

24. It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a quarreling woman and to share a house. This is a repeat of previous proverbs, but in this context it takes on a new meaning that one should avoid political marriages. Take a consistent stand for divine moral justice and don’t jockey for influence by declaring alliances of convenience. Be willing to pay the price for embracing God’s character in a sinful world.

25. Like cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. In context, the second phrase refers to report of a successful trade mission, or perhaps that some enemy is too busy with trouble elsewhere to bother you. There is a substantial sense of risk; this is no frivolous report of curiosities. Thus, a good messenger will push to the limits of human endurance to deliver such news.

26. A righteous man falling down before the wicked is like a troubled fountain and a rotten spring. Without a short course on the hydrology of Ancient Palestine, we simply note water was exceedingly precious and blocking access to others was unthinkable. Most springs were a leak through rock from some underground aquifer that rose periodically to overflow; the majority of natural springs were seasonal. People would dig back into the hillside to tap the aquifer lower in the water table for a more consistent supply. That meant also constructing a reservoir closer to the surface, but still protected inside a cave when possible. The terminology suggests a reservoir that was exposed and fouled by trampling, or the cave collapsed and made it inaccessible. Righteous men are few enough as it is; humbling them to serve the wicked represents a threat to life for everyone else.

27. It is not good to eat much honey; so for men to search their own glory is not glory. Here we have a more obvious restatement of verse 16 above. Glory is a by-product of something else. In moral terms, glory is properly reflected onto you from others, from God in particular.

28. He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a broken down city without a wall. The translation here suffers from English idioms. In Hebrew, first comes the image of a city deeply ashamed by the punishing hand of some greater military power pulling down their wall, rather like public humiliation of publicly stripping someone naked in ANE times. It proclaimed the victim a common harlot open to any man’s abuse, utterly unworthy and incapable of self-protection, and by implication unworthy of common human regard. Then follows the comparative image of nobleman who has no sense of self-restraint.

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Proverbs 24

Posted on December 25, 2015 by ehurst

We continue with more pointed advice to the royal heir in longer proverbial texts.

1-2. Do not be jealous of evil men, nor desire to be with them. For their heart studies ruin, and their lips talk of mischief. This repeats the warning about choosing carefully your heroes. There’s a bit of color with the Hebrew word for “jealous” that is taken from the idea of zeal and excitement for something. This is followed by the word for “desire” which is more than mere lust, but coveting. These are paralleled with the word translated “studies,” which is based on the idea of murmuring with pleasure over something — all synonyms in this context.

3-6. Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge the rooms shall be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is strong; yes, a man of knowledge increases strength. For by wise counsel you shall make your war; and in a multitude of wise men there is safety. The context specifically points toward establishing a dynasty with figures of speech for founding and erecting a palace. Filling it with a king’s treasures naturally means sooner or later taking plunder from some enemy who challenges you. Ruling well is a particular talent and calling. But the emphasis is not so much on having your own wisdom, as if you can trust your own talents alone, but the utter necessity of gathering and using the advice of people with even more talent in other areas of expertise. This comes from the hand of Solomon, reputedly the wisest of humans.

7-9. Wisdom is too high for a fool; he does not open his mouth in the gate. He who plots to do evil shall be called a master of wicked thoughts. The thought of foolishness is sin; and the scorner is hateful to men. The point here is not obvious from translation. Solomon advises his son to make it so. Draw out the best in your subjects. Encourage an atmosphere that keeps frauds from having any hope of influencing things; make them a laughingstock in the civil courts that gather at every village and city gate. Make predatory plotting expensive and difficult.

10. If you faint in the day of trial, your strength is small. The image here is risqué: If you aren’t thrilled with a tight place, your manhood must be too small to fill it. Real men are adventurous and thrive in adversity. There’s a pun in the Hebrew words translated “trial” (tsarah — a tight spot) and “small” (tsar — to be tight).

11-12. Deliver those being taken to death, and those stumbling to be killed, unless you hold back. If you say, “Behold, we did not know;” does not He who searches the heart consider it? And the Keeper of your soul, does He know? And He repays to a man according to his works? Our translation here is a bit rough. The idea is that a wise king will insist on reviewing every death sentence in his domain, because the stakes are too high. Not in the perverted Western sense of value on human life as property, but the issue is clinging to the moral character of Jehovah, ensuring that executions meet a genuine moral need (shalom — social stability). A king can’t pretend he didn’t know because God holds him accountable for keeping enough loyal servants to have eyes throughout his domain, because you can be sure God is watching.

13-14. My son, eat honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, is sweet to your palate; so shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; when you have found it, then there shall be a reward, and your hope shall not be cut off. This highly lyrical image tells us that moral wisdom is its own reward. Sure, you’ll reap God’s promised blessings under the Covenant, but see through those more obvious rewards to the sweetness of moral purity in itself.

15-16. Wicked one, do not lie in ambush at the dwelling of the righteous; do not spoil his resting place; for a just one falls seven times, and rises up again; but the wicked shall fall into evil. This repeats the previous proverb from a different angle: Moral purity is power. The driving conviction of God’s moral truth will push you through all kinds of predatory human evil. People who do evil can’t possibly have that kind of drive; they’ll give up when the fleshly costs outweigh the gains. The deepest, most vile hatred will die with the flesh, but moral wisdom is eternal.

17-18. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; lest the LORD see, and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him. Moral discernment cannot give birth to childish spite. If you embrace God’s moral character, you will most certainly have enemies. That same moral wisdom teaches you sadness, not hatred. You’ll still have all the power you need to defeat them, but don’t let yourself slip into enjoying the grisly task of destroying threats to your shalom. Implied is that you rejoice instead when your enemy repents.

19-20. Do not fret yourself because of evil ones, nor be jealous of the wicked; for there shall be not be a hereafter to the evil; the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. This is a statement flatly supporting the concept of afterlife. Such may not have been universal among Hebrew people at large, but those whose hearts actively ruled their thinking could not avoid an awareness of the Spirit Realm. The mere fact that you can discern moral evil in this life is blessing enough, should it come down to that. People lacking such discernment are also blind to their awful fate.

21-22. My son, fear the LORD and the king; and do not fellowship with those who are given to change; for their trouble shall rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin of them both? This includes a figure of speech difficult to translate. Fear in the sense of reverence is fairly obvious, but it always included the idea of firm moral consistency. Thus, the implication of “change” here is someone who lacks character and moral substance, someone likely to shift with the wind. It’s one thing to keep your mouth shut when there’s no point in talking, but that’s not the same as just going along with the every variation in the context. Find solid ground and take a stand.

23-26. These also are for the wise: To have respect of persons in judgment is not good. He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous;” the people shall curse him and nations shall abhor him. But to those who rebuke him, it shall be a delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. He shall kiss the lips that return right words. We easily forget that “respect of persons” is an ancient phrase referring to partiality for public figures. It undermines all your moral authority when you suck up to someone just because they are famous. That fame may be a false cover over all kinds of evil. Don’t fool yourself; whoever among your subjects bears their own strong moral perception will see through you. This is consistent with the declaration, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” God will carry you through any political fallout for His his glory.

27. Prepare your work outside, and make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterwards build your house. Secure your borders before you worry about comfort. This represents a whole range of things a royal heir must undertake, because he can’t be his father. He needs to have seen with his own eyes and established alliances or identified enemies personally as his first priority for as long as he holds the throne, not simply in the sense of doing it and forgetting about it. A king will never lack for challenge to his authority.

28-29. Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, nor deceive with your lips. Do not say, “I will do so to him as he has done to me; I will give to the man according to his work.” This is the other half of, “Vengeance is Mine says the Lord.” Specifically, don’t manufacture a pretext for getting even with those unjust with you. Rather, pursue justice itself as the glory of God and let Him take care of things that don’t fall directly into your hand.

30-34. I went by the field of the lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man without understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face of it, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw; I set my heart on it; I looked and I received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie down; then your poverty comes stalking, and your want like an a man armed with a shield. In this context of instruction for a future king, this is a picturesque warning about letting your guard down. If the man owning a vineyard is lazy, the vineyard suffers and he has no fruit. If a king is lazy he soon has no realm. Don’t rest on your title.

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