Proverbs 10.1-16 / Carpenter Flock Sunday School notes for 120527@TBC

10.1.   The Proverbs of  Solomon..... is the title of the section  or chapters 10-22.16

10.1   father...mother...   does not pertain uniquely to the father or uniquely to the mother (17.21, 25; 23.25).
10.2  "Paradoxically, the wicked use others to store of physical assets for themselves and lose their lives, and the righteous use their resources to serve others and store up life for themselves."  --Bruce Waltke, NICOT
10.2-3  The outer frame is the wicked and the inner frame the righteous.  A similar order is found in 10.4-5.
10.3  profit nothing...   The meaning of this is clarified by the contrasting line's reference to death.  
10.4-5     This set of proverbs emphasized the temporal value of wealth and the importance to be diligent.
10.5  Note the contrast between wise and shame.  "The one who gathers is wise, but the one who sleeps is not called a fool as we would expect; instead, he is a shameful son.  Substitution s like this are a kind of association.
Application:   " Verses 4-5 balance the ethical and theological assertions of vv. 2-3 with practical theology: diligence versus sloth (v.4) and the necessity of timely work (v.5)"  --Bruce Waltke, NICOT
How do we teach our children to place the proper importance on getting money/wealth with its lack of eternal value?

10.6-14  The subunit on communication features body parts (head, mouth, heart, lips (prating, babbling) eyes, back.  Both 6 & 14 mention the mouth which forms an inclusio*.
* is a literary device where word or concepts are repeated at the start and finish of an idea and these work as bookends or an envelop to enclose a concept or idea. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_definition_of_inclusio#ixzz1w2dCcbxu

10.6b  Violence covers (overwhelms) the mouth of the violent...  ylt, kjv, nkjv, niv84   "the deeds of violence that have gone out forth from them are given back to the m in curses and malediction."  K&D

10.6b  The mouth of the wicked conceals violence... nasb, esv, nlt, net   "He speaks words of blessing while thoughts of malediction lurk behind them (Psa. 62:5)"  --K&D  
Though both readings may be grammatically possible, the context would seem to favor this reading (esp. in 10.11).
10.7  will rot...  "The metaphor was probably chosen to associate the annihilation of the name/memory of wicked people with their corrupting bodies in the grave."  ---Bruce Waltke, NICOT
10.6-7  There seems to be a connections between 6b & 7b.  The mouth the conceals wickedness belongs to someone whose memory will rot.  What we say and do fit together with consequences.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
10.8a & 9a  receive commands...walks securely...   "the educability or the wise, and v. 9a their consequent security." --Bruce Waltke
10.8  prating [kjv, nkjv], babbling [nasb, esv, nlt], chattering [niv]...  tn Heb “fool of lips.” The phrase is a genitive of specification: “a fool in respect to lips.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause (= lips) for effect (= speech). This person talks foolishness; he is too busy talking to pay attention to instruction.  --NET Bible translation notes

10.9  Lit. "He walks right, walks safe"

10.9  perverts waits [ylt, kjv, nasb, nkjv, net], crooked [esv, niv84, nlt]...  He will eventually be found out and brought to disgrace/shame.  "loss of reputation"  ---Paul Koptak, NIVAC

10:10  Bruce Waltke calls this a “janus” proverb, one that both ends the preceding section and begins a new section, looking both backwards and forwards.

 10.10  "two kinds of bad communication: malicious, secretive gestures and prattling chatter."  --Bruce Waltke, NICOT

10.10b  fall...  Strong's H3832 - labat ;  (Niphal) to be thrust down, be thrust away, be thrown down, be cast aside

10.11b, 12b  The word covers (conceals)...  connects verses 11 & 12.   There is also and chiastic type pattern with the negative parts in the middle with the positive traits and the beginning and end.  Note how violence and strife go together as does wisdom and love.

 10.11a  The mouth of the righteous (here), the teaching of the wise (13.14), and the fear of the LORD (14.27) "refreshes and maintains life."  ---Paul Koptak, NIVAC
How does that contrast with the second part?

10.12  covers (or conceals)...   The quatrain now probes the sources of good and bad communication to the way people perceive others who have wronged them and son points the way to reconciliation."  ---Bruce Waltke, NICOT

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

10.13, 14  These verses are linked by the root hlm (hlkma  "wisdom" [13a], h^akamim "wise people' [14a]) and by the metonymies for speech, "lips" (v. 13a) and "mouth" (v. 14b).   ---Bruce Waltke, NICOT   

The point is the the foolish (devoid of understanding) only learns the hard way and is always just "a step away" from trouble.

10.13  The wise understand sound speech while fools only understand punishment (c.f. 9:12)  ---Murphy quoted in NIVAC

10.14  Wise people...  The plural suggests the wise act done in concert with others, not as a lone ranger, facing the common threat.  The reticence of the wise to speak (10:19; 11:13; 12:23; 13:16; 15:2; 17:27) must be qualified by the truth that they do not shirk their social responsiblity to share their indispensable knowledge for the life of the community (10:21, 31; 11:10-11; 15:7, 26:5).  ---Bruce Waltke, NICOT

10.15a  wealth...  "Half of the ten occurrences of wealth (hon; see 3:9) in Solomon's proverb instruct the youth to prize it (12:27; 13:7; 19:14; 29:3; c.f. 19:4), and the other half not to trust it."  (13:11; c.f. 28:8, 22; 29:4; 11:4)  ---Bruce Waltke, NICOT

10.15b destruction [ylt, nasb, esv, niv84, net--ruin]  "The terror (m^ehittat; see 10:14b) revers to constant suspense, fear, and worry do to imminent ruin."    ---Bruce Waltke, NICOT

10.16b  sin...  "Here, to judge from its parallel, "life," it is a metonymy for the death that clings to sin."  ---Bruce Waltke, NICOT

10.15-16  These verses make a similar point to the one in 10.2-5.

me·ton·y·my  [mi-ton-uh-mee] noun Rhetoric .
a figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related, or of which it is a part, as “scepter” for “sovereignty,” or “the bottle” for “strong drink,” or “count heads (or noses)” for “count people.”    Dictionary.com

.

Understanding Proverbs

Walking in Wisdom: Studying the Proverbs of Solomon  
by William E. Mouser, Jr.

Characteristics of a Proverb

• A proverb is brief. - Focuses on being memorable, not on being complete.
• A proverbs is concrete. - The concrete example should bring to mind related principles.
• A proverb is a general truth. - They don't include the fine print or instructions on when they apply.
• Proverbs have diverse applications. - The general principles embodied in a concrete examples can be applied to a variety of situations.

What Proverbs Are Not

• "A proverbs comes to express a general rule through a specific example."
• "The two kinds of literature most often confused with proverbial literature are laws and promises."

Synonymous Parallelism

• A proverb displays synonymous parallelism with the two ideas broutht togetrher are saying the same thing in different words.
• Why a proverb exhibits synonymous parallelism, it is possible to omit part of one of the ideas because it is implied by the other idea. (Proverbs 14:19)
• A Proverbs should not be identified as a synonymous parallelism merely because its second line begins with and.

Antithetical Parallelism

• "A proverb displays antithetical parallelism when two ideas are contrasted with each other."
• "Usually the two ideas are connected with a conjunction which is translated 'but'."    
• Not every proverb with a second line that begins with but is antithetical and some antithetical proverbs have other conjunctions.
• "Antithetical parallelisms can only be identified by considering the whole idea of each line."  (Proverbs 19.16)

 Read and classify the proverbs in Proverbs 18:1-24 as synonymous, antithetical, or neither.
Answers are below.

























Answers:  s-3, 6, 7, 15, 18, 19, 20; A- 2, 4, 12, 14, 23, 24;  N-1, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16, 17, 21, 22

chiasmus

chi·as·mus  [kahy-az-muhs]  noun, plural chi·as·mi  [-mahy]
a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases, as in “He went to the country, to the town went she.”   http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chiasmus

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms by Chris Baldick provides a more extensive description:

chiasmus [ky-AZ-mus] (plural -mi), a figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second. This may involve a repetition of the same words ("Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure" —Byron) or just a reversed parallel between two corresponding pairs of ideas … . The figure is especially common in 18th century English poetry, but is also found in prose of all periods. It is named after the Greek letter chi (x), indicating a "criss-cross" arrangement of terms. Adjective: chiastic.

An example is Matthew 23: 11-12.

            A.  "Whoever exalts himself 

                     B.  will be humbled,
                     B'.  and whoever humbles himself 

            A'.  will be exalted."

 Another good example comes from Genesis 9:6:

A.   Whoever sheds
  B.   the blood
    C.     of man
    C'.     by man shall
  B'.   his blood
A'.   be shed

 http://www.drmardy.com/chiasmus/welcome.shtml 

 Another example is Proverbs 10:3-4.

          A.  Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, 

                    B.  But righteousness delivers from death.

                    B'.  The Lord will not allow the righteous soul to famish, 

          A'.  But He casts away the desire of the wicked.

1 Chronicles 11

11.11  Jashobeam...

11.12  Eleazar...

11.20  Abishi...

11.22  Benaiah...  I think this guy is my favorite.

1 Chronicles 6-10

6.1  The sons of Levi were Gershon, Hohath, and Merari
6.2-15  sons of Kohath
6.20-21  sons of Gershon
6.22-28  sons of Kohath 
6.29-30  sons of Merari
6.66-70  Kohath
6.71-76  Gershon
6.77-81  Merari  
7.1  Isschar
7.5  mighty men of valor 87,000
7.6  Benjamin
7.9  22,200 might men of valor
7.11  17,200 mighty men of valor fit to go out for war and battle
7.13  Naphtali
7.14  Manasseh 
7.20  Ephraim
7.30  Asher
7.40 choice men, mighty men of valor, chief leaders, ... army fit for battle 26,000
8.1  Benjamin
8.33  Kish begot Saul
9.3  in Jerusalem the children of Judah
9.7  Benjamin
9.10  Of the priests
9.13  1,760 very able for the work of the service o f the house of God
9.14  Of the Levites
9.22  212 chosen as gatekeepers  
10.13  unfaithful...  See verse fourteen.
10.13  not keep the word of the LORD...  At first this seems like an important part (and it is), but on further reflection, is seems that the unfaithfulness might be what is really being emphasized.
10.13  also...
10.14  the LORD killed him...  Not the LORD let the Philistines kill him, but the LORD killed him.  Saul sought the medium instead of the LORD.  That was a serious affront.

“Only One Life” -- C.T. Studd

“Only One Life”

Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgment seat;
Only one life,’ twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice,
Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave,
And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years,
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill,
Living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore,
When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way,
Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Give me Father, a purpose deep,
In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife,
Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn,
And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing
Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, “twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Now let me say, “Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call,
I know I’ll say ‘twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’ twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

poem written by C.T. Studd – missionary

1 Chronicles

2.7  Apparently Achar is Achan.

2.16 sisters...

2.28-30  I am wondering why the names Nadab and Abishur are in two different orders. 

2.46  Caleb's concubine bore...  I would assume that the son of a concubine would normally not rise to prominence.  This is interesting.

Psalm 142-150

141.4  east of their delicacies...  Theirs not mine.  This is a great verse to pray in the morning before leaving the house.
142.3  This verse is better that the footsteps picture and poem.
144.15  Happy are the people whose God is the LORD...  Strong's H835 - 'esher happiness, blessedness.  I love it when I look up a Hebrew word only to find out that is means substantially the same as the English word. 
144.3  unsearchable...  This is really a thought provoking adjective for an attribute of God.
150  It's a shame the psalmist couldn't have worked in couple more refrains of "Praise the LORD." 

2 Peter 2.10b-22 / False Teachers / 120520PM@TBC

Introduction

A. Book Review

Theme:

“Growing in grace and in knowledge”

2 Peter 1.2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

2 Peter 3.18  ¹⁷ You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; ¹⁸ but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Outline:

1.  Cultivation of Christian Character  ch 1

¹⁹ And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; ²⁰ knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, ²¹ for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

2. Condemnation of False Teachers ch. 2

3. Certainty of the Second coming ch. 3

³ knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?

B. Last week:

v. 1, 3 false teachers… bring in destructive heresies (that focus more specifically on their more than theology)

                                         denying the Lord

                                          by covetousness exploit you

v. 9  the Lord knows how…

            deliver the godly out of temptations (like righteous Lot)

            reserve the unjust ...for the day of judgment

C. Pray and Read Text (2.10b-22)

False teacher warnings:  1 Timothy 4.1-6; 1 John 4.1-3, Jude 4-13

D. Big Idea

Take heed of alluring false teachers and their carnal ways.

Avoid seeing this as just a description of a specific teacher.

I. The Anatomy of the False Teachers  (10b-16)

A. Presumptuous Mouth  10b-13a   [big mouth]

They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,

10b

presumptuous τολμητής tolmētēs ; to dare, not to dread or shun through fear, to be bold

nkjv—presumptuous nasb—daring; esv, niv—bold

self-willed

αὐθάδης authadēs:  self-pleasing, arrogant, self-willed

nkjv, nasb—self-willed;  esv—willful; niv—arrogant

“not afraid to speak of...”—

·        There are some different interpretations of what this means here.   The Greek is ambiguous even though the translators try to help.  esv is probably the most literal here.

·        Get together in groups of two or three and read a somewhat parallel passage Jude 1.8-13 

·        Who are the dignities or “glorious” that the false teachers speak against (10) ? (and who are the “them” the angels would not bring an accusation against?)

nkjv—speak evil of dignities

nasb—revile angelic majesties

esv—blaspheme the glorious ones,

niv—heap abuse on celestial beings

·        Whichever specific interpretation you give to this passage, the point is that they are foolishly brave, arrogant, and have the spiritual acumen on a cow.

12

“natural brute beasts”—  Speaks both to their spiritual acumen and to their doom.

B. Adulteress Eyes 13b-14a    [squinty eyes]

They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls.

spots and blemishes  Their immoral thoughts were blemishes on the church.  “You have a stain on your shirt.”

1 Corinthians 5.6-8  context: There was gross immoral sin and they seemed to be proud of how tolerant they were.

⁶ Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?  ⁷ Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. ⁸ Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

unstable  ἀστήρικτος astēriktos

PRINCIPLE:  It is important firm up the unstable by teaching the content and discernment of the Scriptures.

APPL:  Are you teaching your children how to think about sex?    (Proverbs 5-7, Job 31.1-11, 1 Thess. 4.1-7)

C. Covetous Heart 14b-16    [heart with dollar sign]

They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

“Balaam”  comp. w/  Numbers 22-24

Peter, Jude, and John all warn against Balaam.

trained  γυμνάζω gymnazō : to exercise vigorously

APPL: What are you training or exercising your heart for?

II. The Message of the False Teachers  vv. 17-21

A. No Freedom   17-19                                                                     [man in jail]

17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.

springs without water

empty— Their words had no real spiritual value!

“lusts of the flesh”  —  “lewdness”

They preached Christian liberty from the law. 

1 Peter 3.15a-16  ...Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

They might open Paul’s book to the Galatians written 10-15 years earlier and read

Galatians 5. 11-13

11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. 12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off! 13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty;

·        Their appeal to freedom, a freedom from the law that included lusts of the flesh and lewdness had great appeal.

But read on.

¹³ For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; 

[pause for effect]

only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

·        They proclaimed freedom to sin, but Romans 6 teaches us that we are slaves to the passions we obey.

·        The Bible teaches “Freedom from the power and guilt of sin.”  

·        1 Peter 2:15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men-- 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.

·        “Sin will take you farther than you want to go and cost you more than you want to pay.”

·        These false teachers were really enslaved to the arrogance,  carnal lusts/lewdness, and covetousness.  They couldn’t stop it!

B. No Hope     20-21                                       [pig picture]

²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.  ²¹ For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

Principle:  It is worse to have learned about the Gospel and had some reformation than to not have heard at all.

Luke 11

24 "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' 25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first."

Principle:  There are bogus professions and reformation in the church.  Church members can be lost, but the elect, chosen of God, cannot be lost. 

• Note the two proverbs Peter gives to illustrate this.

The dog returns to the vomit and the pig to the mud, not because they have changed, but because they are still the same.

But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit,"

and,

"A sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire."

• This truth is also explained by John.

1 John 2:

¹⁸ Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

Conclusion

Avoid the characteristics of false teachers

• the presumptuous mouth
• the eyes full of idolatry
• the heart exercised in covetousness

Don’t fall for the false teaching that

• The freedom in Christ is not a freedom to sin.
• The freedom in Christ is freedom from sin and to put on the new man.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The Way of Balaam

Peter warned against “the way of Balaam,” Jude against “the error of Balaam” and John against “the doctrine of Balaam” (II Peter 2:15; Jude 11; Revelation 2:14). God evidently considers these warnings necessary and appropriate for Christians even today.

Yet Balaam, in his day, was a genuine prophet (note II Peter 2:16), possessed great knowledge concerning God, and even received direct revelations from God. What, therefore, were his way, his error, and his doctrine?

“The way of Balaam” was a readiness to prostitute his high spiritual gifts and privileges for “The wages of unrighteousness” (II Peter 2:14), being willing to preach something contrary to God’s Word for personal gain.

“The error of Balaam” was evidently his willingness to compromise his own standards of morality and truth in order “greedily” to accommodate those of his pagan patrons (Jude 11).

Finally, “the doctrine of Balaam,” which even in John’s day was already infiltrating the church, was to use his own teaching authority to persuade God’s people that it was all right for them also to compromise these standards, even “to commit fornication” (Revelation 2:14) with their idol-worshipping enemies.

Balaam and his tragic end (Numbers 31:8).

Henry Morris, Source unknown

http://bible.org/illustration/way-balaam  

2 Peter 2.11-22 Expository Sermon Prep.

1. What is the main theme (or melodic line) of the book in which your text is found?  How does the main theme (or melodic line of the entire book inform the meaning of your specific text?

• Grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. What is the broader context of your text?  How does it inform the meaning of your specific text?

• 1.19 We have the sure prophetic word...holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit. 
• 2.1-9 False teachers: denying the Lord, covetous ways / reserved for judgment (9b)
• 3.1-4  The second coming will be questioned by scoffers

3. The structure of the text showing natural breaks for the points you would make.

          I. The Anatomy of the False Teachers  (10b-16)

                             A. Presumptuous Mouth  10b-13a

                             B. Adulteress Eyes 13b-14a

                             C. Covetous Heart 14b-16

          II. The Message of the False Teachers  vv. 17-21

                             A. No substance  17-18

                             B. No Freedom  19

                             C. No Hope     20-21

4. The theme of the text?

• Description of the carnal and empty false teachers.
  

5. The main application(s) of the passage.

• Take heed of alluring false teachers and their carnal ways.

6. How your text relates to the Gospel?

• Importance of know Christ rather than knowing of Christ.
• The importance of being grounded in His whole word