24 Be not envious of evil men,
nor desire to be with them,
2 for their hearts devise violence,
and their lips talk of trouble.
3 By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
4 by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant riches.
5 A wise man is full of strength,
and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
6 for by wise guidance you can wage your war,
and in abundance of counselors there is victory.
7 Wisdom is too high for a fool;
in the gate he does not open his mouth.
8 Whoever plans to do evil
will be called a schemer.
9 The devising1 of folly is sin,
and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.
10 If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
12 If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?
13 My son, eat honey, for it is good,
and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
14 Know that wisdom is such to your soul;
if you find it, there will be a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
15 Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous;
do no violence to his home;
16 for the righteous falls seven times and rises again,
but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.
17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
18 lest the Lord see it and be displeased,
and turn away his anger from him.
19 Fret not yourself because of evildoers,
and be not envious of the wicked,
20 for the evil man has no future;
the lamp of the wicked will be put out.
21 My son, fear the Lord and the king,
and do not join with those who do otherwise,
22 for disaster will arise suddenly from them,
and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?
23 These also are sayings of the wise.
Partiality in judging is not good.
24 Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,”
will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,
25 but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight,
and a good blessing will come upon them.
26 Whoever gives an honest answer
kisses the lips.
27 Prepare your work outside;
get everything ready for yourself in the field,
and after that build your house.
28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause,
and do not deceive with your lips.
29 Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;
I will pay the man back for what he has done.”
30 I passed by the field of a sluggard,
by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
31 and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
the ground was covered with nettles,
and its stone wall was broken down.
32 Then I saw and considered it;
I looked and received instruction.
33 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
Section Overview
Proverbs 24 ends the first section of “sayings of the wise” (22:17–24:22) and concludes with the short second list of “sayings of the wise” (24:23–34). Whereas the first section contained what seem to be parallels with Egyptian wisdom literature, the sayings of the second section (24:23–34), as far as we can tell, are independent material unique to Proverbs (cf. comment on 22:17–24:34 in the Overview of Proverbs 10–29).
Section Outline
III. Words of the Wise (22:17–24:22) . . .
H. More Sayings of Wisdom (24:1–22)
IV. More Sayings of the Wise (24:23–34)
As we will see later in the commentary, chapters 24–28 display many signs of careful editing and structural arrangement. Few scholars attempt to assign much shape to this chapter aside from some obvious pairs and a final cluster of sayings about sloth (24:30–34). At the very least we can recognize some key themes throughout that create a minimal degree of structure: “wisdom” appears at the beginning, middle, and end (vv. 3–7, 13–14, 23), and “envy” (vv. 1, 19) and “house” (vv. 3, 27) appear at the beginning and end. There is also a conspicuous interest in what will become the classical list of virtues and vices (cf. table 2.10).
TABLE 2.10: Virtues and Vices in Proverbs 24
|
Envy |
24:1 |
|
Temperance |
24:1–2, 13–14 |
|
Sloth |
24:30–34 |
|
Courage |
24:5–6, 10, 19–22 |
|
Prudence |
24:3–4, 27, 30–34 |
|
Justice |
24:11, 15–16, 23–25, 28–29 |
Response
Our Calling in Creation
Pairing 24:3–4 with 3:19–20, we notice strong parallels between the work of God on the one hand and the work of kings and citizens on the other. The foundation of this pattern can be seen in the paired days of the creation account in Genesis 1 (cf. table 2.7).
The opening chapters in Genesis unfold in a rhythm that flows between making regions and filling them with the appropriate forms of life. Proverbs 3:19–20 speaks to this divine pattern of building and filling. Now in chapter 24 kings and citizens are alike exhorted to build houses and fill their rooms according to their nature. This is a task focused on fittingness—steering life toward the order undergirding the universe (cf. 26:1–12). Passages such as Job 38–41 and Psalms 19; 104 likewise appeal to the order undergirding the natural and moral world. This helps us to appreciate the way in which the father describes foolish men living contrary to the order of nature (Prov. 24:30–34).
These vices and others arise from the fall into sin, whereby faulty reasoning, wandering wills, and competing desires warp our search for wisdom. In a way, Proverbs is an attempt to compensate for the fall and to stem the tide of human damage. But that is all Proverbs can do, for the full repair for sin is possible only in the work of Christ, the Creator himself who comes into the world to take on the dust of creation in his very being. As God and man he unites all things in the heavens and the earth and restores all the brokenness of the world to perfection (Col. 1:20–24; Heb. 1:1–14). Or, as the Lord’s Prayer anticipates it, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Cosmic realities are being restored in Christ (cf. Rom. 8:19–21).
A second important effect arises from Jesus’ work of redemption beyond this repair. As we wait for the full revealing of the Son of God, we can look to him in hope of the future yet to be revealed and find wisdom there. This is the wisdom of the cross that Paul labors to teach the church at Corinth. To learn the skill of navigating life among powerful kings, tempting feasts and riches, and nagging sluggards and fools, one must start by gazing at the cross and modeling one’s life upon it (1 Cor. 1:20–31; cf. Mark 8:27–38). The acts of believing and dying to one’s old self open the eyes to a deeper way of wisdom than the one offered in Proverbs.
The Decadence of Envy
This chapter twice condemns envy (Prov. 24:1, 19). Both sayings follow several more warnings against envy in chapter 23 (vv. 17, 29–35). Unlike greed, envy is a social sin.173 In other words, greed coils inward. Left unchecked, it consumes the self. But envy looks out to the other—the neighbor, celebrity, and friend—for what they have that one does not. Left unchecked, envy destroys the self and the neighbor.
Almost two centuries ago Alexis de Tocqueville emphasized the problems of envy in his famous book, Democracy in America. Tocqueville generously praised the American ideals of freedom and equality—necessary correctives to a world bent on the powerful’s dominating the weak. But Tocqueville also warned about the serious risks inherent in the ideas of equality and democracy. In the socially stratified world of Europe, people knew and accepted their places in life: rich or poor, ruler or laborer. But in a democracy people expect to be equal. Great as that sounds, such equality leads to more questions than it answers: Equal in what way? And to what degree? Opportunity, wealth, beauty, power, talent, freedom, joy, strength? All the above?
In other words, in the pursuit of equality we find ourselves constantly looking up with envy to those with more than us rather than down to those in greater need—the opposite move of the Wisdom Literature and the Law (Prov. 3:27–29; Lev. 19:1–19). Such envy creates discontentment, hatred, and resentment. Proverbs 23–24 pulls us back from this dangerous precipice of equality and envy to a measured and compassionate view of our neighbors and ourselves.
The present chapter warns specifically against envying the wicked. We are increasingly tempted to want what the corrupt have and to be like them. We watch others cut corners, fudge their taxes, jump in front of others, manipulate the system, and use those more naïve or honest in the world to their own benefit. We are then temped to imitate these behaviors for fear that we will get left behind.
Chapter 23 warns more broadly against the envy of upward opportunity, wealth, beauty, privilege, and education. There is usually nothing wrong with our neighbors’ having these things. The vice enters when we begin to feel entitled to their things as if they were our own.
Social media makes this particularly challenging today. We watch our so-called friends post their news of happiness, success, beauty, and love. And we are supposed to like their good fortune and pass it on to others, all the while being doubly reminded of our own struggles, losses, and sadness. In the process we also connect with and link to increasing numbers of people we would never know otherwise, feeding not on their actual successes but on the perceived happiness and success we interpret through pixels and sound bites. In this digital world we double down on our comparisons only to magnify our sense of inadequacy, failure, and injustice.174
Christians in this world need a refresher in the proverbial warnings against envy and discontentment with our station in life. But putting off envy is only the beginning. We also need charity, the ancient Christian virtue that works to oppose envy. Instead of better selves, we need selfless love. And there is only one source for this. The Son, though he was “in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Phil. 2:6). Rather than looking up—or, as it were, over to his equal—Jesus looked downward to those most in need in love, charity, and denying of the self in the interest of the good of others (cf. Mark 10:35–45). Jesus also left us the great commands of the double love of God and neighbor, and these together inoculate us against envy—not by starving ourselves of the good but by following the path of Christ through death to the goodness of life everlasting.
Sloth: Too Busy and Too Still
The long poem concluding this chapter makes a mockery of sloth, or doing nothing (the lazy person) or else doing anything but what must be done (the busybody). The sayings are a variant of another long, mocking poem in Proverbs 6:6–11. The book critiques this vice again and again (12:11; 13:4; 15:19; 19:15; 22:13; 26:13). Taken all together, these sayings form a provocative mosaic of fear, negligence, apathy, and endless sleep.
The immediate application is to curb one’s tendency to be indecisive. The indecisive person hovers over internal doubt, fear, and uncertainty, unable to make a decision or act. The sayings in 22:13; 26:13 target this kind of paralysis in the same mocking fashion as the longer poems.
Of course, virtually all action involves some degree of risk—a point that wisdom recognizes but then moves past. At the same time, however, indecision should not be confused with hesitancy.175 The hesitant person is prepared to act, even if delayed a bit too long at times, whereas the indecisive person lacks the confidence and resolve to get moving. Wisdom combines a willing commitment and a vision that together put us to work in the world, whatever the unavoidable uncertainty or risk. Paul warns us not to be “slothful in zeal” in our pursuit of sanctification and our ministry in the church (Rom. 12:11), not to be pew-sitting theologians who rarely lift a finger to help or to lead.
Sloth can also be applied to wavering indecision between faith and doubt (James 1:6). When Jesus tells the parable of the talents, he makes a practical comparison between three approaches of stewarding the master’s wealth (Matt. 25:13–30). The indecisive person who buries his talent is imprudent, practically speaking. But Jesus uses this as a lesson about indecisiveness at the free offer of entry into the kingdom of God—of faith and doubt. When it comes to the gospel, many are all too ready to sit on the fence, either by doing nothing or by busying one’s life to push away the urgency of the message. “Today, if you hear his voice” (Ps. 95:7; Heb. 3:7) rings the urgent call in Psalms, quoted in Hebrews, urging us to get off the fence and believe “as long as it is called ‘today’” (Heb. 3:13).
The book of Revelation likewise applies this kind of indecisive sloth to the churches at Sardis and Laodicea (Rev. 3:1–6). “Wake up” (Rev. 3:2), John tells them (and us). Those who are slothful before the message of salvation are “lukewarm,” “neither cold nor hot” nor “hot nor cold” (Rev. 3:15–16). Lukewarm, we collect ourselves into a community of sloth that becomes useless to God and his kingdom.Proverbs 24
Proverbs 25