As we can see in the outline below, this part of Proverbs 3 divides into three sections. Verses 21–24 list promises and consequences closely paralleling those in 3:1–12. Both sets of verses display conspicuous parallels: “heart” (v. 5) and “soul” (v. 22), as well as “foot,” “ways,” and “paths” (vv. 6, 23). The second section (vv. 25–32) lists a series of negative commands that all begin with “Do not . . .” The final section (vv. 33–35) closes the chapter with a list of consequences for the wise and the foolish.

Thematically, the chapter progresses from teachings that assure the young man of safety and security as a reward for obedience to sayings that instruct the young man to seek the well-being and security of his neighbor. In effect, God will protect those who seek the wisdom that protects others. Or again, one must help others if one wants God’s help.

  I.G.  Fourth Instruction (3:21–35)

1.  Wisdom for Life, Security, and Peace (3:21–24)

2.  Wisdom Do Nots (The Dos of Trusting God and Loving Others) (3:25–32)

3.  Conclusion and Divine Consequences (3:33–35)

Do Good to Your Neighbor

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it” (3:27). In the comments we saw that this saying and the ones in verses 28–29 very likely arose in response to similar laws in the Pentateuch. Contrary to common views of OT law, books such as Leviticus and Deuteronomy are full of these kinds of humanitarian requirements. The ones like this in Leviticus 19 climax with the familiar great commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18).

Proverbs often takes up these same commands in its sayings about social interactions and treatment of others. These laws and proverbs are nonenforceable by judicial authorities; no one can punish another for not doing them. Instead they appeal to our imagination and our natural empathies as a way of forming patterns of behavior.

In that light withholding some kind of “good,” or a garment overnight, in the case in Deuteronomy 24:13, is only a prototype for all kinds of neglect to which we, as self-interested people, are prone. And it is a particularly good example. At the college where my wife works a student recently entered this post into the online daily announcement system:

MISSING SWEATER: lost at party on Saturday night. Last seen around 10:30 pm on basement couch. It is a wool cardigan, size small, dark green and black with small leather shoulder patches. This is a favorite sweater, and I am offering a $10 reward to anyone who can locate this sweater.

After this first notice, the student proceeded to place posters around the campus in the weeks ahead. Now granted, the student probably did not need the sweater for warmth or survival. Indeed the rationale in the notice is one of attachment to a favorite garment—an appeal to empathy. All of us have lost things in the past, and it is hard not to put ourselves in this student’s place.

Consider how much greater is the withholding of something to someone in poverty or need than to someone with plenty. The biblical laws and proverbs are written into a context in which the person in question may very well owe something to the person with an upper hand. A garment might be held in pledge against a debt, for example. And yet the pledge might be an essential piece of clothing needed to stay warm on a cold night. Both law and wisdom aim to nurture the kind of people who rise above narrow and self-interested readings of the law, those who say, “The cloak is mine and I have a right to keep it,” despite the suffering that may result. Debt or no debt, a person’s basic rights and comforts remain the priority in the law and in Proverbs, which underlie a biblical worldview of compassion and care for one’s neighbor.

A final point about these sayings concerns the Hebrew reaʿ, which can mean “friend” or “neighbor” (Prov. 3:28, 29). In contrast to our common use of this word to refer to those who live very near to us, the Hebrew word captures an enormous range of relationships in the community. Thus we should not assume that the obligations to our neighbors apply only to those who live right next to us or those with whom we share special affinity. All of those who live in our community are to be objects of love and responsibility.

More Sophisticated Than It Looks

Anne Stewart describes a common tendency among scholars of Proverbs toward what she calls the “simplicity thesis.”47 These scholars, especially prevalent in the last two centuries, believe that Proverbs, in contrast to Job and Ecclesiastes, offers a simplistic collection of sayings that make naïve promises of blessings for the wise and curses for the foolish. Along with a growing number of scholars, however, Stewart has a deep appreciation for the poetic and moral sophistication in this book, despite what can seem to be its simple and utopian outlook.

Chapter 3 offers an excellent example of the sophisticated poetry in the book. On the one hand we get a vibe of utopian naiveté in the nearly perfect and loving parent, teaching his son with picture-perfect warmth and discretion—as rare then as it is today. Added to that, the chapter stacks up promises of peace, blessings, honor, favor, and long life. Even a child would grow suspicious of the optimism and hyperbole here were it not for subtler signs of a poetic hand working at deeper levels in the chapter.

For example, after the first long string of optimistic promises and blessings in verses 1–10 the father adds an unexpected conclusion: the Lord will discipline you as a loving father (vv. 11–12). A world of assumptions is buried within these two verses. For one, the father implies quite clearly that the son will not be able to keep all these commands. The Lord’s fatherly discipline for disobedience is an assurance that the son will fall short. With this assurance of failure come two more. First, in his failures to be obedient and wise the son will hurt others and fail to uphold the common good of the community. Second, if this son with a good father will fail, many others surely will as well. And thus the utopian community fades out as quickly as it appeared.

The chapter’s final ten verses and their commands to care for a neighbor in need embody yet another implicit acknowledgment that the adult world out in front of the son is full of temptations, injustices, social divisions, cruelty, and more. No matter how well the son might behave on his own, the world will be complicated.

And so it is that the well-ordered society that appears on the surface of the chapter emerges less and less as a father’s naïve fairy tale and more and more as the ardent faith and faithfulness of a father, reassuring his son of the reality of the moral contours in God’s world that often appears so gray and bleak and despairing. Such strength of vision and purpose is easily mistaken for simplicity. It is not. It is on par with Jesus’ invitation to seek first the kingdom, take up our cross, and let the dead bury their own dead (Matt. 6:33; 8:22; 10:38). If we want to inherit the kingdom, we must count the cost and settle in for a struggle with a resolute hope in our hearts.Proverbs 3:21–35

Proverbs 4