Proverbs: Proverbial Wisdom & Common Sense (A Messianic Commentary)
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Why do people call Dr. Laura and write Dear Abby? They’re looking for effective solutions to everyday problems. Yet, the Bible has an entire book—the Book of Proverbs—devoted to this. Proverbs—Proverbial Wisdom and Common Sense makes the wisdom of Proverbs accessible, understandable and usable. It organizes the many sayings and explains their meanings in a way never done before. It contains: a compilation of sayings on love, money, laziness, dieting, anger, etc.; insights from rabbinic and Messianic Jewish sources; a ten-minute-a-day devotional plan for grasping the book and its wisdom; practical applications for each day’s topic; and New Testament references to Proverbs’ principles.
Top Highlights
“‘Her value is far beyond that of pearls.’ No mere piece of property, a capable wife is more valuable than treasure.” (Page 226)
“Mishlei would link wisdom and discipline. Wisdom is skill or knowledge. Discipline, in the sense meant here, is knowledge based on experiences, and especially on learning from mistakes. By claiming that Mishlei will teach wisdom and discipline, the writer is saying that by reading this book the reader can learn from the fruits of others’ experiences.” (Pages 11–12)
“He says that peer pressure is a trap. It is an enticement, which comes from the word patah (deceive). Peer pressure is a deception because it promises acceptance and glory, but in the end is only abandonment and shame. The youth gang or fashionable clique will beckon, ‘Join us and be somebody.’” (Page 21)
“In the introduction to the book, Solomon promises to give readers chokhmah and da’at (wisdom and knowledge). Then” (Page 14)
“In Chicago, in the early 1990’s, the story circulated in the press of a gang with a horrible initiation ritual. Some of the older gangsters would drive new recruits around the city at night. The criminals would leave their high-beam headlights on. The first driver to flash his high beams back at them would be chosen as their victim—the gangsters would follow the driver home and murder him. Modern youth violence is epidemic and becoming ever more brutal.” (Page 20)