Meditations at the Mercy Seat Proverbs 26:27-27:4 All About Fools, Part 6

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Proverbs 26:27-27:4

[26:27] Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,

and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.

[28] A lying tongue hates its victims,

and a flattering mouth works ruin.

[27:1] Do not boast about tomorrow,

for you do not know what a day may bring.

[2] Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;

a stranger, and not your own lips.

[3] A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,

but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

[4] Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,

but who can stand before jealousy? (ESV)

All About Fools, Part 6

v.27 Compare this proverb to the phrase “what goes around comes around.” Those who frequently lay traps for others may find themselves caught in a predicament of their own making.

v.28 Lying and deception are just as much acts of violence as inflicting physical harm.

v.1 This verse and the next deal with bragging. This proverb warns that no one can boast about the future because the future is unknowable to anyone except God. When Christ returns, all the plans of mortal humans will come to an end, and only God knows the day and hour it will happen (Matthew 24:36; 1 Thessalonians 5:2). Only the fool boasts about what he cannot know. The only allowable bragging in faith in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31; 2 Corinthians 10:17). St. James also speaks against bragging when he says, “Come now, you who say, ’Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:13-16 ESV).

v.2 Bragging about ourselves is no less a sin than bragging about the future. The only true praise comes from others. Above all, the only real praise is that which comes from God, which He will grant us for the sake of faith in Christ.

v.3 Carrying a heavy stone or a large sack of sand is heavy and burdensome, but much more burdensome is the provocation of a fool, who weighs down others far more than a physical load. Scripture says to avoid such a person (Proverbs 20:19; Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 5:9-11; Ephesians 5:7).

v.4 The cruelty of wrath and a sudden flood of anger are difficult enough to withstand, but jealousy is far harder to stand up under than a brief flash of anger. If our interpersonal jealousies are so difficult to weather, how much more so should we seek to avoid the anger of the jealous God be our unbelief or holding something to be of more importance than God (Exodus 20:5; 34:14; Deuteronomy 6:15; 1 John 5:20-21; Revelation 9:20-21)?