Grace & Peace: Proverbs 23:4-5

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7).

The gist of this famous proverb is both obvious and wise. Rich people have way more influence than do the poor, and so it makes sense that the rich are the ones who call the shots. By the same token, as an example of the former, the person who is in the debtor position is beholden to the one who is the creditor. So much is clear, and these are words to live by. Avoid debt. Minimize debt. Pay off debt.

At the same time, because we are dealing with people and not with math on a page, there are some variables. I would not call them exceptions, but we do need to recognize the variations.

The Scriptures do not condemn being in debt as a flat out sin. The Lord Jesus requires us to lend when we can, doing so with an open hand (Luke 6:34-35). The Old Testament law requires lending to the poor, but without the use of penalizing usury (Deut. 23:19), or taking any of his essentials as collateral (Deut. 24:10).

So unsecured debt is unfortunate for the same reasons that slavery is unfortunate. If a man borrows a thousand dollars, then he is servant to the lender. This is why Paul says to owe no man anything, except for the debt of love (Rom. 13: 8).

But suicidal empathy can afflict the wealthy, and that can come out in perverse ways. There are times when the situations are reversed, and the creditor becomes the debtor’s slave. If I borrow a thousand unsecured dollars, you’ve got me. But if I borrow a hundred thousand unsecured dollars, I’ve got you.

Another variation is this. I have been using the term unsecured. There is a difference between an unsecured poverty loan, taken because the person is hard up, on the one hand, and a fully collateralized home loan, for example. If the homeowner gets in financial trouble, he can always discharge his obligation by means of the home. He has not extended his arm farther than he can draw it back.

One last example. There is a difference between a business investment and a business loan. In a business investment, the entrepreneur does not owe anybody anything apart from his best effort and hard work. The investor is assuming the risk, and doing so knowingly. With a loan, if the people involved have any sense, it will be collateralized.

In the meantime, Polonius in Hamlet was not a wise man, but he did say a wise thing.

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.”

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them” (Proverbs 20:12).

The import of this proverb is simple to understand, but unless the Lord God grants it, also impossible to understand.

In the grip of his conceits, the unbelieving mind wants to think of knowledge as an achievement of our own. We would love to believe that the reason of man is a lamp to light our way. But in this, we have demonstrated the blindness of carnal wisdom . . . we have inverted the thing entirely.

The eye does not shed light, but rather receives light. The ear drum is not something you can beat in order to establish a rhythm for our lives. The ear was an exquisite creation of God, a gift of God to man, and one that enables us to receive the words He speaks to us.

And so it is that what God has done for us all on a physical level—given us the capacity to receive truth—He also does on a spiritual plane for His elect. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15).

We do not meditate enough on what a mystery meditation is. We do not wonder enough at what an amazing thing it is to know anything. Do we know that Christ is the incarnate One? Do we know that He is Messiah the Prince? Do we know that when He was raised up on that cross, that this was the death of that ancient serpent? When we know such things, it is the gift of God, lest any man should boast.

The skeptic wants to say that such knowledge is not real knowledge. It is not the kind of knowledge we gain when science demonstrates the boiling point of water at sea level. That can be empirically ascertained, or so the argument goes. But for the one who has been given spiritual eyes and ears, the existence of the pot, the water, and the stove is every bit as mysterious as the waters of baptism.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; Therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing” (Prov. 20:4).

The sluggard in this proverb only offers one excuse. It was too cold to be out there plowing. Why didn’t you plow? Because it was too cold. Seems straightforward, and maybe it was too cold. But given the way it usually goes in the book of Proverbs, probably not.

Only one excuse is offered here, but the inventiveness of the sluggard makes it likely that he has a bag full. It might be too hot next time. Or the plow needs to have some adjustments made. Or he twisted his ankle. Or he had to visit a sick friend. There is always something.

Now the reason that sluggards offer these kinds of excuses is that it often works on their supervisors. The boss frequently doesn’t feel right about cracking down on the person who is a perpetual slacker. Okay. It should be warmer tomorrow.

But the import of this proverb is that there is a supervisor behind the supervisor, and this one—he goes by the name of reality—cuts no slack at all. He just plain doesn’t care.

The harvest gives us no reason why it didn’t come up. It doesn’t know. The seed doesn’t know whether the day for plowing was too hot or too cold. It knows nothing whatever about twisted ankles or sick friends. It just knows that it can’t grow if it is not there, and actually, it doesn’t even know that. It just doesn’t grow, not being there.

And so it is that the sluggard will have to go begging, hat in hand. Just as he gave excuses at the time, he now gives others a string of post mortem reasons. He had a string of unfortunate circumstances conspire against him.

He stuck his finger in the fire, and calls the consequences “bad luck.”

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly” (Proverbs 18:8).

We have a saying that is comparable to this. It takes two people to really hurt you. First, an enemy must say something awful about you, and secondly, a friend must come and tell you about it.

The talebearer’s faulty assumption is that more people need to hear about something than actually do. The distinction between a gossip and a talebearer is a subtle one, and there is some overlap. A gossip is someone who whispers secret and juicy details, and the emphasis is on the secretive nature of the information being shared.

A talebearer is one who circulates the story—he is the distribution platform. When a talebearer is involved, the information may have been secretive early on, but it does not remain that way for long.

A gossip shares the secret with another person. A talebearer goes from person to person. This is why a talebearer is more of a troublemaker—when you get rid of him, the strife goes away (Prov. 26:20). A talebearer reveals secrets while, by way of contrast, an upright person keeps things quiet. The idea is that the talebearer reveals secrets across territory (Prov. 11:13).

And of course, when a faithful man “conceals the matter,” he can always be accused of participating in a cover up. And then that allegation can be industriously circulated.

Coming back to the point of our proverb, a talebearer can circulate the story to all sorts of people, of course. But he can also decide to bring the story to the main character of the story, just to see his reaction. “Did you hear what so-n-so said about you?” All of us need to think twice before engaging in that kind of courier work.

There really is a temptation that the talebearer faces, which is the idea of promoting an approach that says, “let’s you and him fight.”

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