proverbs 23 – 25
There were lots of warnings… “do not crave his (a ruler) delicacies for that food is deceptive…”, “…do not move an ancient boundary stone…”, “do not gaze at wine when it is red…”
When reading these, I thought they were a bit weird but after reading it again, I realized that its all about the God-fearing life (obvious, hey?!).
Why is it wise NOT crave the delicacies of a ruler? So we won’t be deceived from the truth; we won’t turn from the wise life…
Why is it wise not move an ancient boundary stone? so we don’t take advantage of the weak and underprivileged in our community and forget all that God has done for us (This was important in the Old Testament – just remember what we’ve been reading over the last 5months!)…
why is it wise not to gaze at wine when it is red? Well, if you kept reading, there’s a bit more context but it is wise so we won’t be deceived and poisoned against the truth, against wisdom. We seek to keep out eyes clearly fixed on the gospel, not distorted by the rose-coloured glasses.
All in all, the message is “Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” Ultimately this wasn’t fulfilled in just any human or king living the wise life… it was fulfilled by a servant king, who lived the perfect wise life, who died and rose again so that “…there is surely a future hope for you…”
you’d have trouble moving THAT boundary stone!