CHAPTER 6

(1000 B.C.)

ADVICE AGAINST GUARANTEEING A DEBT

¹My son, if you be surety for your friend, if you have stricken your hand with a stranger,

²You are snared with the words of your mouth, you are taken with the words of your mouth. (This Passage pertains to standing good for the debts of another. While it does not absolutely forbid it, it does strongly suggest the wisdom of thinking very carefully before such is done. The word friend means a neighbor who is a stranger.)

³Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, when you are come into the hand of your friend; go, humble yourself, and make sure your friend.

⁴Give not sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Deliver yourself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. (On the surface, this would speak to the entanglement of guaranteeing the debt of others and the freeing of oneself from such as quickly as possible.)

THE ANT AND THE SLUGGARD: LAZINESS CONDEMNED

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard: consider her ways, and be wise:

⁷Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

⁸Provides her meat in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. (That the Holy Spirit chose the ant as the example portrays the minute detail which God gave to even the most delicate of His glorious Creation.)

⁹How long will you sleep, O sluggard? when will you arise out of your sleep?

¹⁰Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

¹¹So shall your poverty come as one who travels, and your want as an armed man. (As the Holy Spirit speaks to the lack of diligence concerning the affairs of life, even more so, He speaks to the danger of spiritual lethargy. The balance of the Chapter effectively bears this out.)

¹²A naughty person, a wicked man, walks with a froward mouth.

¹³He winks with his eyes, he speaks with his feet, he teaches with his fingers (the word naughty means worthless or a man of Belial [Satan]; the word froward means a lying mouth);

¹⁴Frowardness is in his heart, he devises mischief continually; he sows discord.

¹⁵Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. (This would appear to be the apostate [stranger] of Verse 1. As the Holy Spirit divulges the heart of such individuals, He is, at the same time, portraying the heart of those who proclaim false doctrine anything that turns one away from the Word of God.)

SEVEN SINS OF THE WICKED

¹⁶These six things does the LORD hate: yes, seven are an abomination unto Him (the phrase, six things, yes, seven, is a figure of speech arresting attention and signifying that the list is not exhaustive):

¹⁷A proud look (pride leads the list), a lying tongue (such always follows a proud look), and hands that shed innocent blood (this pertains to murderers; however, it also pertains to those who murder someones character),

¹⁸An heart that devises wicked imaginations (the heart of the proud devises wicked imaginations because the heart has not been changed), feet that be swift in running to mischief (as pride is deceptive, this sin is, therefore, cloaked; it actually believes it is doing right),

¹⁹A false witness that speaks lies (the difference in the lying tongue of Verse 17 and the false witness of Verse 19 is that the lying tongue will only tell the truth if it suits his advantage; otherwise, he will lie; the false witness premeditates lies; he concocts schemes that are made up of lies, in order to carry out a perfidious evil design), and he who sows discord among brethren (individuals who sow discord do so for the purpose of carrying out schemes).

WARNINGS AGAINST SPIRITUAL ADULTERY

²⁰My son, keep your fathers commandment, and forsake not the law of your mother (religious, rather than moral, evil is warned against in this fourth, and last, section of the Chapter [Vss. 20-35]):

²¹Bind them continually upon your heart, and tie them about your neck. (The Bible governs the heart and adorns the neck. It gives outward beauty of life and inward wealth of principle.)

²²When you go, it shall lead you; when you sleep, it shall keep you; and when you awake, it shall talk with you. (The three Persons of the Trinity appear in this Verse. God the Father guides [Ps. 32:8; Jer. 3:4]. God the Son guards [Ps. 121:4]. God the Holy Spirit teaches [Lk. 12:12; Jn. 14:26].)

²³For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life (this Verse repeats the triplet; the Lamp guides, the Light guards, and reproof teaches; there is no Lamp or Light in the world other than the Bible):

²⁴To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. (There is an attraction to false teaching as is outlined in this Passage.)

²⁵Lust not after her beauty in your heart; neither let her take you with her eyelids. (False religious teaching always has an amazing attraction. The majority of the world follows this strange woman, with only a few following the Bible [Mat. 7:14].)

²⁶For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. (As immorality leads to destruction, so does a false way of salvation; hence, the term used is the precious life.)

²⁷Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?

²⁹So he who goes in to his neighbours wife; whosoever touches her shall not be innocent. (Once again, the Holy Spirit likens the infidelity of marriage vows being broken to spiritual immorality [Rom. 7:1-4].)

³⁰Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;

³¹But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. (In Verses 30 through 35, the Holy Spirit presents an argument that is irrefutable.)

³²But whoso commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding: he who does it destroys his own soul. (While this Passage definitely addresses itself to physical adultery, still, the true meaning has to do with spiritual adultery, i.e., forsaking Christ and the Cross for another way [Rom., Chpts 1-4].)

³³A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

³⁵He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts. (This illustration vividly pictures the spiritual ruin which results from turning away from Christ to another gospel [Gal. 1:6; II Cor. 11:4; Rom. 7:1-4].)