Proverbs 29:22 ¶ An angry man stirreth up strife, and a
furious man aboundeth in transgression.
This is a reference to those persons who have an
angry spirit, who are wrathful by nature, and short tempered by habit. Such a
man or woman creates trouble and excels at doing wrong and committing sin. No
man or woman’s angry nature does anyone around them any good. If you are the
kind of person who explodes, turns over furniture, and throws things when
angry; who rips people apart with their verbal abuse and possibly lays vengeful
hands on someone physically weaker than yourself then you are in bad need of
repentance and forgiveness for your wickedness.
The young man is warned not to associate with
such persons;
Proverbs 22:24 ¶ Make no friendship with an
angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: 25 Lest thou learn his
ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
When you meet a person who always seems to have
a pot boiling just beneath the surface, ready to explode into fury and rage,
avoid that person like the plague. If you know a person like that pray for them
and do your best to get away from them. They are not pleasing to God or man.
The only god they can worship is their own will and they are the center of
their universe. Everyone else around them is a mere prop in their life’s drama,
it’s all about them, and you are really no more important to them than a piece
of machinery which can be easily replaced. Anger management therapy? They don’t
need “help” like that. They need Christ.
Proverbs 29:23 ¶ A man’s pride shall bring him low: but
honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
This is a strikingly similar thought to
something that Jesus Christ says later.
Matthew 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for
one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man
your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10
Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. 11 But he
that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt
himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
(We know from John 3:2 that ‘rabbi’ means
‘teacher’, if you didn’t know it from somewhere else. We also know that
‘master’ means teacher in many contexts as per Malachi 2:12 and James 3:1 as
opposed to the times where a master/servant relationship is expressed as in 1
Peter 2:18. In this passage both contexts are used and both definitions of
‘master’ are given. God is the only true teacher, father, and master. Jesus
says that the person who lifts himself up will be abased. In contrast to
exalted we can surmise that it means in this context to be put down. Abased can
also mean, depending on the context, to be made destitute, to have nothing as
in Phillipians 4:12 as the serious Bible student observes how the Bible is self-defining.
)
In keeping with the thought in this Proverb,
James and Peter have said;
James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of
the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
1Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
Paul, in the doctrine written specifically to
Christians gives this admonition;
Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace
given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more
highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath
dealt to every man the measure of faith.
The Scriptures had said previously,
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before
destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Jesus gives another example of the
thought of placing oneself in a lower position and being lifted up from there
in Luke 14. So, Christian, when you are feeling particularly pleased about how
manly, spiritual, wise, or wonderful you are remember that you can be brought
low in a heartbeat and reduced to nothing in an instant. Humble yourself before
God and don’t seek to lord it over other men. Those men whose lives are
centered around dominating others are simply fools, whose folly will result in
their destruction, either in this life or in Hell. Remember, at all times, and
in every place it’s not about you, it’s about Christ. Let Him lift you up.
Pride is this huge wart on the nose of any professing Christian. Everyone else
sees it even if he doesn’t and it isn’t attractive in the least. No one is
fooled but you.
Proverbs 29:24 ¶ Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own
soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not.
2 Corinthians 8:23 defines partner as a
fellowhelper, in case any of you didn’t know it was, in this context, a partner
in crime. Bewrayeth means to give testimony to something that is trying to be
concealed, to give something up, as in Psalm 27:16 or Matthew 27:73. In one
case it is having the ointment that is on your hand revealed by its smell or
Peter’s guilt exposed due to the dialect he speaks. Betray, on the other hand,
carries with it the meaning of willfully turning someone in, of giving someone
up to the authorities.
The partner to the thief shares in the thief’s
sin and doesn’t give up the deed even when he hears the victim cursing the
thief. The point here is that the person who is an accomplice to sin is as bad
as the person initiating the sin. You can’t run with people intent on
committing sin and not be one of them, and not share in their guilt. In fact,
you will even go so far as to help conceal their crime.
An important thing to remember from this Proverb
is that you are a partner in sin if you hear about it and yet say nothing to
the thief, take no action. The Christian, when they are aware of sin in the
congregation or they perceive that there has been a sin committed, must speak
up, preferably to the sinner first, and not hold their peace, lest they be an
accomplice to the sin.
Doctrinally, this is true as well.
2 John: 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and
abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 ¶ If there come any
unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither
bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil
deeds.
The Christian who sees sin in the congregation
or who hears heresy must speak up. Some fundamentalist churches have been
accused of harboring sex offenders and abusive people, even malignant
psychopaths, because when their evil deeds were discovered a Pastor refused to
do anything about it or to even acknowledge the sin. This has harmed the faith
of a great many former independent Baptists. There are even Facebook groups
dedicated to survivors of abuse in fundamental Baptist churches and in their
schools. If you see a wrong being done and you do nothing or say nothing then
you are a partner to the sinner.
It is your business. You have no excuse not to
help a brother or sister you think is heading the wrong way by speaking to them
and you certainly have no excuse keeping your mouth shut when you see blatant
sin or hear obvious heresy. To say nothing makes you a partner in crime and,
like the sinner, you are showing contempt for your own soul. How many people,
usually children and young women, have had their faith in Christ destroyed by
an evil person in their own congregation and the so-called Christians who stood
by knowing something wasn’t right but saying nothing, making them accomplices
to the awful crime?
So, take from this Proverb that the person who knows the
thief and what he did but says nothing about the theft is as guilty of the
theft as the first person, especially if that theft includes the faith of an
innocent and helpless child.
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