Proverbs 9:12, Be Wise for Thyself!
April 13, Proverbs 9:12
Ezekiel 18:1-9; 19-13; Gal. 6:4-9 “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; (2 Cor. 5:11).
Be Wise for Thyself!
This is perhaps the strongest expression of individualism in the Bible (Kidner). This (and similar statements) does not mean that people profit or suffer from each other’s characters (Pr. 10:1). What is stressed here is that each of us is the gainer or loser! Your character is you and you can’t escape its consequences (Pr. 14:10). The gainer or loser is man himself. “Those that are wise for their souls are wise for themselves, for the soul is the man” (Henry). Man rescued from his own folly and sin enters into the joy of the Lord, but scorners must bear their own ruin. The gainers can thank God, but the losers have only themselves to thank! Here the Gospel Law is set forth. It is the principle of the Talents, either use them or lose them! To him that hath shall be given (Mt. 25:29).
1. The Text Expanded: There is something enigmatic about this verse. It is a cryptic proverb. It has been expanded as follows in the Greek Bible (LXX): “My son, if thou be wise to thyself, thou shalt be wise to thy neighbours also. But if thou turn out evil, thou shalt bear the evil.” In The Biblical Illustrator, G.T. Bedell, D.D., gave his version of this verse. “He that is truly wise, will find it to his own personal everlasting advantage; it is his interest as well as his duty to be made wise unto salvation; but he who scorns religion will find his scorning eventually infinitely to his disadvantage.” Although this is a bit wordy, its thrust is to be preferred to the other. The LXX seems to place the emphasis in the temporal sphere where man does not plan for himself alone, or act for himself alone. It is true that what one does here affects others for good or ill. No man is an island. Bedell emphasises the spiritual level where each one does plan for himself alone, and act for himself alone. Salvation is something between each individual and God. We take Solomon’s words here as referring to the future rather than the present, to future consequences that are altogether personal! The issue is final blessing or final woe!
2. The Text Expounded: Generally speaking, each person seeks to advance his or her own interests. Yet no one can be accounted wise who dishonours himself, degrades himself or destroys himself. Church and State eulogise such as celebrities at their death. That they passed into eternity as scorners matters not. They are accounted wise in all that the world calls wisdom, and yet they were not wise for themselves! He only is wise for himself who keeps Eternity’s values in view. We are no wiser for ourselves than we are wise for our own souls. Such wisdom is of a peculiar, personal and individual import. It begins with the submission of the heart to God’s Word and God’s Christ, and leads to a joyous life devoted to His service. Even if adversity comes, the one who is wise receives grace sufficient to bear it, for he or she only has a claim on Heaven. “The primary emphasis of biblical Christianity is the teaching that the infinite-personal God is the ultimate reality, the Creator of all else, and that an individual can come openly to the holy God upon the bases of the finished work of Christ and on that alone” (F. Schaeffer).
Thought: “That is not properly man’s own for which he has no permanent security.”
Prayer: “Lord, I thank thee that I shall not stand-alone when the reckoning comes.”