Proverbs 17:5-8, More Characters – Good and Bad!

November 8, Proverbs 17:5-8

Matt. 25:40, 41; 2 Pet. 2:18

More Characters – Good and Bad!

Spurgeon said, “Characters that are really great are always simple.” Is not character a man’s true capital? It is the most precious stock-in-trade of life. Let no one who reads these pages lose it or diminish it, for once lost, it is lost forever.

1. Disdains Poor, Disregards God (vs.5): It is heartless to despise the poor because they are poor. How justly is this condemnated! Proverbs teaches God’s care for rich or poor (Rom. 12:16). Neither are to be victimised, especially the poor, the most vulnerable. This is to invite the wrath of God. It not only slights God’s Image, but also slams God’s purposes (Mt. 25:45). Should not a good man be honoured, rich or poor, and the wicked, through a noble, dishonoured (Jas. 2:6)?

2. Bright Garlands, Blessed Generations (vs.6): The crown and comfort of godly parents is seeing their children, and their children’s children, following in their footsteps of faith (Gn. 50:23). What a bright garland for the aged (Ps. 127:3-5)! Does this not close the so-called generation gap! In William Cowper’s words, “The sons of parents pass’d into the skies.” Blessed generations, indeed, when the wisdom of the righteous is not only received but kept alive and passed on (1 Thes. 2:19-20)! Blessed garlands!

3. Conceited Fools, Condemned Nobles (vs.7): Excellent speech is literally a lip of excess. This suggests someone who talks “too big for his boots.” This fool speaks great swelling words without knowledge. Such speech doesn’t become him because his life contradicts it (1 Sm. 25; Ps. 14). It may be compared to the “tongue of a saint in the mouth of a bad man” or “professions of piety from the wicked” (Ps. 50:16-17). Surely nobles who lie bring shame on their nobility. They should live up to their honoured titles (2 Sm. 23:3-4), but even more, should not Christians live up to the Name they bear (Phil. 2:10-11)?

4. Favours Affect Fortunes (vs.8): A precious stone is a stone of grace (marg). The word gift (17:23) means a bribe, usually to pervert justice (Ex. 23:8). It could be the power of patronage to gain favours (Acts 8:18-20; 24:26), or it may be a stone of grace that will benefit either the giver or the receiver in some way. Bribes blind and gifts govern, for good or ill. Remember how Jacob placated Esau (Gn. 33:9- 11), or how Abigail met David with presents as he came to take vengeance on Nabal (1 Sm. 25:35). Yet, how vital it is to preserve our integrity and honour! “The man of God who dwells on high, shakes his hands from holding bribes.” What influence the gifts of God should have on us (Ps. 18:16)! Alexander Pope said:

Judges and senates have been bought with gold;
Esteem and love were never to be sold.

Thought: “Bribes throw dust into eyes of men who else were wise.”

Prayer: Lord, help me be “simple” in Thine eyes.