Douglas Jacoby Podcast

Proverbs: Chapter 19

Douglas continues his series on The Book of Proverbs, looking today at chapter 19. This Podcast was published on Jan 19, 2016.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Reading advice:

Keep noticing how sayings are related, if only loosely.
Notice how themes introduced in previous chapters are touched on again and again.
Notice the doublets (14:12, 16:25) and near-doublets (19:5, 19:9).
Understand the parallelism:
- Synonymous (19:5); a comparison is being made, or a statement is begin repeated in a different form.
- Antithetical (19:12); a contrast is being made. Many of the earlier chapters are filled with this type.
- Synthetic (19:19); an augmentation of the first line -- the second line elaborates, or builds upon, the first.

Salient points:

"Zeal without knowledge" (v.2) is alluded to in Romans 10:3. Many proverbs are echoed or quoted in the N.T.
Sleep is good, but like honey if overdone the result is counterproductive (v.15). We will get up on time when we have a reason to get up.
Kindness to the poor is lending to the Lord (v.17).
V.25 LXX reads "When a pestiferous person is being whipped, a fool will become more crafty." The LXX was the O.T. (and the Bible) of Paul and the apostles who preached outside of Palestine.

Challenge:

Get control of your sleep habits!
Follow your system. Eat right. Exercise! Don't watch electronic screens during the half-hour before bedtime.
Even then, you may have to push through fatigue. "The world is run by tired me."
I love Longfellow's poem: "The heights by great men reached and kept / Were not attained by sudden flight / But they, while their companions slept / Were toiling upward in the night."

Next up: Proverbs 20.