GOD’S WISDOM FOR YOU
PROVERBS 29:17-20
Verses 17, 18 and 19 present the same idea, that of correction, preaching and discipline, in two of the three estates of mankind: the home, the church, and then home again. In our culture, verse 19 could apply to employees as well as servants, and that would approach the realm of the third estate, which is government.
17 Discipline your son, and he will give you rest;
he will bring delight to your soul.
This kind of proverb is repeated many times. It isn’t hard to guess why it needs repeating. “We have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it” (Hebrews 12:9). Wild trees crack and break during storms, but trees that have been pruned and trimmed can weather those storms. So it is with children. But parents must understand the pendulum of extremes. On the one side is the unrelenting father or mother who insists that everything has to be done a certain way. Such are the parents who beat a child to bleeding because he took a single nut or cookie from the kitchen counter. Then on the other side are those parents who do not discipline at all, who let their children run feral and untamed. In the old movie The Breakfast Club, two teens compare notes about their parents. One has the father who is too harsh, the other has parents who don’t discipline at all. Her heart is full to bursting when she whispers, “They ignore me.” Many parents complain that children don’t come with an instruction manual. That isn’t true. The manual comes before the children, and this Book of Proverbs is very close to the middle of the Manual. Parenting is not easy, but one thing will always be true: Our children need us. They are our first obligation after giving God glory, and taking care of them is one of the best ways to give glory to his Name.
18 Where there is no prophetic revelation,
the people cast off restraint;
but whoever keeps the law is blessed.
The word hazon “prophetic revelation” is used in the same way in 1 Samuel 3:1, “In those days the word of the LORD was rare, there were no (or few) visions.” Modern translations have shifted away from using “vision” as the definition, since the phrase “there is no vision” could be used in a corporate meeting for a lack of leadership. Sometimes our language changes enough that our words in translations need to change for the sake of clarity. I am beginning to wonder whether we should go back to saying Holy Ghost rather than Holy Spirit for this reason.
“Prophetic revelation” or vision is also a word for preaching the word of God, the balance of proclaiming law and gospel to God’s people. Where this is done, people flourish. Where this is forgotten, people wither. The minister who preaches the gospel without the law removes the talons from the Holy Spirit and, in the end, he destroys the meaning of the gospel, since medicine given to people who don’t think they’re sick will just sit on the shelf. On the other hand, the minister who preaches the law without the gospel only drives his people to despair. There are many other pitfalls for the preacher. When Jesus is presented as being a new lawgiver or a new Moses, then the gospel medicine is turned into poison. When good works or sanctification are brought forward in our preaching before grace and justification, then those good works are no better than rolls burned black in the oven; they are inedible and useless. When people who are grieving over their sins are directed by a preacher to their prayers to win over God’s grace, then they have no comfort. They will be like children who are hungry for bread and cheese but are handed envelopes and stamps. They need to be fed, not told to beg.
“Law” in the last line is torah, which can mean the law alone in the narrow sense, but in the broader sense certainly means both law and gospel. For there in the Torah of Moses is the foreshadowing of the cross of Christ: “The priest will make atonement for him for any of these sins he has committed, and he will be forgiven” (Leviticus 5:13). It is with the right application of law and gospel that the sinner knows his sins and knows his Savior, and is declared justified by his faith in Christ (Habakkuk 2:4).
19 A servant cannot be corrected by mere words;
though he understands, he will not answer.
Whether servant, slave, or employee, certain sinners need more than words. A good sharp illustration will carry the meaning, or if that fails, a penalty like a fine, the loss of a job, or a more severe punishment such as we have in jails and prisons, might be necessary. The proverb, though, warns employers or masters about two kinds of silence. On the one hand, a worker who is quiet after correction might be humbled, and needs encouragement. On the other hand, a worker who is silent after correction might harbor a grudge, and needs to be watched. Only careful and skillful leadership can win that worker over, but the wise ruler remembers that trust begets trust.
20 Do you see a man who speaks in haste?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
The editor who compiled the proverbs in the order that we have them has struck a note of genius here. After three sayings about discipline, he has taken the discipline proverb in verse 19, discipline for a man who says too little, to this proverb about a man who says too much. When someone who is ignorant of facts believes himself to be right, he will ignore facts that are presented to the point of becoming belligerent and even violent about his position. This is especially true of unbelievers who believe that their own “alternative facts” (what a world we live in that has produced such a gentle term for lies) are superior. This is where conspiracy theorists sway the general population away from believing what they have seen with their own eyes. This is where men who study science who have attached themselves to a theory believe the theory instead of the truth. When Paul preached about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, he produced more than five hundred witnesses to the fact (1 Corinthians 15:6), including at least two men who had been unbelievers and opponents of Christ before his resurrection and were only converted afterward and in part because of the resurrection (Paul himself, and Jesus’ brother James, 1 Corinthians 16:7-8; John 7:5). If a skeptic is shown such proof, he will only hold out for five hundred and one. And if five hundred and one witnesses are produced, he will sit down in the mud and demand five hundred and two. He is the kind of man who will claim that the moon doesn’t exist because he himself is asleep when the moon appears every night, and he will talk himself into believing that the burden of proof rests with the moon to prove itself to him.
When someone speaks in haste, or speaks too much, or resists the plain words of the gospel, we say what we can, but in the end we leave them to God’s providence. Perhaps there must be another time, or another Christian, or some event like an accident or an illness to get them to listen. But we still pray for them, because the prayer of a righteous Christian “is powerful and effective” (James 5:16), and we rely on the Lord our God, whose mercy endures forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2020
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Wisdom for You – Proverbs 29:17-20 Discipline with love