GOD’S WISDOM FOR YOU
PROVERBS 21:17-19
17 He who loves pleasure will become a poor man.
He who loves wine and oil will never be rich.
Verse 17 is straightforward and clear: If you live it up too much, you will end up with nothing. Jesus uses this simple point as part of his parable, the Prodigal Son, although his main point there is on repentance and forgiveness (Luke 15:21-23).
In verse 15 we saw that when justice is done, it brings “joy” (Heb. simhah) to the righteous. Here, loving simhah “pleasure” too much (to the neglect of one’s duty) will bring poverty and misery. We should do the tasks God places before us, and he will bless us with every good thing. The most important pursuit for the Christian is to pursue “a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ” (Philemon 6). Our Father in heaven knows how to give good gifts (Matthew 7:11).
18 The wicked will be a ransom for the righteous;
the treacherous for the upright.
“Ransom” (kopher) is a word used throughout the Old Testament as any kind of ransom, whether money (Exodus 21:30), a bribe (1 Samuel 12:3), or the blood of a sacrifice. The cover of the ark of the covenant was called the kapporet or “atonement cover” (Numbers 7:89). In this context, there could be two ways to understand this verse. First, traditionally, this is meant to mean that morally speaking, right will overcome wrong, and a wicked man will end up paying for his wrongdoing to the people he has wronged. An ancient commentator named Rashi held up wicked Haman‘s fortune and estate being given to Mordecai as an example (Esther 8:2). However, this does not always (or even often) happen in life.
Another way of understanding this verse is that Christ became our wickedness in our place. He “became sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). By taking the place of our wickedness and sin, Jesus was our ransom and made us righteous before God. He took even the treachery of Judas with him to the cross and died even for that. All sin, no matter whose, no matter how gross or hideous, was ransomed by Christ for us. “For the Son of Man,” Jesus said, “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
19 Better to live in a desert
than with a quarrelsome and angry wife.
This is one of several “quarrelsome wife” proverbs (see 21:9; 25:24 and 27:15). We must consider it from three points of view: The husband, the wife, and the Christian as the bride of Christ.
A husband may have many reasons for marrying his wife, but he should consider how peaceful their life will be in the future. Will she disagree with him and argue with him about every little matter? Will she nitpick and make him miserable, or does he have a personality that is such that criticism can roll off his back? If she will be a constant strain on his headship, is this something he can handle, or something that might make their marriage miserable? If, on the other hand, he is a man who would need to rely more heavily on her for advice about money, the household, etc., then a quarrelsome wife might in some ways be preferable to a meek wife who has no opinion about the family’s finances, etc. She might even help a sluggard make something of his life (even a desert or wilderness can be a place where a humble living can be scratched out with hard work).
At the same time, a wife must remember her position in the marriage, a position which was not brought about because of the fall of Adam and Eve (it is not part of Eve’s curse), but because of God’s original plan: it is the order of creation, and nothing more or less. If she is willing to give glory to God by accepting her God-given role, then the temptations she resists will also give glory to God. Luther said that temptations are like the little birds in the sky. You can’t stop them from flying overhead, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.
Every Christian man and woman must place themselves into the position of the bride of Christ as another way of reading this proverb. How quarrelsome and angry are we with our God and Savior? Do we willingly submit to him, or do we constantly vex him with our sinful opinions and corrupt way of living? The difference between this point of view and the text of the proverb is that if we become the quarrelsome wife, God threatens that we are the ones who will be cast out into the desert wilderness, the dry country which holds only torment and torture for all eternity. Yet he doesn’t want us to become a terrified spouse, but a loving one, submitting because he is our true Captain and Leader in all things.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota