Types of Fools
Prov. 6:1-19
Proverbs 6 is filled with various statements that counsel against foolish living. Solomon’s intent here is to teach his son how to live a godly, prudent, and productive life. He knows that the only way that this is possible is if he follow the ways of Wisdom, so he takes the time to teach him a few lessons he has learned.
As we look at these instructions from Solomon in Proverbs 6:1-19 it appears a bit disjointed. Earlier we looked at Proverbs 5, and the second half of chapter 6, all of which was about adultery. In chapter 7 he is continuing his instructing about the dangers of adultery and he is talking about the seduction of the simpleton. . But here in chapter 6 :1-19 we encounter loans, laziness, and what God hates. It feels out of place. Trying to force them into one common theme is a bit like trying to fit a square block through a circle or a triangle.
Now this doesn’t mean that the author Solomon made a mistake or these Proverbs are in the wrong place. Solomon put them here for a reason, but it can be challenging to understand why
I feel that he thinks that just like adultery can lead to financial loss and also spiritual loss these topics can also lead to financial loss and spiritual loss as well. So Solomon put them here “by way of association.” He’s saying "do not commit adultery", because that can ruin you, but also don't be surety for a loan or be lazy because that can ruin you as well
The argument in verses 1-5 is simple. If you have backed or guaranteed someone else’s debt, a friend or neighbor, get out . Backing a loan means that you pledge that if your friend don’t repay it on the due day you will pay for him
Notice the second half of verse one, “…if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger…” Why do we shake hands? For the same reason they shook hands. It’s an agreement based on mutual trust.
In these first five verses of Proverbs 6, we learn some simple truths:
1. Solomon isn’t addressing the case where you choose to become collateral for a stranger or an enemy. He is addressing the choice to become collateral for a friend. Co-signing for a friend is done with nothing but good intentions. If a friend needs a car and can’t get one without a loan and if that friend can’t get a loan without a co-signer, then surely his friend would feel the need to help. Helping out by offering a simple signature may be done with good intentions but is that a good decision? Solomon describes such a decision as a “snare” in verse 2. He denounces such a decision and infers it to be a foolish decision.
Good intentions don’t always end in good decisions. Intentions don’t define our lives, decisions do. We need to temper and steer our good intentions with wisdom and prudence.
In verse 3, Solomon instructs his son to get out of that legal responsibility in order to “make sure thy friend.” This financial counsel is more about relationships than it is about money. Co-signing for a friend is dangerous for financial reasons but it is even more dangerous for relationship reasons. If a friend fails to meet his or her financial obligations with a lender, the co-signer is then responsibility to pay those financial obligations. In such an unfortunate event, how can one expect that friendship to remain in tact or at the very least, expect that friendship to remain untainted? Perhaps more than anything in our cursed world, money so easily stirs negative emotions towards people. Siblings become enemies because of money in a family business Marriages fail because of money problems. Friends lose friends because of money issues.
Few friendships, if any, can survive the situation where a co-signer is forced to pay thousands of dollars because his or her friend failed to pay their debt. No matter how strong the friendship is on the day of the loan signing, it is unlikely that it will remain strong on the day that the loan becomes delinquent. Foreseeing this unfortunate reality, Solomon urges his son to get out of that legally binding responsibility for someone and “make sure thy friend,” or “make secure thy friend.” Solomon is placing friendship over finances. He is placing relationships over riches. He suggests that the friend do whatever is necessary, including paying the loan or finding independent financing, to secure the friendship and avoid any possible threats to the friendship. Three, five, seven or ten years of being responsible for a friend’s loan will add stress to the friendship and always remain a risk to the friendship
2. Good friendships don’t always end in good relationships when good Intentions don’t transfer to good decisions. We need to value our friendships beyond the present and make decisions that take the future into account. A little disappointment in the heart of your friend today may spare you both from heartbreak tomorrow.
Solomon adds some urgency to his counsel in verses 4 and 5. He knows that most of us, when we make risky decisions, have times of reflection and regret. Unfortunately, he also knows that most of us, when we have times of reflection and regret, put off the tough decisions to make things right. In verse 3, Solomon tells his son to humble himself and do something about that bad financial decision. In verse 4, he tells him not to wait and not to delay in doing something about it. In verse 5, he tells him to address it with the same level of urgency a deer has in escaping a hunter and with the same level of urgency a bird has in escaping a fowler.
We put off these difficult conversations with friends because they can be uncomfortable. We delay sitting down and admitting we made a mistake because it’s humbling and because no one wants to disappoint a friend. The mistake in delaying the decision is that it will probably then never take place. The longer we wait to have that conversation with the friend , the less likely it’ll be that we’ll ever have that conversation and the more likely we’ll convince ourselves that there won’t be a problem. The internal observation that a poor decision was made never converting to a conversation with a friend could be the demise of a friendship.
Proverbs is the Word of God. That means God himself is serious about this rule, so serious that He repeats himself five more times in the book of Proverbs about not putting up security for a neighbor or stranger.
Proverbs 11:15; 17:18; 20:16; 20:26-27 ;27:13
What’s the reason here? You shouldn’t put anything at risk that you can’t afford to lose. So if you can’t afford to lose the money or you don’t want to lose the relationship with your friend , don't enter into any such agreements. .Money can quickly become an obstacle to loving others like God calls us to do.
Remember that Proverbs are principles, not absolutes. That means that although this is this standard of not co-signing a loan on behalf of your friend , you might be able to make a case for offering collateral for someone else’s loan in a specific situation or circumstance after much prayer and discernment.
Within Israel the people were allowed to give interest-free loans to each other (Exod 22:25). They could only charge interest on loans made to foreigners outside of the covenant community, not to each other (Deut 23:20). In the New Testament Jesus actually says to lend to anyone who wants to borrow from you, even your enemies (Matt 5:42; Luke 6:35).
The Bible has a lot to say about money, even lending and co-signing. But it’s all centered around loving our neighbor well. We don’t want anything to prevent us from loving others the way God intends, freely and wholeheartedly, just like God loves us.
What Solomon is after here is to emphasize the high danger and risk of being co-responsible for another person’s debts, bankruptcy, etc. It is one thing to give a person a loan because the worst that could happen is that the loan would be partially repaid or not repaid at all. But one’s personal assets would not be at risk. If there is mutually shared debt obligations, then another's poor financial decisions could drain the resources of the person who co-signs a loan on behalf of a friend.
It makes more sense to give to a person in need or to offer them a loan (the Bible speaks of interest free loans to fellow countrymen (Deuteronomy 23:19)). This mitigates the risk of a catastrophic situation. Thus, if a person finds themselves as a co-signer or somehow bearing the risk of another person’s mistakes financially, they need to take immediate precautions to rid themselves of any binding contracts in which they could become responsible for the debts of others.
Coming to 6:6-11 we find that we are not the first generation to learn from the animals. Thousands of years ago, Solomon who contributed to the book of Proverbs learned key spiritual lessons by observing the creatures God made. We see evidence of this in today’s passage, which calls us to examine the ant in order to learn the virtues of hard work and the dangers of idleness.
It seems that the specific ant in view here is the harvester ant, which lives throughout the Middle East and stores the grain that it gathers in its nest. What the observer finds remarkable about this insect is that it is industrious enough to gather its food without any overseer. In other words, it does not need a boss or chief following it around constantly in order to keep it on task. The ant understands what her job is, and she does it without external coercion. The lesson here for us is that we should labor diligently and work in the vocations to which God has called us and for which He has equipped us.
Certainly, we will have overseers to whom we are accountable, but we should not need their constant prodding to get the job done. Moreover, we should be careful to labor at the appropriate time. Just as the ant “gathers her food in harvest” (v. 8), we must work when it is time to work, for there is a specific season in which we are to labor and one in which we are to rest (see also Eccl. 3:1–8).
Have you ever seen a lazy ant? Today’s passage presents the ant as an encouragement to rouse the idle from their sleep—not the “sweet sleep” of the laborer (Eccl. 5:12), but the kind of sleep that prevents one from fulfilling one’s vocation. In other words, Proverbs 6:9–11 is talking about laziness and calling us to reject it. The emphasis is on not using excuses to avoid work. “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest” refers to short periods of rest taken excessively. The sense is the continual putting off for tomorrow what should be done today. If we do this, poverty will hit us. It might seem sudden (“like a robber”), but will actually result from continual procrastination.
It’s a real temptation to spend your life away on Netflix or Youtube or social media. It might not feel like laziness but it can be.
In the New Testament Paul talks about the importance of work.
1 Thessalonians 4:11b …make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, (NIV)
The Thessalonians must have struggled with their work ethic because Paul writes them again.
2 Thessalonians 3:10-13 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” 11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. (NIV)
That last verse says we’re called to work because work itself is good. So a refusal to work is actually a rejection of what is good. We work because we want to do good.
Now what this is not saying is that it’s never appropriate to take a break. God gave us a day of Sabbath rest before the fall of humanity just like he gave us six-days of work before the fall, which means both work and rest are good, and we should take a day to rest each week just as we work each week.
Although our Proverb is warning us that if you’re lazy you’ll probably become poor it’s not saying that if you are poor you must be lazy. .
A lazy person needs to learn from the ant which stores up food for itself so that it will not be in want. A sluggard is content not to work, and this will lead to having no money or food to eat. Laziness leads to poverty and quickly at that.
In verses 12-15 we find that wicked and worthlessness go hand in hand as far as character qualities that we do not want to possess. Examples of these qualities include shady dealings, false promises, reneged commitments, and lots of lying. Through subtle signals a person, while saying one thing, is clearly communicating another thing to others. This deceitfulness is a perversity before God, and it is indicative of a heart that is constantly devising evil plans and intentions for others for selfish gain. This leads to pain for others and to much harm. Eventually, those who lay traps for others end up being harmed by their diabolical lifestyle as they make a mistake, suffer at the hands of violent men, or receive divine punishment of some kind. Regardless of what they may get away with on earth, God sees all and will hold them accountable in eternity.
Our final passage - verses 16-19 - today reveals God’s heart. Have you ever heard someone say, “I hate that!” Like, “I hate cats!” Usually when you hear someone say something like that it implies that they are not a cat person but a dog person. “I hate cats but I love dogs.” Here we catch a glimpse of what God loves by what he hates.
When we read across Proverbs, we find numerical sayings of “x, x+1” and it seems so strange to us. But like everything in Scripture, there are reasons for it. Unfortunately, most of the meaning of this one is lost to antiquity. In the time of the writing of Proverbs, this type of expression was common—in all wisdom literature . One thing commentators and scholars are fairly certain of is this: the final item listed (the “+1”) functions as the apex of the expression.
Now what does God hate? This is a good question to ask - because the Lord actually lists for us 7 different things that He hates. Some think that God doesn't hate anything because He is love. But when you realize that whereas He loves righteousness and holiness - it means that by nature He must hate the opposite - and that is sin. This is a good list to remember because it reminds us of at least 7 things we absolutely need to steer clear of in life. We do this because we do not want to incur God's wrath for loving something He hates.
1. - God hates Haughty Eyes . . . The 'proud look' is something the Lord really despises. When the eyes are filled with a haughty look it is a sure thing that the heart is filled with that same haughtiness or pride. We remember from the book of James that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. It is no stretch then to say that in hating haughty eyes God truly despises those whose look communicates an arrogance and pride that shows that they have no respect for God and His ways - just an utter disdain of them.
2. - God hates a Lying Tongue . . . One of the 10 commandments is not to bear false witness. That means lying is out with God. He is a God of truth, and He wants us to speak the truth. When a tongue is a lying tongue, God hates the lies that come from it. Truth opposes lies at every turn - and we can be assured that God opposes the liar whose lying tongue promotes just the opposite of what God loves and is.
3. - God hates Hands that Shed Innocent Blood . . . Here is one that we need to remember. Innocent blood is murder. God hates murder. Once again we find that one of the things God hates is listed in the 10 commandments. You shall not murder is commandment number five. Jesus goes further in Matthew chapter 5 when He tells us that even the thoughts and words that are at the core of a murdering heart - God hates
4. - God Hates a Heart that Devises Wicked Plans . . . There are hearts that are thinking of evil - and who begin to plan to do evil. This is true even of us when we set our hearts on sin and want to do our best to keep it hidden. But there are those whose plans involve far more than just one man wanting to sin without being caught. These plans will harm thousands - and possibly millions. They do not consider that their wicked plans will do this - because they are consumed either by the acquisition of wealth or power. God hates these people because of how their thinking harms others.
5. - God Hates Feet that Run Rapidly to Evil . . . Here we have someone who is just itching to run to evil things. There is no restraint in this one - because when he or she sees evil - they want to run "rapidly" to it. When a society turns from God - there is a growing deadness that causes them to become insensitive to the warnings of Scripture. Thus they start to run to evil - rather than stop and think about the harm it will do to them and to others. When people run rapidly to evil it is also a sign that self is so completely dominant in their thinking that they are deaf to any other voice except the one that is urging them to do what they want. God hates this because it reveals that a conscience is dead to Him and dead to the warnings of both the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.
6. - God Hates A False Witness Who Utters Lies . . . Here we have what seems to be a second time that lying is mentioned. This second time though it is mentioned in the context of someone who is a false witness on a matter. This first time is was just a lying tongue. The false witness could be someone who speaks lies in a courtroom where the role of perjury comes into play. This would mean a perversion of justice and God loves justice and righteousness. It can also mean a false prophet or someone who lies about religious matters - thus causing some to put their faith in a god who is not God at all. Either way God hates it when someone who lies as a witness on a matter. They encourage people to make decisions based upon deception and lies. No wonder He hates these things - because the very first sin was due to the work of the devil as he was a false witness to Eve about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That lie, that deceit - when believed was the impetus that led to the fall of all of humanity into sin and rebellion against God.
7 - God Hates One who Spreads Strife Among Brothers . . . The final thing in this list of seven is a person who is causing problems - actually who is spreading strife among the brethren. This person is one who either learns of strife - or is causing it. He is not content though we knowing it himself. He becomes the ultimate evangelist for strife among the brethren. He wants to see as many people upset and involved in this strife as possible. It should be no small wonder to us then that God does not say, "Blessed are the strife-makers." He says just the opposite. It is the peacemakers who will be called the sons of God. He chose to make peace through the blood of the cross of Jesus Christ. Therefore it really should be no shock to us that He also hates those who go the opposite way - and spread strife rather than spread peace among the brothers
Seven things God hates . . . it is a very sobering list. There are some things like murder and wicked plans that we would fully expect to be on this list. But other things that we tend to minimize tend to shock us here. Some call lying just telling a little fib - or a white lie. Others might not see spreading strife by gossiping to be something that is not the best - but certainly something that everyone does. The fact is that when God calls these things the seven things He hates - we need to remember them - and then learn to hate them in our own lives as well. That, my dear saints - is wisdom.
Perhaps you have noticed by now that Proverbs 6:16-19 is not simply a list of ills that God hates though it most certainly is that. But it is more. On the surface of this list is an explanation. Have you noticed what is included in this list? Solomon is speaking about eyes, a tongue, hands, a heart, feet and even breath! If we were Dr. Frankenstein we might create an entire person! And that is the point. God is telling us that the entire person is corrupt.
What’s the message? Quite simply, God hates these things because they are evidence that the image of God in man has been destroyed. The point is that these behaviors are evidence of our hatred for God.
This is even clearer when we think of “hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6:17). After the flood we read that murder is a capital offense. This was not new. But annexed to this statement regarding the capital crime of murder is the explanation, “for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6). In other words, murder is a crime and a capital offense at that, because it is a strike at the image of God Himself. This, of course, God hates.
Now, even this is not without another meaning For example, in Exodus 22:2-3 we read, “If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him.” You see the point. If it’s after dark, then the homeowner was clearing protecting himself and his family. However, if the sun was up, well then, it could be that the homeowner was in fact striking at the image of God in fallen man. The point is not to judge this example but to notice the meaning
However, when murder is on the mind it is something that God hates. But the question is when is it murder? Is it only when someone plunges a knife in another person? Well, anyone who knows the Sermon on the Mount knows differently. Murder is the worst form of behavior that swings at the image of God in man. A lesser form of the same is anger. Jesus wants us to equate these two and helps us to do so by not simply mentioning them but creating a mental image of the first murder. Think of these elements found in Matthew 5:21-26: murder, brother, offering, and altar. Of what do these remind you? If you said, “Cain and Abel” you hit the mark. But what’s the point? Simply this, sin’s affect on us is deeper than any of us imagine. We are sinful and corrupt in every part of our being. We may have not pulled the trigger of a gun with the barrel pointed at another person but we get angry with people and both are of the same species.
It’s no wonder Paul tells the Christian not to let the sun go down on their anger (Ephesians 4:26). The opportunity for the devil to get a foothold in an angry life is real. We ought to strenuously avoid it. Let me ask, “Are you angry?” Have you allowed annoyance to become something far worse? If so, let me remind you that your life is hidden in the One who was murdered for you. And because your life is hidden in Christ we are able to let go of our anger. It’s not easy but it is possible. It need not consume us
Together let’s stop doing the things God hates.
