The Proverbs 31 Project: Commenting May 9th on Proverbs 9:5,6

[If you have been here before, in May, then you might want to skip down below the green for today's post.]

"Thirty days hath September, 

April, June and November

All the rest have 31

Except February which has 28

Except during leap year when it has 29"

NO I DID NOT WRITE THIS "POEM"!  (Talk about free verse!)

Why didn't somebody just point out that the four months that do NOT have 31 days (except February, and everyone knows all about February The Exceptional) come every other month except that there is no 30 day month between July and August?  The silly poem above mixes up the order just to hide the fact that the real 30 day months come in two orderly pairs: April/June and September/November.  Can somebody please write a non-silly poem for us that will make this clear, and stick in our minds, but without gooping them up with exceptions (and please just leave February out of it!)?

And to make matters (far) worse, MILLERWRITES has created a Proverbs Pull-A-Part Plan that decimates that fine collection of wisdom in the book of Proverbs, by spreading commentary on each chapter out over 7 months (the good 31 day months)!  Oh don't ask me to explain his system.  You can try to decipher what he said about it at the top of any P31P posts from January or March if you like, or just follow along this month and figure it out.

All Bible passages are from the NIV, and are copied here from Biblegateway.com

REMEMBER: My ideas may be oh so mesmerizing, but you will get more benefit from simply reading the chapter itself!

So here I offer my amateur comments on verses 5,6.  Today's inspired verses are in red, and my comments are neither       (neither inspired, nor red).

PROVERBS 9

Invitations of Wisdom and Folly

1 Wisdom has built her house;
she has set up its seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her servants, and she calls
from the highest point of the city,
4 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
5 “Come, eat my food
and drink the wine I have mixed. 

5) All kinds of people want to "share", or "push" the things they are stuck on.  Smokers want more people to  stand outside in the cold with them and smoke, and drinkers want you to join them in the bar, and even druggies will share their expensive dope (for a while), if you do what they do.  Here Wisdom invites us to sit down, get comfortable, and partake of all the nutrition and sustenance she has to offer, but not for her own benefit or the comfort misery gains from company.

In Psalm 34:8, David echos this theme in a way that a spiritually hungry man can relate to:  "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him."

6 Leave your simple ways and you will live;
walk in the way of insight.”

6) It is so simple to just do what everyone else is doing.  People sometimes say Christians are just believers because their parents were.  (Not true.  People often become believers despite their parent's objections, and  others refuse to believe either because their parent's example did nothing to stir discipleship, or because...they just refuse to believe.)  But why do drinkers drink and smokers smoke, if not because of the pressure put on by their peers?  And this tendency masters more than those choosing their vices.  Every class and rank of man follow the pattern set by those surrounding them, whether into bad habits or cultured accomplishments.

Did you ever see Ernest Borgnine in "Marty"?  It's a great movie where Marty almost passes up his one good chance for love because of the opinions and pressures put on him by his friends and family.  Check it out!  I found this clip that will not give away anything, except a flavor of the character.

Solomon pleads for mankind to do something other than what is expected and typically done by all..  "Walk in the way of insight."

7 Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults;
whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.
8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you;
rebuke the wise and they will love you.
9 Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;
teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11 For through wisdom your days will be many,
and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.
13 Folly is an unruly woman;
she is simple and knows nothing.
14 She sits at the door of her house,
on a seat at the highest point of the city,
15 calling out to those who pass by,
who go straight on their way,
16 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
17 “Stolen water is sweet;
food eaten in secret is delicious! ”
18 But little do they know that the dead are there,
that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.

By the way...MILLERWRITES copy is COPYRIGHTED. Why cut and paste when you can simply copy the link?