The Proverbs 31 Project: Commenting January 12th on Proverbs 12:1-4

January 12;  Proverbs 12, Verses 1-4

[Please note: The first two paragraphs below are repeated each day for new readers.  My amateur comments start below the verses from Proverbs.]

Christians looking for a simple way to review the Bible regularly, have long been convenienced by the fact that the book of Proverbs has 31 chapters, the same number as most of our months.  Each chapter includes multiple bite-sized verses (uhm, proverbs) and can be read through simply in one sitting, one appropriately numbered chapter per day through the month.  My simple mind balks at the idea of trying this pattern in any month with less than 31 days  (It just does, all right?), but there are 7 months every year that are suitable for the effort.

My idea here is to reprint about 1/7 of the verses of each day's chapter throughout this year, every time a 31 day month pops up, and offer a few comments from The Barking Owl.  So in January, we will get through the first few verses of every chapter and then in March, the next group, so that by the time December comes around we can finally get to the last set of verses in each chapter and complete the book's reading.  If you are smarter than I am (is there any doubt?), you will read the whole chapter every day, every 31 day month, and then you will have read the whole book 7 times this year!  By then you are guaranteed to be wiser than The Barking Owl at least, though no one will ever match the wisdom of Solomon!

[All Bible passages are from the NIV, and are copied from www.Biblegateway.com]

Proverbs 12

¹ Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
   but whoever hates correction is stupid.

 ² Good people obtain favor from the LORD,
   but he condemns those who devise wicked schemes.

 ³ No one can be established through wickedness,
   but the righteous cannot be uprooted.

 ⁴ A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown,
   but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.

1) "Loves discipline"??!! I thought Sol was supposed to be a wise guy?  Didn't we all hate spankings?  And don't we hope to get lost if we see that a cop sees that we were speeding?  So we should not only accept the stuff, but we should 'love' it too?  Ok God.  Considering the second half of the verse, I'm not going to say I hate correction!  But I kinda do.

2) Let it be understood that there truly are no 'good people'.  "All have sinned and fall short" (Romans 3:23).  But I take the verse to mean that those who would be good, those who reject their own sinfulness instead of rejecting God's judgement, obtain His favor.  Certainly God will not lend his favor, his blessing, to the wicked.

3) In fact, the wicked can not even be 'established' if they persist in that mode.  As opposed to the righteous, who can be nothing but.

4) Did Solomon have Attention Deficit Disorder?  How did he get to THIS new subject all of a sudden?  Of course he is right (man, that must get boring!).  Most young guys are looking to marry a hottie right?  Little do they know that what they really, really want in a wife is that noble character thing Sol is talking about.  

The wonderful essence of a good proverb is its clever use of the dichotomy. We learn here that the opposite of nobility is not commonality, but disgrace.  And the opposite of wearing a crown is wearing decayed bones!

I might be quick to add that there is nothing wrong with having a 'hot' wife!  Some of us two headed monsters (men) get to wear TWO crowns!