Be not envious of evil men,
nor desire to be with them,
for their hearts devise violence,
and their lips talk of trouble.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if this were superfluous advice?
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Category Archives: Wisdom
Economic suicide policy and promoting foolishness
Notice the misguided policies of the Fed and FDIC though. By preventing all bank runs for decades, the Fed instilled an artificial and undeserved confidence in banks.
It would be far better to disclose banks in trouble, let them go under one at a time quickly, rather than have a gigantic systemic mess at one time.
Secrecy, in conjunction with fractional reserve lending is an exceptionally toxic brew. Overnight trust can change on a dime, system-wide, and it did.
Moreover, by keeping poor banks alive (and my poster-boy for this is Chicago-based Corus Bank for making massive amounts of construction loans to build Florida condos), more money pours into failed institutions further increasing toxic loans.
I’ve been trying to avoid political posts but I think this point by Mish deserves some thought.
According to Solomon, “If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it.” Public policy for the last century seems to be aimed at disproving Solomon on this point. The state claims it can protect us from bad economic choices and promote growth.
In the first place, as Mish points out in the case of banking, these interventions seem to have the effect of delaying small crises until they form one massive financial tsunami. The boom-bust mini-cycles are smoothed over until we have a massive crash.
But secondly, the real social safety net is destroyed in favor of a state safety net that cannot fail to cause extreme depression-level problems. The real social safety net was people learning to look after themselves. People new banks were not that reliable so they spread out their risk. They kept cash and used other means to diversify their savings. An occasional bank failure would reinforce this wisdom and cause people to adopt behaviors that would ameliorate the effects of these failures.
Something similar could be said for a continual boom-bust cycle (even thought that cycle itself is due to the State’s fiat currency). If people know that there will be economic downturns every three years then they will use the “fat years” to save for the “lean years.” By producing decades of artificial growth, the state has discouraged this basic rational and wise behavior.
Humans are treated by their governments like animals kept in a zoo. They are bred in captivity and never develop the survival habits they would need to live on their own. The difference is that while humans can provide for animals, they cannot turn the globe into a zoo for humans with any chance of actually continuing to provide for their wards.
Sooner or later, whether we like it or not, we are going to be turned loose. Learn wisdom now.
The social problem of sloth
He who gathers in summer is a prudent son,
but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.
via Passage: Proverbs 10 (ESV Bible Online).
Why shame? Why not hunger?
Perhaps because the family must look for help to get the job done. Or worse, maybe they will need to ask others to help them out with shortages because the field was not completely harvested.
The Bible tells people to help the poor but it never gives you the idea that the poor are going to be happy about it. And if they can think of themselves as ultimately responsible for needing to ask for help, it will be that much worse.
Childhood is slavery
For those of you who have been following this blog, you know I’ve been listening to Proverbs a lot and it has affected my blogging and teaching (at least in content, I’d like to think it has had some other sanctifying effects as well). I’ve argued that Proverbs is about rule versus slavery. Rule yourself to rule the world.
Much of this informs the New Testament Theology of the childhood covenant era versus the adult covenant era that Christ has brought about through his faithfulness to death and the resulting resurrection and ascension of humanity. Paul argues in Galatians 3 and 4, for example, that the Law was a guardian for our time as children and that as children we were therefore treated as slaves. Now that our inheritance has come we should no longer be children.
So Paul uses the institutionalized care of children to explain the eschatology of the Bible.
But it just occurred to me that he uses childhood in other ways as well. Thus, from Ephesians 4 (which is Pauline, by the way):
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
If you have been following my writing on Proverbs you will know that being in control rather than controlled by one’s desires and passions is a huge deal for Biblical wisdom. Here we see another application of that fact.
It also spells out rather explicitly a way in which an adult can remain a child.
Wisdom means rule means skill at dominion
“By me kings reign,” says Wisdom (Proverbs 8.15). But also by wisdom does one become a metalworker or any other kind of craftsman:
The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in golsd, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furnishings of the tent, the table and its utensils, and the pure lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin and its stand, and the finely worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, for their service as priests, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the Holy Place. According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do.”
The only problem with the ESV’s translation of Exodus 31.1ff is that the word they translated as “ability” in verse 3, is not the same word as the “able men” given “ability.” The first word is wisdom.
So how is wisdom related to skill in craftsmanship?
I think it is because that too is a realm in which one rules. In Proverbs we are exhorted to rule ourselves, our spirits, hands, feet, and eyes. With that wisdom comes the opportunity to learn how to rule over people in various ways. Thus Proverbs 22.29:
Do you see a man skillful in his work? [or “diligent in his business”]
He will stand before kings;
he will not stand before obscure men.
Rule in one area might mean one is ready for other kinds of authority.
Wisdom is both a result of and means of gaining dominion. You learn as you grow and you grow by what you have learned. Whether it is controlling your mouth, your artistic medium, or an army, it is all wisdom.
Is the adulteress a temptation to wage class warfare?
And behold, the woman meets him,
dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
She is loud and wayward;
her feet do not stay at home;
now in the street, now in the market,
and at every corner she lies in wait.
She seizes him and kisses him,
and with bold face she says to him,
“I had to offer sacrifices,
and today I have paid my vows;
so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
I have spread my couch with coverings,
colored linens from Egyptian linen;
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
For my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey;
he took a bag of money with him;
at full moon he will come home.”
Proverbs 1-9 is a unified section–the first in the collection. It presents two idealize women, Wisdom and Folly. It makes pretty easy application to two more literal women, your wife and the woman who offers herself to you “for free” even though she is married to another man.
This section does not contain a great many of the aphoristic pairs and triplets that become prominent in later sections of Proverbs. But it does hit on some basics: stay away from violent gangs as a way to acquire wealth, don’t be lazy, be satisfied with your wife and don’t go wandering.
I wonder if the temptation of the adulterous woman is a temptation to engage in class warfare against a richer man. Someone who is attracted to the offer of quick money might also find this an issue. I’ve been listening to Proverbs four times a week for the last three months or more and this idea has become increasingly persuasive to me.
Almost none of the woman’s physical attractions are described except her eyelashes. (The wife of one’s youth is described in terms that are more sexually provocative.) What is described more is how rich she is (or her husband is). And how freely and publicly she makes her proposals. She offers a night in imported luxuries that I would guess the young man would not be able to afford.
(Was this a source of anxiety for wealthy men in the ANE in Solomon’s time? I recall what Boaz says to Ruth: “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.” Did some go after young men even after they were married?)
And what about the woman’s perspective on her husband? What kind of sexual ethic is she expecting from a man who “has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him”? I wonder if she sees her behavior as payback.
For the young man, surely there have to be other opportunities to commit fornication in Jerusalem. What would make a woman with a husband so tempting? I suspect it is simply to grab some luxury (in every sense) from someone else’s life. It is not stealing in the same way as robbery, but it is the use of another man’s property and wealth against his will.
Solomon’s warnings are that the rich man, no matter what his wife’s longstanding reputation, will be really jealous and will destroy an adulterer’s life (I assume by threatening capital punishment unless he pays a fine that requires him to sell himself as a slave in hard labor). No matter what you think about the fact that others have gotten away with it, or that he’s off having fun somewhere else, he will still take your crime against him very seriously. Stay away. Enjoy your wife.
And work hard so you two can put Egyptian cotton sheets on your own bed some day.
New Podcast: “Marriage is Dying”
The adult Sunday School class has been going through A Great Mystery by Peter Leithart (Canon | Amazon | Barnes & Noble). Last Sunday I “taught on” (more like a free verse interpretation inspired by some elements in the chapter) chapter 8, “Marriage is dying.” You can read it here.
You can, of course download it by copying and pasting the following into your browser:
http://new.hornes.org/mark/docs/_marriage%20is%20dying_.mp3
However, remember that now you can also simply subscribe to my podcast via iTunes and download it that way.
I hope you find some helpful material in it. I can assure you that, if you are single, there is still a lot that I said that would apply to your life as well.
On the other hand, if you have been reading my posts on Proverbs, much of this will sound familiar.
Surfing on your body parts and passions
When you surf, sometimes you have to paddle out against the tides and sometimes you get the joy of riding the wave. Good surfers develop skill both in going against and with the current.
Likewise in Proverbs. Sometimes your passions and parts won’t lead you anywhere you want to go.
A fool’s lips walk into a fight,
and his mouth invites a beating (Proverbs 18.6)
So you must restrain them and yourself.
When words are many, transgression is not lacking,
but whoever restrains his lips is prudent (Proverbs 10.19).Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city (Proverbs 16.32).Whoever restrains his words has knowledge,
and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding (Proverbs 17.27).A fool gives full vent to his spirit,
but a wise man quietly holds it back (Proverbs 29.11).
“Restrains,” “rules,” “quietly holds it back” One might think that emotion and impulse and appetite are your sworn enemy.
But you would be wrong. They are the horses that move you. You just need to point them in the right direction before allowing them to go.
A worker’s appetite works for him;
his mouth urges him on (Proverbs 16.26).
Thus, Solomon’s marital counseling:
Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
Should your springs be scattered abroad,
streams of water in the streets?
Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.
Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated always in her love.
Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
and he ponders all his paths (Proverbs 5.15-21).
Doug Wilson on casting off in order to press onward
This is why our time of confession ought not to be about a list of items, kept or broken. We are in the process of becoming a certain kind of person. Everything we confess is that which interfered with that process. If it did not interfere with it, then there is nothing to confess. But the rules are not floating above our heads, independently autonomous. No, God’s rules are simply a description of what He is like, and what we would like to become like.
The new covenant is all about two things—forgiveness of sin, and the internalization of the law. When you are forgiven, you can deal with sin in your life, and the gospel does what the gospel of grace always does—changes you. When you are forgiven, the law of God is internalized, meaning that you are becoming a walking incarnation of God’s words.
Read the whole post: Becoming a Certain Kind of Person.
Denying self to pursue real glory
In Romans 2, Paul writes:
He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.
How can it not be “self-seeking” to “seek for glory and honor and immortality.” Of course the word for “seek” is not actually used the second time. The NASB’s “those who are selfishly ambitious” is better.
Still, how can it be virtuous to pursue glory, honor, and immortality? How is that not selfish?
In the Bible, being “selfish” as we would call it, is actually self-destructive. One is mastered by parts of oneself that one is unable to restrain or control. Thus, selfishness leads to irrational, idiotic behavior that cannot possibly serve one’s best interests.
So God told Cain:
“Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
To restrain such influences and impulses in order to pursue a specific goal with endurance and integrity is not selfish because “you” master your “self” rather than the other way around. Cain was mastered by “sin” and thus was one of those who “obey unrighteousness” as a slave to sin.
Romans 6 says that we have died so that we can be free from sin and thus offer our body parts as slaves to righteousness:
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Notice that this framework is already being set up in Romans 2 with the contrast between those who pursue immortality and glory and those who submit to unrighteousness.