The Name of the Lord Is a Strong Tower
18 A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire;
He rages against all [a]wise judgment.
2 A fool has no delight in understanding,
But in expressing his own heart.
3 When the wicked comes, contempt comes also;
And with dishonor comes reproach.
4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters;
The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook.
5 It is not good to show partiality to the wicked,
Or to overthrow the righteous in judgment.
6 A fool’s lips enter into contention,
And his mouth calls for blows.
7 A fool’s mouth is his destruction,
And his lips are the snare of his soul.
8 The words of a [b]talebearer are like [c]tasty trifles,
And they go down into the [d]inmost body.
9 He who is slothful in his work
Is a brother to him who is a great destroyer.
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
The righteous run to it and are [e]safe.
11 The rich man’s wealth is his strong city,
And like a high wall in his own esteem.
12 Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty,
And before honor is humility.
13 He who answers a matter before he hears it,
It is folly and shame to him.
14 The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness,
But who can bear a broken spirit?
15 The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge,
And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
16 A man’s gift makes room for him,
And brings him before great men.
17 The first one to plead his cause seems right,
Until his neighbor comes and examines him.
18 Casting lots causes contentions to cease,
And keeps the mighty apart.
19 A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city,
And contentions are like the bars of a castle.
20 A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth;
From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.
22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing,
And obtains favor from the Lord.
23 The poor man uses entreaties,
But the rich answers roughly.
24 A man who has friends [f]must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 18:1 sound wisdom
- Proverbs 18:8 gossip or slanderer
- Proverbs 18:8 A Jewish tradition wounds
- Proverbs 18:8 Lit. rooms of the belly
- Proverbs 18:10 secure, lit. set on high
- Proverbs 18:24 So with Gr. mss., Syr., Tg., Vg.; MT may come to ruin
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Chapter 18 make me to understand that We need to be very careful with the relationships that God has given us in life. We are stewards of these family bonds, friendships, and other connections. We need to recognize that each life impacts the next, and we need to avoid sinning against our brother, our neighbor, and our fellow man. When we do err, we need to go to the one we have sinned against and, in true repentance, seek their forgiveness by explaining how sorry we are and that we see that we what we did was wrong. We should do whatever we can to restore the relationship and fix what was lost. By God’s grace, relationships can be restored, wounds can be healed, and contentions can be resolved. God’s grace is needed because sometimes the invisible bars of rejection can be far stronger than the walls of a strong city.
We can learn from this that the wicked’s testimony is not to be believed, especially when it is against the righteous. The wicked person has a selfish reason for his testimony and does not usually tell the truth.
To judge a matter by what a wicked person says is very wrong. As Christians,let’s not be too quick to judge people.
It is only a fool that will start an argument and then says, “Let’s just settle this with our fist.A fool self destructs.
A gets into all kinds of trouble with what he says because his words are not guided by anything except his selfish desires. He is not controlled by the Lord, and is apt to use cutting remarks, and even cursing.
The tongue is a mighty weapon and either brings death or life in its speaking. With the tongue, confession is made unto salvation.
Lessons learnt
We have to separate ourselves from the world in other to communicate with God effectively. While communicating with God we must think about things of God and pray; we will get answers for our prayers and receive wisdom in the process.
The chapter also talks about accepting false witness from a wicked person because they never tell the truth, they just derive pleasure in lying.
Neither the lazy nor the waster will have anything. One is too lazy to work and make anything, and the other throws away everything he makes. To leave a work half done or poorly done is to destroy it.
Proverb 18
This great chapter opens with charge for us to separate ourselves in order to interact well with wisdom,but for a foolish person ,there heart is always against wisdom anytime and are leads concern with themselves.The chapter went on to talk about foolish.person in several other verses,the talebearer,the lazy person,,confident in the name of God as a sure shield to anyone who believes in it,prideness of heart and it havoc to one’s life,wisdom in attending to issues,our believes system,our God given gift and it impact in our lives, vs 17 emphasis the need to hear matter clearly from two parties involved before placing judgement,the usefulness of casting lots to settle issues for people,offending ones brother may bring an unpalatable experience because to settle the issue will not be easy for anyone involve,sweetness of our lips in provision,the use of tongue can bring death and life,finding a wife brings favour across his part,relationship with others require us to be friendly with them,while Jesus is a friend that sticks closer.
This chapter tells us to run unto God speak no false words against the righteous ones and do no harm to them don’t guide by just hearing from one side don’t depend on worldly thing rather seek for wisdom from God and be save for the wicked will be put to shame in the end.
Day 18 Proverb 18:1-10 A man must desire to have wisdom before it comes to him, a person who separates himself from the world, he’s seeking wisdom. We must somehow get our eyes off of ourselves and stop trying to please self,only a fool pleases self,a wise person is interested in pleasing God. The wicked try to condemn the good, the evil one is only a fool,wise speech is like a deep,inexhaustible streaming of blessing. To judge a matter by what a wicked person says would be wrong,the fool self destructs( Romans 10:9-10) the tongue is a mighty weapon and either brings death or life in its speaking, whatever we can’t say in the presence of others, we should avoid saying it at their back. To leave a work half done is to destroy it,learn to be hardworking, from this verse 10,we see that salvation is in the name of Jesus, without the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would not even exist.
Proverb 18: 11-20 The rich man sometimes thinks his riches will save him from harm,but God will not be impressed by his riches. Standing upright before God and man will be honored by men on earth and by our God in heaven, a person who answers a question before he hears the question is a fool,it makes you look very foolish. The spirit of man is his life,because when the spirit is broken,people lose hope,be eager to learn the word of God, a gift sometimes soften the heart and makes the way easier,do your criss examination in order to avoid hasty judgement, don’t judge. Accept the spirit of forgiveness, the consequences of our words must produce satisfaction and fulfillment. Proverb 18:21-24. The greatest good and the greatest bad harm are in the power of the tongue,use your tongue wisely,God’s plan is for one woman and one mam to be married and become one flesh,they are to live together in peace and harmony and build a home for them and their children. Treat people well,be humble and speak softly to others,pride comes before destruction, the humbles person who goes out of their way to be friendly will have more than they can count.
Like the two chapters that precede it, Proverbs 18 does not seem to have any overarching themes or unified sections. However, the topic of speaking/listening comes up in quite a number of verses [verse 4, 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 21, 23].
Verse 10 says, “The name of the LORD is a tower of strength, To which the righteous man runs and is safe.” The concept of trusting in God is not foreign to Scripture: the speaker of Ps. 61:4 says, “For You have been my refuge, a tower of strength against the enemy,” and the speaker of Ps. 20:8 declares, “They [call] on chariots, they [call] on horses, but we call on the name of the LORD our God.” Finally, Prov. 29:25 describes how trust in God can allay one’s fears: “A man’s fears become a trap for him, But he who trusts in the LORD shall be safeguarded.”
Verse 12 speaks about the “pride before a fall”: “Before ruin a man’s heart is proud; Humility goes before honour.”
This is a popular idea in Proverbs. For instance, Prov. 16:18 says, “Pride goes before ruin, Arrogance, before failure,” and 11:2 says, “When arrogance appears, disgrace follows, But wisdom is with those who are unassuming.” Like our verse, Prov. 29:23 speaks of both pride and humility: “A man’s pride will humiliate him, But a humble man will obtain honour.”
Verse13 speaks about the opposite of listening empatheticaly, “To answer a man before hearing him out is foolish and disgraceful.”
Verse 14 speaks about the crippling effect of depression: “A man’s spirit can sustain him through illness; But low spirits — who can bear them?” Prov. 17:22 also speaks of depression, “A joyful heart makes for good health; Despondency dries up the bones.” Also see Prov. 15:13, “A joyful heart makes a cheerful face; A sad heart makes a despondent mood.”
Verse 17 speaks about the importance of hearing both sides of the story: “The first to plead his case seems right Till the other party examines him.” It is possible that this proverb was directed at judges, and if that is the case, then it follows the message of Deut. 1:16, “I charged your magistrates at that time as follows, ‘Hear out your fellow men, and decide justly between any man and a fellow Israelite or a stranger.’” A few other proverbs seem to be directed at judges, especially 17:15, “To acquit the guilty and convict the innocent — Both are an abomination to the LORD,” and 17:26, “To punish the innocent is surely not right, Or to flog the great for their uprightness.”
Verse 18 is interesting: “The lot puts an end to strife And separates those locked in dispute.” While the extent to which lots were used in ancient Israel remains unclear (were they used to settle court cases?), the concept appears again in 16:33, but it is God – not chance – who decides the outcome: “Lots are cast into the lap; The decision depends on the LORD.” Other places in which lots were used are Lev. 16:8, “and [the high priest] shall place lots upon the two goats, one marked for the LORD and the other marked for Azazel,” and Num. 26:55, “The land, moreover, is to be apportioned by lot; and the allotment shall be made according to the listings of their ancestral tribes.” Also, Haman used lots in his plot against the Jews in the book of Esther.
A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire: To cut one’s self off from family, friends, and community is often to express a selfish desire. It shows an unwillingness to make the small (and sometimes large) sacrifices to get along with others.
When the wicked comes, contempt comes also: The wicked brings contempt with them; the proud, superior attitude that thinks itself better than others and looks at those thought to be lesser with scorn. Yet it can also be said that contemptfollows the wicked because God will scorn those who scorn others. With dishonor comes reproach: The wicked bring insults (reproach) upon those they consider dishonorable.
This chapter is telling us that what we desire (wisdom)to get from God is what God gives. And at the end the wisdom in you pave way for the talent in only when used wisely. We should always be careful of Words that comes out of our mouth because it determines who we are and if we will live or die. Is better you have that one person in million than having a millions of people that are not up to one. Friends we have sometimes leads to safety of our life or destruction. Having friends is not a sin but wisdom will make you choose wisely.
The best friend we can have is our Lord Jesus christ